Terragni and Golosov

This exhibition is dedicated to two masterpieces of the XX century architecture: the Novocomum residential complex by Italian architect Giuseppe Terragni (1904 – 1943) in Como and the Zuev Workers' Club by Russian and Soviet architect Ilya Golosov (1883 – 1945) in Moscow. Both designed and built at the same time (between 1927 and early 1930s), the two buildings had a similar solution – corner cylinders. Although they were realised in different countries and under dissimilar circumstances and had a radically different function, these buildings for decades were compared, and this comparison became a commonplace of international architectural historiography.

The exhibition follows the international conference organized in 2016 by MAARC at the Union of Architects of Como and the recent exhibition of the same name in Como (June 1st – 30th 2019). It is serves to verify, through archive sources, among them unpublished ones, contacts, influences and differences between these two iconic works of the XX century.

The drawings of the Club Zuev are finally juxtaposed to those of the Novocomum. The documents that come from the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, from the State Archive of Literature and Art in Moscow and from the Archivio Terragni in Como, are accompanied by historical photographs and reproductions of archival sources.

The research part of the exhibition is complemented by the photo project by Roberto Conte, carried out specially for the exhibition between 2016 and 2019, and by the documentary scripted by Anna Vyazemtseva and filmed by Anton Ovcharov in Como, Milan, Moscow and in Saint Petersburg that includes various interviews of the distinguished Italian and Russian scholars of XX century architecture.

As the curators Alessandro De Magistris and Anna Vyazemtseva say, "In an effort to stimulate reflections that overcome simplifications and mere comparisons, this exhibition introduce the visitors to two milestones of XX century architecture, in the scenario of the relations surrounding the complicated history of Italy and the Soviet Union between the two world wars".
On September 6th, in the frame of the exhibition, Prof. Federico Bucci (Politecnico di Milano) will held a lecture "Rationalism in Italian architecture of 1920 – 1940 and School of Milan".