Novocomum to Como – Club Zuev the Fly

We point out that the exhibition “Terragni and Golosov: Novocomum in Como – Club Zuev in Moscow. Comparisons and affinities”, edited by Alessandro De Magistris e Anna Vyazemtseva and organized by MAARC Virtual Museum Abstractionism Rationalist Architecture Como, will be held in Moscow at the MUAR – Schusev State Museum of Architecture.

The exhibition aims to verify, through archival and editorial sources, the contacts, influences and differences between two of the most iconic works of the ‘900, the Novocomum by Terragni and the Club Zuev by Golosov, two masters of modern architecture.

These two buildings, united by a similar compositional solution – a cylindrical glass volume in the corner, and completely different in purpose, were designed and built almost simultaneously – in 1927-1930, in culturally, politically and economically separated countries. Their authors – Ilya Golosov (1883-1945) and Giuseppe Terrani (1904-1943) – belonged to different generations and had different training and professional experience, but both played a key role in the history of modern architecture.

At the exhibition of unpublished and full-scale drawings of the Zuev Club, combined with those of the Novocomum, documents from the A.V. Shchusev of Moscow, from the State Archives of Arts and Literature in Moscow and from the Terragni Archive of Como, period images and photos alternate, 20 contemporary authorial photos in large format by Roberto Conte (a real exhibition within the exhibition, the result of the survey carried out specifically by the photographer between 2016 and 2019).
The vision of a documentary conceived by Anna Vyazemtseva and shot by Anton Ovcharov in Como, Milan, Moscow and St. Petersburg within the two architectures is also proposed, which includes several interviews not only with the curators of the exhibition but also with other authoritative scholars.

According to the curators of the project Alessandro De Magistris and Anna Vyazemtseva, “by inviting the public to compare and reflect, the exhibition avoids simplifications and hasty comparisons, introduces the viewer to two key works of twentieth century architecture and talks about the difficult events in the history of ‘Italy and the Soviet Union that accompanied them between the two world wars “.

Inauguration on 4 September at the A. V. Schusev Museum of Architecture in Moscow.
Edited by: Anna Vyazemtseva and Alessandro De Magistris

Organizers of the exhibition: MAARC – Association “Abstract art and rationalism in Como”, State museum of architecture named after A.V. Schuseva
Photo-project: Roberto Conte
Coordinators: Ebe Gianotti (MAARC), Polina Streltsova (GNIMA named after Shchusev)
Graphic design and layout: Giovanna Saladanna in collaboration with the Municipality of Como, Terragni Archive, A. V. Schusev Museum Moscow.