Projectile Politics: Moving Sound, Objects, and Ideas through Space
The hybrid architectonic forms in Lissitzky's proun paintings realize the spatial depth implied in the two-dimensional forms of Suprematist works by artists such as Malevich. One can see in the image to the left a similar vocabulary to the tribune: a deliberate construction from parts, operating around a central, energetic diagonal. Furthermore, this diagonal draws the eye from the bottom right into the upper left field of vision, challenging the linguistic impulse to "read" forms from left to right. Language is in fact employed in the tribune's design through the word "proletary" emblazoned across a sign over Lenin's head.
Through the Lenin Tribune, Lissitzky enacts the Suprematist principles of motion and layering in three dimensions, while also distilling the dynamic, aural quality of Russian culture by functioning as a platform for the projection of Lenin's propagandist oration. The diagonal composition of the tribune reinforces the outward projection of Lenin's voice. Further, the insertion of Lenin's body into the tribune design replicates the iconography of posters such as the one on the right: leaning forward toward the crowd, the embodiment of potential motion. Here as well, he is foregrounded by text, the words on his podium being the first line of the Communist Manifesto. These words, just like the "proletary" sign affixed to the tribune, undergo a transformation from text to sound, and with Lenin's body as the medium, from theory to practice.
