The Avant-Garde World. City, Nature, Universe, Human

The National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum, in collaboration with MOMUS-Museum of Modern Art-Costakis Collection, presents the commemorative exhibition The Avant-Garde World: Nature, City, Universe, Human marking three decades since the first major public display of the Costakis Collection in Greece.

This exhibition proposes a renewed reading of the Costakis Collection through the lens of the relationship between humans and their environment—a theme that emerged as a crucial field of artistic, philosophical, and scientific inquiry in early 20th-century Russia. Unfolding across three thematic sections, the exhibition traces the transition from academic norms to experimental practices, and from established conventions to radical utopian visions, as artists engaged with and responded to the profound ideological, social, and aesthetic transformations of their time.

The tripartite structure—City, Nature, Universe—offers a conceptual mapping of Human experience across the constructed (City), organic (Nature) and unexplored (Universe) realms. Each section highlights the distinct trajectories within the Russian avant-garde as it navigated the fertile intersections of artistic experimentation, technological innovation, and utopia.

The “City” section brings together works concerned with the reconfiguration of space, material culture, and everyday life through the articulation of pure form and the disciplined, functional use of materials. Rapid modernization redefined aesthetic values, while technological advances transformed daily life. Within the aesthetics of Constructivism, new approaches to architecture and design emerged, extending their influence from clothing to industrial design and redefining social roles and gender relations.

The “Nature” section focuses on works that engage with the perpetual movement, vital rhythms, and mutable conditions of the organic world enveloping human life. Artists associated with the Organic School sought to restore nature to the center of artistic practice, envisioning it alternately as a primordial, overpowering force and as an integral part of lived experience. Through sustained observation and experimentation, they explored how shifts in light, temperature, and atmosphere continuously transform perceptions of the natural world, incorporating organic movement and sound into their work.

The “Universe” section examines artistic responses to utopian imaginaries, cosmic exploration, and the desire to encounter “other territories.” Representations of celestial and cosmic objects combine speculative and scientific elements, giving rise to new cosmologies and philosophical frameworks. A philosophical drive to comprehend the unseen dimensions of existence—most notably the boundless expanse of the cosmos—found expression in movements such as Suprematism and Cosmism. Coexisting with scientific thought, these impulses produced dynamic, often explosive artistic forms.

The “Human” section serves as a connective thread linking City, Nature, and Universe. The human figure occupies a central position in the revolutionary and utopian visions of the Russian avant-garde. Artistic experimentation extended beyond testing the limits of human capability, seeking instead to expand these limits in order to improve everyday life and articulate new models for the future. The works on display foreground the relationship between art and consciousness, collectivity, science, and spiritual and philosophical inquiry, portraying humans as active agents in shaping the world around them.

Artists featured in the exhibition
Babichev Aleksei, Bobrov Vassilii, Bubnova Varvara, Chashnik Ilya, Chekrygin Vassilii, Drevin Aleksandr, Ender Boris, Ender Ksenia, Ender Maria, Ender Yuri, Filonov Pavel, Grinberg Nikolai, Guro Yelena, Ioganson Karel, Kandinsky Wassily, Klucis Gustav, Kliun Ivan, Kruchenykh Aleksei, Kudriashev Ivan, Ladovsky Nikolai, Lissitzky El, Malevich Kazimir, Mayakovsky Vladimir, Matyushin Mikhail, Miller Grigori, Miturich Petr, Morgunov Aleksei, Nikritin Solomon, Puni Ivan, Plaksin Mikhail, Popova Liubov, Redko Kliment, Rodchenko Aleksandr, Rozanova Olga, Semashkevich Roman, Sofronova Antonina, Stepanova Varvara, Suetin Nikolai, Sulimo–Samuilo Vsevolod, Tatlin Vladimir, Udaltsova Nadezhda, Vialov Konstantin, Volkov Aleksandr.

Exhibition Curators: Syrago Tsiara, Director, National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Maria Tsantsanoglou, Artistic director of MOMUS.

Architectural Design: Nadja Korbut—Kiril Ass.

Exhibition Production: Eirini–Dafni Sapka (National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum), Angeliki Charistou (MOMUS).

Visual Identity: DpS Athens: Dimitris Papazoglou, Aristomenis Tzanos.