Futurists
Futurists rejected the past, in that the past was haunted by bad practices that discouraged cultural and social innovation; and endorsed a vision with a future being manned by machinery, speed, industry, youth and violence. The future was believed to discourage cultural rejuvenation and an encourage modernization. Futurism is considered critical reflecting on the twentieth century in regards to the modern art movements. Futurism founder was called Filippo Tommaso Marinetti of Italy in 1909; he prophesied in his manifesto that the world would be ruled by fashion. The ideas were supported by artists from diverse disciplines including sculpture, ceramics, industrial design, urban design, interior design, graphic design, literature, music, film, theatre, fashion, textiles, gastronomy, painting and architecture among others (Rimkute, 2009).
Italy had limited progress and countable developments before the futurists took action, reasons for the confined growth was pegged on a number of practices that hindered the accelerated growth. The past of Italy was characterized with glory, in which futurist were willing to let it return to Italy. All these growth and development agendas were made possible through building an inclusive vision, a vision that would define the future of Italy in accordance with the will of the futurists. Attaining unification among the Italian people was long and very painful, basing on the hurdles in place in dealing with the social, economic and political issues (Marinetti, 2013). Nationhood campaign in Italy did little in uniting the people, the division among the Italian people resulted in late industrialization in comparison to other industrialized countries in Europe. It is believed that the Italian Futurism attributes spread to other nations as people from all walks of life supported the new developments. Conservative Catholic Church in Italy is believed to have contributed significantly in discouraging cultural changes and social innovations, a move that was strongly rebuked by the futurists. The Roman period was characterized with intellectual and cultural developments, a model that the futurists were determined to restore. Futurists were against poor leadership that resulted in delayed economic and cultural growth. The art and writings done by the futurists were used in delivering the message to the Italians who dared to listen at them, as they influenced the social life and political aspects in Italy and in the world.
Manifestos
Futurism is a word expressing the expected priorities of the movements, it was noted that the movements was angered by the past, and that the movements were propelled by modernization where technology, speed, youth and revolution among others were expected to be part of life. Futurists believed that the past was haunted by bad practices that discouraged cultural and social innovation and that the future promised a new experience in life with the hope that Italy would take its rightful position among the European nations (Christensen, 2001). Futurisms have been criticized due to war glorification and by the virtue of engaging in cleansing powers as a way managing violence. Influential people were: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Carlo Carra, Umberto Boccioni, Antonio Sant’Elia, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, Luigi Russolo and Bruno Munari who were Italians. Natalia Goncharova, Igor Severyanin, Velimir Khlebnikov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aleksei Kruchenykh and David Burliuk were all Russians. Almada Negreiros was a Portuguese. Surveys have indicated that futurism was an Italian idea, basing on Italian circumstances, which happened just before the start of the twentieth century. In 1871, unification of Italy took place; this was after all the European nations had experienced the phenomenon.
World War I
Futurists had an influential role in World War I which took place in 1914-1918. Futurist arguments supported the government of Italy in joining the war, the government bowed to the demands in 1916; futurists used the World War I as a mechanism of attaining back the lost glory and greatness. It was painful not attaining the desired results at the end of the war (Political Futurist Party, 2013). The futurists blamed anti-democratic tendencies and ultra-nationalist sentiments which resulted to heated competition with Fascist political movements. Surveys indicated that the movement was very strong to an extent that it eroded some of the vision extended by the Futurists, all these happened in 1920s (Sant’Elia, 2013). Futurism was concerned with contemporary concepts glorifying themes associated with the future. Futurism also projected on future objects such as the airplanes, cars and industrious cities. It is justified when futurists rejected the past and supported things expected in the future. The past was characterized with practices that restricted cultural and social innovation (Cottington, 2005). The future is here, and prophesy of the futurists is being experienced in the world. The world has heavily invested in research and design to an extent that the changes are ever occurring, but with a faster rate than it was before (Rainey et al, 2009). Global changes are encouraged by socialization and globalization, to an extent that societies in the twenty first century are made up of multicultural societies.
