SULPHUR FORMULA - MODERNIST CODE The magazine issued in 1924 in Tbilisi was comprising works by Beno Gordeziani, Niogol Chachava, Irakli Gamrekeli, Pavle Nozadze, Zhango Gogoberidze, Akaki Beliashvili, Simon Chikovani, Nikoloz Shengelaia, and Shalva Alkhazishvili. It was one of the best examples of a Futurist-Dadaist artistic edition, where every letter and graphic element created experimental and dynamic pages. The whole structure of the magazine represented the Avant-garde sentiments characteristic of the era. “The main fact is that Futurism is the first stage of a revolution that carries Dada like poetry and a part of a body,” a passage in the magazine said. Authors claimed that cities with developed technologies produced sounds that did not yet have a sign to express them and it was H2SO4 that solved the problem. The pages of the magazine present experimental alchemy of letters. As a result, the text spoke visually (designers I. Gamrekeli and B. Gordeziani) and words and images were indivisible. Georgian Avant-garde found eternal life on these pages. One copy of the H2SO4 is kept in I. Grishashvili’s library-museum. It has interesting notes next to the names of the authors. The notes show how tense the situation was in Georgia at that time because of political views and that splits penetrated even in arts. The following can be read next to the names of authors: “Artist - Dadaist, a pure Futurist”; “Artist - Futurist, a pure Dadaist”; “An obvious Dadaist”; “Communist-Futurist (obvious)”; “Futurist”. Georgian Avant-garde is seen in general as one single phenomenon, but disputes within it had no end, particularly as the terminology used with regard to the phenomenon constantly remained unspecified. One can recall an incident in the shop of Lagidze Water opposite the Kimerioni cafe, where a Symbolist-Dadaist threw a glass at a Futurist, but accidently injured a Symbolist. After that, Futurist becomes a general term in the Soviet Union, denoting a dissident, rebel, and different thinker, not someone oriented on the future (futurum). In addition, propaganda against the trend could lead to the emergence of an additional overtone in Georgia due to the association with the Georgian word puturo - “hollow”. Utopian projects were typical for the Modernist era. After the revolution, when overall excitement often gave rise to implementation of daring, innovative, and grandiose projects despite a lack of funds.
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