Abstract
The article surveys the problem of textual expression in Moscow Conceptualism. It discusses the peculiar way this movement constructed its pictorial art, creating a unique example of ekphrasis. It seems that the key to adequate understanding of the legacy of the Conceptualist experiment in Russian culture is the language of the comical and the diversity of the humorous agenda. Moscow Conceptualism authorizes and encourages the use of multiple languages in addition to pictorial expression per se. The article therefore analyses the ways in which Conceptualists juxtapose verbal textuality with more traditional “artwork”.Russian Conceptualism made extensive use of cognitive dissonance, exploiting the contradictory, conflicting feeling conveyed by their art to illustrate the ironies covertly undermining societyʼs official discourse. The common Conceptualist goal was to demythologize the mainstream narrative of a happy socialist society by means of ideological mockery primarily based on the concept of “stiob”. Ekphrastic representations worked to create bitter parodies of Soviet metaphysics, travestying typical slogans of official propaganda. The essay explores unique mechanisms of embedding textual practice in the art of the elder conceptualist Ilʼia Kabakov and his younger contemporary Andrei Monastyrskii. The latterʼs ironic art theory is discussed in greater detail.
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