Steve Edwards, USSR in Construction Speaker: Steve Edwards, Research Lecturer in History of Art at The Open University. This talk looks at Russian art from just before World War 1 until the middle of the 1930s, considering the relation between Constructivist art and the politics of the period. In the wake of the 1917 revolution many avant-garde artists identified with the aims of the Bolshevik regime. Some artists took up teaching or administrative roles in the new state and many tried to find appropriate ways to respond to the transformation of social relations. The impact of the Russian revolution was felt way beyond the confines of the Soviet territories giving an impetus to the desire to find a new social role for art. At the same time, the desire to connect with the revolution introduced the contradiction of 'publics' into the avant-garde project. The talk examines the contradictions that shaped the activities of the Soviet avant-garde.Further ReadingPaul Wood, 'The revolutionary avant-gardes: Dada, Constructivism and Surrealism', P. Wood ed., The Challenge of the Avant-Garde, Yale University Press, 1999, pp.226-5Gail Day, 'Art, love and social emancipation: on the concept "avant-garde" and the interwar avant-gardes', S. Edwards & P. Wood eds, Art of the Avant-Gardes, Yale University Press, 2004, pp.307-337.Christena Lodder, 'Soviet Constructivism', S. Edwards & P. Wood eds, Art of the Avant-Gardes, Yale University Press, 2004, pp.359-393Steve Edwards, '"Profane Illumination": photography and photomontage in the USSR and Germany', S. Edwards & P. Wood eds, Art of the Avant-Gardes, Yale University Press, 2004, pp.397-425LEF, Comrades, Organisers of Life (1923), S. Edwards ed, Art and its Histories: a Reader, Yale University Press, 1999, pp.207-210