September. 28 – October. 3, 2026

Exhibition opening: 

September. 28 at 18:00

Public lecture by Polina Gundarina: 

September. 28 at 19:00

Venue: 

Foyer of Building G, Ilia State University, 1-3 G. Tsereteli Exit

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2nSmpqutkDPvbXPm9

Residential neighbourhoods realised under Soviet power from 1917 to 1991 shape today’s urban space and everyday life in many cities in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, yet they also reflect the social ruptures and contradictions of the post-Soviet space. Soviet planning was rigid and organised within the framework of political and ideological imperatives, as well as performed by the existing building technologies at the time.  However, the planning era yielded a diverse range of urban layouts and architectural features, ranging from the avant-garde’s initial experimental projects combining private and communal spaces to the socialist cities of the industrialisation period and onwards to the standardised microrayon plans, essentially, a city within a city. The exhibition presents archival materials of soviet morphotypes and typologies related to cases from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Over the past 40 years the spatial configuration of urban morphotypes and buildings has been transformed. The historical building stock provides an extensive housing resource for the future, yet it faces the twin threats of deformation and demolition. It is also crucial not to overlook the experiences accumulated by these countries themselves in dealing with Soviet heritage, its transformation, renewal, or adaptation.

Polina Gundarina (Dr. des.) is a cultural historian. Her doctoral dissertation, Palaces for Workers: Soviet Leisure and Houses of Culture Before and After 1991, is forthcoming as a monograph next year, and she is currently a lecturer at Georg August University of Göttingen.

For more information: https://biennial.ge/programme/residential-heritage-soviet-morphotypes-and-typologies
https://iliauni.edu.ge/en/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/exhibition-residential-heritage-soviet-morphotypes-and-typologies.page