James Graham
Room E2

If Soviet Constructivism is typically associated with the project of internationalism, the large-scale territorial development of the First Five-Year Plan also came at a moment when the role of nationality within the Soviet project were being most hotly discussed. This talk will develop the notion of “Settler Constructivism,” or the role of modern architecture in developmental projects in primarily non-Russian regions. Ilya Golosov’s projects for the new city of Elista, at the heart of the territory of the nomadic Kalmyk people, will serve as a notable case study. Intended as a gravitational center for urbanizing a largely rural and Buddhist population while collectivizing the region’s agriculture, Golosov’s architecture was intended as an expression of “Sovietness” even as it sought to affirm the right to national self-determination promised under the Nationality Policy. Deploying the language of Internationalism within an essentially colonial context, Golosov's work makes plain the participation of architects in shaping the fraught "multinationalism" that the USSR aspired to.