Art Futurism Brashly and Boldly Embraced New

Art

Futurism brashly and boldly embraced new technology, celebrating even the bellicose. In Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism," he states, "We will glorify war -- the world's only hygiene -- militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for women," (p. 148). This peculiar statement reveals the nature of futurism as it was manifest at early twentieth century. Futurism was all embracing, rejecting nothing based on immorality because futurism shunned morality. For this reason, Futurism emerged as a staunchly progressive and open-minded genre in the visual arts. The movement not just embraced new technology but celebrated it. Even the uglier side of technology, such as heavy industries and the pollution they create, was something futurists admired and incorporated into their visual art schema. Within the futurist framework, it is certainly possible to imagine works of art that represent something genuinely new.

One reason it is possible to imagine a work or works of art that offer a palpable sense of something genuinely new or different is because the nature of creative media shifts and changes. Futurists would understand and appreciate the use of new media such as digital tools. With more advanced digital tools including artificial intelligence, the potential for art to uncover new ground is astonishing. Furthermore, the world's social and political landscapes are changing rapidly. As cultures change, so too do their artistic expressions. This would mean that expressions might be "new" to one viewer but not to another.

Another reason why the futurist mindset allows for works of art that are fully new and different is expressed by Boccioni in the technical manifesto. "The gesture which we would produce on canvas shall no longer be a fixed moment in universal dynamism. It shall simply be the dynamic sensation itself (p. 150). The laws of physics such as thermodynamics were fascinating to the futurists. Thus, the futurists would embrace emerging discourse in the sciences related to fields like astrophysics, string, and chaos theories. Such scientific disciplines include abstract discourse that can be captured by the artist using new media. The idea that movement can itself be captured on a two-dimensional surface becomes enhanced with new media. From holograms to animated gifs, the futurists would well appreciate the capacity of new media and new technology to capture the dynamism of the universe.

Of course, the very concept of art does not change. The something that is genuinely new and different is captured in motion. "Indeed, all things move, all things run, all things are rapidly changing," (Boccioni, p. 150). Thus, two artists can paint the same portrait but the results will be completely different from one another. When the artist "renders the whole of its surrounding atmosphere," then the two portraits are truly divergent (Boccioni, p. 150).