Futurism was the first deliberately organized, self-conscious art movement of the twentieth century. It quickly spread to France, Germany, Russia and the Americas, appealing to all who had tired of romanticism, decadence and sentimentality, desirious of something more vigorous and robust, something in keeping with the Machine Age. Speed, noise, machines, transportation, communication, information...and all the transient impressions of life in the modern city intoxicated Marinetti and his followers. They despised tame, bourgeois virtues and tastes, and above everything else, loathed the cult of the past. One Italian critic labelled them 'art wiseguys' calling them 'the caffeine of Europe.' In a series of manifestos designed to shock and provoke the public, they formulated styles of painting, music, sculpture, theatre, poetry, architecture, cooking, clothing, and furniture. The manifestos vividly preserve the flavor of the movement. They still provoke, irritate, and amuse while opening endless possibilities still under exploration today.
Futurist Performance
FROM THE MANIFESTO OF THE FUTURIST SYNTHETIC THEATRE
- The dramatic 'synthesis', which will take the place
of the traditional play, will be 'autonomous, unreal, and
alogical'. Although elements drawn from reality will
be used, they will be combined according to whim,
and the synthesis will resemble nothing but itself.
With color, forms, sounds and noises, it will,
like the works of Futurist painters and musicians,
assault the nerves.... The spectators will be made
to 'forget the monotony of everyday life' through a
'labyrinth of sensations' characterized by the most
exasperating originality combined in unexpected ways.
- Signed by: Filippo Marinetti, Bruno Corra and Emilio Settimelli (1915...Milan)
- Source: Futurism, by Jane Rye, Pub.Dutton
- Edited by: Joe De Marco (1992...Los Angeles)
Anticipating the Surrealists, the Futurists declared that discoveries of the subconscious must be brought to the stage. The entertainment would 'symphonize' the feelings of the public, exploring and revealing those feelings in every possible way.