- Title
- The politics of labour: dissent and dissensus in the architecture of Brodsky and Utkin
- Creator
- Ostwald, Michael J.; Chapman, Michael
- Relation
- 27th International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ 2010). Imagining ...: Proceedings of the 27th International SAHANZ Conference (Newcastle, N.S.W. 30 June-2 July, 2010) p. 318-327
- Relation
- http://www.newcastle.edu.au/conference/sahanz-2010
- Publisher
- Society of Architecural Historians, Australia & New Zealand
- Resource Type
- conference paper
- Date
- 2010
- Description
- In the wake of glasnost, the projects of a number of young Russian architects came to light that had been produced, allegedly at least, as a form of rebellion against the authoritarian Soviet state and its rigid, modernist aesthetic. Two of the better-known proponents of the underground Russian “paper architecture” movement were Alexander Brodsky and Illya Utkin. In the 1980s Brodsky and Utkin ignored laws forbidding them to practice architecture outside the state system and produced a series of dark etchings; drawings of unbuildable, imaginary or fantasy architecture, which they submitted to international competitions. In this paper, the depiction of labour in the works of Brodsky and Utkin is analysed through the lens of Jacques Rancière’s “distribution of the sensible”. In particular, Rancière’s theories about the value and visibility of labour are used to test the subversive intent of Brodsky and Utkin’s work. Rancière’s ideas are especially appropriate for this analysis because he has previously argued that modernism was not so vulnerable to cross-disciplinary incursions as many theorists suggest and he rejects simple claims that art and architecture are necessarily political as a result of their form, content or mode of representation.
- Subject
- Alexander Brodsky; Ilya Utkin; paper architecture; labour
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/927867
- Identifier
- uon:10274
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780646536903
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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