Into Production! But Not from the Easel: The Development of New Soviet Materiality beyond Artistic Avante-Garde

• In Event: The Radical Utopianism of the Soviet Twenties II: Bodies

Abstract

The proposed paper examines Soviet social and cultural policy and social engineering projects as material practice. The intellectual pursuits during the War Communism and the NEP eras, the decade and a half of negotiation and contestation over the vision of the socialist future, were intense and involved actors from different backgrounds. In addition to well-known avant-garde artists and fashion designers with experience in the pre-revolutionary industry, such as Varvara Stepanova, Vladimir Tatlin, and Nadezhda Lamanova, this list comprises doctors, politicians, industrial workers, and engineers who initiated a wide range of experimental projects and theories. Their works provided not only general guidance but also detailed descriptions and patterns for new clothing. This paper will explore competing discourses on clothing for the new Soviet society and designs proposed by representatives of other industries and cultural fields from beyond the circles of artistic Avant-garde. Furthermore, I will consider how this context might alter the interpretation of well-known projects that avant-garde artists and designers proposed.

Author

• Ekaterina Kulinicheva, Northwestern U