Moscow: The New East By Anna Barr Photography by Andrei Zozulya-Davidov
Blum Cafe
A new Cold War Cool has been rising in recent years starting with Berlin and now photographers, designers, and filmmakers are looking as far as Moscow for inspiration as post-Soviet kids have been defining their creative struggle to express themselves among faceless tower blocks. There is no denying the rise of interest also has political undertones. We go further into the Eastern Bloc as Moscow suddenly becomes in style from the tower block suburbs sprouting a new wave of musicians and rebellious designers to luxury in a culture where consumerism didn’t exist two decades ago. It rivals New York and London in size and starting in fall, Muscovites return from the countryside bringing the city alive in the darker months with their creative hotspots tucked away between brutalist buildings. This is a city that doesn’t look at the past, but the present where pristine roads intersect with dirty imperfections.