Andrei Monastyrski: Elementary Poetry

Russian poet, author, artist and art theorist Andrei Monastyrski is, along with Ilya Kabakov, one of the founders of conceptualism in Russia, and a protagonist of Collective Actions, a group of artists who have organized participatory actions on the outskirts of Moscow since 1976. This volumes collects his poems, books and action objects from the '70s and '80s, tracing a genealogy of the art action in poetry.Though his poetry is less well known, poetry is where he began. After writing in the manner of the Russian modernists (who were newly available to Soviet readers during Khrushchev's thaw), Monastyrski's interest in John Cage and ideas about consciousness from Western and Eastern philosophical traditions led him to conduct experiments with sound, form and the creation of artistic situations involving constructed objects that required viewer engagement to complete.
ISBN 9781937027681. Ugly Duckling Presse/Soberscove Press. pb. 224 pages. 6 colour, 30 b/w ills. 14.6 x 20.9 cm.
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