This month, the School of Architecture at The Cooper Union in New York City is scheduled to open an extensive exhibition on Russian architecture. Vkhutemas: Laboratory of the Avant-Garde, 1920–1930 is the title of a show presenting what is loosely known as the "Soviet Bauhaus." Undoubtedly, it's an essential part of the Russian architectural legacy worthy of attention. But not now. I would have been first in line ten years ago to see the exhibit, but not today. To support Russian architecture now is simply tone-deaf. I believe the Cooper Union should terminate this exhibition and put a pause on its courses on Soviet and Russian architecture. Here is why.
All
historical reflections are meditations on current affairs. Russia is currently attacking Ukraine in a brutal war that, in its
gruesomeness, can be compared to Hitler-Germany's campaign against
the Soviets. The armies of Vladimir Putin, the dictator, are
annihilating not only military targets but also civilians, along with
the nation's cultural heritage (including its architecture). To hide
war crimes, Russian acolytes in New York try their best to make their
nation shine as harboring highbrow culture. It's a cultural war of
propaganda targeting our minds to soften our politicians' support of
Ukraine. It's called "soft power."
The exhibition and the courses in Soviet architecture at The Cooper Union are an exercise in non-coercive "soft power" to make Russian legacies, and thus policies, more appealing to the architectural community and New Yorkers. Even though the scholarly work behind the exhibit is solid, it serves in the current cultural politics as Russian propaganda. With the war raging, why would The Cooper Union agree to support this now publicly?
Undoubtedly, it's an essential part of the Russian architectural legacy worthy of attention. But not now. [...] To support Russian architecture now is simply tone-deaf.
This unfortunate event happens in the Ukrainian Manhattan Village,
which adds insult to injury. Their most important church, the
Cornerstone (The First Ukrainian Assembly Of God), is right across
the street from Cooper Union. Around the block is The School of
Ukrainian Studies, along with The Ukrainian Museum. The Cooper
Triangle Park — outside Cooper Union — is the chief outdoor
hangout for Ukrainians in New York. It is no accident that Irwin S.
Chanin, as in Cooper Union's "Irwin S. Chanin School of
Architecture," was a Ukrainian. The exhibition organizers seem
unaware of being part of a legacy, neighborhood, and community of
Ukrainians. Instead of insulting their neighbors with a show about
Russian architecture, progressive, creative minds at The Cooper Union
should consider drawing up plans and presenting architectural ideas
for rebuilding their country.
Please make no mistake about it. My letter is not to be offensive towards The Cooper Union. On the contrary, it is an institution I highly respect and that elevates close friends and colleagues, including Anna Bokov, the assistant adjunct professor at Cooper Union behind the exhibit. Yet, I can't get my head around how this could happen. We can all make mistakes. And when we do, we need to acknowledge them and rectify them as best as we can.
So abandon the ill-timed Vkhutemas
exhibition along with related courses. And then reach out to your
neighbors in the Ukrainian Village and ask them how you can help
imagine a future for their war-torn nation.
Editor's Note, Jan 25, 2023: An earlier version of this op-ed included claims that the curator of this exhibition, Anna Bokov, is associated with Vladimir Putin. Bokov has stated that this is false and defamatory, so we have removed those comments from the op-ed. It was also not disclosed, prior to publication, that the author knows the curator personally, which could have led to intentional or unintentional bias.
Peder Anker is Professor in History at New York University. He is the author of From Bauhaus to Eco-House: A History of Ecological Design (2010), Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945 (2001), and The Power of the Periphery: How Norway Became an Environmental ...
93 Comments
Please note that Irwin S. Chanin was of Jewish heritage, not Ukrainian. With the way Jews were treated across Eastern Europe in the time of his ancestors (i.e. pogroms) - there is a reason why his parents immigrated to the United States. While Putin's war in Ukraine must be condemned, please don't exercise erasure of Jewish ancestry and history in that region.
Then why is there no mention of Chanin's Jewishness by the author?
Totally disagreed. Not showing, discussing, thought provoking a certain aspect of history is culturally brainwashing, hurting all the related sub-culture, and it IS a form of propaganda itself. Architecture history is architecture history. Please leave political correctness out of this field.
Fully agree with the author. To stay away from this topic now, referring to the fact that architecture is above politics - this is exactly the way to support the propaganda of the regime. It is for the same reason that after the annexation of the Crimea in 2014, Norman Foster, closing his eyes, took up projects in the Crimea and russia.
Artists, sculptors, designers and architects are not the kind of people who have the right to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the hope that it does not concern them. This hurts many, including their reputation. What is happening now is given to Ukraine at such a high price of people's lives that the authors of the project could endure six months or even a year, right? Or its so necessary? Think about it.
Author choses very soft and very precise words to describe what is happening. Thank you.
The author is arguing that universities and intellectuals should operate in a way that advances the goals of the US State Department. This desire for architectural discourse to become war propaganda must be rejected completely.
Interestingly, the State Department actively promoted Abstract Expressionism for exactly this reason, because it represented liberty in the face of Communist and Fascist oppression. https://daily.jstor.org/was-modern-art-really-a-cia-psy-op/
So, the federal government co-opted abstract expressionism in the 1950s, why shouldn't they co-opt architectural discourse in the 2020s?
Vkhutemas was quite open, experimental, and democratic or communist—take your pick, and the avant-garde ideas, constructivism, etc. discussed there, reviewed in Anna Bokov's book and shown, I assume, in the Cooper exhibition, were wholly rejected by Stalin in favor of a traditional—and imperialist and oppressive or mindless—architecture. He killed the experimental spirit.
We can only guess what Putin's reaction might have been to the school and movements were he there, but it could not have been favorable. We cannot conflate Russia and its rich, varied culture, conflicted as all cultures are, with Putin, however hard that might be to do now.
