Vadim Shulgin:
Soviet Modernism in Baku, 1955–1974

Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan

In 2023, I received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to spend a year in Azerbaijan researching Soviet Modernism — the extraordinary architectural movement that emerged after Stalin's death, when a 1955 decree from the Central Committee dramatically reoriented Soviet design away from Stalinist classicism toward something wholly new.

After moving to Baku, I spent nine months researching the career of Vadim Shulgin (1926–1974), one of the period's great architectural innovators, who was tasked with rebuilding Baku's cultural and public buildings in this nascent style. The resulting exhibition, Vadim Shulgin: Soviet Modernism in Baku, 1955–1974, held at the Azerbaijan Architecture and Construction University in May 2024, was the first retrospective dedicated to Shulgin, commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death at 47.

For the exhibition I created new work: six watercolor paintings, a large graphite portrait of Shulgin, 3D-printed architectural models, archival photographs, and original graphic representations.

Pictured: Exhibition poster, Vadim Shulgin: Soviet Modernism in Baku, 1955–1974, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2024