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El Lissitzky (1890 – 1941), was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, typographer and architect. He was an important figure of the Russian Avant Garde who helped develop suprematism with his mentor, Kazimir Malevich.

 

His work greatly influenced the Constructivist movement and would go on to dominate 20th century design, especially through his influence on the Bauhaus and De Stijl movements.

 

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Re-building some of El Lissitzky's work as virtual artifacts constituted my contribution to a collaborative Second Life venture which was part of a large exhibition that was held in the Spring of 2014 in the Manege Museum in Moscow. The conceptualizers of the project, filmmaker Peter Greenaway and artist Saskia Boddeke, were supported by the British Council to create a mega-exhibit by combining film, animation and 3D virtual world technology that were brought together to create a unified atmospheric setting which drew the viewer into the period of the Russian avant-garde. More than 1,000 artworks, borrowed from galleries and private collections around the world, were displayed across 5000 square metres, woven together with a gigantic polyscreen installation which combined real and virtual film footage that also featured our Second Life collaboration.

 

Having long been a great admirer of El Lissitzky's work, when I was invited by Saskia Boddeke to contribute to their project, I immediately asked her whether it would be possible for me to concentrate exclusively on his output - a proposal to which she had no objection to.

The result were three different projects that in two cases were almost exact replicas of El Lissitzky's work (for which the needed permissions were obtained by the exhibition's organizers in Russia), and one of which was more of an interpretation based upon his original output. These three builds, which I am showing here in juxtaposition to El Lissitsky's original drawings and layouts are my homage to a man who I think is one of the greatest designers, if not indeed the greatest designer, of the 20th century.

Personal Website

https://www.elifayiter.com

Contact

Elif Ayiter

ayiter@gmail.com

Phillip Roslan

interlocutor8@icloud.com

The Exhibition:

 

"The Golden Age of the Russian Avant-Garde" was a large-scale exhibition project, created especially for the main exhibition hall of Moscow’s Manege Museum by Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke. The world premiere took place in Moscow in April 2014 and was one of the main projects of the UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014. 

The multimedia installation animated more than 400 masterpieces of the Russian avant-garde. Rare pieces of Russian avant-garde from the collections of the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Schusev Architectural Museum, the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum and private collections were shown. “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich – perhaps the most famous Russian avant-garde work – was used as the basis and the central metaphor of the exhibition.

 

The exhibition spread across 5000 square metres, including polyscreen installations, light and sound equipment. Using polyscreens as an artistic method not only allowed for the exploration of new aspects in paintings or sculpture: synchronised images, bound together by a single idea, created new architectonics, bringing another dimension to the exhibition. Combining film and painting, animation and 3D technology helped create a unified atmospheric work, drawing the viewer into the space of Russian avant-garde.

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