The lower level, i-land, features black walls perforated with hundreds of points of light which turn out to be glass peepholes. For some reason, I thought of Argus and his hundred eyes and began to feel both an observer and the observed, and wondered given the context if this was intentional. Looking through the peepholes you see images of the secret scientific towns that once existed throughout the Soviet Union. There were over 60 of these. As the wall panel explained: "they were everywhere and yet didn't exist. The people who worked within were isolated from society and were sometimes, for the sake of secrecy, given new names and surnames. These cities and their inhabitants were invisible except to the watchful eyes of the secret service."
Upstairs, the walls and domed
ceiling are composed of light and pattern. Even the floors are incised with the curious motif. It doesn't take long to recognize
them as a series of QR codes and suddenly understand why the woman at the
entrance had pressed an iPad on you. Scanning the lighted codes gets you information
about Strolkovo i-city (a proposed "new city of science that will include
a university and homes for more than 500 [international] firms...working in five
distinct fields of science—biomedical research, nuclear research, energy
and space technology" to be located near Moscow). I tried doing this
without success, but didn’t really mind as I was enjoying the overall effect of
the glowing “Moorish” tiles. This dual ode to past and present approaches to
science-focused communities was simply stunning.
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