Futurism – How to rewrite culture and break the past

Ever sat in history class and thought, "Why are we learning about old stuff and people who lived ages ago? Boring!" You'd rather think about cool new tech, robots, or super-fast travel, right? Well, you sound just like a futurist!

Futurists were artists who thought the world was stuck in the past and wanted to celebrate innovation, modernity, and speed. They were all about saying, "Goodbye tradition, hello technology!"

In 1908, an Italian poet named Filippo Tommaso Marinetti had a car crash near Milan. Instead of being scared of speed, he got inspired to create a new philosophy. This led to the birth of the Futurism Movement. Marinetti loved everything about the future—factories, cities, and fast-moving trains, planes, and cars.

Futurists in 1913, Decio Cinti, Luigi Russolo, Armando Mazza, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Paolo Buzzi, Umberto Boccioni

In 1909, he shared his ideas in the Manifesto of Futurism, published in a French newspaper. He wanted Italy to be the center of progress by embracing new industries and getting rid of old institutions like museums and libraries. He wanted to change culture in every way—literature, theatre, architecture, fashion, and even cooking!

A group of young Italian artists, including Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, and Luigi Russollo, were inspired by Marinetti. They wrote the Manifesto of Futurist Painters, criticizing the old art scene and promoting new, energetic art. They were joined by Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini, and together they created art full of speed, movement, and power.

One famous work is Boccioni's The City Rises, showing the construction of Milan's new power plant. Instead of painting mythological scenes, they focused on industry and workers. They used techniques like divisionism to create a sense of motion.

Giacomo Balla's Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash shows a dog in motion with repeated images of its legs and tail, creating a dizzying sense of movement. Futurists also took inspiration from cubists like Picasso, using fragmented views in their art.

Boccioni's sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space shows a man striding forward, almost like a machine, with a sense of air rippling around him.

Futurists spread their ideas through new technologies like mass media and published many manifestos. The movement even spread to Russia, England, and Belgium. Russian futurism focused on literature.

When World War I started, many futurists, including Boccioni, went to fight and some died. After the war, Marinetti revived the movement, focusing on aviation with artists like Tullio Cralli.

Marinetti also got involved with Mussolini's fascist regime, merging his futurist party with Mussolini's and writing its manifesto. While futurism shared some ideas with fascism, it hurt its reputation when fascism fell out of favour.

By the end of World War II, new artists wanted to return to traditional styles, and futurism faded. But its influence can still be seen in movements like Art Deco, Constructivism, Surrealism, Dada, and neo-futurism.

Even though futurists were all about the new, they'd probably be happy their influence is still around today.