Anna has spent years researching and assembling material, writing the book, well before the invasion that few of us saw coming. I'm curious to hear her defense.
I didn't see above a link to the CU exhibit:
https://cooper.edu/events-and-exhibitions/exhibitions/vkhutemas-laboratory-avant-garde-1920-1930
Cooper Union seems to have removed the information about the exhibition from their website. This is the cached page before it was removed: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:raabXHdDE84J:https://cooper.edu/events-and-exhibitions/exhibitions/vkhutemas-laboratory-avant-garde-1920-1930&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
And now the first link is working. But I'm not seeing it listed on their exhibition page, nor in their news page. It was slated to open this Thursday.
Trash.
The better question than the title of this op-ed should be: “Why is Peder Anker, an American professor of history, trashing another American scholar for work he concedes is 'solid'?" Or perhaps another question should be: "Is there ever a right time to inappropriately politicize a scholarly exhibit and try to stymie discussion and learning about architectural and design contributions from any culture?" Yet another: "Why should Dr. Anker be the arbiter of when the best timing is for, in his words, 'an essential part of the Russian architectural legacy' to be exhibited?" And: “Did Dr. Anker really suggest Dr. Bokov’s book dedication to her parents is somehow inappropriate or tied to Putin? What?!” I could go on and on because this op-ed is unprofessional, misguided, and, dare I say, an un-American perspective. It is needlessly incendiary just days before the opening of an exhibit in which professors and students have labored diligently to bring to life. Is that what your content aims to do? Perhaps the greatest irony is that Dr. Bokov and the Cooper Union students are trying to give voice to Vkhutemas, which Stalin silenced in Russia and, now, Peder Anker is trying to silence in America. The research and work leading up to this exhibit has been years in the making and has no connection to the war in Ukraine.
Thank you, Cooper Union, for offering diverse and inclusive academic teachings, despite this unfounded call by Dr. Anker to cancel them, and for doing so at a time when we can all be reminded that the contributions to culture and art transcend politics (or at least they should). I hope the architectural and academic communities, as well as NYC neighbors from all backgrounds, will attend the exhibit and demonstrate that in America, we don’t cancel historical contributions to culture and art…EVER. There never is, never was, and never will be a good time to do that, Dr. Anker. In fact, you should take your own advice and I quote you: “We all make mistakes. And when we do, we need to acknowledge them and rectify them as best we can.” There is a way you can do that this week. It would be to actually be “the first one in line at the exhibit” to personally apologize to your colleague, Dr. Bokov.
Is this really a serious critique?
The innuendo. The disparagement/condemnation by association. The a-historical position that assumes what is happening now is equivalent to what happened 100 yrs, 50 yrs, 20 yrs ago, and it is somehow all equivalent.
So, we can equate ANYTHING happening in Russia today, and the absolute tragedy of the current situation with Ukraine, as an erasure of all previous histories?
While I can fully understand that Putin might cherish ANY public recognition of an important historical event/heritage that happened in Russia (actually the Soviet Union), I cannot at all imagine that he would support an exhibition of a way of thinking and material expression so at odds with his assumption of state control and power by repression.
So, to suggest that the best way to express rejection of Putin and 21st C Russia is to obliterate a moment of Soviet Union transformative creative practice seems not only reactionary (in the most literal Marxist, socially progressive terms) but in fact another form of repression - much like our dear old Vladimir. That is to say: "Let's not let others know about a history that might be in opposition to the 'approved' version."
Maybe just have a show on Russian De-Constructivism. It's just a style afterall.
(Image from the front page of the Sunday New York Times 1-22-23)
The exhibition and the courses in Soviet architecture at The Cooper Union are an exercise in non-coercive "soft power" to make Russian legacies, and thus policies, more appealing to the architectural community and New Yorkers.
Anna, her work, and Vkhutemas are getting smeared, or run the risk of getting smeared, by casual and careless association. You can meet her here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmK0_BSAGpg
About three minutes. "Those who are able to develop their own rules and then break them are the ones who are most successful," she says. Such a belief counters current policies in Russia—and policies we saw promoted in the US not long ago—not reinforces them in some "soft" way. Hers is a voice we need to hear today.
Her grandmother, an influence, was also an architect for some forty years, one of few woman architects at that time. As for her father, I only made a casual search, but I'm not finding anything damning other than this Op-Ed. He is prolific and influential, and you don't get to do anything large in Russia without shaking hands with Putin. Perhaps someone has something more.
And now it occurs to me that Anna is in a horribly precarious situation. She can't defend herself and her work. Perhaps Cooper Union can step up. Discussion needs to be opened up, not closed off by censorship.
As an aside, I didn't see much attention to Vkhutemas here or elsewhere. Her book came out a few years ago and you can watch her lectures on YouTube—just enter "Anna Bokov."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ91-koljqk
From memory, so I may be off: The school must have been a tremendously exciting place with some of the best minds in the fields. Design mattered. Society mattered. They wanted to see what they could do. It was about ten times larger than Bauhaus, lessons were free, and anyone interested was accepted. The school was also broke. Students modeled in clay—see the picture above—which could be collapsed and reshaped for the next student.
During the Cold War, the state department sent American avant-garde art, Pollock, etc., to the USSR to show how free we were, a suspicious and self-serving motive, but I've heard soft critics condemn the art itself as conducive to such political maneuvering and corrupt message. Meanwhile, around this time, reactionary congressmen were condemning Abstract Expressionism—and all isms—as being subversive and communist, or communist inducing. Go figure.
Nah don't buy it. This criticism is on par with the populist attempts to cancel Dostoyevsky or banish Tchaikovsky from concert halls. Surprising to see it coming from a scholar, a person of academia.
