Futurism was a twentieth-century Italian and Russian avant-garde movement in literature and arts. It promoted extreme artistic innovation and experimentation, declaring a radical disassociation from the past and a focus on new art, technology, and politics, commonly manifested through primitivism. The Futurists strongly rejected the self-awareness behind the overextended lyricism of symbolismthe dominant school of the time. In contrast, it showed a preference for the visual arts that discussed conservative social elements and challenged them in order to provoke a violent negative response.
Italian Futurism began with a manifesto by F. T. Marinetti (1876-1944) titled "Fondazione e Manifesto del Futurismo" ("The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism"), which declared that artistic work without an aggressive element could not be considered a masterpiece. He enunciated the principles of Futurism in relation to poetry in "Parole in Libert" ("Words in Freedom"), demanding a language free of syntax and logical ordering that allowed the poet to rapidly convey intense emotion. In "Immaginazione Senza Fili" ("Wireless Imagination") and "Analogia Disegnata" ("Pictorialized Analogy"), he discussed the maximum freedom of imagery and metaphor, which led to expressive use of typographya varying of font sizes and styles within a word or on the same line and free disposition of words on the printed page. Other important Italian Futurists poets were E. Cavacchioli, L. Folgore, and A. Palazzeschi.
Russian Futurism, like Italian Futurism, began as a revolt against the symbolist movement in Russia. The Russian Futurists split into two sub-schools: Cubo-Futurism and Ego-Futurism. Cubo-Futurism called for a broadening of the language with arbitrary and derived words. Major poets of this movement included David Burliuk (1882-1967), Aleksej Krucenyx (1886-1968), Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), and Viktor (Velemir) Khlebnikov (1885-1932).
Khlebnikov was acclaimed as the most profound and inventive poet of the Cubo-Futurism movement. His study ranged from dense and private neologisms to exotic verseforms written in palindromes. His poetry, albeit innovative and inspirational to his contemporaries, was too impenetrable to reach a popular audience. Another widely celebrated poet to come out of Cubo-Futurism was Mayakovsky, whose poetics were a mixture of extravagant exaggerations and self-centered and arduous imagery.
After his death, Mayakovsky was canonized by Joseph Stalin as "the best and most talented poet of the Soviet epoch." The second sub-school, Ego-Futurism, gained momentum in 1911 with poet Ivan Ignateev, who lived in Petersburg, Russia. He wrote numerous manifestos and ran the Petersburg Herald. Ego-Futurism, like Cubo-Futuristm, was preoccupied with urban imagery, eccentric words, neologisms, and experimental rhymes. In contrast to Cubo-Futurism, the Ego-Futurists employed a less typographically rigorous method of experimentation and were more interested in the intensive exploration of the "self" through poetry. Other poets in Ego-Futurism include Vasilisk Gnedov (1890-1978), Igor-Severjanin (1887-1941), and V. Sersenevic (1893-1942).
Futurism became a vast movement in the early 1900s, influencing poets throughout Slavic countries, Spain, and England.
browse poets from this movement
Edward Hirsch also writes about Futurism in his book A Poet's Glossary:
futurism:Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (18761944) dramatically launched the futurist movement on February 20, 1909, with his violently upsetting, incendiary manifesto called The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism (We had stayed up all night, my friends and I) and then bombarded Europe with his proclamations about the future. The wordfuturismhad a startling success, and the new movement spread rapidly through Italy, France, Spain, England, and Russia. The hyperkinetic Marinetti, who christened himself the caffeine of Europe, the self-proclaimed primitive of a new sensibility, was the driving force of futurism. I felt, all of a sudden, that articles, poetries, and polemics no longer sufficed, he said. You had to change methods, go down in the street, seize power in all the theatres, and introduce the fisticuff into the war of art. The manifesto was his weapon, and he used it to praise danger and revolt, aggressive action, the beauty of speed (he famously proclaimed that A racing car . . . is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace), the metallization of man, the violent joys of crowds and cities. He also showed appalling innocence about war, which he glorified as the worlds only hygiene.
