Amelia Sandgren L&S Arts & Humanities
Soviet Icons, New Identities: Uzbekistan's CCA
Opening in a former imperial, then Soviet, diesel station, the layered architectural history of Uzbekistan’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) embodies a shift from the conservation of Soviet architecture to its active institutional revitalization. While existing scholarship critiques the implications of preserving Socialist Realist Soviet architecture in Tashkent, my research employs the CCA as a case study to analyze how (re)recycled socialist spaces are politically repurposed under the “New Uzbekistan” campaign. By documenting how utilitarian Soviet iconography confronts local, Muslim motifs, I will examine how the CCA’s visual language shapes visitor experience and redefines the function of art in Uzbekistan. How does the CCA’s aestheticizing of space confront tensions between imperial, socialist, and contemporary national identities? By synthesizing field observations with materialistic analysis, I plan to reveal how post-Soviet states depoliticize socialist legacies to construct a new cultural reality for both domestic and global audiences.
Message To Sponsor
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to explore Uzbekistan this summer and learn more about the intersection between politics and urban planning. This opportunity is truly the highlight of my undergraduate experience thus far, and it is incredibly special to me that I may conduct my own original research and contribute to the art history scholarship I admire so deeply. With your support in mind, I plan to fully embrace this opportunity and create new and exciting research. Thank you.