Within our respective disciplines, and outside of them for our society at large, there is a pantheon of shared civilization, built by contributors across borders an ideological divides. True propaganda of anything, as someone else pointed out above, would be to turn a blind eye to periods of history deemed 'out of bounds' by the powers that be depending on the political climate of the day.
Architecture students, learn about Soviet architecture, be curious about Islamic architecture, read about Albert Speer, try to understand Japanese metabolists within the context/world they existed in and attempted to change. And always - consume history for what it is, from multiple perspectives, to inform your own independent judgment about the human condition and how the world came to be what it is.
Of course the overall program of an architectural school should be under scrutiny if all they're doing is pumping out a certain ideology. But Cooper, even today, probably has one of the most varied educational programs around through the lectures it hosts to the seasonal exhibitions in art and architecture.
As Europe was ravaged by fighting, German immigrants in the US suffered harassment, internment, lynchings - and even the humiliation of being tarred and feathered. Although a little-remembered part of history today, America was wracked by the fear and paranoia that swept from coast to coast during the Great War.
Above, a crowd gathers at a high school in Wisconsin to burn German language books.
Text, more pix here:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4992032/Germans-AMERICA-World-War.html
No one is defending Kaiser or Putin, or their wars.
The link isn't working. Try this to get there: https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3273-tragic-plight-of-germans-in-america-during-wwi.htm
I'd love to see this exhibition.
Russian Constructivism is the granddaddy of all things 'modern' in art, architecture, and further, a way of thinking and visualizing. Btw, if you disagree with that, it's okay by me, you can go gfy.;)
To refute this show is wartime opportunism. My hunch is, the writer knows the curators and the context well and writes this ho-hum about a survey show.
The funny part is a little bit of whoring when he writes a quick clarification to Cooper Union "you are not my enemy but the curators and anything Russian are. And, sort of, suggests to the Ukrainian community in the neighborhood to "go stone the glass walls of the gallery if it's not serving your sensitivities I created for you."
Her book: Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920–1930
Elaborating on the ways the Vkhutemas curriculum challenged established canons of academic tradition by replacing it with open-ended inquiry, Bokov then shows how this came to be articulated in architectural and urban projects within the school’s advanced studios.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/A/bo38601333.html
my god, when did Archinect become disinformation central. It's so sad o think this started out as a way to connect and inform the larger architectural community. Now its become another social media cesspool....The author for this op-ed is bringing a very important question to the front and then that question is being twisted into cancel culture. This does feel very much like what I've come to expect from Putin's KGB style tactics. And Ukraine being ruled by Nazis, even though Zelensky is jewish. That's so ripe. We should just turn on Russia Today and get our news from the source.
The comments to this op-ed are really surprising us as well. The author is questioning the appropriateness of a Russian exhibition at this time, while clearly acknowledging the historical value of Russian and Soviet architecture. We'd love to see counter-arguments sharing thoughts on why this exhibition should go on as planned, but the harsh tone of the feedback from long-time Archinectors, and the questionable accusations, are disheartening. Has the internet and social media led to an inability to debate in a civil way?
Surprising that long-time Archinectors would hurl such invective? I guess you don't read your own site.
See Orhan's comment above.
Btw, if you disagree with that, it's okay by me, you can go gfy.;)
How is this so difficult to understand? The author is asking serious people to chill their expression and academic research because it doesn't align with the agenda of the US State Department. Why is the pushback surprising to Archinect?
No one is suppressing speech, architect is simply reacting to the 'harsh tone'. Insist on civility!
davvid:
"The author is asking serious people to chill their expression and academic research because it doesn't align with the agenda of the US State Department"
No, that's not what the author is saying, but it seems like you and some others want to interpret his piece in that way. We're happy to see that the comments have improved in the second half of this thread. There are valid points to be made on both sides of this issue.
No, with all due respect, what is really surprising is that Archinect would even provide a platform for this hit-piece to have an audience. I think a lot of the responses here are responding to the fact that it is painfully obvious that this is nothing more than a personal vendetta masquerading around as thoughtful political critique. This op-ed is written by Peder Anker who is a colleague of Mitchell Joachim, Anya Bokov’s jilted and vindictive ex-boyfriend. These are old boys’ club tactics to suppress and damage women who reject them – it is misogyny at it’s finest, and it angers me that they duped the Archinect editors into thinking this piece was about something else.
really, if the author has any personal connection to this event, or the people behind it, that would cause bias, it should have been noted in the submission of this op-ed, or disclosed within it. We are not aware of any. However, this topic is very much worthy of debate. There are countless precedents of Russia-related events being boycotted, canceled, or postponed due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last year. This is in no way an endorsement or opposition of this op-ed, on behalf of Archinect. Questioning the appropriateness of this exhibition at this time is worthy of discussion.
Yes, they should have disclosed that but did not. And I would argue that it does a disservice to the legitimacy of the conversation/debate when it is structured upon false pretenses. “Questioning the appropriateness of this exhibition at this time” is only part of the op-ed, while another part of the op-ed, in quite a sinister and clumsy manner, tries to tie Anya, her parents, and this exhibition directly to Putin and his policies, and that is something else entirely. That is personal and it is dishonest.
Nuance is not this site's forte. Bravo to you for doing what you can to call out this modern day butcher.
Wait - You still consider yourself to be her friend?!?! You sound like a real piece of work. Yes, friends can critique each other and question each other’s motives, positions, politics, etc, and I would argue that it is the obligation of a friend to do so. But to pretend that writing this public piece that is factually inaccurate and attempts to drag Anya through the mud three days before the opening of her exhibition is anything but a personal attack is deranged and dishonest. This is a carefully considered attempt to derail someone’s career that is fueled by animosity and misogyny. You should be ashamed of yourself.
