Nonsense of Reality, Art of Nonsense: The Association for Real Art

Abstract

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The Association for Real Art was an arts and literature group that used to be active between the years 1927 and 1930 in the Soviet Union. The community, thanks to their manifesto, co-written by their members, and the works they produced, was different from many of the other communities that were active in the same period. The Association’s relation to the absurd, comical and the unexpected resulted in their defamation and accusations of membership to anti-Soviet groups after their first production, “Three Left Hours”. Therefore, the members faced the same destiny that their contemporaries and other avantgarde groups had gone through, as they were making statements against censorship and the confiscation of the freedom of expression from artists. The aim of this study is to introduce the avant-garde The Association for Real Art that clenched art and never let it go to save it from the sewer of the past. After a brief introduction to The Association for Real Art, translations of excerpts from the selected poems and other writings by the community members will be shared, along with the founding member Daniil Kharms’ play Elizaveta Bam.</span>