Futurism

"……since our past is the greatest in the world and thus all the more dangerous for our life!… …We must smash, demolish and destroy our traditional harmony, which makes us fall into a ’gracefullness’created by timid and sentimental cubs" - (Boccioni, U., 1912, "Sculpturist Manifesto")

The Futurists first came about at the beginning of the 20th Century as a movement of designers who chose to confront society through the medium of design and through the work that they produced. Emphasising themes of political downfall, rebellion and unrest, they believed that war should be interpreted as a positive thing as it cleansed the past and put more focus on the future (their aim within their work). Futurism was heavily disciplinary and designers involved worked across almost all fields within art. As their name suggests, they were absolutely focused on create a new way of working that had never been seen before and chose to produce work that would be considered completely different to that which came before, totally despising anything that was not totally and completely new.

Their motives were clear, focusing on the integration of art and life (with an emphasis on new technologies not seen before as they deemed conventional technology as "destructive"). They loved war, speed, light, sound and noise, anything that pushed the senses and allowed people to create for themselves a new way of
thinking and interpreting pieces of work.

A big focus for the futurists were the two 'esias'; synesthesia and kinesthesia. Synesthesia is the process of a stimulation evoking the sensation of another, something which can be seen alot today in the form of audio displays on music players and other audio devices as well as the classic cult 1970's show "Knight Rider",
which starred David Hasselhoff who's car "Kitt" used a red strip of lights to represent when he was speaking, thus suggesting that his voice is evoking the sense of light and movement. Kinesthesia on the other hand is a sense that detects bodily position, weight and movement.

"Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash"(1912)

A famous futurist was Giocomo Balla who's piece "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" (1912) still today holds as a classic despite the movement being quite short-lived. It shows a small, fluffy dog illustration out for a walk. What makes this piece "revolutionary" however is the way in which the legs of the dog are described, in almost a wheel-like motion, showing movement and speed. However was it so revolutionary? It appears not. Many years earlier, in 1886, photographer Edward Muybridge created "Horse In Motion" a series of photographs showing a horse galloping and the movement of it's legs as they land and leave the ground. This really isn't too dissimilar to Balla's piece and considering, as a futurist, he was meant to ignore the past, surely some sort of inspiration had to have come from Muybridge?

Muybridge's "A Horse in Motion" (1886)

Although I do like the way of thinking that the Futurists strived for, I do feel a sense of maybe they were slightly "rebels without a cause" and maybe should have thought of a perhaps softer way to explain their intentions through a less controversial and softer manner which may have enabled them to be a much longer-lived movement in history.