A traveling academy through the post-Soviet cityscape
Is the Empire striking back? The Soviet period is judged differently today from country to country.
In the autumn of 2016, a traveling academy made up of intellectuals, urban researchers, architects, and activists from Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow, Chişinău, Tbilisi, and Yerevan traversed the post-Soviet cityscapes of these capitals, accompanied by Western European colleagues who met with these local groups and experts and held discussions with them under the theme »The Empire Strikes Back?«
The talks were based on the question of whether, out of the common past in the Empire and the separate yet shared experience of the post-Soviet city, models could be developed for a joint future in what is now a multiply divided region (and whether an understanding could be gained of cultural and sociopolitical processes and tensions).
The articles present local reflections by the various participants: on buildings, situations, and areas of conflict. The result is images of the post-Soviet present day and of living day-to-day with the built witnesses to the Empire.
A project by Goethe-Institut and tranzit.at in Chişinău, Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow, Tbilisi and Yerevan
