zangezi

In 1923, Vladimir Tatlin designed, directed, and starred in a performance of Velimir Khlebnikov's play Zangezi that was presented by an amateur troupe at the Museum of Artistic Culture in Petrograd. Khlebnikov had died earlier in the year, and the performance was to be a memorial to Tatlin's favorite poet. To Khlebnikov's construction of words, where sound was the principle building element, Tatlin attempted to find a counterpart in tangible construction, built with a variety of materials in different surfaces and shapes.