Opening of the exposition is timed to fit the occasion of the Nizhny Novgorod 800th anniversary and the 125th anniversary of the All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition where Vladimir Shukhov made his triumphant appearance.
- G. Shukhov’s private archive arriving in Nizhny Novgorod is not only doing homage to the city, but also is a symbolic unification of the engineer and architect’s design laboratory with the place which was seminal for his heritage. It was in Nizhny Novgorod, at the All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition 1896 where Vladimir Grigorievich won his renown when he presented the structures made after his design. In 1897 Shukhov designed a building of a roll slitting shop which was the first building in the world to incorporate a double-curvature self-supporting shell. It was built in the town of Vyksa where there is also the Shukhov 40-meter water tower. The hyperboloid high-voltage masts across the Oka River erected in 1927–1929 are expertly acknowledged the peak of perfection among the Shukhov designs. Found in the suburbs of Nizhny Novgorod two hyperboloid watchtowers also will be presented to the public.
In the exhibition are more than 200 exhibits of the Shukhov personal creative archive from Russian and foreign collections: sketches, models, manuscripts, and photos. The engineer’s archive is now in conversation with the achievements of modern architectural masters, Norman Foster, Frei Otto, Werner Sobek, and some others who decades after Shukhov independently discovered latticed structures. The comparison will help see the true scale and significance of the Vladimir Shukhov’s innovative discoveries.
The 3D film Engineer Shukhov’s Stereoworld will be screened at the exhibition: its creators attempted at the cinematographic representation of the unique photos made by Vladimir Grigorievich. Made into a visual diary of sorts, they cover the everyday life in Russia on the cusp of the 19 – 20th centuries.
As a sidetrack programme, the exhibition will host the following events: lectures about Vladimir Shukhov, his heritage and his influence on architecture and visual arts, Family Weekend for children and their parents to help them have an insight into the secrets of the Shukhov engineering art and create their own architectural objects, and inclusivity events.
Vladimir Shukhov won his renown as a unique architect and engineer in Nizhny Novgorod and became forever the cultural hero of the city. Celebrating the 800th anniversary when our city is revisiting its past and making plans for the future, we cannot do without Shukhov’s heritage and therefore must vastly and exhaustively represent him as a phenomenon to which modern culture intensively resorts.
Anna Gor
Director of the Arsenal
For our Museum of Architecture this project is incredibly important since our Museum keeps the history of Russian architecture at large and its sphere is not restricted to Moscow alone. We are very glad that the Nizhny Novgorod citizens will be able to see the exhibition as Nizhnny Novgorod is one of the key places where the modern Russian architecture stems from. I really hope that the project will evoke interest and that the creativity and ideas of Shukhov, his absolutely incredible, visionary solutions will be sought after and relevant to the today’s reality.
Yelizaveta Likhachova
Director of MUAR
The history of the steel works of the OMK (United Metallurgical Company) in Vyksa, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, directly concerns the name of Vladimir Shukhov,” says the Chairperson for the OMK-Uchastie charitable foundation’s board of trustees Irina Sedykh. “Within the territory of the works are two objects of cultural heritage, a water tower of the beginning of the 20th century and the arched roof of the roll slitting shop of the end of the 19th century. OMK is building Russia’s first industrial tourist park. Shukhov’s unique creations will be moved from the works’ territory into the park and made available to visitors. We are glad that we are now in the new phase of collaboration with the Museum of Architecture and the Arsenal of Nizhny Novgorod and can support the exhibition that will make the citizens and guests of the city acquainted with the architectural and engineering genius of Vladimir Shukhov.
Irina Sedykh
Head of the Guardian Board of OMK-Uchastie Charitable Foundation
The organizers of the exhibition would like to express their gratitude for sharing their materials to: Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Archive of the United Metallurgical Company; Werner Sobek AG; the Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA; the Viatka Arts Museum n. a. V. M. and A. M. Vasnetsov; Central State Archive of Moscow; State Archives of the audio-visual documentation of the Nizhny Novgorod Region; Central Archives of the Nizhny Novgorod Region; State Archives of North Carolina; Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK), University of Stuttgart, Germany; Shchusev State Museum of Architecture; Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM), Moscow; Moscow Architecture School (MARCH); Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA); Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation; the Chelnokov Photo Heritage Foundation; Shukhov Tower Foundation; Popov Central Museum of Communications; Norman Foster Foundation; Foster + Partners; Nikken Sekkei; EFFEKT; IBA-BV; and the private archives of V. G. Shukhov, T. P. Vinogradova, Ye. Nozhova, and the archive of the Bebenin Family.
