“Il socialismo realizzato e la crisi delle avanguardie,” by Manfredo Tafuri

Posted by Ross Wolfe

A fairly rare, untranslated article by Manfredo Tafuri on the crisis of the avant-garde in the Soviet Union.

Italian translators welcome! Jasmine Curcio, I’m looking at you.

[scribd id=126848164 key=key-m8mpkza4mqu2i7gjih0 mode=scroll]

“Comrades!

The twin fires of war and revolution have devastated both our souls and our cities. The palaces of yesterday’s grandeur stand as burnt-out skeletons. The ruined cities await new builders[…]

To you who accept the legacy of Russia, to you who will (I believe!) tomorrow become masters of the whole world, I address the question: with what fantastic structures will you cover the fires of yesterday?” ⎯ Vladimir Maiakovskii, “An Open Letter to the Workers” (1918)

“Utopia transforms itself into actuality. The fairy tale becomes a reality. The contours of socialism will become overgrown with iron flesh, filled with electric blood, and begin to dwell full of life. The speed of socialist building outstrips the most audacious daring. In this lies the distinctive character and essence of the epoch.” ⎯ I. Chernia,“The Cities of Socialism” (1929)

“The idea of the conquest of the substructure, the earthbound, can be extended even further and calls for the conquest of gravity as such. It demands floating structures, a physical-dynamic architecture.” ⎯ El Lissitzky, The Reconstruction of Architecture in the Soviet Union (1929)

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28

The Charnel-House

From Bauhaus to Beinhaus

Day: February 22, 2013

“Il socialismo realizzato e la crisi delle avanguardie,” by Manfredo Tafuri

Like this:

With lightning telegrams:

Like this: