The article examines how postcolonial discourse shapes the aesthetic strategies of "New Brutalism" – an artistic and architectural movement that emerged in the UK in the 1950s within the "Independent Group." The focus of the research is the interaction between the visual practices of the "new brutalists" and the socio-political transformations of post-war Britain, including the transition to a "welfare state" policy and the beginning of the decolonization of the British Empire. Attention is drawn to the creative method As Found, as well as the concepts of Jean Dubuffet (art brut) and Le Corbusier (beton brut), which are regarded as sources for rethinking modernist oppositions such as "intellectual/brutal," "civilization/barbarism," and "center/periphery." Analyzing the "Pavilion and Patio" at the "This is Tomorrow" exhibition (1956) illustrates how the aesthetics of "New Brutalism" hybridizes technological progress, primitive art, and the everyday life of London's inner periphery, forming an early visual model of a postcolonial perspective. The methodology of the research consists of an interdisciplinary analysis that combines postcolonial theory with visual studies, an iconological approach to interpreting the "This is Tomorrow" exhibition and the "Pavilion and Patio," as well as comparing the As Found method with the concepts of art brut and beton brut. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the aesthetics of "New Brutalism" is systematically examined within the framework of postcolonial discourse for the first time, rather than merely in the context of pop art or modernist architecture. It is shown that the As Found method, based on photographs of Bethnal Green and the practice of "engaged observation," creates a unique space of inner periphery within the metropolis, where working-class neighborhoods and post-war ruins begin to function as a "tribal" landscape. Comparing As Found with Dubuffet's art brut and Le Corbusier's beton brut allows for the interpretation of the turn towards everyday life and marginal practices as an early visual articulation of postcolonial hybridity, blurring the oppositions of "civilization/barbarism," "center/periphery," and "technology/primitive." As a result, it is concluded that "New Brutalism" not only transforms modernist schemes of cultural appropriation but also anticipates postcolonial critique, asserting visual culture as a significant agent of decolonization in the metropolis.
Mariya Sergeevna Shramova (Sun,) studied this question.