galleryblog @ tufts

Nicolai Ouroussoff reviewed Richard Pare’s show at MoMA today in the Times. Here’s the link.

This article has a lot to do with Kabakov. Ouroussoff writes, “What distinguished [Soviet modern architecture] was the passion of its conviction, however naive, that architecture could be an agent for profound social change. That this vision was stillborn only adds to its allure: as an incomplete experiment, it potentially could be renewed by future generations.”

I’d say Kabakov is a direct descendent of this wave of modern architects and their utopian thinking. By conceiving of, and constructing, the Center of Cosmic Energy (and, indeed, the entire Utopian City) he was put himself squarely amongst that ‘future generation’ and their vision.

Ouroussoff goes on to say that “sadly, the reverent regard that Western architects hold for these buildings is not necessarily matched by everyday Russians. Many of them are only too eager to brush aside architectural reminders of the Soviet era. The result threatens to be a collective amnesia that will permanently distort one of the most critical periods of modern architectural history.”

This collective amnesia is exactly what Kabakov and the CCE seek to prevent. By channeling the cosmic energy from the Noosphere, where all the world’s greatest ideas live, people can effectively prevent those ideas from disappearing. The question is, can Kabakov and his CCE convince modern-day citizens, including Russians, that these great old ideas are worth remembering?