Novosibirsk 1998-2018. Photography book
Novosibirsk 1998-2018. Photography book for NGS.ru
In 2018 the main news website of Novosibirsk (ngs.ru) celebrates its 20th anniversary. Though all these years the website has been developing alongside Novosibirsk working its way up from a small start-up to one of the biggest news websites in Russia.
We have always wanted to make a photography book that will be different from other projects.
The idea came up during one of our discussions together with the Novosibirsk City Website team (NGS.ru). It is the most popular news website of the third largest Russia's cities - Novosibirsk. Every day tens of thousands of citizens visit it not only to find out the latest news but to raise relevant city issues, to discuss events and phenomena, to find a job, to sell real estate, to buy a car or even to find a soulmate.
What makes the photo book 'Novosibirsk: 1998-2018' different is its describing the recent past, practically the present. The book includes the events and the facts that best show signs of the time that have been affecting the life of the city and its citizens over the recent years.
Some sights of the city of 10-20 years ago are shocking.
The book shows such landmark events as a crisis of 1998, lines for food, consumer goods marketplaces, the opening of the Dzerzhinskaya Line underground stations, the construction of the Technopark in Akademgorodok, a new building of Novosibirsk University, the Bugrinsky Bridge over the Ob River and many other things that have happened in Novosibirsk for the last 20 years
"Did it really use to be like this?!"
This phrase was commonly heard during the book's preparation. This is not a surprise: while it has only been 20 years, some places have changed significantly.While we were preparing this book we often met, brainstormed, and consulted one another trying to remember these or those facts. For example: "Do you remember the first Total Dictation?'' (Total Dictation is a popular annual contest where ordinary people have a chance to write a text like they hear it and check their literacy. It was invented in Novosibirsk).
This book will bring a reader to that time when Novosibirsk was a little bit different.
This book will bring a reader to that time when Novosibirsk was a little bit different. Then it slowly, page by page, is leading to the present. Readers will take in a lot of interesting facts, relive the atmosphere of the last 20 years and remember a lot of things about Novosibirsk that have been forgotten.
This project is a result of joint hard interesting work both of Gelio Vostok and NGS.ru.
This project is a result of joint hard interesting work both of Gelio Vostok and NGS.ru.
The book cover displays graffiti by Ivan Yagoda, an artist from Novosibirsk. The cover is one of the most complicated elements. The project designers offered a bold unexpected solution, but very bright and spectacular one. In the end, this option was approved unanimously.
"Long live that thanks to what we have been no matter what!"*
An illustrative map of the city displaying iconic objects and events included was developed for the book. For instance, it shows bathing of the elephants in the Ob River, a famous sign at Petukhov Street - "Long live that thanks to what we have been no matter what!".
* «Да здравствует то, благодаря чему мы – несмотря ни на что!»
This phrase is a quote from famous Russian satirist, a so-called play of words hardly translatable to English.
* «Да здравствует то, благодаря чему мы – несмотря ни на что!»
This phrase is a quote from famous Russian satirist, a so-called play of words hardly translatable to English.
'Novosibirsk: 1998-2018' photography book was one of the main gifts for the guests of the first NGS People's Award in May 2018.
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