Avant-Garde Transformation of Artistic Labor: The Productivist View of Boris Arvatov
Avant-Garde Transformation of Artistic Labor: The Productivist View of Boris Arvatov
Author(s): Nikola DedićSubject(s): Marxism, History of Art
Published by: Fakultet za medije i komunikacije - Univerzitet Singidunum
Keywords: historical materialism; labor theory of value; political economy; avant-garde art; Soviet avant-garde; constructivism; productivism.
Summary/Abstract: The basic thesis of the article is that in historical materialist theory adistinction can be made between the terms work and labor. Work refers to a specificactivity – sewing, weaving, painting, sculpting. Labor refers to the social relationship,primarily between different social groups, i.e., classes – wage labor, serfdom, slavery,petty craftsmanship. Art history has approached the avant-garde mainly from the aspectof artistic work – for example, how the avant-garde transformed work in thedomain of painting into work in the domain of three-dimensional construction. Thisarticle tries to think of the avant-garde as a phenomenon that has transformed art interms of artistic labor. The basis is the transition from constructivism to productivismin Soviet art in the 1920s, and especially Boris Arvatov’s theoretical postulates.
Journal: AM Časopis za studije umetnosti i medija
- Issue Year: 2022
- Issue No: 28
- Page Range: 133-151
- Page Count: 19
- Language: English