And, what is also really telling, is that a lot of the especially excoriating comments on here by TreeArch (who is your buddy Mitchell Joachim btw) have been removed, even more evidence suggesting that this was a coordinated attack. It is a shame that Archinect has allowed itself to be used in such a manner.
I agree with the comments from ae_0 and dlb above. Here is how I would defend the Cooper show: Vkhutemas remains an inspiration, representing an unprecedented burst of optimistic, constructive, creative energy with many noteworthy acomplishments. Presenting this work can never be misunderstood as pandering to Putin or as an attempt to soften our stance against his war. This whole argument is implausible and contrived. More generally: The idea of boycotting everything Russian because of Putin's war is counterproductive, and indeed an expression of a mindset that implies a highly problematic notion of collective guilt/punishment on the basis of nationality. In the currently highly charged atmosphere where a dangerous, falsely stereo-typing cultural contrast - Russia=Asiatic Despotism, Ukraine=European Democracy - is spreading, a reminder of the cultural contribution of Russians and Russian institutions to cultural progress is indeed needed.
patrikschumacher, thank you, clearest way of saying what has been argued here.
Good. This is so obvious as to be amazing the debate is even happening.
imagine being so far up your own ass that you think a small architecture exhibit in midtown NYC is some critical beachhead in the war of public opinion over an imperialist conflict in central europe.
Soviet Constructivism, and the pedagogical practice of the Vkhutemas school remains a highpoint of architectural thought, creativity and education. An exhibition like this, at this time, is an opportunity to view contemporary society from that elevated, utopian position and perhaps discover how the dream failed. But viewing the past through the lens of the present is always a dangerous path. We must tread very carefully when we try to judge history from the perspective of modern society. We cannot simply cancel or revise the Constructivism moment in Soviet history based on a revulsion of Putin's actions 100 years later.
Archinect—
So abandon the ill-timed Vkhutemas exhibition along with related courses.
Actually, what is the author proposing? The related courses as well? What others? I don't think I'm falling down a slippery slope when I say I can't see where this would stop. And if we don't see cause for alarm in this particular case, we will see it elsewhere. This discussion is important.
What the author hasn't done is make any case why the exhibition or courses might be damaging or offensive in any way, that they would promote the Russian war effort or Putin ideology, inasmuch as he has one. It's easy to make the case they do the opposite: they challenge such narrow and cruel thinking. Nor do we know at all if Ukrainians and Ukrainian descendants in America would find them offensive or be hurt. Peder is speaking for them.
Even if it is just a matter of postponing the exhibition, to when? After the war ends? Here we draw a breath. What most thought would be a two-day war is approaching a year, with no end in sight. A quick horror has been replaced with larger, lingering horror. And whatever happens, the horror will linger for years as more discoveries of war crimes and destruction are revealed. If Russia wins this thing, the abuses will go on for years. All this while, our justifiable outrage may only build—and fester, and blind us.
No one knows what will happen, and this is scary. But the invasion is the kind of event that led in the past to world wars, and the possibilities are overwhelmingly frightening. I don't trust myself at all, but I'll make a casual guess. Putin will not give up. He is hard-wired for this destruction. Even if a compromise is made and Ukraine cedes Donbas, I don't see it lasting. The only way I can see total victory for Ukraine—I'm not alone—is if Russia collapses from inner economic and social turmoil, perhaps overthrows the regime. Then where are we? We will have one country, Ukraine, in near ruins, another in economic and political disarray. This is the breeding ground for all manner of abuse, as we have seen too often in the past. Where will NATO and the US be then? Is anyone looking that far ahead? Somehow, in all of this, in any event, we will have to keep our heads and our spirits.
If only for ourselves, we'll need to preserve a favorable picture of a culture and people when the temptation is to become unthinking Russiaphobes. Vkhutemas is one place to start. I watched the lecture again last night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ91-koljqk
and it heartened me. Seriously, watch this. Architecture students, professors, and practitioners will find it engaging, maybe learn something. What I saw was a school of engaged, inventive spirits. The theories and designs are genuinely interesting. We need this, and we need it now.
Genuine thanks to Archinect and Peder for airing this out. This war, I suspect, has made all of us sick, in ways we may not even be aware of. We need to look at everything and talk. These are dismal times in other ways. It has been quiet here lately. It's good to see so many people—all of them—engaged in something.
Something else many here will find attractive is that Vkhutemas, unlike the Bauhaus, put women on an equal footing. They could study architecture if they wanted. Also the school reached out to those with limited means.
And it didn't toe the Constructivist line. Other movements were represented—Suprematism, Rationalism, Social Realism, others. Lunch discussions must have been lively. I'm not sure where they stood politically, other than in favor of the Soviet people, if there was consensus or conformity.
Well, there's this:
In early March, I wasn’t altogether surprised to learn that a number of Ukrainian literary groups, including pen Ukraine, had signed a petition calling for “a total boycott of books from Russia in the world!”—one that entailed not just cutting financial ties with publishers but ceasing to distribute or promote any books by Russian writers. Their rationale was similar to the one I’d encountered in 2019: “Russian propaganda is woven into many books which indeed turns them into weapons and pretexts for the war.” The boycott wasn’t totally consonant with the pencharter (“In time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion”). pen Germany quickly put out a press release to the effect that deranged twenty-first-century politicians shouldn’t be conflated with great writers who happened to be from the same country. The header read “The enemy is Putin, not Pushkin.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/rereading-russian-classics-in-the-shadow-of-the-ukraine-war
Battle of Legacies?
How can we celebrate the contributions of a Russian architectural legacy while Russians ruthlessly destroy families, buildings, and the entire cultural legacy of Ukraine?
