C olumbia U niversity RECORD May 9, 2003 3 Wallach Art Gallery Exhibition Traces History of Russian Documentary Photography Moscow has been a powerful much more complex than has magnet for many Russian pho- been previously acknowledged. tographers of the 20th century. The works of these photogra- “Moscow: City, Spectacle, phers remain intensely com- Capital of Photography,” an pelling to the modern eye. exhibition on display in the Contemporary Russian photog- Wallach Art Gallery through raphers, such as Lev Melikhov, June 21, presents the work of Valerii Stigneev and Sergei Leon- 31 photographers, whose tiev, engage the legacy of the images have defined the visual Soviet documentary photography. experience of Moscow from But for them the documentary is a 1920s to the present. complex and multivalent genre, Diverse in form and strategy, which incorporates subjectivity, the 90 photographs chosen for the ambiguity and reflexivity and exhibition trace the history of comments on social and cultural Russian documentary photogra- issues without losing sight of the phy and offer insight into individ- position from which that com- ual practices. From Aleksandr mentary is made. In the recent Rodchenko's constructivist photographs by Vladimir visions and Evgenii Khaldei's Kupriyanov, Igor Moukhin, Anna humanist landscapes to Igor Gorunova and Pakito Infante, the Moukhin's scenes of urban spec- "real" space of Moscow is tacle and alienation in the works replaced by an imaginary and of Russia’s key 20th-century pho- optical space of virtuality. tographers, Moscow ventures The works in the exhibition are beyond the expected image as a on loan from Moscow's Cultural site of famous landmarks, archi- Center Dom and many are being tectural treasures and dramatic shown outside Russia for the first lifestyles. time. In conjunction with the exhi- Early 20th-century photogra- bition, the Wallach Art Gallery is phers Boris Ignatovich and publishing an illustrated catalogue Arkadii Shaikhet saw them- with a scholarly essay by the exhi- selves in the vanguard of an bition curator, Nadia Michoustina, emerging mass-media culture, a Ph.D. candidate in the Universi- defining with their cameras the ty’s Department of Slavic Lan- visual experience of Soviet guages. The essay presents a modernity. For nearly 70 years, nuanced history of Russian pho- Soviet photography was tography of the 20th-century, and assigned the duty of maintain- contributes to an interpretation of ing the ideological rigidity of extraordinary images. the Soviet State. Yet, as exam- The Wallach Art Gallery is on ples of the work of Iakov the 8th Floor of Schermerhorn Khalip, Anatolii Egorov, Hall. Gallery hours are Wednes- Mikhail Savin and Mark day through Saturday 1:00 p.m. to Markov-Grinberg show, Soviet 5:00 p.m. The exhibition is free photographic practices were and open to the public. “Hotel Ukraine” by Lev Melikhov, 1998 Albany Symphony’s David Miller Forty Leaders Weigh in on ‘State of Architecture’ Receives Ditson Conductor’s Award BY KRISTIN STERLING In his citation, Bollinger praises The Graduate School of Architec- BY KRISTIN STERLING Miller as a champion and skillful ture, Planning and Preservation interpreter of contemporary, and recently brought 40 of the world’s David Alan Miller, music direc- especially American, music. leading architectural designers and tor and conductor of the Albany Through concerts, educational ini- theorists together for a conference Symphony Orchestra, received tiatives and recordings, Miller has investigating “The State of Archi- Columbia’s 2003 Ditson Conduc- enabled the Albany Symphony tecture at the Beginning of the 21st tor’s Award for his commitment to Orchestra to affirm its reputation as Century.” Among the participants the performance of works by an outstanding supporter of Ameri- were Dean Bernard Tschumi, Eliza- American composers on April 25 can symphonic music and one of beth Diller, Zaha Hadid, Michael during the Orchestra’s perfor- the nation’s most innovative Hays, Greg Lynn and Ben van mance at the Troy Savings Bank orchestras. Berkel. Renowned architects Frank Music Hall. Prior to his Gehry and Rem Koolhass offered During his 12- appointment in the keynote lectures. year tenure with the Albany, Miller was Gehry and Koolhaas have each Albany Symphony, the associate con- received the Pritzker Architecture Miller has led the ductor of the Los Prize, the equivalent of a Nobel Frank Gehry designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Orchestra in more Angeles Philhar- Prize in architecture, Gehry in 1989 than 27 world pre- monic for five and Koolhaas in 2000. Among the reflected on his projects on Uni- In describing the process of mieres—many fea- years. From 1982- many projects to their credit, each versity campuses, including Bard designing this facility, Koolhaas turing works by 1988 he was music designed a major building in Los College and MIT. said architecture is a slow and com- American com- director of the New Angeles: Gehry the Walt Disney Gehry’s most noted project, the plex process and “architects are posers—as well as York Youth Sym- Concert Hall and Koolhaas the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, incapable of capturing and morph- countess other phony, earning con- Universal Studios headquarters. In Spain, has been described by Time ing the needs that we are supposed American composi- siderable acclaim their lectures the men discussed Magazine as “The Building of the to articulate.” tions. He has worked for his work. A several of their projects, both the Century.” Recent studies have As an example, he offered the successful and the less successful. client’s interest in a montage of as a guest conductor David Alan Miller native of Los Ange- shown that 80 percent of visitors to with many major les, Miller holds a Gehry even confessed that for the the city do so to see the museum and alcohol, music, film and the Inter- U.S. orchestras, including: Balti- bachelor’s degree from the Univer- first few years of his career several this one building is largely responsi- net. With requests like this, thinking more, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, sity of California, Berkeley, and a of his buildings leaked. ble for the 500 percent increase in and invention are always needed, he Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Min- master’s degree in orchestral con- He also outlined the long road the city’s tourism. said. nesota, New York, Philadelphia, ducting from The Juilliard School. to building the Walt Disney Con- A common theme in both keynote Koolhaas also offered details on Pittsburgh and San Francisco, as The Ditson Conductor's Award, cert Hall, saying it was “a miracle lectures was the role of architecture other recent major commissions in well as the New World Symphony the oldest award honoring conduc- it got built.” The original design in bringing people together who the United States, including the stu- and the New York City Ballet. tors for their commitment to Amer- was to be in stone, which he envi- may not otherwise associate. This dent center for the Illinois Institute J. Kellum Smith, Jr., member of ican music, was established in sioned would glow with ambient was particularly true of Koolhaas’ of Technology in Chicago and the the Ditson Advisory Committee, 1945 by the Alice M. Ditson Fund light in the evening. But as the designs for Universal Studios head- $156 million Seattle Library. presented the citation from at Columbia. Past recipients process moved on, the stone was quarters. In order to foster communi- For Koolhaas architecture encom- Columbia University President include Leonard Bernstein, Eugene changed to metal. The interior cation, he designed the facility with passes politics, sociology and anthro- Lee C. Bollinger and $5,000 Ormandy, JoAnn Falletta, Michael was constructed of wood, four towers with specific facilities pology. In his work he aims to define award from the Alice M. Ditson Tilson Thomas and James because, according to Gehry, that promote interaction, provide new types of relationships, both the- Fund at the April 25 concert. DePreist. wood is psycho-acoustic—people spaces for research, communication, oretical and practical, between archi- think it sounds better. He also distribution and privacy. tecture and the cultural situation. .