Fedorov (1829–1903) worked as a librarian at the Rumiantsev Museum (now the Russian State Library). A collection of his essays was published posthumously by his followers in 1904 under a name The Philosophy of the Common Task. This book outlined the basic tenets of cosmism, underscoring the imperative to work toward resurrection and immortality for all.
Cited as the grandfather of the Soviet space program, Tsiolkovsky’s (1857–1935) plethora of scientific research and philosophical musings laid the groundwork for astronautic theory and modern rocketry. Tsiolkovsky studied under Fedorov for three years at the Rumiantsev Museum.
Panpsychism rests between dualism, which distinguishes between the mind and matter but presents a fractured understanding of how the two interact, and physicalism, which offers a unified conception of the world but lacks an explanation for the emergence of consciousness. Panpsychism advocates for a vision of the world in which mentality and consciousness are innate and ubiquitous.
A key member of the Russian Futurist movement, Khlebnikov’s (1885–1922) poems and plays are characterized by experiments with linguistics and translogical language. Together with Khlebnikov, Kruchyonykh (1886–1968) is credited with inventing zaum, a transnational language rooted in linguistic deconstruction and sound symbolism. The founder of biocosmism, Svyatogor (Alexander Agienko) (1889–1937) championed the belief that death was the source of social injustices and global antagonisms. Zabolotsky (1903–1958) cofounded the avant-garde group Oberiu, a collective dedicated to absurdist, futurist, and modernist art and aesthetics. A proponent of biocosmism, Yaroslavsky’s (1896–1930) writings extended the definition to include immortality for all living beings. Highly critical of the Bolsheviks, he was eventually executed in the Solovki prison camp.
This argument stems from Boris Groys’s writing on the subject, elaborated in the 2017 exhibition “Art Without Death: Russian Cosmism” at HKW in Berlin. See →.
Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935) founded the avant-garde art movement suprematism, which made use of basic geometric forms to convey spiritual and artistic feeling.
Affiliated with the constructivist movement, Rodchenko (1891–1956) worked in graphic design, photomontage, and photography as a means of social commentary after the Russian Revolution.
A painter and exhibition designer, Nikritin (1898–1965) founded and lead multiple research initiatives focused on the biomechanics of movement within the theatrical arts.
Written by Kruchyonykh in zaum, Victory over the Sun illustrates an endeavor to eradicate reason and time by deposing the sun. The opera was met with violent criticism when it premiered at Saint Petersburg’s Luna Park in 1913.
Associated with the constructivist movement, Vladimir Tatlin (1885–1953) worked at the intersection of architecture and sculpture, guided by a utopian belief in the synthesis of art and technology. Conceived as the headquarters for the Communist International, the Monument (commonly known as “Tatlin’s tower”) was envisioned as a spiral iron framework surrounding a glass cube, cone, and cylinder stacked atop each other and rotating at different speeds. Though a model of the tower was exhibited at the Congress of the Soviets in 1920, the Soviet government’s disdain for nonfigurative art impeded the structure from ever being realized.
Kazimir Malevich, “Suprematism: 34 Drawings,” published on December 15, 1920.
The Polish science fiction writer and philosopher Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) published Solaris in 1961. The novel concerns a group of scientists and their failure to understand the inner machinations of the sentient planet Solaris.
Contrary to the theory of dualism, monism posits that reality and all its phenomena are reducible to one unit or principle with no independent parts.
See Harry T. Whelan, “The Use of NASA Light-Emitting Diode Near-Infrared Technology for Biostimulation,” ntrs.nasa.gov →.
Credited with cofounding Moscow conceptualism, alongside Ilya Kabakov, Monastyrski (born 1949) founded the performance art group Collective Actions to experiment with modes of spatiotemporal practice.
A writer, philosopher, and revolutionary, Bogdanov (1873–1928) cofounded (with Lenin) the Bolshevik party. He also founded the Institute for Hematology and Blood Transfusions in 1925–26 to research and experiment the biological potential of blood transfusions to aid in eternal youth and rejuvenation. He died after injecting himself with the blood of a student infected with malaria and tuberculosis. Alexander Chizhevsky (1897–1964) studied the effects of the sun and ionization on biology. Through research with electrically charged chandeliers, Chizhevsky discovered the beneficial effects on living beings of negatively charged ions in the air.
Developed by the Bolshevik sector of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, God-building was an enterprise that proposed appropriating the religious mechanisms of symbolism, ritual, and myth and repurposing them as vehicles for pro-communist propaganda that aggrandized science over the supernatural.
A Marxist revolutionary, Lunacharsky (1875–1933) occupied the role of People’s Commissariat for Education from 1917 to 1929, during which time he oversaw an outpouring of avant-garde artistic production.
Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) expanded on theories of historical materialism and atheism by offering a critique of religion as the outward projection of human nature.
Thanks to Hallie Ayres for transcribing the conversation and annotating it, and to Carlos Prieto for organizing the Zoom conversation as well as translating Anton Vidokle’s films to Spanish.