To promote Soviet architecture right now is insensitive, inappropriate, and gives a sense of glorification or, even worse, endorsement to Putin’s actions in Ukraine. It also shows a lack of empathy of The Cooper Union with its Ukrainian neighbors; a complete lack of understanding of the situation on the ground; and total disregard to the suffering of those affected by the war. As pointed out by the author, it’s tone-deaf.
This debate raises one rhetorical question: whose legacy is more important?
Possibly because the people whose work is being celebrated are not the ones who are attacking Ukraine.
You still celebrate the contributions of Italian, German, Chinese, Japanes, Korean, and American architects. All of these countries have ruthlessly destroyed families, buildings, and entire cultures of various people. Many are still actively doing so.
You forgot Americans
No I did not. Read my comment again.
Even though it sheds crocodile tears, in fact, the USA and its MIC love this war...
And, here's why.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/20...
Lets keep those manufacturers from reaping huge profits and leave Ukraine to the mercy of these butchers. Once they control Ukraine, let's keep those manufacturers from the profits they reap supplying weapons to Poland. Once they control Poland... Where would Europe be if Detroit hadn't supplied copious amounts of military equipment to England and the Russians in WW2? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
You guys were doing business with Hitler, and he was instituting your racist segregationism in Germany quite literally quoting from your policies in the south. It was the Soviets who liberated Aushwitz btw, hope that doesn't burst your nationalist and militaristic bubble lol
Exhibitions take a long, long time to plan and install. In this case, I think the scholarly value of the work means it should be seen. But it is also common in these situations to add an informational panel to an exhibit like this, putting the work, AND the value in studying and talking about it, in context of both what was happening when it was produced and what is happening now.
??????
I didn't look hard, but I didn't find anything saying the show has been or ever was postponed. And if you go to this page:
https://cooper.edu/architecture
you see it slated to open this Thursday under "Upcoming Events."
Nor did I see the discussion above anywhere else. Hard to believe, given the divisiveness here, we won't hear it in other forms, elsewhere, in the months to come.
Really hard to separate people, culture, country, and government from one another nowadays - just one seething cauldron. No doubt governments of the day wield history and culture as weapons. But does that transigience mean one cannot or must not be allowed to assess the other aspects of a "country" independently on their own, narrower merits?
Stalin shaking hands with Truman and Churchill—positive proof of western complicity with Stalin atrocities!
Kudos to Archinect for editing out the most insidious and dubious part of the post.
The show has been postposed, apparently at the last minute:
https://cooper.edu/events-and-exhibitions/exhibitions/exhibition-postponed-vkhutemas-laboratory-avant-garde-1920-1930
I assume I can quote liberally:
"As this exhibition would be experienced amidst the present-day conditions, it has generated concerns and started instructive dialogue. We are grateful to our colleagues of Ukrainian descent who are helping us to work through this matter as we seek to balance, with accuracy and sensitivity, the scholarly study of architectural history amidst the current atrocities being exacted on the people of Ukraine by the Russian government. The complexities of the world’s geopolitical landscape have been compounded in the last year by the horror of Russia’s ruthless, oppressive campaign – a campaign that we and people and governments the world over rightly continue to denounce.
"We have made the decision to postpone the opening of the exhibition to provide us with the time and space to fully consider these concerns and to make an informed decision on moving forward. If you were planning to attend tonight’s opening event, we appreciate your support and hope you understand this decision. It is important for us to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and our own Ukrainian community members and neighbors as we thoughtfully explore our next steps."
It would be useful to hear this discussion from Cooper, if at all possible.
This entire article is tendentious and defamatory, especially the deleted paragraph (reproduced in Peder Anker's comment above). It is reminiscent of nothing so much as a Stalinist show trial, a process of "amalgamation" or guilt-by-association.
Vkhutemas may have been located in Moscow, but one of the things Anya points out in her research—aside from her breakdown of the class composition of the school, itself fascinating—is that the school's student body was largely made up of non-Russians (Jews, Ukrainians, Central Asians) as well as Russians.
I'm curious what the political atmosphere was like there. Anna doesn't mention much. I suspect, however, it followed this spirit:
Under socialism much of “primitive” democracy will inevitably be revived, since, for the first time in the history of civilized society, the mass of population will rise to taking an independent part, not only in voting and elections, but also in the everyday administration of the state. Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one governing.
Lenin
The society, of course, didn't end up that way.
COOPER SOVIET SHOW LINKED TO PUTIN
Imagine you saw this headline in one of the NY rags, followed by the picture that has now been deleted. It's described in Peder's comment, just above. Then add verbatim the text that has been deleted (I recall the word "insider"), or just use Peder's comment. Either one fits seamlessly. While we're at it, imagine other popular media and social sites pick it up.
That is as far as most people go. Cooper Union is tainted by association, as are Vkhutemas, the curator, and an architect in Moscow, horribly unfairly, with deleterious effect. None have any direct, meaningful association with Putin at all. "Soviet" will lead to all manner of dismal, unreasoned reactions in the public and academia. Putin's image can only engender distaste—and violent reaction. Cooper might get stormed.
I tried to make the headline short and sensational, but it is, in fact, an accurate summary of Peder's post.
But even more careful readers in more responsible media in a more intelligent article (we didn't get that) will be affected. If you throw excrement on a saint, s/he will still smell bad to anyone. The picture of Putin is toxic now, understandably so. It is hard for even the most balanced mind to disassociate a picture of Putin and anything associated with him from the horrors we've read about for almost a year now. It does not matter what Peder's intention was. His behavior was irresponsible and damaging. He should know better.
In all likelihood the show will not attract attention in the public, as I doubt it really cares. But who knows? If sensational enough, anything will get a ride. This post has taken the first step.
Really, the show belongs to a narrow audience, the architectural/academic community, who should be equipped to take a fuller, reasonable view, but again, who knows? And there is so much in the show worth discussing now, of great relevance to the issues that confront us all.
