Politik Bir Eylem Olarak Sanat: 1920'lerdeki Rus Agit-Prop

19. yüzyılın ortalarında ortaya çıkan mekanik yeniden üretim tekniklerindeki değişim, sanat eserinin ve sanatçının tanımları ile sanatın toplumsal rolünü değiştirmiştir. Bu dönüşümler, 20. Yüzyıl boyunca sürecek geniş kapsamlı bir sosyo-kültürel devrimi de tetiklemiştir. Sanat, kitleleri yönlendirme aracına dönüşmüştür ve komünist ideoloji estetiği siyasallaştırmıştır. 1920’lerin Rus Konstrüktivistleri sanatlarında, yeni bir estetik dil ve siyasi propaganda oluşturmak için ajitasyon ve propaganda tekniklerini (ajit-proplar) kullanmıştır. Bu çalışma, sanatı kente ve gündelik hayata katmayı amaçlayan Rus avangardının siyasetin estetikleşmesinde bir araç haline geldiğini savlamaktadır. Çalışmanın kapsamı, Bolşevik iktidar eliyle oluşturulmuş ajit-proplar ile sınırlandırılmıştır. Literatürden yazılı ve görsel kaynaklara başvuran çalışma, konuyu tarihsel-yorumlama araştırma yöntemiyle ele almaktadır. Ajit-propları, estetik-siyaset ilişkisi, kentsel mekânda ve gündelik hayatta estetik devrim çerçevesinde tartışmayı hedeflemektedir.

Art as a Political Act The Russian Agit-Props of the 1920s

Emerged in the mid-19th century, the mechanical reproduction techniques changed the definitions of work of art, artist, and the social role of art. These transformations triggered an extensive socio-cultural revolution during the 20th century. Art turned out to be an instrument for guiding the masses; and the communist ideology politicized aesthetics. The Russian Constructivists of the 1920s utilized agitation and propaganda techniques (agit-props) in their art for creating an aesthetic language for the political propaganda. This study argues that the Russian avant-garde aiming to bring art into everyday life and urban space became an instrument for aestheticization of politics. The scope is limited to the agit-props appropriated by the Bolshevik power. Dwelling on literary and visual information from literature, it scrutinizes the topic with a historical interpretation research method. It aims to discuss the agit-props within the framework of aesthetics and politics, aesthetic revolution in everyday life and urban space.

Keywords:

Power Strategies, Constructivism, Russian Agit-Props Urban Space, Everyday Life,

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List of Figures
Figure 1. Rodchenko, Design for a kiosk (Proekt kioska),1919, Black and colored ink on paper, 53.2 x 34.3 cm, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1998/rodchenko/texts/new_cultural_jpg.html, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 2. Punin, Tatlin with his assistant in front of the model on exhibition in Petrograd, Tatlin (protiv kubizma), 1920, Black and white photograph. https://monoskop.org/Vladimir_Tatlin, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 3. Klutsis. Design for loudspeaker no.7 Exhibition, 1922, Pencil, ink and gouache on paper, 26.9 x 17.7 cm, Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki. https://artblart.com/tag/russian-artists/, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 4. Klutsis. Design for loudspeaker no.5, 1922, Colored ink and pencil on paper, Greek State Museum of Contemporary Art Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki. https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/adventures-of-the-black-square-whitechapel-art-gallery/, Date Accessed: 21.09.2019.
Figure 5. Rodchenko. Books (Please)! In all branches of knowledge, 1924. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/soviet-revolutionary-posters-lxgrhtvv5, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 6. Blue Blouse performance at a Club of Karl Liebknecht, 1924, Black and white photograph. https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-agitprop-theater-blue-blouse/blue-blouse-at-a-club-of-karl-liebknecht-1924/, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 7. Performance of the Blue Blouse actors in Moscow Park of Culture, 1929, Black and white photograph. https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-agitprop-theater-blue-blouse/performance-of-the-blue-blouse-actors-in-moscow-park-of-culture-1929/, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 8. Reconstruction photo of The Storming of the Winter Palace by the insurgents, 1920, Black and white photograph. https://www.rbth.com/history/326637-fall-of-winter-palace-how-1917, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 9. and Figure 10. Red Platform in the Storming of the Winter Palace, 1920, Black and white photograph. Von Geldern, J., (1993). Bolshevik festivals, 1917-1920. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft467nb2w4/, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 11. Spectators watching the performance The Mystery of Liberated Labour in front of the former Stock Exchange in Petrograd, 1920, Black and white photograph. Murray, N., (2018). Street art - collective, politicised: The new public spectacle. In Art for the Workers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004355682_007. Figure 12. Cinema car of agit-train ‘V. I. Lenin No. 1, 1918, Still from the film Conquerors of the Sun by Anna Baumgart. https://contemporarylynx.co.uk/tag/conquerors-of-the-sun-is-a-film-by-anna-baumgart, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 13. Malevich, Drawing for agit-train, ca. 1920, Pencil on paper,State Museum of Contemporary Art Costakis Collection, Thessaloniki. [photography, authors’ archive, February 10, 2019], from The Russian Avant-garde. Dreaming the Future tThrough Art and Design Exhibition, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, İstanbul.
Figure 14. Dziga Vertov, Kinonedelia No. 17, 1918, Still Courtesy of Danish Film Institute and Austrian Film Museum, Vienna. apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/article/view/2/75, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 15. Lenin Agit-train No.1 Interior of Movie-theatre car, (n.d.), Black and white photograph. http://modvisart.blogspot.com/2006/03/kino-eyes-and-agit-trains.html, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 16. Outdoor use of an Agit-train, (n.d.), Black and white photograph. https://oneartyminute.com/lexique-artistique/agit-prop, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 17. Exhibition car on agit-train, (n.d.), Still from the film Conquerors of the Sun by Anna Baumgart. https://contemporarylynx.co.uk/anna-baumgart-and-her-historiography-art, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 18. The famous agit-streamer Red Star with theatre on board, 1919-1921, Black and white photograph. https://www.culturematters.org.uk/index.php/culture/theory/item/2673-books-please-the-russian-revolution-arts-and-culture, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 19. Saratov, Agit-prop steamer ‘The Red Star',1920, Black and white photograph. https://philipstanfield.com/2014/09/15/art-and-social-life-the-russian-revolution-and-the-creative-power-of-idealism-6/, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.
Figure 20. Agit-streamer with a theatre on board, (n.d.), Black and white photograph. https://burevestn1k.livejournal.com/10313.html, Date Accessed: 21.05.2019.