Late Soviet and Modern Russian Design: in Search of Identity

Today, design in Russia is at the stage of active development and the search for its modern image. Many turn to the stylistic trends of the past, such as the avant-garde, but this cannot completely solve the problem of regional identity, and its solution is necessary to integrate Russian design into an international context. At the same time, a lot of research has already accumulated on various aspects of Soviet and post-Soviet culture, summarizing which, one can better understand the specifics of Russian design. The purpose of the article is to identify some characteristic features of modern Russian design culture based not only on the research of late Soviet (1960s–1980s) and modern Russian design, but also on related activities, art and architecture, which will allow us to find deeper culturally determined features. In the course of the study, the authors compare trends in late Soviet design and art, fixing the division into "official" and "unofficial" directions. In art, the official is something that was permeated with ideology, in design – first of all, utilitarian, mass. Everything that "went its own way" was unofficial in art, in design it was just experimental or absorbed Western postmodernism. Two lines were clearly manifested in late Soviet design: the "avant-garde line" (constructivism), which connected technology and aesthetics and became the main one, and the "artistic line" represented by artists in design. The "avant–garde line" was developed at VNIITE, the "artistic" one at the Senezh Studio, as well as individual authors – poster artists, animators, etc.The authors of the study conclude that the identity of late Soviet design was closely related to artistry, it was characterized by depth of reflection, humanistic pathos and lyricism. Modern Russian design relies more on the avant-garde, since it was the avant-garde that laid the foundations of Russian design, however, the development of the traditions of the artistic direction in design is also of interest from the point of view of regional identity, since it was in it that the most important features of the original Russian culture manifested themselves.

Russian design, Soviet desin, regional identity, avant-garde, artistic line, VNIITE, Senezh studio, official art, the underground, conceptual-experimental design