Dzerzhinka: Socialist Surfaces and Multiple Modernities of an Urban District in Novosibirsk

Abstract

“Dzerzhinka” is an informal name of the Dzerzhinskii district in the city of Novosibirsk. Dzerzhinka features impressive examples of the architecture of so called socialist realism and is a convoluted mix of industrial and residential areas. The author looks at the outward appearance of the city space and provides examples of the ways in which diverse aesthetic projects come to the fore in the biographies of local citizens in their striving for selfrealization. Behind Dzerzhinka”s bleak outer surface, one can find a multiplicity of individual and collective projects and intentions, ranging from those of plain survival to those of artistic expression.