Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Foreword by Jonathan Meades. Text by Vera Kavalkova-Halvarsson, Christopher Herwig.
Soviet vernacular architecture across 18,000 miles in 14 countries
Photographer Christopher Herwig first noticed the unusual architecture of Soviet-era bus stops during a 2002 long-distance bike ride from London to St. Petersburg. Challenging himself to take one good photograph every hour, Herwig began to notice surprisingly designed bus stops on otherwise deserted stretches of road. Twelve years later, Herwig had covered more than 18,000 miles in 14 countries of the former Soviet Union, traveling by car, bike, bus and taxi to hunt down and document these bus stops. The local bus stop proved to be fertile ground for local artistic experimentation in the Soviet period, and was built seemingly without design restrictions or budgetary concerns. The result is an astonishing variety of styles and types across the region, from the strictest Brutalism to exuberant whimsy. Soviet Bus Stops is the most comprehensive and diverse collection of Soviet bus stop design ever assembled, including examples from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Estonia. Originally published in a quickly sold-out limited edition, Soviet Bus Stops, named one of the best photobooks of 2014 by Martin Parr, is now available in a highly anticipated, expanded smaller-format trade edition.
Featured image is reproduced from Soviet Bus Stops.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The Spectator
Roland Elliot Brown
Christopher Herwig’s weirdly evocative photographs show how the loneliest corners of the former Soviet Union were enlivened by whacky bus shelters…. Most alien of all are the radiant Gaudí knock-offs in the disputed region of Abkhazia, where Soviet elites once took their beach holidays.
Hyperallergic
Claire Voon
Designed by individual architects, each bus stop proffers a glimpse of the artistry that still flourished in an era when uniformity was imposed and creativity was often suppressed.
The Design Observer
John Foster
Over 150 photographs of architectural exuberance dotting the streets and highways of the vast country...Although many of these structures are falling into disrepair from age and neglect, that they still exist is a testament to how meaningful they must have been in an otherwise homogenous built environment. Herwig's tenacity and devotion to accomplishing a project of this scale is extraordinary.
Azure
David Dick-Agnew
Perhaps it’s the low stakes of structures with no windows, no doors and no permanent inhabitants that allowed the designers the freedom to flex their creative muscles; the results comprise seemingly limitless variations of expressive concrete waves, colourful murals and mosaics, and bold polyhedral forms. Set against the backdrop of rural, often desert-like terrains, these diminutive structures stand out like contained explosions of creativity.
The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright
Why Russia has the world's most beautiful bus stops … Architects may have felt creatively stifled in the old Soviet empire – but there was one place where their imaginations were encouraged to run riot: the bus stop.
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No one covers vernacular Soviet design like FUEL Publishing, and their newest release, Soviet Bus Stops, is one of their best. Photographer Christopher Herwig explains the genesis of this perfect little book, which collects 160 prime examples, including the stops in Echmiadzin, Armenia and Falesti, Moldova, which are featured here. "In 2002 I decided to ride my bike from London to St Petersburg, with the challenge of taking one good photo every hour... Those long roads were the start of my obsession… My curiosity grew, and over the years I’ve hit the road again and again, traveling thousands of kilometers across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, hunting down the very best bus stops. It was surprisingly impractical to hunt bus stops by bus, so I used rental cars and taxis. Most taxi drivers were confused as to why I was interested in the old bus stops and would speed past them as if they were invisible. The drivers were bemused as I leapt from the car to photograph something that, to them, was just a normal part of their landscape. Occasionally a local taxi driver would become addicted to the hunt too, developing an appreciation for something he had forgotten existed, and together we would careen round the Soviet landscapes, racing the setting sun in search of ‘just one more bus stop.'" continue to blog
When UK-based FUEL Publishing released Christopher Herwig's perfecly surprising little photobook, Soviet Bus Stops, this fall, the first print run sold out almost immediately. Reviewed everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Curbed to CNN, this is a book to charm any person, anywhere, at any time—back in stock just in time for the holidays! Featured photographs are of bus stops in Charyn and Burabay, Kazakhstan. See more of our favorite books of 2015 here! >> continue to blog
We loveFUEL Publishing's addictive new book on Soviet Bus Stops, collecting 160 of Christopher Herwig's most emblematic photographs of this heretofore underappreciated vernacular form. Vera Kavalkova-Halvarsson writes, "In the middle years of the Cold War, the Soviet Union appeared to be marching in unison to the beat of a single drummer. With Brezhnev at the helm, the liberal reforms of Khrushchev's era froze over, leaving little room for new ideas or creativity. This era—from the late 1960s to the 1980s—became known as the time of stagnation. Ideology regulated all spheres of life, including architecture and art… Yet innovation and creativity always find a way out, and thus 'minor architectural forms' took to the stage. This included the development of unique objects such as 'bus pavilions,' as they were respectfully called. Bus stop designs had certain guidelines, but they were not tightly enforced. Design was limited only by common sense, and even that was sometimes completely abandoned. One of the most famous bus stop architects is Zurab Tsereteli from Georgia, an artist who regularly favored form over function. 'I cannot answer why there is no roof, why is this, why is that – it's their problem. I, as an artist, do everything artistically,' he said." Featured photographs are from Karakol, Kyrgyzstan and Pitsunda, Abkhazia. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 8 x 6.5 in. / 192 pgs / 160 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $32.50 LIST PRICE: CANADA $42.5 ISBN: 9780993191107 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 9/29/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Foreword by Jonathan Meades. Text by Vera Kavalkova-Halvarsson, Christopher Herwig.
Soviet vernacular architecture across 18,000 miles in 14 countries
Photographer Christopher Herwig first noticed the unusual architecture of Soviet-era bus stops during a 2002 long-distance bike ride from London to St. Petersburg. Challenging himself to take one good photograph every hour, Herwig began to notice surprisingly designed bus stops on otherwise deserted stretches of road. Twelve years later, Herwig had covered more than 18,000 miles in 14 countries of the former Soviet Union, traveling by car, bike, bus and taxi to hunt down and document these bus stops.
The local bus stop proved to be fertile ground for local artistic experimentation in the Soviet period, and was built seemingly without design restrictions or budgetary concerns. The result is an astonishing variety of styles and types across the region, from the strictest Brutalism to exuberant whimsy.
Soviet Bus Stops is the most comprehensive and diverse collection of Soviet bus stop design ever assembled, including examples from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Estonia. Originally published in a quickly sold-out limited edition, Soviet Bus Stops, named one of the best photobooks of 2014 by Martin Parr, is now available in a highly anticipated, expanded smaller-format trade edition.
