Archive of Scientific Articles

Submitted: 11.05.2023

Abstract. The paper is devoted to the analysis of Lev Rubinstein’s early conceptual practices, in particular his conditional cycle “Program of Works”. The research is undertaken in order to comprehend the role of the cycle “Program of Works” in the formation of L. Rubinstein’s poetic world at its early stage and to expose its influence on the theory and practice of “Moscow Romantic Conceptualism” (B. Groys) of the 1970s-1980s. The authors of the paper outline the dynamics of Rubinstein’s experimental moves in his promotional texts “Program of Works” (1975), “The Next Program” (1975), “Catalog of Comedic Innovations” (1976), “This Is All” (1979), “Alphabetical Index of Poetry” (1980), “Event without a Name” (1980), “From the Beginning to the End” (1981), “Thirty-Five New Sheets” (1981), “The Program of Joint Experiences” (1981) and identify the inter-genre dominants of L. Rubinstein’s supraliterary text, formulate the principles of the conceptualist strategies put forward and tested by the poet in those years. The research is novel in that it is the first to consider L. Rubinstein’s early cycle “Program of Works” and identify the unity and interdependence of his “program” texts, to analytically reflect on the different-style searches of the poet at the early stage of his formation as a conceptualist poet. As a result, it has been proved that the nature of Rubinstein’s artistic search at the early stage was aimed at actively overcoming the “repressive” pressure of the principles and canons of literature (more broadly, culture) of socialist realism.

Key words and phrases: Л. Рубинштейн, раннее творчество, цикл «Программа работ», концептуализм, стратегии и тактики, L. Rubinstein, early creative work, cycle “Program of Works”, conceptualism, strategies and tactics