A blog item in today's online edition of the LA Times discussed a book of French photographer Frederic Chaubin's images of 1980s architecture in former Soviet Union republics. One has to see them to believe them. If architecture intends to interpret and manage social imperatives, these structures leaves one puzzled. It's tempting to simply assign "visions of the future" to these edifices and call it a day. I don't think that's the case, as these buildings and monuments were clearly intended for immediate use and contemplation.It is definitely worth one's time to view the available images from online links. A very good one is avaiable from the ZKM/Museum fur Neue Kunst, a Karlsruhe, Germany institution that had a 2011 exhibit of Chaubin's work. The link includes an engaging, four-minute video of Chaubin discussing his work. Another interesting interview with Chaubin is provided by the now-defunct, Japan-based website PingMag.
While Chaubin's book is a new release, his project is not exactly fresh. The images have taken something of a world tour for at least the past four years. In 2007, The New York Times reviewed a Gotham gallery's show of these photographs. Chaubin's personal website is unfortunately currently under construction.
The Chaubin image in this blog shows The Central Research and Design Institute for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics in St. Petersburg, Russia.
PS. Apologies to those who are literate in French and/or German. I've left out the diacritical marks in certain words, as I'm not confident the Google software can successfully handle them. Anyone who can offer a solution is welcome to post it here.
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