Avant Garde Artistic Networks in and around the USSR

This course examines the activities of avant-garde networks in and around the USSR. These include the October Association, TatLEF, and the International Bureau of Revolutionary Artists (MBRKh). We will explore the role of avant-garde art schools in network development, including VKhUTEMAS and the Mezhyhirya Art and Technical School near Kyiv. We will examine how the networks formed, their objects and pedagogies, their influence on visual politics, and on international networks of leftist artists. We look at the powerful influence of these networks on anti-imperial/anti-racist modernisms. The course offers an understanding of network practices within the politics of the interwar avant-garde