Published in conjunction with the exhibitions: FoMu, Antwerp, Belgium, October 25, 2013-March 9, 2014; Winzavod, Moscow, October 18-December 22, 2013; and DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago, January 16-March 30, 2014.

President Vladimir Putin’s Olympic venture put the workings of contemporary Russia on vivid display. The Sochi Olympics were designed to symbolize Russia’s return to great power status, but subsequent aggression against Ukraine, large-scale corruption, and the doping scandal have become the true legacies of the games. The Kremlin’s style of governance through mega-projects has had deleterious consequences for the country’s development. Placing the Sochi games into the larger context of Olympic history, this book examines the political, security, business, ethnic, societal, and international ramifications of Putin’s system.

Examining nine 'case histories' that reveal the origins and evolution of homophobic attitudes in modern Russia, Dan Healey asserts that the nation's contemporary homophobia can be traced back to the particular experience of revolution, political terror and war its people endured after 1917. The book explores the roots of homophobia in the Gulag, the rise of a visible queer presence in Soviet cities after Stalin, and the political battles since 1991 over whether queer Russians can be valued citizens. Healey also reflects on the problems of 'memorylessness' for Russia's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) movement more broadly and the obstacles it faces in trying to write its own history. The book makes use of little-known source material - much of it untranslated archival documentation - to explore how Russians have viewed same-sex love and gender transgression since the mid-20th century. Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi provides a compelling background to the culture wars over the status of LGBT citizens in Russia today, whilst serving as a key text for all students of modern Russia.

The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics and power, and what this discussion can add to the existing scholarship on political regimes, international norms, national identities, and cultural narratives. The book collects case studies written by insiders from different countries of post-Soviet Eurasia that have recently hosted— or intend to host in the future —sporting events of a global scale. Contributing authors discuss cultural, political, and economic strategies of host governments, examining them from the vantage point of an increasing shift of the global sport industry to non-Western countries. Mega-events often draw domestic lines of cultural and social exclusion within host’s polities. It is these ruptures and gaps this volume explores, contributing to a better understanding of the intricate interconnections between global institutions and national identities.

In 2012, over four billion people tuned in to watch the London Summer Olympics. As the single largest mega-event in the world, the Olympics has the power to captivate the global imagination. Long before athletes vie for a gold medal, however, competition between cities eager to host the Games kicks off with a rigorous bid process. The lengthy and expensive endeavor to host the Olympics is as high-stakes as any sporting event. Rather than encouraging cities to refrain from bidding, Bidding for Development takes a policy approach that challenges stakeholders to bid responsibly and strategically in pursuit of concrete outcomes. Every bid city has the potential to accelerate long-term transportation development through a strategic and robust planning process. This book concentrates on the phenomenon of repeat Olympic bids and the opportunities that may come from bidding, particularly for those cities that never win the Games. In this context, Bidding for Development explores the intersection between transportation infrastructure development, the Olympic bid process, and the resulting legacies experienced by bid losers. The findings address the central question: how can participating in the Olympic bid process accelerate transportation development regardless of the bid result? In response, this book presents a Bid Framework outlining how and when cities may use the bid to unite resources, align transportation priorities, and empower leaders to achieve urban development objectives in preparation for the Olympic bid. The Bid Framework is then applied to two case studies, Manchester and Istanbul, to examine each bid loser's effectiveness in using the bid process to catalyze transportation development. Concurrently, the book takes into consideration how the International Olympic Committee’s evolving bid regulations and requirements relate to urban development and positive social legacy. Bidding for Development delivers actionable recommendations for all Olympic stakeholders to improve the value of the bid process and transportation benefits beyond the Games.

This collection of thirteen vignettes addresses several important episodes in the history of Russian temporary architecture and public art, from the royal festivals during the times of Peter the Great up to the recent venues including the Sochi Winter Olympics. The forms and the circumstances of their design were drastically different; however, the projects discussed in the book share a common feature: they have been instrumental in the construction of Russia’s national identity, with its perception of the West - simultaneously, a foe and a paragon - looming high over this process. The book offers a history of multidirectional relationships between diplomacy, propaganda, and architecture.

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen have been working together since 2007 to tell the story of Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. They returned repeatedly to this region as committed practitioners of "slow journalism," establishing a solid foundation of research on and engagement with this small yet incredibly complicated place before it found itself in the glare of international media attention. As Van Bruggen writes, "Never before have the Olympic Games been held in a region that contrasts more strongly with the glamour of the event than Sochi. Just twenty kilometers away is the conflict zone Abkhazia. To the east the Caucasus Mountains stretch into obscure and impoverished republics such as North Ossetia and Chechnya. On the coast, old Soviet-era sanatoria stand shoulder to shoulder with the most expensive hotels and clubs of the Russian Riviera. By 2014 the area around Sochi will have been changed beyond recognition." Hornstra's photographic approach combines the best of documentary storytelling with contemporary portraiture, found photographs, and other visual elements collected over the course of their travels. The Sochi Project was released via installments in book form and online, each focusing on a particular facet of the story, the geography, the people, and their history. The highlights and key elements of this extensive effort were brought together for the first time in this volume, first released in 2013 and designed by Kummer & Herrman, who have been integral to the collaboration from the outset. Now, Aperture is pleased to issue this in-demand book in a more affordably priced edition, in a slightly smaller trim size. The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus offers alternative perspectives and in-depth reporting on this remarkable region, the site of the most expensive Olympic Games ever, and one that sits at the combustible crossroads of war, tourism, and history.