Abstract

The article deals with the dichotomous process of production and experience of the soviet Houses of Culture as an appropriated «common space» with their further transformation into a disciplinary institute of social ordering. On the basis of Lefebvre’s triad of the perceived \ conceived \ lived space, the production of public places was analyzed in relation to changes in the representational field from early Soviet times to the present. This development marks a transition from the perception of the Houses of Culture as the most innovative common places for the creation of a new human being to the places of achievement of centralized biopolitics in times of totalitarianism. In the absence of relevant social practices, abandoned Houses of Culture cannot find their place in the social network of the modern world. In the late capitalism era, public spaces become specific private places, implying the subjectivation regime prescribed by its type. This process intensifies the feeling of alienation and prevents the creation of a universal public space open to different practices. In the context of the destruction of public spaces and spatial identities as a problem tendency of a contemporary city, it is necessary to appeal to the experience of Houses of Culture in search of new forms of universal multifunctional public places. The article applies the experience of Houses of Culture to modern conditions in order to create a new type of «common spaces».