The Russian post-avant-garde and the fin de siècle : the aesthetics of transfurism (Rea Nikonova, Serge Segay and beyond)

The essay is primarily focused on the multi-faceted work of the leaders of Russian Avant-Garde movement known as Transfurism: Rea Nikonova and Serge Segay. Their art is analyzed sub specie its troublesome relations with Russian Conceptualism. The historical connection with the Russian Futurists (Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh) is examined in relation to pagan and archaic zaum’. The paper also deals with the subject of Modernist ideology and politics and the way it was reflected in the creative work of Nikonova and Segay. Additional discussion proposed by the article includes the issue of radical aesthetics of ultra-modernist life-creation and its contribution to the magnitude of textual innovations introduced by the Eysk duo, as well as the question whether it is safe to assume that their work represents a new kind of fin de siècle aesthetics