Alexander Rodchenko. Workers’ Club, International Exposition of Modern Decorative and In-dustrial Arts, Paris, 1925, replica constructed 2017, Wood. Produced by V–A–C Foundation. Installation View, Space Force Construction. Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani.
The October Revolution of 1917 changed the course of world history; it also turned Russia into a showcase filled with models. Every object and sphere of activity had to demonstrate how society could be remade according to revolutionary principles. It would take intensive experimentation and discussion to determine the shape of this unprecedented society. To be realized in any concrete way, communism had to be modeled and put on display.
Space Force Construction / Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test, whose earlier iteration was on view at this year’s Venice Biennale, fills Regenstein Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago with ten model displays from the early Soviet era. Each of these sections, detailed below, holds rare works of art and features expert, life-size reconstructions of early Soviet display objects or spaces, commissioned especially for this exhibition.
El Lissitzky Room for Constructive Art, Internationale Kunstausstellung (International Art Exhibition), Dresden, 1926. Florian Pumhösl Relief I-V (for Dresden Raum), 2016-17
Wolfgang Tillmans, The State We’re In, A. 2015, Inkjet print on paper. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne/Berlin, and Maureen Paley, London.
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Surrounded), 2017. Printed vinyl. Courtesy the artist, Sprüth Magers and Mary Boone Gallery.
Battleground: Posters from the Civil War years (1918–21) surround a “Lenin Wall” with three dozen works devoted to the first Soviet leader.
School: Rare works from Soviet art schools convey breakthroughs in abstraction. Many loans come from the storied Costakis art collection in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Theater: Model sets, props, and drawings bring to life classic Constructivist stagings that merged viewers and performers in a mass spectacle.
Press: A 14-foot multimedia kiosk built from a design by artist Gustav Klutsis and a suite of his original drawings anchor an extensive display of rare magazines and unique poster maquettes.
Factory: A 30-foot-long Workers’ Club designed by Alexander Rodchenko can be entered to see period books and magazines.
Exhibition: A reconstructed 1926 exhibition room by El Lissitzky features paintings by artists included in the original exhibition, among them Piet Mondrian, Francis Picabia, and Lissitzky himself.
Festival: A period model for Stalin’s Palace of the Soviets joins photographs of mass sports events and commemorative gatherings.
Cinema: A rotating program of Soviet cartoons and documentaries is shown in a space that evokes an agitprop train.
Storefront: Large picture windows showcase textiles, Constructivist advertisements, and Suprematist porcelain.
Home: Personal images of leading Soviet artists, porcelain figurines, and a painting by Socialist Realist Aleksandr Deineka populate a model interior also outfitted with furniture conceived for small or collective apartments.
Irina Korina / The Hall of Columns, 2017
Ivan Erofeev
Melvin Edwards / El Lissitzky
These ten displays—containing nearly 550 works—come together in the largest exhibition of Soviet art to take place in the United States in 25 years. Visitors have the opportunity to explore the trajectory of early Soviet art in all its forms and consider what it tells us about socially minded art now.
Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the V-A-C Foundation. Major support is provided by Caryn and King Harris, The Harris Family Foundation. Additional funding is contributed by Constance R. Caplan, Karen and Jim Frank, and the Tawani Foundation.
Space Force Construction / Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia!
Soviet Art Put to the Test
Art Institute of Chicago / Regenstein Hall
October 29, 2017–January 15, 2018
For more information, please visit the exhibition page >
