PODCAST
EXCLUSIVE
This week Kyiv Post podcast host Elina Kent sits down with photographer, architecture and monumental art researcher Dmytro Solovyov (@ukrainianmodernism) to discuss Kyiv’s famous and extraordinary Soviet Modernist structures.
The buildings and locations attract foreigners from all over the world. But the post soviet country and its people want to break away from Soviet memories. The slow erasure of these historical structures has recently been met with resistance some resistance. Soviet Modernism might be architecture worth saving.
Full transcript down below:
Welcome to the Kyiv Post Podcast, where you can tune in to stories that give you a deeper understanding of Ukraine.
I’m your host Elina Kent. I’m a multimedia producer and lifestyle journalist here at the Kyiv Post. This past week I’ve spent time running around the city of Kyiv visiting all sorts of interesting structures. Big and bold soviet architecture.
You may be aware of Soviet modernism and brutalism, a genre of architecture that started from 1955 to 1991. A period where creativity was censored and restricted, yet bold experimental structures appeared against the odds.
The style was prominent between 1955 and 1991, replacing Stalinist architecture, which abandoned modernity in preference for Gothic styles and Russian baroque, to present foreign countries with the idea of prosperity in the Soviet Union.
But after Joseph Stalin’s death, the new ruler, Nikita Khrushchev condemned the amount of money spent on Stalinist buildings and demanded that new construction be developed at a reduced cost.
Eventually, western architectural magazines started to make their way through the Iron Curtain and influence local artists. As a result, an extraordinary genre emerged, combining imaginative ways of thinking and the essence of power.
Many modernist buildings still stand in Kyiv today as an essential part of the city’s diverse architectural landscape and identity.
The style’s aesthetic and presence has risen in popularity on the international scene in recent years far beyond expectations. Fans of this type of architecture like the aesthetic of old soviet buildings in post soviet countries. It’s got grunge, it’s got an edge, it’s modernism.
Modernist structures in Ukraine have become an attraction for a variety of film productions including music videos, commercials or fashion campaigns.
When you pick up your print copy of the Kyiv Post this week you’ll see the guide to Kyiv’s 12 extraordinary Soviet architecture sights.
The Kyiv Crematorium might resemble the sand igloos on the planet Tatooine from “Star Wars”, The Flying Saucer is quite literally a UFO that has flown into the Kyiv Institute of Information. Residential neighborhoods all around Kyiv sport space pod balconies, and Ukraine’s giant abandoned space-age saucer is just over the left bank.
It was during the era of modernist architecture when the intense space race between the Soviet Union and the United States resulted not only in progress in space travel but pushed soviet architects to experiment.
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You can also read the guide and see these sights on our website kyivpost.com.
Soviet modernism is fascinating to look at. With some designs, it may take a few minutes to process what was going on in the architects’ minds during planning, and some are so aesthetically pleasing that they scratch that unreachable part of your brain.
In recent years, the fight to preserve these structures has intensified. Having little or no state protection, some buildings decay, while others are under threat of sloppy renovations or even destruction.
Dmytro Solovyov: You know the famous UFO on Lybidska metro station? I learned in 2018 that it was going to be reconstructed into a mall. I started realizing that this fate sooner or later awaits all of the soviet architecture objects in Ukraine.
That is Dmytro Solovyov, the photographer, architecture and monumental art researcher and founder of the project called “Ukrainian Modernism”. Since starting the instagram page “ukrainianmodernism” in 2018 he’s gotten a little over 37,000 followers who enjoy his photos and posts about soviet architecture in Ukraine.
When we all learnt that this entrepreneur bought this, rather rented, the tarelka (flying saucer) and was planning to turn it into a mall. People organized an initiative with a name to preserve the building, to give it legal protection status to avoid reconstruction, and also restore the design. Because it’s not in very good shape in comparison to other modernist objects in Ukraine.
To preserve and restore the design of the Tarelka or saucer, activists and the actual architect who built the UFO in 1971, Florian Yuriev, spent 3 years holding media campaigns and raising awareness about the structure. And it worked, the government added the Saucer to the registry of protected architectural landmarks, which the activists hope will keep the structure safe.
I can’t guarantee the preservation and survival of it because our entrepreneurs and oligarchs are above the law, but it’s a start.
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Now what makes soviet architecture stand out in Ukraine? It’s a genre that many want to dismiss and forget, and for understandable reasons. Not many people in this post soviet country want to be reminded of the soviet era, let alone look at the buildings that represent it. But as an architectural style, it deserves its place in history.
It’s an organic step in the history of architecture, for every era there is a certain architecture style. So it evolves, always. It’s a product of its era. A child of its era. If we erase all soviet modernism we erase a big chunk of our soviet history. And what makes our cities interesting are the historical layers. What would our cities have been if we had erased all previous epochs and only lived in what was being built now. It would be super bland and soulless. I don’t know, artificial, unnatural? And what would we leave our descendants from the 20th century if we erase this history material.
A lot of foreigners visit Kyiv just to look at Kyiv’s Hotel Salute, or the flying saucer. The soviet aesthetic has a certain charm that brings foreigners from all over the world. For most Ukrainians, that charm brings more negative connotations.
Since 1991 thousands of monumental art objects have been destroyed= or reconstructed beyond recognition.
You’ll see that this sentimentality towards this heritage is not shared by most Ukrainians at all. They don’t get it, they don’t like it, they don’t see it as something worth preserving.
But there has been a noticeable shift in perception to soviet modernism in the recent years.
International attention has been focused on the modernist structures in Kyiv. Dmytro’s and other fellow activist’s work have been growing in popularity.
Ironically enough with every destroyed mosaic the audience grows. Because people understand best when they lose something. Like we have this proverb in Ukrainian and Russian “That we don’t appreciate something until we lose it” so it works here. But I hope that when everybody – when most of Ukrainians are already aware of the value there will be something left still.
And there seems to be a hopeful trend as more and more people appreciate this type of architecture. Artists from abroad visit Kyiv to film their music videos against the modernist backdrops. The Korean Boy Band NCT U music video BOSS is filmed in modernist buildings around Kyiv – racking up 142 million views on Youtube.
That’s how I got into K-pop actually. So yeah it’s getting a mainstream appeal. But still the stigma of soviet past is super strong, I think more work is needed. But I am content with this mainstream exposure.
You can check out Dmytro’s project to document Modern architecture of Ukraine on the instagram and facebook page at “@ukrainianmodernism”.
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That was this week’s episode of the Kyiv Post podcast. I’m your host Elina Kent. You can subscribe to our podcasts on all streaming platforms and follow along on our website. Also make sure to check out the guide to the 12 extraordinary sights of soviet architecture on our website and see for yourself how interesting these structures are. So stay safe, stay home, and subscribe to the Kyiv Post.
