Architecture for internal and external use: The Soviet pavilion at the 1939 New York World's fair and the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition

Abstract

The article examines some peculiarities of architectural representation of the USSR in 1939, on the eve of World War II. The differences between the image of the country ‘for internal use' and ‘for external use' are emphasized. The program of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow demonstrates a similarity to Western commercial and colonial fairs. This might be considered as an illustration of the outdated and even archaic nature of the Soviet regime. The architecture of the Pavilion of Mechanization reveals the hidden militarism of Soviet culture. The architectural solution and the exposition of the Soviet pavilion in New York demonstrated a stylistic compromise with the mainstream of Western exhibit practice. The volumetric solution of the building was similar to the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow, then under construction. The New York pavilion was a model representing the main edifce of the USSR to the international audience. In order to affect the visitors, designers employed a synthesis of sculpture and architecture, frst utilized in Paris in 1937, as well as very simple tools: the structure exceeded the height restrictions and was the tallest pavilion at the New York Fair. Ideologically, the Soviet exhibition broke the rules too: whereas the slogan of the Fair was ‘The World of Tomorrow,' the pavilion of the USSR demonstrated propagandistic images of ‘the Soviet present' as the future that had already arrived.