Photo by Erich BoeketheiOe
Ernst Neizvestny
Soviets fear own artists
By Charlene Bell
Of ttf Emtrmfd
The Soviet Union — a country with advanced
defense capabilities, a sophisticated intel
ligence agency and the largest group of
propagandists in the world, has come to fear
the impact of the small, unregulated Soviet
artist, said Soviet emigre sculptor, Ernst Neiz
vestny.
"At times I considered myself a Luxembourg
within a bigger nation. Any minute I could be
taken over. I had to defend my right for exi
xistence as if I belonged to some political
opposition," Neizvestny said
Neizvestny spoke on, ‘Human Rights and the
Arts in the Soviet Union,' Wednesday as part of
a four-day symposium sponsored by the
University Russian and East European Studies
Center and other University groups
Neizvestny was one such "unregulated
artist."
He said he emigrated from the Soviet Union
in 1976 because the Communist leadership is
stifling the Soviet artist by heeding the haunt
ing words of Stalin, ‘In our country there are no
people who cannot be replaced.'
The evening included a slide-show of Neiz
vestny’s works. The slide show, produced by
former students in Moscow, had been confis
cated by KGB agents, but later it was smuggled
into the West.
Afterwords, panelists, including University
professors, Paul Buckner, Albert Leong, Sher
win Simmons, Frum Yurevich, and Reed Col
lege professor Lena Lencek, discussed Neiz
vestny’s work
While in the Soviet Union, Neizvestny con
sidered himself "nonpolitical" and refused to
follow the lead of the "petty bourgeois" Rus
sian artists of the 1920s. Thus the party
leadership considers his massive, powerful
works unrestrained and dangerous.
Neizvestny and fellow artists who managed
to “maintain their own intelligence," had a
saying for the artistic works of commission
hungry artists "It’s not important what you did,
but who unveiled it," he said.
After the “thaw" under former Soviet
premier Nikita Kruschev when the party
leadership permitted artists a guarded level of
freedom and considered Neizvestny irre
placeable, he said
His busts of Soviet composer Dmitri Shosta
kovich, former Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev,
as well as the large ’bas relief' for the Aswan
Dam in Egypt, earned the artist international
acclaim
At one Soviet exhibition of the artist’s works,
Kruschev remarked that Neizvestny's sculp
tures were fit only to decorate outhouses
Neizvestny's reply to the late premier was
candid
“Comrade Khrushchev," he began, "you are
premier of the Soviet Union But here, at this
exhibit. I am premier.”
Ironically, following the Soviet premier's
death, the Kruschev family commissioned
Neizvestny to design the monument for the
leader's grave The result was a controversial
monument that Soviet authorities allowed to be
erected after a three-year fight, he said
The symposium continues through Satur
day
Designer eases life for Third World countries
By Dan Maize
Of (A* Emerald
Victor Papanek, noted de
signer and self-described
"gadget-maker,” explained his
Third World designs and crit
icized wastefulness in Amer
ican design Wednesday even
ing in the EMU Ballroom.
The Survival Center brought
Papanek, the J.L Constant Dis
tinguished Professor at the
University of Kansas at Law
rence, to the University as part
of the Earth Week activities.
He has written five books, in
cluding Design for the Real
World which has been pub
lished in 23 languages and his
latest, Design for Human Scale
Papanek has worked with ar
chitect Frank Lloyd Wright,
received an Alternative Nobel
DUFFY’S
One of Portland’s finest R & R bands
Prize nomination and lived and
worked in 15 developing coun
tries, including Bali and New
Guinea
Most of the items Papanek
and his staff designed for
developing nations 'were de
signed in that Third World
country over a three to five-year
stay, not just a visit,” Papanek
said
The items usually can be
constructed by resident labor
using raw materials found in
that country, Papanek added
Papanek has designed a
chemical refrigerator, which
can be constructed in any na
tion that he has visited, a "talk
ing teacher" — a cassette player
that eases the governments'
tasks in Nigeria and Tanzania of
informing the people and a
diagnostic medical kit for
developing countries, which
combines an accurate scale, a
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blood-pressure unit, a urinalysis
device and a tape measure in
one package
Papanek noted that by having
the kit available the "residents
of these countries know as
much about themselves as we
do "
He showed examples of na
tive technology, including a
Brazilian oil lamp made from
used American light bulbs The
natives remove the socket and
filaments, fill the bulb with oil
and stick a bottle cap and wick
where the socket was, then
hang the lamp upside down
"Brazilians just can't under
stand why we need electricity to
power light bulbs when we
could use oil," he said
He's had a tough time selling
his domestic ideas — such as a
vertically-adjustable bathroom
sink and a chair designed for
elderly people — to U S busi
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nessmen, he said Companies
have turned him down, only to
find they have developed a
similar product at a later date,
selling for a price much higher
than what he would've charged
them, he said
Because of this, he said he
makes his plans available to the
public free
"The solutions to many of the
world's problems are in student
portfolios, being carried around
from office to office while look
ing for a job,” Papanek said,
drawing laughter from the
audience of predominately ar
chitecture students
American design often is
wasteful, Papanek said For ex
ample, a "picnic car" designed
in the 1950s by General Motors
assumed the average American
family would have five or six
cars, all for different purposes
The car was a low-slung station
wagon with a refrigerator, stove
and kitchen sink in the back
Survivors to talk
on Hiroshima
Two survivors of the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima, Miyoko
Matsubara and Kasui Ishii, are
in Eugene this weekend to
promote world peace and the
abolition of nuclear weapons
The talk will be at Grace
Lutheran Church, Saturday at
6:30 p.m
For more information, call Jan
Donald at 746-8041 or
686-5426
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