Perhaps unfair to Peder, but the post raises a larger issue of how degraded discussion has become in this country. Just link anything you dislike to someone horrible. Somehow this is taken as argument. Hitler is a favorite—he's been linked to gun control advocates and people attempting to deal with Covid. I've seen this done on the left as well. However absurd this behavior is, we can't dismiss it because it has effects. Many people pay attention and repeat it. No one can wash the image of Hitler out of their head. The mental landscaped has been poisoned for us all.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/us/anderson-county-review-laura-kelly-holocaust-cartoon.html
Here Kansas Governor Kelly's mask mandate was equated with deportation to concentration camps at a right wing "news" outlet (it was finally removed.) The picture is not only poisonous, it is utterly insane. Kelly is shown wearing a mask with the Star of David. What on earth was the author getting at? Jews are deporting Jews? But it will play well with mindless antisemites.
We are walking towards insanity and violence.
Not walking. Running.
guess we should start blacklisting US architectural history for all the war crimes we've committed and are continuing to commit in multiple countries..
Exactly. Fucking crocodile tears from the warmongerers.
...as if drawn from Vkhutemas:
https://drawingmatter.org/delirious-ny-the-story-of-the-pool/
All historical reflections are meditations on current affairs. Russia is currently attacking Ukraine in a brutal war that, in its gruesomeness, can be compared to Hitler-Germany's campaign against the Soviets. The armies of Vladimir Putin, the dictator, are annihilating not only military targets but also civilians, along with the nation's cultural heritage(including its architecture). To hide war crimes, Russian acolytes in New York try their best to make their nation shine as harboring highbrow culture. It's a cultural war of propaganda targeting our minds to soften our politicians' support of Ukraine. It's called "soft power."
(I see my posts referencing all the Nazis in Ukraine have been taken down. Enlightening. You can do that, but it doesn't change the facts on the ground.)
The author is a duplicitous hack, and the highlighted opening is one reason why. How can one exist in western critical thinking circles, write the above and not laugh at these two statements? How? You can do that if you're a hack for a neo-lib/capitalist imperialist system that's how. The audacity to write about war crimes in a western centered publication without acknowledging the atrocities committed on a daily basis by this country and it's NATO pigeons on its face the height of hypocrisy. But that's what these rogue puppets do; call out the behavior that their own side is guilty of committing. Mouthpiece.
Then without a shred of self awareness he uses the phrase soft power to describe what Cooper is doing is supporting Putin. I mean what is the piece? It's soft power in the disguise of an Op-ed, the only thing missing from this writing is a NYT stamp, and a Bush 2004 bumper sticker. Perhaps the author is working on behalf of the US state department, perhaps they're a CIA stooge, either way we'll never know.
Here's what we do know; Imperialism in all its forms is wrong. Ukrainian people should be protected, not just from Russian Imperialism, but from something more insidious, American Imperialism and it's concomitant actors in the raping and pillaging of Ukraine's wealth and resources; American Capitalist blood sucking criminals. Lastly, Ukrainian authorities in their efforts to defend themselves have allowed, supported, and defended the worst parts of their past, and present, to become part of their efforts they must get rid of neo-nazi Azov fighters, or they and the continent will never be the same and exhibitions like these will never be allowed to occur, but maybe that's the point.
You can keep thumbing down my posts Mitchell, you hack.
American Imperialism metaphorically raping and pillaging Ukraine while Russian Imperialist soldiers are LITERALLY raping and pillaging innocent Ukranian civilians? Your lack of empathy is truly stunning, yet somehow not surprising
Your stupidity is glaringly obvious. I'm guessing, like the author, you missed my point in the second sentence of the last paragraph.
There are Nazis everywhere, as we have seen. Ukraine has had a rough history, making it a breeding ground. They are a small group, but Putin exploited pictures like that insanely. I only did a quick read, but I saw that Azov his shifted to patriotism. And they're likely fighting their hearts out, literally and figuratively.
I can post numerous links to articles either noting the refusal of Africans, Arabs, and Indians leaving Ukraine, being used for shields, or other countries allowing Ukrainian refugees safe haven at the expense of Muslim populations/refugees currently residing in their countries. Not only is Ukraine at fault, but western nations are also to blame. I'm not buying any rebranding of Nazi brigades in Ukraine in the slightest.
To be honest, I'm holding my breath. Absolute war corrupts absolutely. This stuff will get out eventually. Or maybe it won't.
This belongs here, with some revision:
I should qualify my last comment above. Andrey Bokov obviously has ties to the current state. I got curious. Go here:
https://archi.ru/en/7264/interview-with-andrey-vladimirovich-bokov-anatoly-belov
And you can hear him speak in this interview, 2008. He is a prolific, thoughtful man with long experience in architecture and broad education, who has had deep attachment to the USSR/Russia for well over half a century.
Unlike many people, I don’t see foreigners as aliens. I don’t have any complexes in this respect. They and I speak the same language.
These are not the words of a Russian chauvinist, and we don't see here any taint of Putin's "Russian World" ("Russkiy Mir").
Scroll down, and you can see his work. It is interesting and varied, and would fit in with 95% of what you see here and elsewhere. This is not Albert Speer.
He was in his late 50s, at the height of his career, this achieved during uncertain and tumultuous times, when Putin assumed full power around 2000. He could not continue his work after that without involvement and, likely, compromises—and without Putin's approval. With oligarchs and dissidents and opposition journalists mysteriously—or not mysteriously—dying, at best he has had to walk a tightrope. Likely he has experience and resources that can't be ignored, thus he has a measure of protection.
