Ilya Kabakov engages in a dialogue with the visionary of the Russian avant-garde, El Lissitzky, who with his designs was key in shaping the lexicon of form of a period of upheaval, placing art directly in the service of social reform.

Both artists stand for two generations that followed each other, one for the implementation of communist visions – the other for its deconstruction.

On show in the Kunsthaus Graz is a version of the 2013 exhibition displayed in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.

In more than 40 original works by El Lissitzky from 1919-1930, as well as in impressive reconstructions of his models as spatial total works of art, generally comprehensible geometric forms become tangible as constructivist and at the same time political visions.

In contrast, the installation and painted works of Ilya Kabakov, who has collaborated with his wife Emilia since his move to the USA, draw a picture of failed utopia reality, paired with conceptual metaphysics.