Paper Architecture. An Anthology by Yuri Avvakumov

  • Year2019
  • LanguageRussian
  • Edition2000
  • Pages374
Garage publishing program

The first comprehensive publication covering the history of paper architecture, a unique phenomenon of the Soviet 1980s.

Architect and curator Yuri Avvakumov explores the legendary movement of paper architects which the author himself was an avid representative of. Paper architecture—a variation of conceptualism in architecture that circulated in the form of journal publications, exhibitions, and competitions of ideas—was the product of nonconformist reflection which appropriated languages and tropes of various architectural style for the creation of multivalent project designs. Paper architecture brings together the visual means of expression typical of fine arts, architecture proper, literature, and theater. The book features texts and works by all the key participants of the movement, including Yuri Avvakumov, Mikhail Belov, Alexander Brodsky, Lev Evzovich, Totan Kuzembaev, Vyachslav Mizin, Ilya Utkin, and Mikhail Philippov.

With support from AVC Charity Foundation.

Author

(b. 1957, Tiraspol) is an architect, artist, and curator. He graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI) in 1981 and has contributed to architectural and art exhibitions since 1982. In 1984, Avvakumov coined the term “paper architecture” to signify a genre of conceptual architectural design in the USSR in the 1980s. He has curated many shows dedicated to paper architecture in Russia and abroad, including exhibitions in Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Ljubljana, Milan, Moscow, Paris, and Frankfurt. In 1996, Avvakumov represented the Russian Pavilion at the 6th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, where he displayed the installation Russian Utopia: A Depositary. In 2008, he curated the exhibition/installation RodDom in the Church of San Stae (Venice). He currently concentrates on museum exhibition design. Avvakumov’s works are in the collections of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow), State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), Museum of Modern Art (New York), National Museum of Modern Art—Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), German Architecture Museum (Frankfurt), and many others. He lives and works in Moscow.

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