Did he support the brutalities in the two Chechen wars, did he call in the strikes on Grozny, does he support Kadyrov—or Putin for that matter—or the Ukraine invasion, does he accept without concern the atrocities there, does he want a nuclear strike? Given his long history and attachment to Russia, I'm skeptical on all counts. But if he has reservations about these, he cannot speak up
Should he leave Russia—and abandon his career? He'd lose everything. Did he have a voice in the naming of the sports complex? He couldn't have. Should he have not built it? This is a fine stadium (from SU's link):
It isn't this:
Should Grozny not have a stadium at all? Should its citizens live in rubble? The circumstances are horrible, but Grozny has to be rebuilt. And Chechnya will remain part of Russia for years to come. People of different faiths and ethnicity will still live there, along with the others. Maybe the stadium will lift their spirit.
Or maybe he has been corrupted in some way. We just don't know, but you don't see it in his work or his public statements. For myself, I have to leave this question in brackets. Many prominent Russians are quite vocal in their nationalist and Slavophile views, however, who support Putin. Filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, a close friend, comes to mind. There's no reason for them not to be, not in Russia. This doesn't seem to be the case with Bokov at all (I'm not going to check all Russian sources).
He does, however, appear to be guilty of loving his daughter and supporting her.
Mies van der Rohe was thoroughly German and a committed modernist. In 1929, with his reputation and work like the Barcelona Pavilion, he had good reason to believe he might help shape the architecture and character of a new Germany. He wanted to stay, and did remain some ten years after, maybe waiting to see if the political environment would shift. It didn't.
It is tempting to imagine what might have happened to him and his work had he stayed and it was accepted. Would his work have been corrupted? Would he have been? Once thing that is certain is that his reputation would have been sullied, probably irreparably. It's an idle speculation however, because his work was rejected wholesale by the Nazi regime and he couldn't get commissions. Finally he left, with the other modernists.
As an aside, I browsed around the Russian architecture site:
https://archi.ru/en
There is interesting work here, which I don't think is getting attention elsewhere in the world. I haven't seen it in the architecture sites. It could be the work that will sustain Russians should Russia right the ship.
(I couldn't find a picture of Buckminster Fuller shaking hands with anyone notorious.)
Fuller's exhibition space sponsored by the U.S. at Expo 67, Montreal, is an exercise in non-coercive "soft power" to make U.S. legacies, and thus policies, more appealing to the world, notably U.S. atrocities and expansionist moves in the Vietnam.
Italics from Peder's post.
Notes:
1. Someone probably has written something like this.
2. There is probably a small grain of truth in it, but hardly a significant one. Anything built, especially, in a venue like this, at a time like this, will be associated with the debates and emotions and events of the day, however inadvertently, even if of the purest of intentions. You can't build in a vacuum. And at this time, anything the U.S. did would engender such scrutiny, not without cause. But the dome does not invite it, in fact, I would argue, deflects it.
3. No one had a clear picture of how the world should have been then, or has one now.
The most ironic aspect of this borderline insane oped is that it exactly follows the modus operandi of the Russian totalitarianism, which it tries to disparage. In Soviet (and Putin's) Russia it was (is) customary to cancel cultural events upon denunciations from "loyal citizens" who are "outraged by a display of alien culture amidst our struggle with foreign evil". In many cases, this was (is) just a handy way for "loyal citizens" to settle personal scores. As appears to be the case here as well. Notably, at this exact moment, this story is being paraded across Russian media as a proof that politicized assault on world cultural heritage is a Western phenomenon and not a quirk of Stalinism/Putinism. Peder is now a poster child for Putinist propaganda, helping to suppress the internal dissent in Russia.
Of course, it is worth noting that the style of Vkhutemas, after a few years of toleration, was anathematized by Russian rulers. If anything, giving it publicity reminds about the evils of Russian totalitarianism (of which Putin is a faithful heir), which extinguished this and many other creative endeavors.
Furthermore, is it really worth trying to erase a cultural contribution of individuals simply because many years later the same geographical area is a source of war? This is like canceling Kant's imperative because of WW2.
Finally, an attempt to steal Chanin's Jewishness is appalling. Chanin was a Jew born in the US. While one of his parents escaped from ethnic persecution at what later would become independent Ukraine, Chanin proudly identify as a Jew, and there is absolutely no evidence that he self-identified as a Ukrainian.
Thank you for your remarks. The author Anker chose to present a Jewish person as Ukrainian at a moment when it is politically convenient, ignoring the generations of Jewish people who were continuously excluded and harmed in Eastern Europe. It is important to respect and acknowledge the history of antisemitism, especially at a time when hatred of Jews is on the rise in the US.
Just another bit of irony:
Vkhutemas was an institution of the Soviet Union, which was a much bigger entity than today's Russia. Many of Vkhutemas' principal individuals were not ethnic Russians and were natives of geographic areas that are not Russia now. In fact, quite a few of them were Ukrainian natives. So, in his anti-Russian zeal, Anker denies the spotlight to some very notable sons of Ukraine.
my favorite thing is watching all these clowns (wiscomb, so-il, the princeton one...) follow the same pattern and think they will somehow surreptitiously persuade the public, when all they've done is damage their own reputation.. keep digging.
A level-headed open letter published today;
https://www.artandeducation.ne...
This is the petition. Click the link and look at the signers.
Those who have not signed, even more pathetic. Especially a certain three letter firm starting with D ending with R, and an arithmetic sign.
Ross Wolfe wrote a full review of Anna Bokov's book Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920–1930:
https://www.archpaper.com/2021...
