Tatlin's Tower at the Royal Academy

Even through a tiny slither of the grande entrance of the Royal Academy I recognized Tatlin's tower, despite the fact that to my knowledge it was a monument of the past that shouldn't exist, especially not in London where there hasn't been a communist revolution. Well not just yet. I studied it briefly years ago, yet even now, my immediate recognition is definitely a compliment to the incredible tower, not my memory.

In fact it wasn't Tatlins tower. It was a replica of what Tatlin wanted his tower to be, 1:40 of the planned size. Tatlin’s monument to the 3rd International would have been a symbol to the revolution, to a new century of progression and. the brotherhood of communism. Every aspect of it’s being symbolic of future change. An incredible feat of engineering is what now stands in the courtyard of the Royal Academy. A steel replica created from two of Tatlin's drawings, completed by Chris Milan and Jeremy Dixon at the Royal Acadamy. It is a fraction of what Talin wanted and does not even revolve but the remarkable feat of its construction just proves the impractical dreams of Tatlin and his contemporaries. 

However after I went to a talk on Saturday 12th November at the Royal Academy with Lutz Becker and Kate Goodwin, Drue Heinz Curator of Architecture on the construction of the monument, I don’t think Tatlin ever intended to try and make the tower full scale. Becker and Goodwin talked about the construction and the remarkable nature of the tower in depth, it’s whole concept and the imagination of the structure is fascinating. Perhaps Tatlin’s intention was never to build it full scale, perhaps he already knew it wasn’t possible, but he planted an exciting seed of a better new life in everybody's mind. It was a goal they would strive towards for future generations to complete. In addition, the fact that the this monument is near impossible to realize, yet even now, there is such a obsession for this construction, whether you are communist or not, proves the power it holds.

This montage by Chris Milan sums it up for me, the scale was almost unimaginable until I saw this. The monstrosity looks totally ridiculous yet strangely appealing..