An exhibition about the Russian school of architecture was canceled in New York
New York’s Cooper Union School of Art has decided to postpone the exhibition about VKHUTEMAS – the Moscow School of Art and Architecture. The educational institution reported that such a decision was made because of the war in Ukraine started by Russia, writes artnews. The exhibition entitled “VHUTEMAS: Laboratory of the avant-garde, 1920-1930.” was supposed to open on January 25. On the same day, Cooper Union announced the decision to postpone it for an unknown time. VKHUTEMAS (abbreviation from Высшие художестно-технические мастерские) is an architectural university created on Lenin’s initiative and closed by Stalin after a series of denunciations. It is interesting that Ukrainians Kazimir Malevich and Oleksandra Ekster were among the founders of the educational institution, whose creative achievements Russia tried to appropriate for a long time, calling them Russian artists. The “reading room” project created at VKHUTEMAS In a joint statement by the school’s acting dean Haley Eber and the head of the exhibition committee Oleksandr Tochilovsky, it is explained that the opening was postponed to “provide time and space to fully consider” doubts about the exhibition. “As this exhibition would have taken place under current conditions, it has caused concern and initiated an instructive dialogue,” the statement said. architecture against the background of the current atrocities committed against Ukrainians by the Russian authorities”. Application for postponement of the exhibition. Screenshot from the cooper.edu website The publication notes that although it was not specified in the statement of Cooper Union representatives, the exhibition was postponed a few days after New York University professor Peder Anker published an article in which he condemned the upcoming event and also accused the curator Anna Bokova in relations with the Russian president. Calling the exhibit a form of Russian “soft power,” Anker wrote, “While the scholarly work behind the exhibit is serious, it serves in current cultural politics as Russian propaganda. Given the war, why did Cooper Union agree to support it now?” The Cooper Union building in New York. Commentators on Facebook also expressed their indignation under the post announcing the exhibition: “It is a shame to ignore the fate of millions of Ukrainian people, honoring the architecture of a terrorist state!”, “How can this happen in the light of war, massacres and terrible war crimes, going on?! Totally insensitive and downright disturbing,” “CU is completely out of touch with current events? Are you oblivious to the crimes against humanity that Russia commits on a daily basis? Is this a slap in the face to the greater Ukrainian community?” Read also: A concert by a Russian pianist who supports the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine was canceled in Vienna
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