Constructivism? 

The term "constructivism"—beyond its political dimension—has many faces. In the social sciences, it implies that truth, power, order, and society are not natural givens but human constructs—and thus subject to change.

In philosophy, it posits that reality is not objectively “given,” but subjectively constructed—through language, perception, and cultural conditioning. In art, "constructivism" refers to a movement of the early 20th century characterized by radical formal reduction, geometric clarity, and technical rationality. Form was no longer merely a vessel for content, but an expression of social utopias. Art became functional, systemic, almost machinic—and yet sought a new kind of freedom within that logic.

Exkurs: Historical Context

 In the early 20th century, belief in the visible world fractured.  Painting freed itself from the image; perspective lost its authority.

 In the Manifesto del Futurismo (Filippo Tommaso Marinetti), there was a call for speed, machines, revolution.  One consequence: Constructivism. In Russia and Europe, artists sought a new aesthetic—based on functionality, clarity, structure.

 Form was dematerialized, geometrized, transformed into a tool for a new image of humanity: rational, technical, modern. Art no longer wished to reflect—it sought to shape. Intervene. Participate.  Architecture became the culmination of this idea, especially at the Bauhaus, where art, craft, and technology fused.The right angle became an ideology. Efficiency became an ethic.

Constructivism aimed for more than art—it sought society. And therein lies its dilemma. What began as a movement of renewal ended, in part, in authoritarian systems.  Soviet avant-gardists like Tatlin or Rodchenko were first celebrated—later co-opted.

 What was useful remained. The rest was banned.

The functionalist principle—“form follows function”—was politically exploited.  In fascism and communism alike, form became an instrument of control, order, propaganda. The machine, once an emblem of freedom, became a tool of oppression.