Public Symposium:

The Russian avant-garde is very much alive. A ‘simply irresistible,’ ‘alternative’ cultural world that ‘blithely accepts the diversity and whimsiness of human behavior to some (Scheijen); an ‘idea’ that urgently merits recontextualization in the face of ‘global political crisis’ to others (Léger); to yet others ‘an undetonated alternative’ for neoliberalism and for ‘the discredited institutionalized left’ (Bozovic), avant-garde art and thinking continue to inspire present-day scholars, thinkers, writers, and artists. At ‘Avant-Gardes Then and Now,’ we explore recent non-fiction, art, and translations that explore and revive avant-garde heritage today. We do so with Amsterdam-based writer and slavist Sjeng Scheijen, multiple-prizewinning author of De avant-gardisten; filmmakers and designers Metahaven, whose film installations (exhibited at Stedelijk Museum, ICA London, MoMA PS1) reactivate work by such avant-garde poets as Aleksandr Vvedensky, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Kornei Chukovskii; and poet, scholar, and translator Eugene Ostashevsky (Berlin/New York), who studies and translations of avant-garde poetry include the anthology of Russian absurdism Oberiu and the Futurist key publication Tango with Cows. 

The symposium is led by professor Ellen Rutten (University of Amsterdam) and is part of the first-year seminar ‘Russia and Eastern Europe 1900-1950: Culture as Politics,’ co-hosted by the University of Amsterdam’s department of Russian & Slavic Studies and Stedelijk Museum.