ARTS
23.10.2012 concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk
www.concrete-online.co.uk
ARTS POLITICS: ART IN REVOLUTION
@concrete_arts
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Adamovich and the porcelain plate “Kapital” Sophie Szynaka Throughout the October Revolution of 1918, art was essential for communicating communist ideology, because the majority of Russia’s population, the peasantry and proletariat, were largely illiterate. Their success in fighting off the realities of foreign invasion and civil war, both of which threatened to take advantage of Russia’s current political instability, depended on the organization and leadership of the Bolshevik party. They united the country by allying with the peasants and working classes, who would provide the food and man power needed to defend Russia. This desire for unity amongst the proletariat is seen clearly in Adamovich’s futurist style “Kapital” plate. This was inspired by the 1918 revolution and made to celebrate the creation of the world’s first communist state. Centrally placed in the distance is a factory, the source of economic power crucial to Marxist theory. Painting the factory red indicates it belongs to the workers (not their capitalist bosses), and the white smoke puffing out is evidence of its healthy
productivity. From this smoke a vast yellow sunburst represents the new possibility of an enlightened communist future, which is banishing the dark forces of the repressive capitalist past, shown by black clouds to the edge of the margins. On the left side (unsurprisingly) a red silhouette of a man strides forward into the image. The figure of a working man has no identifying detail as he is not individual, but represents the entire industrial proletariat, moving into a brighter future that they will create themselves. He tramples over an area of barren ground where the letters of the word “Kapital” (capitalism) lie broken. Overall, art played a decisive role in transforming Russian society and shaping the new Soviet citizen. It set the stage for a new era of heroic portraits and political art that could inspire, be easily interpreted and related to by the Russian population and the rest of the world. The art of this time, such as Adamovich’s plate, helps us to understand the communist’s ultimate goal; to convert all nations to their ideology and create a completely new world.
REVIEW: T.C. BOYLE UEA’s Literature Festival 2012 Kerry Johnson T. C. Boyle, author of 23 novels, returned to UEA after his last visit in 1993. At the beginning of the evening, Boyle apologised for his appearance saying, “usually I’m an elegant professor; I blame this look on my Ryanair flight today”. Despite his rather sarcastic tone, he greatly emphasised the importance of deep research when writing. The Chanel Islands off the coast of California formed the basis for his novel When the Killing’s Done, where true events, such as an animal activist who was highly against the idea of killing the diseased rats infecting the islands, took place. Despite the rats eradicating the bird population, the activist chose to liberate the rats, destroying the birds as a consequence. When referring to the issues attacking our earth today, Boyle says “There is nothing better for fiction than misery”. Boyle follows this theme in his novel, A Friend of the Earth, where he highlights the commotion we have caused to our
precious planet. Similarly, in Drop City he highlights the urgency to slow down our consumption of these resources. He asks “Can we escape these conditions?”, “Can we control the environment?”, “Are we all doomed?”. His fiction provokes us to answer these questions for ourselves. Indeed, Boyle was eager to recite his short story, The Lie. His highly descriptive style was a first person narrative asking us to think about the way we handle our mistakes and how we often hurt or exploit others. Boyle certainly has no interest in transforming his books into films, explaining that he wishes only for his fiction to live within our imaginations. That said, many a student have interpreted his works on film, and The Lie has been transformed into a fiction film. After a successful interview and reading, Boyle was asked by a member of the audience “how novelists deal with lack of hope?”, so which he replied, “art, creativity, music. How does any human being deal with the absence of hope?”.