UkrEthnoExp. Part VII
August 30–31, 2009
Kharkiv
Map
It takes half an hour to get downtown from the Kharkiv city limit sign. Almost like in Moscow.
Some parts of the city look just like Moscow’s Kuznetsky Most neighborhood—it’s practically impossible to distinguish the two.
The horse with one hoof in a shoe caught my eye. Turns out, this is the work of the controversial Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli.
I liked Kharkiv immediately.
A less common trash can.
A more common trash can.
The only thing I knew about Kharkiv is that it’s home to an incredible architectural landmark: the constructivist Gosprom (State Industry) building.
From the outside, it looks the way it should, but inside, you can see that the original window frames have been recently replaced with insulated glazing.
An excellent view of Kharkiv opens up from the top of the building.
As well as an equally excellent view of Kharkiv’s seamy side.
Zombie Takeover
And here’s the view from the other end.
Kharkiv also has a metro. Some of the stations are functioning, while others have been abandoned halfway through construction.
Even the guards’ trailer is abandoned.
You can walk from one station to the next on foot.
The traffic lights are flat and elegant here. The signs above them are mounted flat, but not elegantly.
The pedestrian light is outfitted with all sorts of bells and whistles.
The English signage on the city’s tobacco kiosks contains a spelling mistake.
A typical Kharkiv manhole.
When the paint was stripped off one of the buildings, pre-revolutionary shop signs were uncovered underneath: «Creamery» on one side and «Beerhouse» on the other. It’s always a surprise when things like this turn up in our latitudes, which tend to be unkind to the past.
Several types of payphone half-booths exist in the city. The first type is the most commonplace and also the most ugly.
The second type is a little less ugly, but still far from elegant.
And there’s also a third type.
The film set for Dau, built out within the walls of a swimming pool complex, is mind-blowing.
The film is set in the 1930s.
During shooting, director Ilya Khrzhanovsky completely closed off the entire city on several occasions, creating a life-size set of Kharkiv.
He also found the time to hold a casting for 50,000 extras. Just so he would have the right kinds of faces in the shot. It’s time to make a feature film about how Khrzhanovsky shot a film in Kharkiv.
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