The first thing popping-up in your mind when you see this might be the question "Is he serious?" Personally, I was embarrassed in a way the moment I entered the area with “Totan” exhibition. Works of various media by Totan Kuzembaev were displayed at the Schusev Museum of Architecture. Along with pictures of his buildings there were his newest sculptures and experimental objects. The latter causes diverse impressions and I would like to speculate more on this a bit later.
Totan Kuzembaev architecture is recognised both amongst local and foreign public. For instance, his Moscow based studio gets commissions for luxury buildings[1], he won special prize at Dedalo - Minosse in 2007[2], his interior work was commended by jury of International Property Awards 2013[3]. Actually, there’s quite a long list of contests he was nominated at, but what excites me more is his approach as a designer.
It is generally accepted that there’s no such thing as “russian design” today. One can argue that russian graduate designers are widely employed at prestige companies abroad. That is true. Another fact is, no foreign country knows russian design as a brand. There are no “made in Russia” products, there are no “designed in Russia” objects imported or even covered in media abroad. At least, not too often to note. Such sad circumstances lead russian market to borrowing foreign styles for local products (i.e. furniture, fashion, architecture etc). Moreover, a design work would rather be sold if it “looks like made in Europe”. As for Totan Kuzembaev, he somehow managed to adopt famous russian constructivism to the realms of today and successfully sells it to local clients[4].
Now let me return to the topic of “Totan”, the exhibition I visited recently. Photographs of his architectural works were hanging next to physical objects. Those were panels consisting of wooden pieces, paper leftovers, bolts, Lego blocks, different seeds and other scrap materials organised in abstract geometrical patterns. The panels create decorative impression thanks to seemingly controlled rhythms. I can easily imagine them hanging on the walls of some hotel reception hall. On the other hand, the way materials are put together makes me think their purpose is not that industrial. It’s not really neat and accurate, most of components are simply glued together and you can see artefacts. If you move a little closer they even look as complete mess, but not ugly enough to be hardcore fine-art so to say. Remembering that in russian press he is claimed to be multidisciplinary artist, I almost start worrying whether he is serious about these panels.
But as I walk further to the next hall, I can distinctly see his works being purely experiments with materials. This joyful designer is constantly amazed with natural beauty of accidental relations between different materials, between materials and space, amazed with just making process, amazed with experimenting, basically. The joy of being able to make and see. You could feel it in the air! And you could also see how this rather childish approach gives great results in such a serious business as designing russian architecture today. If it was just playing with materials to let the public in galleries enjoy the game, it would not be too important. But it is important because such experiments are just a stage in a greater process of designing, they are not the final outcome.
So let’s leave the question about seriousness to the world of hi-brow fine-arts[5] and enjoy the moment of contemplation, we are safe.
Alexandra Zyuzina
IAD, level 4.
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[1] http://totan.ru/
[2] http://www.dedalominosse.org/eng/2008_segnalazioni.php
[3] http://propertyawards.net/europe-2013/
[4] Grigoriy Revzin about russian architecture http://archi.ru/press/russia/8244/luchshaya-russkaya-arhitektura
[5] http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/transcripts/lecture-1-transcript.pdf
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate Totan as a good Russian architect, but the statement that he follows traditions of Russian constructivism and this associates him with Russia is not absolutely clear in my opinion. Constructivism is the international movement and there are a lot of different architects who follow it in the better way. As for me especially Totan's approach to the materials and his aspiration for entering his projects organically into Russian nature makes him the interesting Russian architect.
It is really catching post! I regret that I have not visited the exhibition. Pure art pieces of architects are of great interest. They show character and individuality of a creator probably better than their buildings. Here are now limitations, customers, etc., just self-expression. In this case one of the features is ability to see beauty in ordinary things and it is great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for post. Now I know who built this "masterpiece" near my parent's home.
ReplyDeleteIn whole, I keen on Totan's work with natural material,such as wood.
But this building spoil impression. And this is not only my opinion. I think the owner agree with me, as he live in neighboring house and trying to sell it for enormous price. So, draw conclusions, Totan's project overpricing and does not suited to everyday living.
From your description it really does sound like Totan was simply experimenting with material. It is interesting that you say it "was not ugly enough to be hard-core fine art"- I know exactly what you mean. It seems as though he is somewhere between experimentation and incompetence. It does give a new perspective though to think that these panels are experimentation rather than trying to "be something" and the important if not completely necessary part this experimentation plays in the design process is one i haven't considered before. Like children we must be willing to explore, fail and try again if we are to grow and learn. I feel generally as an audience I don't enjoy or respect this kind of 'art' but seeing it in a bigger picture has enlightened me somewhat.
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ReplyDeleteThis post and comments encouraged me to get some more information about mr. Kuzembaev and his works in the field of architecture. According to the post, the author seems to be creative and enthusiastic person with great imagination.So I have visited the official web site and also found some extra information and comments about mr. Kuzembaev (www.ec-a.ru really useful and honest).What is surprising is that the majority of his projects is made from the same material-wood,and creativity could be seen only in forms of the structures.However ,as I can suppose, the complexity of some projects is not quite necessary,but wood ,as a natural eco-friendly material,could somehow balance these useless embellishments with it`s precious technological features.I mean,it seems that Kuzembaev tries to justify too abstract design by speculation on one comfortable to work with and easy to sell material.
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