Designs of Meaning: five exhibitions on archaeology, avant-garde and metaphysics

The large exhibition in the lower city Arsenal celebrates the 80th anniversary of one of Russia’s most important archaeological expeditions, which raised generations of historians, archaeologists, and culturalists — Boston. Among the curators is Vladimir Petrovich Tolstikov, who led the expedition for half a century. The Panthicapei is the capital of the Boston Kingdom, founded in the last quarter of the seventh century B.C.E. on Mount Mitridat. The city was located in the territory of modern Kirchi. The first phase of the expedition took place in 1945; the first information was obtained about one of the oldest and ever-growing cities of the Black Sea. The role of the GMII is key: it was at the initiative of the museum and thanks to a large team of ambitious scientists that excavations and research were carried out. The exhibition in Lowerland contains documents, artifacts, reconstruction, models that open the veil of the expedition and demonstrate ancient antiquities. The Panticapey study is a field of intense debate around the formation of the culture, architecture and policy of the ancient kingdom as a whole. This project also raises the topic of research gambling, partnership and spirit forces, without which long and fruitful archaeological works cannot be carried out. : Vladimir Tolstikov, Olga Samar, Pavel Niculin

By the 100th anniversary of the Union of Modern Architects, MURA prepared a landmark exhibition dedicated to the designism of the 1920s and 1930s. It presents the key actions, design strategies and creative thinking features of the new architecture of the time. The main problem of design for researchers and exhibition project authors is often the presence of the dominant psychological discourse of «life» society. That’s definitely what Elena Vlasova’s exhibit curator says. The focus is on typological specimens — the results of scalding searches and experiments by architects seeking to find revolutionary formats for transforming human life through the tame of space. At the same time, modern exhibitions, publications and documentary projects often do not pay due attention to the birth process and the evolution of the professional optics of designists. Moreover, as the curator notes, many consider the architectural diversity of modernism in our country to be a designer for convenience. The exhibition takes place on the three floors of the «Ruina» fligell and consists of seven sections dealing with the professional creative thinking system of architects of design. The stories of the search for breakthrough engineering capabilities and the development of a new design form are supported by the demonstration of representative projects by such name architects as the Brethren, Michael Barsch, Moses Ginsburg, Yakov Kornfeld, Ivan Leonidov, George Orlov and others from the Museum of Architecture and 16 other public and private collections. Coordinator: Elena Vlasova

Another exhibition at the Museum of Architecture is dedicated to the sorority of Illarion Alexandrovich-Shitz (1865 — 1937), author of modern and neoclassical structures of importance to Moscow. More than 340 exhibits — from installations, designs and graphics to photographs and the rarest archives handed over to the Museum by the widow’s architect — are accompanied by an audience in seven thematic areas. The curators set up a unique route to meet the author and monitor the development of his method and stylistic preferences. The value of the exhibit lies in its opening for the first time of Illarion Alexandrovich ' s legacy to the general public: prior to this project, the architect ' s figure had not been thoroughly studied and represented. The exhibition thus represents the moment of the author ' s first encounter with the audience in a very subtle and architecturally attractive exhibition dedicated to the architect ' s half-century contribution to Moscow ' s image. ♪ Co-ordinators: Tatiana Ivanova, Alexander Suuchev ♪

The «Zotov» is invited to the retrospection for the 140th anniversary of the birth of the artist Vladimir Tatlin. Thirty years after the last large-scale presentation of his legacy, a long-awaited project was launched, entirely dedicated to the creative path of one of the key representatives of the Russian avant-garde, dreamer and romance. Tatlin’s ideas about cutting time and space through art have had a tremendous impact on the culture of the 20th century. The artist sought to erase the line between art and life and, as far as possible, bring the future that seemed to be on the tips of his fingers. The author of the famous three-dimensional spatial parallels, kinetic objects and Memorial III to the International, Tatlin, was one of the first to experiment with conventional objects, creating new three-dimensional assemblies, mechanisms and structures, combining art and technology. The artist dreamed of the future, developed theories of spatiality, movement, shape formation and functionality of art. The exhibition captures all stages of Vladimir Tatlin ' s life and creativity, presenting paintings, sculptures, objects (originals and reconstruction), installations, photographs, and many other things. / Controlors: Polina Streltsova, Natalia Strizhkova

The exhibition project of the painter and graphics of Semön Agroskin turns to the regular and utilitarian image of the ladder. In a standard sense, the ladder is an important functional element of architecture. It serves as a bridge between the floors, but also designs the image of space, shapes the composition, sets the rhythm, puts the accents. The artist deconstructs the primary meaning of the ladder and interprets this element so that he becomes a metaphor in a dialogue with the viewer. Painting shows scenes of impersonal spaces where the main heroes are stairways. They are symbols of the path, the knowledge, and the constant movement. We don’t see their beginning and their end, but we see their existence in mysterious spaces. Special attention is paid by the artist to the image: contrasts of light and shadow, trembling or permeability of verticals and horizontals, and the use of shapes and lines — all creating unusual visual structures within anonymous, mysterious sites. The artist stresses the tension that comes when a person comes up the stairs without knowing what’s waiting for him upstairs. Thus, the exhibition removes an ordinary architectural element into its constituent parts and provokes an audience to engage in a spiritual dialogue.

Author: Michael Arutyunyan on cover: type of display «Tatlin. Peace Design at the Zotov Center (2025-2026)