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El Lissitzky's 'Figuren' 1923 Introduction 

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El Lissitzky's 'Figuren' 1923 Introduction 

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IN FRONT OF YOU IS THE FRAGMENT OF A WORK WHICH ORIGINATED IN MOSCOW IN 1920-1. HERE, AS IN ALL MY WORKS, MY AIM IS NOT TO REFORM SOMETHING WHICH ALREADY EXISTS, BUT TO BRING SOMETHING ELSE INTO EXISTENCE.

NOBODY PAYS ATTENTION TO THE MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE IN OUR STREETS, FOR EVERY "SOMEBODY" IS IN THE PLAY HIMSELF. EVERY ENERGY EMPLOYED IS EMPLOYED FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE. THE WHOLE IS AMORPHOUS. ALL ENERGIES MUST BE ORGANISED INTO A UNITY, CRYSTALLISED AND PUT ON SHOW, IN THIS WAY A WORK IS PRODUCED – IT MAY BE CALLED A WORK OF ART.

WE ARE CONSTRUCTING A STAGE ON A SQUARE, WHICH IS OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE ON ALL SIDES; THAT IS THE MACHINERY OF THE SHOW. THIS STAGE OFFERS THE "BODIES IN PLAY" ALL THE POSSIBILITIES OF MOVEMENT. THEREFORE ITS INDIVIDUAL PARTS MUST BE CAPABLE OF BEING SHIFTED, REVOLVED, EXTENDED, AND SO ON.

IT MUST BE POSSIBLE TO CHANGE OVER FROM ONE ELEVATION TO ANOTHER QUICKLY. EVERYTHING IS RIB-CONSTRUCTION, SO THAT THE BODIES CIRCULATING IN THE PLAY WILL NOT BE MASKED. THE BODIES THEMSELVES ARE EACH DESIGNED AS OCCASION AND VOLITION DEMANDS. THEY GLIDE, ROLL, FLOAT, ON, IN, AND OVER THE STAGE. ALL THE PARTS OF THE STAGE AND ALL THE BODIES ARE SET IN MOTION BY MEANS OF ELECTROMECHANICAL FORCES AND DEVICES, AND THE CONTROL CENTRE IS IN THE HANDS OF A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL. THIS IS THE CREATOR OF THE SHOW. HIS PLACE IS IN THE CENTRE OF THE STAGE, AT THE SWITCHBOARD CONTROLLING ALL THE ENERGIES. HE DIRECTS THE MOVEMENTS, THE SOUND AND THE LIGHT. HE SWITCHES ON THE RADIO-MEGAPHONE, AND ACROSS THE SQUARE RESOUNDS THE DEAFENING NOISE OF RAILWAY STATIONS, THE RUSHING OF THE NIAGARA FALLS, THE HAMMERING OF A ROLLING-MILL. THE CREATOR SPEAKS FOR THE BODIES, INTO A TELEPHONE WHICH IS CONNECTED WITH AN ARC-LAMP, OR INTO OTHER DEVICES WHICH ALTER HIS VOICE ACCORDING TO THE CHARACTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL FIGURES. SENTENCES FLASH ON AND OFF ELECTRICALLY. BEAMS OF LIGHT, REFRACTED THROUGH PRISMS AND MIRRORS, FOLLOW THE MOVEMENT OF THE BODIES. THUS THE CREATOR RAISES THE MOST ELEMENTARY PROCESS TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE OF EFFECTIVENESS.

FOR THE FIRST PRESENTATION OF THIS ELECTROMECHANICAL PEEPSHOW I HAVE USED A MODERN PLAY, WHICH WAS STILL, HOWEVER, WRITTEN FOR THE STAGE. IT IS THE FUTURIST OPERA "VICTORY OVER THE SUN" BY A. KRUCHENYKH WHO ORIGINATED SOUND-POETRY AND IS THE LEADING WRITER OF THE MOST MODERN RUSSIAN POETIC WORKS. THE OPERA WAS PRESENTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1913, IN PETERSBURG. THE MUSIC IS BY MATYUSHIN (QUARTER TONES). MALEVICH PAINTED THE SCENERY (THE CURTAIN = BLACK SQUARE).

THE SUN AS THE EXPRESSION OF THE WORLD'S AGE-OLD ENERGY IS TORN DOWN FROM THE SKY BY MODERN MAN; THE POWER OF HIS TECHNICAL SUPREMACY CREATES FOR ITSELF A NEW SOURCE OF ENERGY. THIS IDEA IS WOVEN INTO THE OPERA SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE ACTION. THE LANGUAGE IS ALOGICAL. INDIVIDUAL SINGING PARTS ARE PHONETIC POEMS.

THE TEXT OF THE OPERA COMPELLED ME TO PRESERVE SOMETHING OF THE ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY IN MY PUPPETS. THE COLOURS OF THE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THESE PAGES ARE TO BE REGARDED IN THE SAME WAY AS IN MY PROUN WORKS, AS EQUIVALENTS TO MATERIALS; THAT IS TO SAY, WHEN THE DESIGNS ARE PUT INTO EFFECT, THE RED, YELLOW OR BLACK PARTS OF THE PUPPETS ARE NOT PAINTED CORRESPONDINGLY, BUT INSTEAD ARE MADE IN CORRESPONDING MATERIAL, FOR EXAMPLE IN BRIGHT COPPER, DULL IRON, AND SO ON.

THE FURTHER ADAPTATION AND APPLICATION OF THE IDEAS AND FORMS SET DOWN HERE I LEAVE TO OTHERS WHILE I PROCEED TO MY NEXT TASK.

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Intro to original 'Victory Over the Sun' St Petersburg 1913

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Intro to original 'Victory Over the Sun' St Petersburg 1913

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Intorduction to Victory original material

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Victory Over the Sun / Figuren 'scratch' for InterAction / Galway 2020

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Victory Over the Sun / Figuren 'scratch' for InterAction / Galway 2020

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Victory Over the Sun / Figuren InterAction

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Sketch for a stage curtain for the opera Victory Over the Sun, 1928 St. Petersburg Museum of Theater and Music

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The New Man strides confidently forward with arms and legs outstretched though now displaying the red square at his heart and the red star in his head. The anarchic Futurists had to switch on the optimistic rhetoric of ideological commitment.

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ALLES IST BIEN WAS GOOD НАУИНАЕТСЯ ET HAT NO FINATA

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ALLES IST BIEN WAS GOOD НАУИНАЕТСЯ ET HAT NO FINATA

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Among those in UNOVIS (Champions of the New Art) was Lazar (El) Lissitzky who developed a puppet version of the opera drawing on the element of automaton which was evident in the 1913 version. This was never realised as a theatrical event, but the figures were published as a portfolio of colour lithographs in 1923 'Figuren'. The title sheet announces: 'All is well that begins well and has no end' not in zaum but by mixing European languages to declare 'Alles ist bien was good nachinaetsia et hat no finita'
Autodesk proof by artist Padraig Conway