Excerpt:
Even leaving aside the beautiful illustrations and Bokov’s impressive scholarship, Avant-Garde as Method is valuable for the access it provides to primary sources. Interspersed throughout the text are translations of assorted dossiers, newspaper articles, exhibition catalogues, lesson plans, and other materials from Russian, none of which have appeared in any prior publications. Highlights include the pamphlet Art in Life (Iskusstvo v bytu) from 1925, the brochure for Konstantin Melnikov’s pavilion in Paris, and a 1929 overview of the various departments’ activities. Next to assignments for the graphics and space courses are digitally reproduced axonometric projections by Bokov herself, which serve to visualize the tasks students were being asked to perform. Sketches often accompanied the original manuscripts—plans, sections, elevations—but these renderings are a helpful addition. For nonspecialists, these documents grant a window into the rich discourse of Soviet modernism.
We better knock this building down, I guess? Promoting Russia.
Curbed has the fullest account I've seen, with more players and back story, well worth a read:
https://www.curbed.com/2023/02/cooper-union-vkhutemas-exhibition-controversy-russia-putin-ukraine.html
Excerpt:
The question remains: How will art and culture related to Russia and its history continue to be received or censored, and who gets to make those decisions? Dismissing its history and scholarship wholesale poses a danger in itself — especially when exhibits like the one at Cooper seek to challenge a monolithic understanding of the country and the region at a particular moment in history. It’s not happening only at the Cooper Union; many cultural institutions are struggling with the same issue. “I know of at least five books at MIT Press, including one of my own, that are going down the tubes,” Cohen says. The Cooper Union is still working through the controversy. “We are in the process of continuing conversations with the exhibition co-curators, our students, and faculty, as well with members of Cooper’s Ukrainian community, as we plan a way forward,” Eber says. “Plans for the project will be shared once we have had time and space to consider these issues thoughtfully and sensitively.” A talk related to the exhibition that was scheduled for February 7, which would have featured Cohen and Bokov in conversation, has been canceled, and a new opening date has yet to be announced.
Linked in that article:
As area specialists who have dedicated our creative lives to artistic and cultural developments in the region, we should be close in our empathy for all Slavic, Baltic, Balkan, East European and Eurasian peoples who for generations have lived under the conditions of half-truths perpetuated by the course chosen by Russia. Hence, we should also be sensitive to the timing and location of the VKhuTEMAS exhibition. To present what is widely accepted as “Russian” modernist culture to which Ukrainian artists have contributed greatly makes us complicit in the war being waged on Ukraine. To present this “celebration of culture” in the neighborhood where Ukrainians live, either as immigrants who escaped the Soviet regime or as newly-arrived refugees, is a “real slap in the face”—to paraphrase the Ukrainian father of Russian Futurism, David Burliuk, who made the East Village his home in the 1920s.
Far better it would be for SHERA, by virtue of the signatories to its letter, to issue a statement strongly condemning the war and the destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, a letter addressed not to the Cooper Union but to all professional academic societies, and thus fill the sickly void of silence left by the world’s community of Russian intellectuals.
Myroslava M. Mudrak
Professor Emerita, History of Art
The Ohio State University
https://www.facebook.com/groups/481335055263972/posts/6054011891329566/
Time to resurrect Congressperson George Dondero, who in 1949 addressed the House with this speech titled “Modern Art Shackled To Communism.” Excerpts (some typos):
In 1914, Kandinsky, a Russian-born Expressionist and nonobjective painter, who found it safer to liv in Germany, returned to Russia, and 3 years later came the revolution. He is the man who preached that art must abandon the logical and adopt the illogical. He dominated a group of black knights of the isms, who murdered the art of the Russian academies. They were Cubists, Futurists, Expressionists, Constructionists, Suprematists, Abstractionists, and the rest of the same ilk. Kandinsky was a friend of Trotsky, and after the revolution founded the Moscow Institute of Art Culture. He was Communist leader in Red art–the commissar of the isms.
The Communist art that has infiltrated our cultural front is not the Communist art in Russia today–one is the weapon of destruction, and the other is the medium of controlled propaganda. Communist art outside Russia is to destroy the enemy, and we are the enemy of communism. Communist art in Russia is to delude the Russian workers.
The art of the isms, the weapon of the Russian Revolution, is the art which has been transplanted to America, and today, having infiltrated and saturated many of our art centers, threatens to overawe, override and overpower the fine art of our tradition and inheritance. So-called modern or contemporary art in our own beloved country contains all the isms of depravity, decadence, and destruction. . . .
Cubism aims to destroy by designed disorder.
Futurism aims to destroy by the machine myth.
Dadaism aims to destroy by ridicule.
Expressionism aims to destroy by aping the primitive and insane.
Abstractionism aims to destroy by the creation of brainstorms.
Surrealism aims to destroy by denial of reason.
Full speech here:
https://greg.org/archive/2017/04/17/better-read-013-modern-art-shackled-to-communism-by-congressman-george-dondero.html
Look at the logic, the language—it sounds familiar.
Imagine if Cooper Union tried to have the Vkhutemas exhibition during the Cold War, say in the 50s, and it got attention and caused a stir and they postponed it. When would be a good time to have it? When the Soviet Union fell over 30 years later? It's not hard to imagine, however, the rabid loonies of today wouldn't make the same or similar arguments against it, if they thought they could get a rise.
Cf. Mudrak's comment, above, "To present what is widely accepted as 'Russian' modernist culture to which Ukrainian artists have contributed greatly makes us complicit in the war being waged on Ukraine."
Any commenters that make any accusations, without real evidence, about any specific individuals (in this case, specifically, Anna Bokov and her father) have been, and will be blocked from further commenting in this article, and any other article/thread that makes such claims. There is no proof to substantiate these accusations.
Where’s the credibility in the actual OP-ED? Where’s the substance? All that can be read is blatant propaganda and Peder’s voice is now being put on display internationally. Have we learned nothing from the hateful detention camps during WWII? This OP-ED is frankly insensitive to anyone living freely in the US with Russian heritage. This is not ok and
neither is Archinect’s persistence to justify why this propaganda. Discrimination and stereotyping is at play here.
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