Smoke And Mirrors
Sergey Novikov, Russia
Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Goal Click has brought together photographers from across Russia for a special new project, Goal Click: Russia. These photographers documented the "real Russia" and Russian culture culture through football stories. From Yekaterinburg to Kazan, Volgagrad to Nizhny Novgorod.
Sergey Novikov travelled across the whole of Russia to reveal public spaces that were significantly changed due to the 2018 World Cup, where objects and buildings of the urban landscape demonstrated the city’s involvement in the tournament.
A bank advertisement in the centre of Moscow.
Saransk Stadium a few days prior to the second test game.
A wedding party being photographed in Kaliningrad.
What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?
I documented public spaces that were significantly changed due to the 2018 World Cup - surfaces of our urban landscape, marked with visible objects that appeared to show the city’s involvement in the mass spectacle.
Despite many improvements to urban infrastructure prior to World Cup with airports, main roads and stadiums, there is still a very visible wish to cover all the ugly, destroyed and abandoned buildings under false fabric facades. This transfers us back to the time of the “Potemkin Village” (smoke and mirrors). My photos are not meant to criticise authorities for the temporary transformation of the environment, but just to reveal these changes.
Wedding photographers are always seeking something new and remarkable for their photos. The World Cup is the hot topic, so the World Cup 2018 sign was chosen as the perfect mark of the moment for the family archive.
Fabric facades in Samara.
Kaliningrad.
The Volga and Oka rivers, next to the new World Cup stadium in Nizhny Novgorod.
Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad.
A volunteer before the test game at the new stadium in Kaliningrad.
