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Italiano English Deutsch KHI from A to Z OPAC Digital photo library Links Contact Newsletter Sitemap Intranet Disclaimer Construction Work		Mapping Futurism - The role of Italian Futurism within the broader context of international avant-garde movements Study day "Altri ci seguiranno, che con altrettanta audacia e altrettanto accanimento conquisteranno le cime da noi soltanto intraviste. Ecco perchè ci siamo proclamati i primitivi di una sensibilità completamente rinnovata." With remarkable foresight the Futurist Umberto Boccioni announced with these words in 1914 subsequent generations who "would climb with just such boldness and tenacity those peaks" which could have only been sensed in the distance by the Italian Futurists themselves. The race against time, the risk of their being overtaken by their own impermanence and thus losing the status of the "leadership" are the basic problems of the ever after innovation aspiring avant-garde. Boccioni reflects on the one hand his own temporality, but on the other hand, he confidently claimed for the futurists a status beyond time: The Futurists are at the beginning of a renewed sensitivity, and even if the next Generations will climb new summits, they will still remain: After-follower. For the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the publication of the first "Futurist Manifesto" the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (MPI) is organizing in February 2010 an interdisciplinary study day that aims to examine the role of futurism within the broader context of international avant-garde movements. Artistic movements such as Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism opposed themselves radically at the beginning of the 20th Century against the traditional concept of art. Their common characteristic is the cultural context in a time of change, of groundbreaking discoveries in science, technology, psychology and medicine. Although united in the attempt to create a new art that would correspond to the modern image of the world, they happen to be nevertheless national developments, which are not simple to understand as a singular movement: quite too different are the historical background and the political situation of the individual countries. Because of its program which had from the very start strong poltical overtones and called for battle and action, Futurism might be regarded as one of the most radical avant-gardes. Through his provocative appearance and the characteristic rhetoric of violence the Futurism was a cultural revolution, which served many avant-garde Movements as a pioneering example. So the founding father of Futurism, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, proudly detected in 1932 that "the artistic revolution started by the Futurist art movement has created or influenced several avant-gardes". The study day aims to investigate this claim in a critial way and from an international perspective. Futuristic concepts and their convertions, the new conception of the nature of art, the provocative involvement of the audience and the unusual Marketing strategies of the movement will be presented in four sections. The main focus is on the effect of the Futurist positions on other art forms; their reception as well as the influence by the Futurists and their attempt to distance themselves from other avant-garde movements are analyzed. The first section examines the literary roots of futurism and two of its first "ambassadors": On the one hand the founding father Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and on the other the Anglo-American artist Mina Loy. In section 2 the importance of the theories of Henri Bergson and George Sorel on Italian futurists will be of interest. Furthermore, the ambivalent reactions towards technology and progress - enthusiastic approval as well as fear - will be analyzed. The widespread influence of Italian futurism will be highlighted in the third section, by means of examining its relation to South-American avant-garde movements as well as the art and theory of Russian Suprematism. The last section will look at the futurists’ contribution to the creation of innovative art forms such as Performance and Happening, and the impact of Luigi Russolo's ground-breaking "noise experiments" on avant-garde music tendencies. Finally the study day will come to an end with an evening lecture on "Boccioni, Futurism and the Energies of Modernism", summing up common interests of the avant-garde artists. Besides the scientific discoveries, the late-Victorian ether theory and occult society phenomena will be a matter of speech. The journal "Semicerchio. Rivista di poesia comaprata" will publish the proceedings of the study day "Mapping Futurism" in its next issue, which will be dedicated to the impact of the Italian avant-garde on certain cultural miliuex and on specific figures in Holland, Poland, France and the United States.   Date February 15th, 2010 to February 16th, 2010 Location Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Institut Sala Conferenze Via Giuseppe Giusti 38 50121 Florenz Contact Dr. Jan Simane Tel.: +39 055 24911-31 Fax: +39 055 24911-74 E-mail: simane@khi.fi.it Lisa Hanstein M.A. Fax: +39 055 24911-74 E-mail: hanstein@khi.fi.it Program http://www.khi.fi.it/ pdf/c20100215.pdf Further information Pro Firenze futurista Evening lecture Semicerchio < back Print this page