#closed cities

ZATO by Sergey Novikov

ZATO, what a strange acronym! When looking on internet, we find the explanation : закрытые административно-территориальные образования ЗАТО, zakrytye administrativno-territorial’nye obrazovaniya : ZATO. So, there is only one letter away with that other famous acronym that refers us to this period of the twentieth century that was the Cold War: NATO (just rotate the N a quarter turn).

In his work…

Sergey Novikov

‘The Wall 7,16,45...”

“Confrontation with West gave rise to a special type of territorial unit in Soviet Union- "closed cities". They served science and defense needs of the country as nuclear weapon development (Arzamas-16) or disposal (Sverdlovsk-45) sites, home to the navy and missile forces. These cities were not mapped, had encrypted names and were called "mailboxes" on the analogy with classified institutes or manufacturing facilities situated in them, which didn't have a specific address but only a mailbox number, to where all post were sent. Residents of these cities have been told not to mention their place of living, to use name of the nearest major city instead (for example, Krasnoyarsk instead of Krasnoyarsk-26). Together with the collapse of the Soviet state another life began in the secret cities, they ceased to be secret. Nevertheless, borders remained closed for "outsiders", well-being (budget subsidies, low crime rate, high-level medicine and social services) forced residents wary of the first timid attempts to raise the issue of whether to retain barriers. There are 42 "closed cities" and 1.2 million people nowadays in Russia. To enter into this city you need a pass, an invitation from a near relative typically. Recent polls in "mailboxes" revealed that the majority of people are still against the radical change of territorial policy. They wait a crowds of homeless, criminals, migrants, deprivation of budget support as the most probable consequences of dismantling protective barriers. Closed city- kind of utopia, a dream where there is a request to "we." "We are others, and border is around us." I've created "The Wall-7,16,45…" project from the tails of memories of those cities residents, my own experience in visiting such places, being inspired by web forums chats, authorities rhetoric and social media threads. There are no photographs shot in the actual secret cities in the project. 2014-ongoing“

Plutopia