Vladimir Somov. Phoenix Syndrome Automatic translate

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art presents the exhibition “Phoenix Syndrome”, dedicated to the work of the architect and artist Vladimir Somov. The project will be the first personal display of the artist’s works and a tribute to his legacy, undeservedly forgotten in the last years of the author’s life.

Vladimir Somov (1928–2020) - representative of the architectural school of Soviet modernism, designer of the Giprotheatr Institute, author of projects for theater buildings in Noginsk, Blagoveshchensk, Murmansk, Veliky Novgorod, Paris, Sofia, Damascus. In 2020, Somov donated more than 50 works to the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. In addition to architectural sketches, previously little-known works by Somov the artist were also presented: the project will feature graphic sheets and pictorial abstractions created by Somov in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

An important part of the exhibition is devoted to the author’s architectural activity, which opens up in a new way in the light of Somov’s painting practice, which helps to record his interests, aspirations and plastic experiments against the backdrop of developing scientific and technological progress and cultural and social changes in the period from the end of the Thaw to Perestroika. A feature of Somov’s architectural and artistic thinking was its connection with projectivography, a scientific and experimental design method that the architect not only used, but also helped develop.

The name of the project was given by Vladimir Somov’s work “Phoenix Syndrome”. It is this phrase that most accurately describes the artist’s faith in the construction of a “new reality,” which manifested itself in the pathos of his architectural projects through the symbol of a flaming torch star. Also, the name, according to the creators of the project, indicates the possibility of reviving interest in the artist’s heritage and in the now forgotten field of domestic design.

The exhibition included paintings, graphics, books, photographs and documentary evidence related to the personality of Vladimir Somov. Special attention at the exhibition is paid to one of the architect’s two completed projects, namely the Novgorod Academic Drama Theater named after F. M. Dostoevsky, a unique example of Soviet modernist architecture in its design and scale. Some of the materials, without which the picture of Somov’s work would not be complete, were provided for the exhibition by the State Museum of Architecture named after A. V. Shchusev, as well as by collectors.

About the program “Collection. Viewpoint"

"Collection. Viewpoint" is a long-term exhibition program developed specifically for the MMOMA Educational Center in addition to the series of large-scale thematic exhibitions that has become iconic for the museum. It is distinguished by a different, focused and intimate approach to the study and display of museum collections, as well as a much more dynamic rhythm of display. The program brings together a variety of exhibition types - from monographic and archival to interdisciplinary. Dedicated to the study of individual segments of the collection, these, in fact, laboratory projects often turn to private, non-mainstream, artistic subjects and allow testing new exhibition solutions. The program provides an opportunity to consider a wide range of phenomena - names, movements, images and ideas in Russian art of the XX-XXI centuries - from different positions and angles. In turn, the museum collection itself, as a unique resource, seems to be a convenient “viewpoint” for talking about art, history, science and culture in general.

The program launched at the end of 2017 and is implemented by curatorial staff from the MMOMA Science Department. Authors of the program: Andrey Egorov, Anna Harutyunyan.