Family values

The exhibition explores how family as a social institution has been changing over the past 150 years. The differences between the pre-revolutionary patriarchal model and the Soviet concept of a “social unit” were, indeed, dramatic. The project initiated by the Museum of Moscow puts them in a broad historic context in order to gain a better understanding of what contemporary family is, how it functions and what our view of it is premised upon.
A visitor can choose between two routes: the first one provides chronological survey (with artefacts from pre-Soviet, Soviet and contemporary eras), while the second one is structured thematically around the relationships within a given family. Each section: dating, courtship and marriage proposal, wedding ceremony, kids etc. — is a story in itself, and is located on a circular platform.
The installation at the entrance pays homage to the prefabricated apartment blocks, each containing a different family, with a different set of values. The “Dating” section studies gender stereotypes, notions of perfection in men and women, and also touches upon the evolution of dating methods, from lonely hearts column all the way to Tinder app. The final section champions family dinner, as the head tradition which unites all generations.