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VHUTEMAS for Children
Avant-garde Center on Shabolovka
2020
2020
What was VHUTEMAS? It was the epicenter of the avant-garde—a place where the pioneers of Soviet art studied and taught, designed, experimented, sawed, painted, played around, and even played basketball. It was here that the profession of designer was born in the USSR—though at the time, they called themselves "artist-constructors." The Higher Art and Technical Studios were initially called "Free Studios", and this freedom was the revolutionary element introduced into art education in 1918−1920. Freedom from dogma, from rigid models and outdated methods, freedom to choose a specialization and a mentor, and, to some extent, freedom of access to education.
Vladimir Tatlin, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, the Vesnin brothers, Gustav Klutsis, Vladimir Favorsky, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Lyubov Popova, and many others taught students to approach new problems in new ways, to make discoveries, and to think critically. "Think with your head, not your ruler," wrote student Nikolai Sokolov on one of his diploma sheets—a phrase that could serve as the motto of the entire VHUTEMAS. The achievements of VHUTEMAS students and the faculty in architecture, graphic design, furniture and textile design, ceramics, alongside the experiments of the Bauhaus, became the foundation of modern design and art education worldwide.
This open-minded approach, this drive to invent, explore, and break things down to their basic elements—line, color, and primary forms—resonates deeply with the way children see the world. The pedagogical methods of VHUTEMAS are ideal for introducing children to modern art. That’s why this exhibition had two approaches.
On one side, it was historical, addressed to adults, exploring how students and professors of VHUTEMAS envisioned childhood and the material world of Soviet children. It was about toys, books, textiles, tableware, and children’s theater productions created in the 1920s by avant-garde leaders.
On the other, it was interactive, aimed at children, inviting them to experience learning at the most famous art school in Soviet history—to try out the VHUTEMAS propedeutics, those witty exercises and assignments that shaped not only 20th-century art but have also become embedded in contemporary visual culture.
Exhibition Sections
The VHUTEMAS Alphabet info sheets acted as a navigation tool, a set of concepts that helped visitors understand key terms, ideas, and themes of the institute. The reverse side of each sheet provided explanations and assignments related to the Workshop section. Visitors could collect the sheets based on the words that interested them, assembling their own VHUTEMAS primer to take home.
Detstroy showcased the printmaking, ceramics, textile, architecture, painting, woodworking, and metalworking departments adapted for children, featuring objects designed for the new Soviet childhood by VHUTEMAS-VHUTEIN professors, students, and their circle. The section included architecture and furniture, dishware and textiles, theater productions and toys, books and posters created for and about children in the 1920s.
The Workshop functioned as a universal creative lab for all ages, demonstrating and offering exercises from the foundation (propedeutic) department of VHUTEMAS, focusing on color, composition, rhythm, volume, and space.
Vladimir Tatlin, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Varvara Stepanova, the Vesnin brothers, Gustav Klutsis, Vladimir Favorsky, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Lyubov Popova, and many others taught students to approach new problems in new ways, to make discoveries, and to think critically. "Think with your head, not your ruler," wrote student Nikolai Sokolov on one of his diploma sheets—a phrase that could serve as the motto of the entire VHUTEMAS. The achievements of VHUTEMAS students and the faculty in architecture, graphic design, furniture and textile design, ceramics, alongside the experiments of the Bauhaus, became the foundation of modern design and art education worldwide.
This open-minded approach, this drive to invent, explore, and break things down to their basic elements—line, color, and primary forms—resonates deeply with the way children see the world. The pedagogical methods of VHUTEMAS are ideal for introducing children to modern art. That’s why this exhibition had two approaches.
On one side, it was historical, addressed to adults, exploring how students and professors of VHUTEMAS envisioned childhood and the material world of Soviet children. It was about toys, books, textiles, tableware, and children’s theater productions created in the 1920s by avant-garde leaders.
On the other, it was interactive, aimed at children, inviting them to experience learning at the most famous art school in Soviet history—to try out the VHUTEMAS propedeutics, those witty exercises and assignments that shaped not only 20th-century art but have also become embedded in contemporary visual culture.
Exhibition Sections
The VHUTEMAS Alphabet info sheets acted as a navigation tool, a set of concepts that helped visitors understand key terms, ideas, and themes of the institute. The reverse side of each sheet provided explanations and assignments related to the Workshop section. Visitors could collect the sheets based on the words that interested them, assembling their own VHUTEMAS primer to take home.
Detstroy showcased the printmaking, ceramics, textile, architecture, painting, woodworking, and metalworking departments adapted for children, featuring objects designed for the new Soviet childhood by VHUTEMAS-VHUTEIN professors, students, and their circle. The section included architecture and furniture, dishware and textiles, theater productions and toys, books and posters created for and about children in the 1920s.
The Workshop functioned as a universal creative lab for all ages, demonstrating and offering exercises from the foundation (propedeutic) department of VHUTEMAS, focusing on color, composition, rhythm, volume, and space.
Curators
Ksenia Guseva
Aleksandra Selivanova
Exhibition Architecture
Ksenia Yankova
Ksenia Bessarab
Aleksandra Selivanova
Drawings
Aleksandra Dykhne
Ksenia Guseva
Aleksandra Selivanova
Exhibition Architecture
Ksenia Yankova
Ksenia Bessarab
Aleksandra Selivanova
Drawings
Aleksandra Dykhne
