If a time period is to be judged by its official artifacts, then Soviet Union in its later days appears to be a space, where technocratic thinking was endorsed and appreciated. This can be clearly seen in the buildings of the 1970s and 80s, linked to the military-industrial complex – numerous arms factories, research institutes and engineering bureaus. They were allocated lucrative, dominant spots in the fabric of urban development. Yet at the same time, they are completely insulated from the surrounding environment, their facades are impenetrable, and the entire territory is surrounded by an aura of secrecy, which is needless today.

Such architecture functions like a multi-layered text, announcing to its users and observers the rules of the game in an era of scientific socialism. One can pick out many messages: a history, stopped in its tracks; an aim to retain structure for structure’s sake; a quasi-religious ideology. However, it seems to me that on a basic, psychological level there is a certain limitation built into the architecture – a limitation of language, a limitation of movement, a block in consciousness.

Alexey Bogolepov is an artist currently living and working in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His work comprises architectural photography, sculpture, video and installation in a broad exploration of modernism both in the post-Soviet states and worldwide. He is interested in making analytic art that produces political commentary on the subjects of power structure, ideology of space, planning practices and systemic vision.