Uplifted Spirits, Earthbound Machines

In this original and thoughtful examination Jyrki Siukonen offers stunning glimpses into the history of art and flying machines. Mankind's perennial dream of flight has found its expression in numerous ingenious contraptions failing to fly. Siukonen studies some of the finest examples, such as Clément Ader's steam-powered Avion III and Vladimir Tatlin's Letatlin. The dream of flight is also the backcloth against which Siukonen pursues a range of surprising questions about the ideas of the renowned masters of modern architecture, Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier, and introduces the utopian strain in the writings of the poet Velimir Khlebnikov.