Iakov Chernikhov’s Architectural Fantasies: Overcoming of ‘Mimesis’ through ‘Phantasia’ as Forerunner of Progress
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2017-05-11
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Other Conference Item
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no
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Abstract
Russian avant-garde artists aimed to arm with insights into form and materials in order to realize the utopian aims of the Bolshevik Revolution. They believed architecture to have a transformative effect and to reflect the vision to transform everyday life, linking infrastructure with “spiritual values”. Their drawings express the movement towards social and political reforms, mediating realism and utopia, while mirroring social aspirations. Their attempt to bring art into life, merging them through the assemblage of artifacts is related to the revolutionizing of everyday life.
Iakov Chernikhov’s ‘compositions’ are conceived as “arrangement[s] different from anything known before”. His constant search for new forms is related to “the capacity to fantasize and to convert these fantasies into representations is a starting point of modern architecture”. He notes: “The architect should not limit the sphere of his work with narrow frames and servile imitations, but, where necessary, should overcome obstacles by means of his powerful fantasy and bravely move forward. Those who think that the architect’s activity should embrace only current realistic requirements are thinking incorrectly and falsely.” In contrast with Aristotle, who conceives ‘mimesis’ as the equivalent of artistic enterprise, Chernikhov perceives his ‘compositions’ as acts of overcoming of ‘mimesis’ through ‘phantasia’. The visionary illustrations of his Architectural Fantasies express his endeavor to replace words by graphic images, which is based on his belief that the potential of the international language of graphics to function as a forerunner of progress derives from the power of fantasy.
My aim is to elucidate how Chernikhov treats the tension between fantasy and reality and to examine to what extent his graphic production achieves to overcome ‘mimesis’ through ‘phantasia’. The response to these questions could help us explain why Chernikhov has been often judged as unclassifiable and to evaluate to what extent his attitude reflects the polarities between the Rationalists and the Constructivists.
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published
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ETH Zurich
Event
15th Ecole de printemps 2017 of the International Consortium of Art History, University of Geneva (2017)
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Subject
Constructivists; Iakov Chernikhov; Aristotle; Phantasia; mimesis; Rationalists; Bolshevik Revolution
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09643 - Avermaete, Tom / Avermaete, Tom
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG
Notes
Conference lecture held on May 11, 2017.