Yekaterinburg Constructivism, 2013
In September 2013, the G20 meeting was held in the city of St. Petersburg. On this occasion, the Russian National Wews Agency RIA NOVOSTI commissioned twenty internationally renowned photographers (each from one of the G20 countries) to produce a report on Russia. All of their work resulted in an exhibition at the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg and the publication of a book. Guillaume Zuili was chosen to represent France. The subject entrusted to him is directly related to his favorite themes: he photographed the constructivist architecture of the cities of Moscow and Ekaterinburg (Ural). Guillaume Zuili’s work has been questioning the memory of cities since its beginnings. He could not fail to be immediately taken in by the architectural and memory marks of these buildings erected at the beginning of the century, by the structure of their façades, their ornaments, and the strength of the typographical signs found in them.
Constructivism, an architectural, pictorial and photographic movement, developed in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Emblematic of the Russian revolution, it marked the history of art and the avant-garde, with major figures such as Kasimir Malévitch or Alexander Rodchenko. Rodtchenko, whose influence on the work of Guillaume Zuili cannot be ignored, which, without plagiarizing it, is imbued with reminiscences of the photography of the European avant-gardes. Thus, the photographer, who has devoted himself to the exploration of the American territory and its mythology for more than ten years, has produced, this time in the East, a series of color superimpositions that cover and show a great period in the history, both political and artistic, of Russia.
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