The Russian Avant Garde at LEA8

I'll confess from the start: I'm completely prejudiced about the Russian avant-garde art of the early 20th century. Absolutely no neutrality at all. I love it -- pretty much all of it. Russian art during roughly 1910-1930 was immensely fertile. Most of the avant-garde artists were Constructivist or Futurist, but unlike the Italian Futurists, they were to a greater or lesser degree left wing, and they had a clear streak of whimsy and satire. Many created work for the stage. Before the Stalinists ended the movement, they created some of the boldest work of the era.

So when I learned that there's a tribute to it at the LEA8 sim, I dashed right over. And promptly turned into a gibbering jelly of joy.

The tribute is actually part of a huge exhibition in London created by Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke (Rose). The official website is here, and there's an article from the BBC News about it here. The exhibition at LEA8 is necessarily relatively tiny, but nonetheless some of the best (and most fun) works of the period are reproduced, or in the case of two-dimensional drawings, rendered into 3D. They include:

• Vladimir Tatlin's Tower, a tribute to the Third International
• Black Square by Kazimir Malevich
• Liubov Popova's stage construction for Vsevolod Meyerhold's production of The Magnanimous Cuckold, by Fernand Crommelynck (this is a personal favorite, being a work for theater)
• Avatars (free!) based on drawings by El Lissitzky

Popova's set for The Magnanimous Cuckold, re-created by nessuno Myoo

El Lissitzky's "Old Man," re-created by Alpha Auer

One of the most impressive pieces is an original dance work by Jo Ellsmere, performed by five bots who sometimes merge. Their costumes are based on designs by one of the Russian avant-garde artists, though I couldn't recall who.

A moment from the bot dance choreographed by Jo Ellsmere

Much of the space in which the exhibition is being held was created by Bryn Oh (who also made the Tatlin Tower reconstruction), for the most part in a style similar to Constructivism. She also has some her signature elements around, such as the rotating antennas. Look closely at her stack of shopping carts.

The full list of artists involved is:

• Alpha Auer
• Bryn Oh
• Caer Balogh
• Eupalinos Ugajin
• Jo Ellsmere
• nessuno Myoo
• Rose Borchovski
• Soror Nishi

I do have one complaint: there doesn't seem to be a notecard with information about the whole exhibit. Notecards with bios of the individual artists, yes; an exhibit card, no. I visited three times, but never found or received one.

When I visited this exhibition before, I didn't know that it wasn't quite ready for the public. Now, at each installation there's a large number, which you can click to receive a notecard identifying the works. (The notecard describes all the pieces, so it's the same at each number.)

Part of an installation by Alpha Auer

Showing at LEA8, I don't know for how long. (Earth to LEA Committee: for pete's sake, get information out!)