This week’s cover derives significantly from an early work of El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. A rather literal title for such a geometric, abstract work, though of course much of Lissitzky’s career as an artist would continue to be highly prescriptive. One of his final works before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1941 was ‘Davaite pobolshe tankov!’ (Give us more tanks!), a Soviet propaganda poster rallying against the encroaching Nazi Germany.
Lesser known than his mentor — that coveted Malevich — Lissitzky does not feature so much in Sydney art exhibitions. I doubt he’d care; in fact, I’d imagine he would despise Sydney, it’s art, and especially it’s artists. But Malevich, with his pure forms and notable lack of work as a propagandist remains the dominating Russian suprematist.
Why do we look down on the propagandists? Perhaps, in our present milieu, dominated by those political theorists like Arednt and Orwell (the sweethearts of the Empire) our theory of art is simply too rooted in libertarianism to see propaganda as anything more than rubbish. In this week’s feature, we’ll talk about propaganda, art and the University campus. Far from the boldly prescriptive propagandic works of Lissitzky, the ideology disseminated through art on campus is so enduring and pervasive you could waltz through an undergraduate degree without noticing it. Many do.
This must be the part of the editorial where I talk about University. I don’t care for that part. In a few months I’ll finish my university degree and be off. I would extol you with how much I will miss the university, but frankly, like many of my peers, I can’t wait to leave it. I won’t have to do another tutorial icebreaker, I won’t have to do another Welcome Week. Thank Christ.
But do pick up this edition of Honi Soit. Have a flick through, because while I’m still here, I’ll be riding the rest of this editorship out. Thanks for reading.
—— Huw (mostly) and Vicky.
