Alessandro Papetti⎜Factories of Utopia

As part of the third Moscow architecture biennale, the MUAR - Schusev State Museum of Architecture presents an exhibition of Alessandro Papetti.

Curated by Umberto Zanetti, Factories of Utopia features 30 large-format canvases in which Alessandro Papetti brings to life the places and settings of historical 20th-century Soviet industrial sites, such as the 1-GPZ plant and the automobile manufacturers ZiL and AZLK.

Continuing his research on industrial archaeology - following his work on the Fiat factories in Milan and the Renault plant on Île Seguin-the artist seeks to convey the impressions evoked by these abandoned monumental architectures: "With these industrial paintings I have striven to, yes, portray the subject, but also to transmit an idea of its impressiveness, power and its abandonment, which is rendered all the more impressive because of the grandiosity of the landscapes invented by man and work. I have striven to speak of the stupor, mixed with fascination and mystery, that strikes one when entering a huge industrial building rich with "relics", filled with the traces of man's passing, man who is no longer there and has left this stage setting of human theatre to act as an echo chamber for your feelings and eyes. Compared with other industrial places I have been to and painted during my artistic career, here in Moscow that feeling was even more powerful. I usually visit spaces that are empty and have been abandoned for a long time, spaces that are devoid of machinery and tools. Here, on the other hand, all the machinery, the huge presses and all the material was still in place. Even the uniforms of the guards were still on their shelves in the changing room. I had the overwhelming impression of a massive space, of an entire industrial city where the inhabitants left for a moment... never to return, further reinforcing the perception of themselves, of their existence as survivors. Actors in an immense theatre, surrounded by spectacular settings as they mutely recite the lines of a powerful play."

April 26 - June 17, 2012