Futurists believed that the old past was characterized with worn ridden and filthy aspects that were corroded by time. An example being the work of Daniel Litt on ‘Old Futurism’ where futurists argued that they rebelled against worshipping of old status, old canvases and old bric a brac (Passmore, 2002). Futurists embraced the ‘new’, ‘young’ and the ‘burning with life’. Surveys on futurists indicated that they anonymously rejected the old past; there are arguments that the twenty first century is the time that the futurists desired. In the current setup, there are doubts if the futurists still exist. There are arguments that the old models of futurisms still influence the current world, the future of the world should be reflected in a different perspective (Ostashevsky, 2001).
Speed, machinery and violence
The old futurists reflected on speed, machinery and violence. In that speed is considered part of the fashion. Machinery has taken up human life to an extent that they have been incorporated in the daily lives. It has gone to an extent that machines are even smarter than human beings and that there are organizations replacing workers for machines, mainly computers and robots (Bowler, 2000). Researchers argue that reviving the futurist movement would give a different picture of the future, and that the movement would be challenged by the misogynist and fascist components. The work of the futurism is taking new shape with modernization where globalization and socialization is the order of the day. It can be argued that the futurists were despicable and radical in nature, and that their work aroused the feelings and imaginations of the target readers (Martin, 2005). Taking a critical example, majority of the work supported war, and that war was better if generations were wiped out, in such a manner that the old practices would be eroded with the war (Lista, 2001).
Futurists did not support the old practices that did away with cultural and social innovations. Old futurism reflected on doing away with the past and embracing the future, in a way that futurists encouraged building a new way of life from the original building blocks. Futurists argued on reinventing the human mind to better things expected to happen in the future (Marinetti, 2013). It can be argued to some extent that futurists had truth in their work. If the world ignores global changes, it means that people cannot learn from one another, and that exchange of ideas along the globe could not be possible (Adamson, 2010). Change is the lasting phenomenon in the world. Everything changes with time, and the futurists had the same concepts in their work (Balla, 2013).
The current world is full of global changes which are fuelled by socialization and globalization. The aspect of embracing the global changes is a strong expression supporting the motive of the futurists in rejecting the past and supporting the unknown future; to some extent, it can be argued that the vision of the futurists is justified, and that the vision is being widely adopted in the twenty first century. The world is full of machinery, speed, industry, youth and violence as part of the daily life. Majority of the materials written by futurists were affective, in that they were characterized with emotions, most of the work written by futurists expressed debates, which in return ended up in hate and love games. It has been noted that old futurists did not pay attention to moral impact in most of their work; they were mainly concerned on message delivered to the target audience (Joll, 2001).
References
Adamson, W. L. (2010). How Avant-Gardes End—and Begin: Italian Futurism in Historical Perspective. New Literary History , 855-874.
Balla, G. (2013). The Futurist Universe Extract. Melbourne: Trinity College Foundation studies.
Bowler, A. (2000). Politics as Art: Italian Futurism and Fascism. Politics as Art , 3-19.
Christensen, R. C. (2001). Industrial Noise Music, Field Recording and the Sixth Sense of Sound Art. The Art of Noise after Futurism , 3-7.
Cottington, D. (2005). Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Joll, J. (2001). The Futurist Manifesto 1909, MANIFESTO OF FUTURISM. Three Intellectuals in Politics , 12-65.
Lista, G. (2001). Futurism. Paris: Terrail.
Marinetti, F. T. (2013). Futurist Democracy Extract. Melbourne: Trinity College Foundation Studies.
Martin, S. (2005). Futurism. Köln: Taschen.
Ostashevsky, E. (2001). Italian Futurism and the Cult of the Machine. Stoa Consortium , 2-16.
Passmore, K. (2002). Politics. Oxford: Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Political Futurist Party. (2013). Manifesto of the Political Futurist Party Extract. Melbourne: Trinity College Foundation Studies.
Rainey, L. et al. (2009). Futurism, an Athology. Yale University Press New Haven & London , 85-399.
Rimkute, K. (2009). Italian Futurist Art: the relationship between creation and destruction reassessed . The New Religion – Morality of Speed , 81-105.
Sant’Elia, A. (2013). Manifesto of Futurist Architecture Extract. Melbourne: Trinity College Foundation Studies.
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