Centrifugal Tendencies. Tallinn – Moscow – Novosibirsk

Centrifugal Tendencies. Tallinn – Moscow – Novosibirsk is the continuation in a series of exhibitions centred on visionary and socio-critical architecture in the Museum for Architectural Drawing. Following the works of Lebbeus Woods, Peter Cook and drawings from Alvin Boyarsky’s collection, this exhibition presents so-called ‘Paper Architecture’ from the former Soviet Union. The term ‘Paper Architecture’ was coined in the 1980s by architect, curator and one of its protagonists, Yuri Avvakumov. It is often used as a synonym for unrealised building proposals, intended solely for the plan chest - yet to stop here would not do justice to the phenomenon. ‘Paper Architecture’ is mainly used to identify an architectural movement born in the Soviet Union of the 1980s, developed in protest against the routine of state planning offices of the time.

The exhibition presents around fifty drawings which can be grouped into three categories: the Tallinn School, Paper Architecture from Moscow and that from Novosibirsk. It includes works by renowned artists such as Leonhard Lapin, Yuri Avvakumov, Alexander Brodsky and other architects.