People and Polymers
400×578 mm, 8 p., 5000 copies
Edited by Nadya Degtyareva. Designed by Kirill Gluschenko
The project is dedicated to the history of the Kuskovo chemical plant - one of the oldest enterprises in Russia, until 2012 located on the territory of the modern residential complex "Bolshoye Kuskovo" in the Novogireevo district of Moscow. The name "People and Polymers" refers to the book by the director of the plant, Martyn Vardanyan, which was published on the centenary of the plant. Today this book can probably only be found in the Russian State Library. Nothing remained of the enterprise itself, which witnessed the emergence of the Perovo and Novogireevo districts, an active participant in their construction and development. The collective memory, images and impressions of the factory workers and residents of the region help to preserve the history of this unique place. The People and Polymers project is an attempt to discern these images against the background of the modern urban landscape, to re-actualize history with the help of archival data and memories of former plant employees who continue to feel like a single community.
Archival materials have been collected in the form of a large-circulation newspaper, familiar to Soviet people, placed on street stands. Such constructions made the surrounding space public, provoking discussion right on the spot, here and now. This is a pre-digital version of modern news feeds, which are read mainly on personal devices today. Kirill Glushchenko, the founder and the only employee of the Glushchenkoizdat publishing house, whose activities are devoted to the study and rethinking of the legacy of Soviet printing design, became the art editor of the newspaper "People and Polymers". One of the project's tasks is to offer residents and guests of Bolshoy Kuskovo and the district as a whole to reconstruct the function of public space: to read news reports from the past weekdays of the plant and discuss them together.
Thank you!
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