Futurism

In chapter 1 of Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present RoseLee Goldberg presents a brief history of the Futurist performance movement, which began in Paris in the early 1900s with Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto. Marinetti utilized the political turmoil of Paris and the existing problems with nationalism and colonialism merged with the dissatisfaction artists were already beginning to portray. Futurist performances commented on other tradition art forms as well as political issues of the time and many traditional artists began to use their medium to support the Futurist movement and ideals. Thus, performance became a preferred form of presenting ideas for some. Other artists, such as painters began to utilize their paintings in performance, as it was viewed as “the most direct means of forcing an audience to take note of their ideas.” (p 14) Additionally, performance gave artist opportunities to be both “creators” and “art objects” and comparatively equal to one another because of the lack of distinction between different types of artists. (p 14) In other words, painters were no longer separate from poets because all artists were encouraged to perform, rather than simply make art.

One aspect I found particularly interesting was the discussion of variety theater. Variety theater seemed to offer a simplistic glimpse into Futurist performance. Throughout the chapter, I had a difficult time pinning down a concrete definition of Futurism. Variety theater seemed, however, to somewhat explain an aspect of Futurism in it’s desire to distinguish itself from traditional art forms and masters. The utilization of this distinction to disregarded artistic rules and instead invented new forms of art, that astonished viewers and “coerced the audience into collaborations, liberating them from their passive roles as ‘stupid voyeurs’.” (p 17) This speaks to the idea that Futurist performers deemed it necessary to surprise the audience with it’s antics in an effort to deliberately force the viewers into working against conformity and perhaps questioning many social and political aspects of society. I’m curious as to why Futurist artists felt such measures needed to be taken. Why did Futurist performancers have to create such ludicrous production to “disrupt the complacent public?” (p 14)