Curated by Sergei Kowalski, Anastasia Patsey, Boris Konstriktor
Catalogue by Sergei Kowalski, Ilja Kukuj, Boris Konstriktor
“To save the thread of the poetic Avant-garde – to absorb it, to fill it with yourself, to transpose it to the foreign, to bear through the similar, to pass to everyone, to transfix everything. Nonsense is the main fame of a transfurist, his Sofia (the Glupov town)”.
Transfurism is a bright avant-garde movement that emerged in the in Russian art in the 1970’s and found expression in literature and visual arts. The core of the Transfurist group (also known as the “Transpoets”) included Sergej Sigej (Sigov), Ry Nikonova (Anna Tarshis), Boris Konstriktor (Boris Axelrod) and A. Nik (Nikolai Axelrod). Their most famous project was the Samizdat (self-published) magazine “Transponans” (1979-1987), where they published experimental poetry, analytic texts, drawings and phographs. In 1980’s they also actively participated in the exhibitions of Leningrad “unofficial” artists organised by the Society of Experimental Visual Art.
The art of the Transfurists continues and develops the traditions of international avant-garde movements: futurism, dadaism, OBERIU, zaum and others. This exhibition is the first attempt to introduce the Russian audience to Transfurism as a multidisciplinary and a many-sided movement. Along with paintings and graphics from private collection the exposition features personal items and documents, photo and video materials.
The exhibition was developed with support of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (Germany).