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See more here:
A Brief Guide to Futurism | Academy of American Poets
- Futurist Serata featuring artist Luca Buvoli at Brown (Nov. 20) - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- FUTUR1SM00GGI - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Futurism on Film’ Series this month in NYC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Schedule of Futurist Events in NYC (PERFORMA 09: Nov 1-22) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Futurismo/Futurizm: The Futurist Avant-Garde in Italy and Russia’ (Nov. 13 + 14) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Beyond Futurism: F.T. Marinetti, Writer’ conference at Columbia (Nov. 12+13) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Futurism and Cars at the Museo Nicolis - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- MoMA Film Series Marks Centenary of Futurism with Films - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘Bergson+Futurism. Speed in thought’ - Madrid (Nov. 5) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- ‘The Future in Five Senses: Echoes of Italian Futurism in New York Architecture and Design’ Nov. 16th NYC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New World-Wide Climate Treaty in 2010 More Likely - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Tar Sands CCS Myth Shattered - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Smart Grid and Smart Meters Get Big Grants - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Pollution Makes Methane Even More Dangerous - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Climate Change Bill Hearing Video - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- New Satellite to Monitor Water and Plant Growth - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Spiritual Battle Awaits the Deniers and Skeptics - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Effects of Climate Change are Observed World-Wide - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Get Yer Global Warming Science Here - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- TckTckTck Wake up Call — Delay Kills - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Canada’s Awful Gold Rush - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Climate Change Talks Spark Global Backlash by Businesses - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- World May Need Extra Year for Climate Treaty - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Senator Boxer Moves Climate Bill Despite Republican Obstructionism - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Lights out for incandescent lights? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sutures from Bacteria - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Remote-Controlled Pigeons - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Apple Announces iPhone Release Date - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- UK Government Envisions a Grim Future - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Top Ten Emerging Technologies for the Environment - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- DIY Mobile Networks - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Stem-Cell Treatment Cures Type 1 Diabetes - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is Tesla Getting the Electric Car Right? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Future of TV News - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Bruce Sterling on Earth-Friendly Pervasive Computing - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- First Step Toward Organ Regeneration in Humans - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- IBM's "Five in Five" - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Outsourced Journalism - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is True Global Democracy the Next Great Political Movement? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Risks of Autonomous Robots - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Microsoft Introduces "Tabletop" PC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Britain Piloting First Biofueled Train - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Self-Healing Plastic - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Bird Population Falls Over Past 40 Years - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The iPhone Revolution? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The End of "Cheap Food"? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- How to Stop -- Or Live With -- Global Warming - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- MIT Demonstrates "Wireless Electricity" - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Unintended Consequences of Biofuels - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Time to Focus on the Big Picture in Copenhagen - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Protests in Copenhagen - December 12th, 2009 [December 12th, 2009]
- Mario Guido Dal Monte exhibit - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Futurism News Bulletin, xvi - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Viva il Futurismo! (video trailer) - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- 3 exhibits in Gorizia! - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Forthcoming: ‘Antidiets of the Avant-garde’ by Cecilia Novero - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Pubblicità e propaganda. Ceramica e grafica futuriste at the Wolfsoniana - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Balla’s home scheduled to open in 2010 - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Futurismo a Savona - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- ‘Zang Sud Sud’, Cosenza - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Conference in Rome (Dec. 10) - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate Hackergate: A Well-Orchestrated Campaign of Harassment - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The Sad Story of Cap and Trade - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- How to Waste Trillions on Capturing Carbon - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Smack the Email Hack Attack - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- EPA About to Declare CO2 a Public Danger - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Copenhagen Summit Starts with Virtually There Media - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate Scientist Gets Blunt on Trading Scheme - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- One Climate Change Editorial in 56 Newspapers, 45 Countries - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- This Decade Will be Hottest Ever on Record - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Divide and Conquer - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Leave the Coal in the Hole! - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- COP15: Two Agreements Coming - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Climate and Copenhagen News December 10 - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Sea Level Already Rising on Atlantic Coast - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- ‘Umbria Veloce’ in Perugia - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- An Instable CO2-Filled Ocean - December 14th, 2009 [December 14th, 2009]
- ‘Futurismi a Ravenna’ opens Dec. 19 - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- ‘Futurism and the Technological Imagination’ – 30% discount until Jan. 15 - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- Protecting Our Lungs at Copenhagen - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]