Lifting the curtain/Lever du rideau

The brutal and locked image of the "iron curtain" refers to the more or less articulated assemblage of the metal plates in front of a garage or a shop. Most of all, it evokes the opacity, the concealment of a part of Europe to the eye of the other, the long eclipse of their mutual knowledge Under the dependency of the propaganda, secret services and reciprocal ideological fantasies. Backwards from these biased constructions, this book ponctuâtes a fascinating historiographical work that sheds light on the reality and complexity of the worlds of architecture and urban planning in the former Soviet Europe. It shows the extend to which the façade monolithist of the Eastern Block truly hides an unsuspected plurality of interconnected phenomenon, analysed by numbers in the various chapters: project expériences, group organisations, circulation of actors and models, scènes of exchange and confrontation, hearts of discussions and research, alternative media.

Pierre Chabard