Avant-Garde as Method - Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space, 1920-1930

The book Avant-Garde as Method explores the nature of design education in the Soviet Union 1920-30, where the Higher Art and Technical Studios in Moscow adopted the objective method to facilitate instruction on a mass scale. It combined nascent industrialised and long-standing academic methods to initiate a new, universalist type of pedagogy that took an explorative approach building around a continuous feedback between assignments and solutions.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 624 pages
\n Publication date: 27 November 2020
\n Publisher: Park Books
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Avant-Garde as Method delves into the essence of design education in the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s. The Soviet communists, driven by their modernist ideology, recognized the importance of imparting art and technology education to a large population. To achieve this, the Higher Art and Technical Studios in Moscow, commonly referred to as VkHUTEMAS, embraced the objective method. This approach aimed to facilitate widespread instruction on a massive scale. VkHUTEMAS translated contemporary scientific knowledge and abstract visual language into modern design pedagogy, revolutionizing the field. The school's curriculum was a groundbreaking endeavor, marking the first-ever attempt to implement such a comprehensive design education program. It seamlessly merged nascent industrialized methods with long-standing academic approaches, creating a unique and universalist pedagogy. This pedagogy took an explorative approach, centered around continuous feedback between assignments and solutions. It fostered active exchange between students and teachers, fostering a dynamic and collaborative learning environment.

Anna Bokov's book takes a profound exploration into the way the VkHUTEMAS curriculum challenged the established canons of academic tradition. It replaces the traditional approach with an open-ended inquiry into abstract form. By tracing the resulting architectonic experiments, the book demonstrates how these ideas were articulated into architectural and urban projects within the advanced studios of the school. VkHUTEMAS played a pivotal role in shaping the architectural and urban landscape of the Soviet Union during this era, leaving a lasting impact on the field of design education.

\n Weight: 2754g\n
Dimension: 248 x 318 x 45 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9783038601340\n \n