ESTATES : Fragile utopia

by Pavel Otdelnov

Private view Thursday 9th of April : 6-9pm

Open from the 9th to the 20th of April : 12-6pm

Panel Discussion After the Dream of Social Housing Saturday 11th of April : 3pm

link to book free ticket for panel discussion : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/panel-discussion-after-the-dream-of-social-housing-tickets-1986763451967 

Pavel Otdelnov’s new project Estates: Fragile Utopia examines post-war British council housing as the material remnants of a fractured social contract. From his perspective as a Londoner raised in the USSR, the artist approaches these estates not simply as elements of national architectural heritage but as traces of a shared transnational modernist utopia, paralleling Soviet mass housing ambitions.

Drawing on research into post-war urban plans, Geoffrey Jellicoe’s Motopia, the Aylesbury Estate, and the demolition of Robin Hood Gardens, Otdelnov challenges narratives of decline, reframing these spaces as unresolved utopian residues within the context of today’s housing crisis.

Relevant links : https://otdelnov.com/en/gallery-estates

‍ ‍https://www.instagram.com/pavel_otdelnov/

Article :‍ ‍Pavel Otdelnov on Britain's fragile urban utopias. Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, 4 April 2026