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Agit-Trains
Avant-garde Center on Shabolovka
2017
2017
This exhibition was dedicated to one of the earliest and most unique phenomena of Soviet culture, born out of the revolution: the agit-trains. These agitational trains embodied a central idea of the early 20th century—the synthesis of technology and art, the merging of different functions and forms into a new cultural medium: a traveling hybrid of an exhibition space, a theater, a speakers' platform, a cinema, and a library on wheels.
In 1918, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first agit-train—officially titled the Military-Mobile Frontline Literary Train—was prepared and painted by artists, and traveled along the Moscow-Kazan railway. Over the following two years, five fully decorated trains were sent to various regions, completing a total of 19 journeys that traversed the country from Odessa to Irkutsk, and from Vologda to Baku.
The painting and artistic coordination of the trains was led by Ignaty Nivinsky, a well-known graphic artist, painter, and set designer. The project involved artists from across the spectrum—from symbolists to those who would later become leaders of the avant-garde.
The exhibition presented, for the first time, a comprehensive account of the socio-political role of the agit-trains as a vital tool of state propaganda during the Civil War, and as an instrument of territorial colonization and outreach to remote regions. In addition to examining the logistics and operations of the trains, the exhibition explored their artistic design and ideological content.
This was illustrated through archival photographs, posters, documents, books, newsreels, household items from private collections and from the holdings of the State Central Museum of Contemporary Russian History.
In 1918, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first agit-train—officially titled the Military-Mobile Frontline Literary Train—was prepared and painted by artists, and traveled along the Moscow-Kazan railway. Over the following two years, five fully decorated trains were sent to various regions, completing a total of 19 journeys that traversed the country from Odessa to Irkutsk, and from Vologda to Baku.
The painting and artistic coordination of the trains was led by Ignaty Nivinsky, a well-known graphic artist, painter, and set designer. The project involved artists from across the spectrum—from symbolists to those who would later become leaders of the avant-garde.
The exhibition presented, for the first time, a comprehensive account of the socio-political role of the agit-trains as a vital tool of state propaganda during the Civil War, and as an instrument of territorial colonization and outreach to remote regions. In addition to examining the logistics and operations of the trains, the exhibition explored their artistic design and ideological content.
This was illustrated through archival photographs, posters, documents, books, newsreels, household items from private collections and from the holdings of the State Central Museum of Contemporary Russian History.
Curator
Aleksandra Selivanova
Research
Anna Borunova
with Sofia Michel and Evgeny Kozlov
Exhibition Architecture
Ksenia Yankova
Ksenia Bessarab
Alisa Fomenkova
Graphic Design
Ksenia Bessarab
Animation
Masha Straus
Aleksandra Selivanova
Research
Anna Borunova
with Sofia Michel and Evgeny Kozlov
Exhibition Architecture
Ksenia Yankova
Ksenia Bessarab
Alisa Fomenkova
Graphic Design
Ksenia Bessarab
Animation
Masha Straus
