Exploding Tongues: Language, Art, and the Russian Avant-gardeMain MenuBack to Futurism: Russian Artist BooksIntroductory Page by Chris GilmanBookENDS: A Working Theory of Textuality as Cultural Dominant, 1912-An Introduction and Conclusion to a Semester's Investigation into the Book Arts as an Avant-garde PracticeBook Case StudiesCollaborative Research by Case StudiesBig Bang: Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural ImpactsA Timeline of Russian Avant-Garde Book Arts and Their Cultural ImpactsCoaRse CaLIBrationARTS 227 "Introduction to Letterpress Printing" (Pedersen) and CSLC134/RUSN334 "Exploding Tongues" (Gilman)NthOlogyA limited edition collaborative book arts project by students of ARTS 227 (Pedersen) and CSLC 134/RUSN 334 (Gilman), Spring, '17MANIFESTERS (AB & Kelly): A portfolio of process and productsAppendix: A Path Through Russian Avant-Garde BooksChristopher Gilman1985b99a2acd541caa12a10c3ebf6896565283abDexter Blackwell92e005ca94195f836c6089cf147faff4c74fa79eZoe Foster-La Duc1c8954189fb3ee4ab6e36bfb90fae86777eab97Stephen Heim7069d17c035042745c96bc6c7619096cd7b33da4Kelly Kirklande1805e502570d093d70f00df18f145c99290d0a3Ian Lehineb028c384a69e4b92166e7791b002fa3f2cee5818Timothy Lewis13880d3d99b4b71ce85be63e69a6d44e38853d68Jmedina29ac3fc10003fb639ac412984b59b01a5b826e161Taylor Robinsonaa08dd3939f1f1c6162c5518ae531385e51659afEvan Sarafian042e10782d9a6d3f0001a4b35abb02f58ad84684Craig Dietrich2d66800a3e5a1eaee3a9ca2f91f391c8a6893490ILiADS (Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship)
The Word as Such - Excerpt 3
12017-05-12T01:51:15-07:00Timothy Lewis13880d3d99b4b71ce85be63e69a6d44e38853d68120411Alexei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov - 1913plain2017-05-12T01:51:15-07:00Timothy Lewis13880d3d99b4b71ce85be63e69a6d44e38853d68
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12017-04-30T20:40:52-07:00Handmade Neo-Primitivism9Tim Lewis - Final Course Scalar Projectplain2017-05-12T16:58:15-07:00Almost simultaneous to the publication of Mirskontsa was the publication of Aleksander Shevchenko's manifesto on Neo-Primitivism, Neo-primitivizim. In this similarly handmade text, Shevchenko bridged the gap between the Russian nouveau riche and the longstanding volk by explaining that the core identity of Russian artistic expression was inextricably tied to village life. In its emphasis on modeling lubok printing (or woodcut plates that contained stories approachable by all Russians) and its deterritorialization of the body, Shevchenko's Neo-Primitivism deeply impacted his contemporary artists, especially Larionov, Goncharova, and Malevich. Indeed, the stewing of Neo-Primitvistic (and therefore anti-bourgeois) sentiments had been present in Russia at least since the late 1800's.
Neo-Primitivism focused heavily on a return, restoration, and valorization of the values created and maintained by the peasantry class. Firstly, this aesthetic manifested in the prevalence of zaum poetry as an extension of the Russian folk tradition of riddles. Zaum was a further play on/with words that embodies a necessarily different approach that metropolitan politics: namely, that language functions ubiquitously and is not built through constructed signification-- indeed, all signification is linked to sound. This mystical representation of sound is also a hallmark of Neo-Primitivism inasmuch as Russian folk values allowed for a more robust eroticism. Linked to a sense of shamanistic animality, desire was not restricted to reason as it was in the developing cityscape. Modeled in representations of the feminine (torn between the prostitute and the goddess), this newfound but old-standing desire compelled artists to reinvent the role of the individual and the possibility for new understandings of love.
Neo-Primitivist theoretics are directly tied to anti-Gutenbergianism and are best encountered in the proliferation of handmade books. In returning a necessarily physical labor to the object, the alienation between the artist, poet, and text is resolved and the crude authenticity of a finite text is (re)made apparent to readers. While not easily recognizable in scanned images, many handmade books have different cuts for each page, entirely different covers and page arrangements across different copies, and utilize a wide variety of paper for the actual printing/drawing production.