04/24: Yuri Palmin - ChertaNovo

Yuri Palmin (born 1966) is a representative of the young generation of architectural photographers. He has been working in the architectural field since 1989, and began his professional career at TsNIITIA and Mosproyekt. His work is published in the popular magazines Project Russia, Salon, Taburet, Imperial and Anturazh among others. He has been commissioned by such well-known Russian architects as Asadov, Skokan, Ass, Mandrygin, McAdam, Badanov, Velichkin and Golovanov. His photographs have been published in the international professional journals: World Architecture, the RIBA Journal, Crafts Magazine, Elle Decoration, and in the books New Russian Design (New York) and Pervaya Kniga MAO (Moscow).

"North Chertanovo Residential Zone is a geometric utopia of Soviet planners, built in the 70's with the latest available technology. In Palmin's minimalist photographs, today's Chertanovo is a lost paradise without a single inhabitant. In declaring the subordinate role of the architectural photographer and simply following the architect's conception, Palmin depicts a pure form, but his photographic methods possess the characteristics of a neutron bomb. People have been banished from his paradise for eternity, while the form, (concrete, glass and metal) will live on to the latter days. It decays in front of our very eyes, subordinated to time and nature. It is hardly likely that anyone would take it into their head lovingly to resurrect it, or regret its collapse. Paradise needed no inhabitants, and people have no need of a temporal paradise." (Yu. Avvakumov).