He helped write the drafts for the most famous Cubo-Futurist manifesto, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste, published in 1912, notable for its statement to throw the writers of old "off the steamboat of modernity".

The books were often lithographed by hand, illustrated by fellow Futurists, and titles included A Little Duck's Nest of... Bad Words, Hermits: a Poem, Worldbackwards, and Explodity.

This play was written in a sort of zaum, the costumes were of cardboard, and a real aeroplane and aviator made an appearance; the audience booed throughout the show, and overall it caused great outrage.

[6] He, like his friends, also caused shock when he took to lecturing and poetry recitals, and on one occasion, he had to use his shoes to fight back the enraged audience from leaping up and attacking him.

Shortly after the October Revolution of 1917, he moved to Tiflis, Georgia, as part of a railway construction team; with his friend the Georgian Cubo-Futurist Ilia Zdanevich, who also happened to be in the country, they founded the avant-garde group 41° (the number refers to the temperature of a high fever).

He also collected and sold rare books and manuscripts written by the people of his generation, eventually falling into obscurity with only occasional acknowledgment from the public.