Notes from Exhibition 21 March 2009

Constructivism is the move away from scientific objectivity-the artist can take control of the form (agency)

Art should play a role in the world-it should combine theory and practice. They upheld that art should be produced 'rationally'. Which, although employs terminology of the enlighenment should be seen as rejecting personal expession as seen in Bourgeois representation towards a scientific objectivity. Bourgeois representation, in line with what we have been studying in this course, will always have a class interest at heart. It expresses the personal experiences of the ruling clas-one that aims to present a view of the world by arranging objects into a false vision of the world in order

'Russia has', they said, 'given birth to it's own art and it's name is objectivity' (Rodchenko: 1918)

By stating that painting is, in their words, Useless as a church, they are playing with metaphors which seem to me rather ultra-left. It seems to dismiss the role of art and in this case painting in upholding and maintaining ideological positions. By understanding religious art, for example, as a glorification of God through the aesthetic form we can demonstrate that art isn't purely useless but could be used to challenge pre-existing inequalities in society.