Russian Utopia: a depository

Ascension
Zaitzev D.,Batalov L. Ascension 1985

Moscow Art Center

Mankind’s ascension – a look in to the future. Concept: The supreme goal of man and society is perpetual progress, constructive work and improvement. Mankind constantly commemorates itself and its creative activity in the cultural stratum filled with material and moral values. The proposed monument to Mankind's Progress is a symbol of man's striving for the future.
Commentary: In its constructive work, Mankind is building up the cultural stratum. Being essentially a monument to civilization, the cultural stratum stores a wealth of information about both Man and Society. Archaeological excavations discover traces, of moral and material values in the cultural stratum (remains of religious buildings, ruins of primitive dwellings and ancient settlements, foundations of stone structures, present-day service and supply lines, and so forth). These finds are cleaned and preserved in situ in transparent congealed glass.
Placed consecutively in the order of their creation, works of our ancestors make it possible to observe Mankind's never-ending progress toward new heights.
Scenario: An inclined tunnel leads visitors into the lowest transparent level of the monument. Standing on the glass floor, they see the abysmal depth of water below (symbolizing the cradle of life). Works from different epochs (reconstructed in the form of glass volumes on their original foundations) seem to be suspended overhead in beams of light.
Climbing the transparent stairs, visitors walk past various stages in mankind's development to surface in present. It is the beginning of a long path which mankind is still to traverse in the future. It is the beginning of ASCENSION.

Utopia Foundation, Moscow




		`Zaitzev D.,Batalov L. Ascension 1985` Moscow Art Center Mankind’s ascension – a look in to the future. Concept: The supreme goal of man and society is perpetual progress, constructive work and improvement. Mankind constantly commemorates itself and its creative activity in the cultural stratum filled with material and moral values. The proposed monument to Mankind's Progress is a symbol of man's striving for the future. Commentary: In its constructive work, Mankind is building up the cultural stratum. Being essentially a monument to civilization, the cultural stratum stores a wealth of information about both Man and Society. Archaeological excavations discover traces, of moral and material values in the cultural stratum (remains of religious buildings, ruins of primitive dwellings and ancient settlements, foundations of stone structures, present-day service and supply lines, and so forth). These finds are cleaned and preserved in situ in transparent congealed glass. Placed consecutively in the order of their creation, works of our ancestors make it possible to observe Mankind's never-ending progress toward new heights. Scenario: An inclined tunnel leads visitors into the lowest transparent level of the monument. Standing on the glass floor, they see the abysmal depth of water below (symbolizing the cradle of life). Works from different epochs (reconstructed in the form of glass volumes on their original foundations) seem to be suspended overhead in beams of light. Climbing the transparent stairs, visitors walk past various stages in mankind's development to surface in present. It is the beginning of a long path which mankind is still to traverse in the future. It is the beginning of ASCENSION.