Futurism

Futurism was an international art movement founded in Italy in 1909. It was (and is) a refreshing contrast to the weepy sentimentalism of Romanticism. The Futurists loved speed, noise, machines, pollution, and cities; they embraced the exciting new world that was then upon them rather than hypocritically enjoying the modern world’s comforts while loudly denouncing the forces that made them possible. Fearing and attacking technology has become almost second nature to many people today; the Futurist manifestos show us an alternative philosophy. Too bad they were all Fascists.

Manifestos

• The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, by F.T. Marinetti
  (Paris) Le Figaro, February 20, 1909. (Here’s one alternative translation; and here’s another, this one translated as The Joy of Mechanical Force)
• The Manifesto of the Futurist Painters, by Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla, and Gino Severini
  (Milan) Poesia, February 11, 1910.
• Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting, by Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla, and Gino Severini
  (Milan) Poesia, April 11, 1910.
• Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture, by Umberto Boccioni
  April 11, 1912.
• The Manifesto of Futurist Musicians, by Balilla Pratella
  Musica futurista per orchestre riduzione per pianoforte, 1912.
• Abstract Cinema—Chromatic Music, by Bruno Corra
  Il pastore, il gregge e la zampogna, 1912.
• Futurist Manifesto of Lust, by Valentine de Saint-Point
  Published as a leaflet January 11, 1913.
• Destruction of Syntax—Imagination without Strings—Words-in-Freedom, by F.T. Marinetti
  (Florence) Lacerba, June 15, 1913.
• The Art of Noises, by Luigi Russolo
  Published as a booklet July 1, 1913.
• The Painting of Sounds, Noises, and Smells, by Carlo Carrà
  August 11, 1913.
• Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, by Antonio Sant’Elia
  (Florence) Lacerba, August 1, 1914.
• Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe, by Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero
  March 11, 1915.
• War, the World’s Only Hygene, by F.T. Marinetti
  1915.
• The Futurist Cinema, by F.T. Marinetti, Bruno Corra, Emilio Settimelli, Arnaldo Ginna, Giacomo Balla, and Remo Chiti
  (Milan) L’Italia futurista, November 15, 1916.
• A Slap in the Face of Public Taste, by David Burliuk, Alexander Kruchenykh, Vladmir Mayakovsky, and Victor Khlebnikov
  1917.
• The Futurist Universe, by Giacomo Balla
  1918.
• Universal Camp of Radio-Modernists, by David Burliuk
  1926.

Futurist Information

• A guide to the movement focusing on Marinetti & Russolo, with some hard-to-find pictures.
• The WebMuseum’s Futurism overview
• A good source on the Russian Futurist movement.
• Flux magazine’s nicely-designed description (and apologia) of the Futurist movement.
• A brief Futurism overview, with several well-scanned paintings unavailable elsewhere.
• Futurism: Proto Punk?, by Karen Pinkus (originally published in Speed Kills magazine)
• The Futurism portion of a term paper by Igal Koshevoy
• Another Futurism fan’s page, with a brief bibliography
• Abstract from the forthcoming book, Opposed Aesthetics: Mina Loy, Modernism and the Avant-Garde, by Susan E. Dunn
• Profile of Marinetti, by N. Kulbin
• Biographical information on Burliuk, by Hannah Hazard
• Books written by Futurists.
• Another page about Futurist books.
• Home page of a Genoan Futurist exhibit.
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online Links:
  • Futurism
  • F.T. Marinetti
  • Giacomo Balla
  • Umberto Boccioni
  • Carlo Carrà
  • Antonio Sant’Elia
  • Gino Severini
• Information about the “IlFuturismo” typeface from the P22 type foundry (the headers of this page are set in IlFuturismo, although you won’t be able to see it unless you’re using a browser that supports embedded fonts).
• Also, the Il Futurismo font has a soundtrack; it features recordings inspired by the font and by Futurism in general.
• A Futurism message board.
• The home page and manifesto of the “Futurist Programmers”.
• The home page and manifesto of the “Neo-Futurists”, a Chicago theatre company.
• Futurist Synthesis: Energy & Fear, a poem by Shawn P. Wilbur
• Italian Futurism compared to the video game Street Fighter Three.