Daily Archives: April 28, 2017

TO THE YOUNG ARTISTS OF ITALY!

The cry of rebellion which we utter associates our ideals with those of the Futurist poets. These ideals were not invented by some aesthetic clique. They are an expression of a violent desire which boils in the veins of every creative artist today.

We will fight with all our might the fanatical, senseless and snobbish religion of the past, a religion encouraged by the vicious existence of museums. We rebel against that spineless worshipping of old canvases, old statues and old bric-a-brac, against everything which is filthy and worm-ridden and corroded by time. We consider the habitual contempt for everything which is young, new and burning with life to be unjust and even criminal.

Comrades, we tell you now that the triumphant progress of science makes profound changes in humanity inevitable, changes which are hacking an abyss between those docile slaves of past tradition and us free moderns, who are confident in the radiant splendor of our future.

We are sickened by the foul laziness of artists, who, ever since the sixteenth century, have endlessly exploited the glories of the ancient Romans.

In the eyes of other countries, Italy is still a land of the dead, a vast Pompeii, whit with sepulchres. But Italy is being reborn. Its political resurgence will be followed by a cultural resurgence. In the land inhabited by the illiterate peasant, schools will be set up; in the land where doing nothing in the sun was the only available profession, millions of machines are already roaring; in the land where traditional aesthetics reigned supreme, new flights of artistic inspiration are emerging and dazzling the world with their brilliance.

Living art draws its life from the surrounding environment. Our forebears drew their artistic inspiration from a religious atmosphere which fed their souls; in the same way we must breathe in the tangible miracles of contemporary lifethe iron network of speedy communications which envelops the earth, the transatlantic liners, the dreadnoughts, those marvelous flights which furrow our skies, the profound courage of our submarine navigators and the spasmodic struggle to conquer the unknown. How can we remain insensible to the frenetic life of our great cities and to the exciting new psychology of night-life; the feverish figures of the bon viveur, the cocette, the apache and the absinthe drinker?

We will also play our part in this crucial revival of aesthetic expression: we will declare war on all artists and all institutions which insist on hiding behind a faade of false modernity, while they are actually ensnared by tradition, academicism and, above all, a nauseating cerebral laziness.

We condemn as insulting to youth the acclamations of a revolting rabble for the sickening reflowering of a pathetic kind of classicism in Rome; the neurasthenic cultivation of hermaphodic archaism which they rave about in Florence; the pedestrian, half-blind handiwork of 48 which they are buying in Milan; the work of pensioned-off government clerks which they think the world of in Turin; the hotchpotch of encrusted rubbish of a group of fossilized alchemists which they are worshipping in Venice. We are going to rise up against all superficiality and banalityall the slovenly and facile commercialism which makes the work of most of our highly respected artists throughout Italy worthy of our deepest contempt.

Away then with hired restorers of antiquated incrustations. Away with affected archaeologists with their chronic necrophilia! Down with the critics, those complacent pimps! Down with gouty academics and drunken, ignorant professors!

Ask these priests of a veritable religious cult, these guardians of old aesthetic laws, where we can go and see the works of Giovanni Segantini today. Ask them why the officials of the Commission have never heard of the existence of Gaetano Previati. Ask them where they can see Medardo Rossos sculpture, or who takes the slightest interest in artists who have not yet had twenty years of struggle and suffering behind them, but are still producing works destined to honor their fatherland?

These paid critics have other interests to defend. Exhibitions, competitions, superficial and never disinterested criticism, condemn Italian art to the ignominy of true prostitution.

And what about our esteemed specialists? Throw them all out. Finish them off! The Portraitists, the Genre Painters, the Lake Painters, the Mountain Painters. We have put up with enough from these impotent painters of country holidays.

Down with all marble-chippers who are cluttering up our squares and profaning our cemeteries! Down with the speculators and their reinforced-concrete buildings! Down with laborious decorators, phony ceramicists, sold-out poster painters and shoddy, idiodic illustrators!

