Artifacts of the Soviet era were collected in the art center on Presnya

Constructivism has a voice

When we talk about constructivism, we first of all remember the style of architecture that was formed at the dawn of the Soviet state. Laconic buildings that are distinguished by extreme functionality, geometrism and rigor of forms. However, constructivism manifested itself not only in architecture, it was also in painting and photography, and most importantly, in design. This is a way of thinking, a language, and not just one of the styles of the avant-garde era. The exhibition “Logos: the voice of constructivism” tells about this, which opened in one of the brightest architectural monuments of this direction.

The Zotov Center occupies the building of a bakery, which was the first constructivist solution in its field. In 1931, the first of its kind ring conveyor for the production of flour products was put into operation on Khodynskaya Street, where architecture was subordinated to production tasks. The sourdough was made upstairs, then the mass went down the floor below, where the dough was made, then it fell into the cutting department and, finally, to the lower floor – straight into the oven. The cylindrical building, named after Vasily Zotov, one of the main builders of the mechanized bread production of the USSR, resembles a pie and is a vivid example of constructivist thinking in architecture. The new exhibition, which opened within the walls of the restored space, expands the usual view of the phenomenon.

The architecture of the exhibition constructively introduces the theme. The first floor is as concise as possible in terms of visual exhibition material. Screens are installed around the circle, showing more than 150 texts, historical and modern, dedicated to the inclusion of machines in public life. The “Manifesto of Manifestoes” helps to realize that the topical issues of our present and future (primarily about artificial intelligence) are rooted in the beginning of the 20th century, when constructivism was born. AI works with blocks of information according to the same principles that the constructivists once laid the foundation for innovative thinking and language.

We are talking about him above – on the second floor, which opens with a model of Tatlin’s tower. The project of a seven-story rotating building was never implemented, but it clearly shows the movement of human thought in the early twentieth century. Such an epigraph to the exhibition Logos: The Voice of Constructivism is a kind of metaphor for a new reality that required the creation of new social relations, and hence a new language. Further, the viewer is immersed in all the tectonic reforms that took place in the newborn Soviet Russia. There are also bright performances of the futurists, who, turning into posters, recited their manifestos. Books about the abstruse language of Kruchenykh. The first photographs taken by the montage method. Painting, posters, magazines, projects of monuments, arts and crafts. All this was written in a bright, accessible, poster “pen”.

The next floor explores in more detail the place of constructivism in the creation of a new reality. Here, the techniques and methods that were used in print graphics and book design are analyzed. There are a lot of exhibits – chapters and sections are constructed from them, which illustrate El Lissitzky’s manifesto: “The text should produce the same effect as the speaker’s voice and gestures.” Emphasis then came up with placing in printed graphics using the “modular grid”, which are used to this day. The texts were printed in “sculptural” fonts, which again help to place accents, grab and hold attention. Among the exhibits there is an inconspicuous but important artifact from the mid-1920s, which clearly shows how attention is distributed on the sheet – when writing and reading. This notebook-based psychological study explains the importance of montage in creating the desired perception.

Today we often hear about “clip consciousness”, and it is by no means characteristic only of those who live in the 21st century of Internet technologies and an avalanche of information. And here it is clearly visible. The exhibition itself is also like an avalanche: it brings down an unthinkable amount of material on the viewer, after immersion in which we find ourselves in a hall with countless screens, where Soviet “clips” flash by. Before us is a poster montage – from phrases and images, structurally folded into a vivid image.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29023 dated May 4, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Constructivism has a voice