This course undertakes a critical examination of Soviet modernism—one of the most influential but understudied trajectories of the modernist movement—revealing it as a rich repository of alternative models for modern and post-modern art and architecture. By investigating the production of modern art, architecture, and urbanism in the “one-sixth of the world,” as the Soviet dictum goes, this course moves beyond conventional narratives and disproportionately studied centers. Instead, it looks at objects, ideas, and spaces imagined and designed within the broader Soviet sphere, from “comradely things” and agitprop theater designs to constructivist mosques. Ultimately, the course maps geographies often overlooked, such as Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, and the broader socialist world throughout the twentieth century. Course readings include both seminal texts and recent scholarship in art and architectural history. 

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