These are our final conclusions:

With our enthusiastic adherence to Futurism, we will:

The dead shall be buried in the earths deepest bowels! The threshold of the future will be swept free of mummies! Make room for youth, for violence, for daring!

Read more here:
Manifesto of the Futurist Painters - unknown.nu

In Brief A recent study on a spaceanomaly that has perplexed scientists for years has some suggesting that it could be explained by a parallel "bubble universe" although there are other, more standard potential explanations, as well. Too Cold

For years, scientists have been baffled by a weird anomaly far away in space: a mysteriousCold Spotabout1.8 billion light-years across. It is cooler than its surroundings byaround 0.00015 degrees Celsius (0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit), a fact astronomers discovered by measuring background radiation throughout the universe.

Previously, astronomers believed that this space could be cooler simply because it had less matter in it thanmost sections of space. They dubbed it amassive supervoidand estimated that it had 10,000 galaxies fewer than other comparable sections of space.

But now, in a recently published survey of galaxies, astronomers from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS)say they have discovered that this supervoide could not exist. They now believe that the galaxies in the cold spot are just clustered around smaller voids that populate the cold spot like bubbles. These small voids, however, cannot explain the temperature difference observed.

To link the temperature differences to the smaller voids, the researcherssay a non-standard cosmological model would be required. But our data place powerful constraints on any attempt to do that, explained researcher Ruari Mackenzie in anRAS press release. While the study had a large margin of error, the simulations suggest there is only atwo percent probabilitythat the Cold Spot formed randomly.

This means we cant entirely rule out that the Spot is caused by an unlikely fluctuation explained by the standard model. But if that isnt the answer, then there are more exotic explanations, said researcher Tom Shanks inthe press release. Perhaps the most exciting of these is that the Cold Spot was caused by a collision between our universe and another bubble universe.

If more detailed studies support the findings of this research, the Cold Spot might turn out to be the first evidence for the multiverse, though far more evidence would be needed to confirm our universe is indeed one of many.

See more here:
We May Have Uncovered the First Ever Evidence of the Multiverse - Futurism

In Brief Scientists from Durham University and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have developed a model that explains both known types of solar flares or coronal ejections. This new theory could help us prepare for when these disruptive flares occur. A Universal Model

The sun is volatile, capable of unleashing huge amounts of plasma in outbursts that affect the space around it including the space near Earth. There are two types of these solar eruptions: coronal ejections, which are smaller bursts of plasma, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are large eruptions that release plasma and high-speed magnetic fields.

We know they happen, but we havent really figured out howthey happen. Now, thanks to researchers from the Durham University in UK and NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, we have a theoretical model that could explain both types of coronal jets. According to their study, published in the journal Nature, both occurrences are the result ofmagnetic field lines in the surface of the sun, above the jets, breaking apart and rejoining.

It was previously thought that there were different drivers for the varying scales of eruptions from the Sun, but our research provides a theoretical universal model for this activity, which is very exciting, lead researcher Peter Wyper from Durham said in a press release.

Using this theoretical universal model, dubbed thebreakout model, the researchers believe that it may be possible to predict when solar flares will occur. As Wyper explained it: A greater understanding of solar eruptions at all scales could ultimately help in better predicting the Suns activity.

If proven, the breakout model could help us prepare for solar flares particularly large-scale CMEs which are known to disrupt radio transmissions and satellite communications by sending huge amounts of electromagenetic radiation. They are tend to trigger aurorae in the Earths poles. This phenomenon was last recorded in 1859, during whats now known as the Carrington Event. Such CMEs today could prove dangerous for astronauts in space.That being said, the next step is to confirm the breakout model using high-resolution observations of the solar atmosphere.

Within a unified context, we can advance understanding of how these eruptions are started, how to predict them, and how to better understand their consequences, said Richard DeVoreone of the researchers at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

More:
We May Have Finally Solved the Mystery of Solar Flares - Futurism