In 1923, Vladimir Tatlin designed, directed, and starred in a performance of Velimir Khlebnikov's play "Zangezi" that was presented by an amateur troupe at the Museum of Artistic Culture in Petrograd. Khlebnikov had died earlier in the year, and the performance was to be a memorial to Tatlin's favorite poet. To Khlebnikov's construction of words, where sound was the principle building element, Tatlin attempted to find a counterpart in tangible construction, built with a variety of materials in different surfaces and shapes. According to the artist's conception, certain combinations of colors and forms corresponded to certain sounds; light and costumes also played an important role in the production. This photograph shows Tatlin's maquette for the basic stage design. Note the ways in which Tatlin's set grows out of his purely sculptural concerns in his relief of 1916.