2013 BOY Winner: Exhibition

During the Soviet era, the government built dozens of secret “science cities,” parts of which still remain in the shadows. Skolkovo Innovation Center, a new high-technology complex near Moscow, aims to change all that. Skolkovo’s developers have, from inception, declared a commitment to openness and integration—and tech-driven promotion for the project took over an entire level of the Russian Pavilion at the “Biennale di Venezia.” Just past the exhibition entrance, in near-total darkness, visitors encountered a series of seemingly random apertures. Up-close inspection, as if peering through a spy hole, revealed archival photographs of “science cities,” underscoring Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov’s theme of espionage as part of daily life. They also totally covered a domed gallery with QR codes that visitors eager for supporting text and visuals could scan into tablet computers distributed at the pavilion entrance.

Project Team:
Valeria Kashirina; Marina Kuznetskaya; Agnia Sterligova.