Ilya Zdanevich and the Search for a NewInternational Language of Art

Invitation pdf

A lecture by Sezgin Boynik (Rab-Rab Press):
Ilya Zdanevich and the Search for a NewInternational Language of Art

Sezgin Boynik, editor of Rab-Rab Press, will discuss the work and thought of Ilya Zdanevich – Iliazd (1894–1975), a poet, designer, typographer, theoretician, and publisher who developed a new philosophy and methodology based on the language of “zaum” experiments. Zaum (beyond-sense), one of the most important artistic devices of the Russian left avant-garde, was a type of sound poem cultivated by Velimir Khlebnikov, Roman Jakobson, Kazimir Malevich, Alexei Kruchenykh, and Olga Rozanova, among others. Zdanevich, in his work in Tbilisi, St. Petersburg, and Paris, pushed the boundaries of zaum to extremes and conceived of it as a new language of internationalism and artistic innovation. The lecture will give insight into the artistic and intellectual formation of Ilya Zdanevich, focusing on his political ideas, theories of language, typographical inventions influenced by zaum, and lesser-known figures that Zdanevich worked with, such as Igor Terentiev and Dimitry Snegaroff.

Zdanevich is the subject of a new series of books published in Rab-Rab Press.