Legacy of Futurism explored

11 May 2015

Legacy of Futurism explored

Futurism—an avant-garde artistic movement cited by New Zealand artist Len Lye as one of his major inspirations—will be examined in a day-long event at Victoria University of Wellington on 15 May.

The Rebooting Futurism event will include Pecha Kucha-style research presentations, a short film competition and theatre performances—all held at Studio 77, 77 Fairlie Terrace, Kelburn.

James McKinnon, a senior lecturer in the School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies, says the day’s creative and scholarly events will explore the legacies of Futurism, 100 years after the launch of the Futurist Synthetic Theatre manifesto in 1915.

“One of their predictions was the reduction of an evening’s culture into two minutes—today’s Snapchat is a very contemporary take on this.

“They defined art as action, as a force for transforming the world, not escaping from it or making it look pretty. They were notoriously antagonistic, and counted it as a win if they started a riot, because they wanted to provoke all citizens into political action. They loathed apathy and complacency.”

The early twentieth century Italian literary movement of Futurism grew to embrace painting, sculpture, photography and architecture. It venerated technology, machines and speed, but had a dark side linked to Fascism, glorifying war and misogyny.

There is a global resurgence in interest in Futurism with the Guggenheim and other big institutions featuring Futurists recently.

Topics of the quirky research presentations at Victoria University will include: contemporary science fiction; the politics of reproduction; metallic music; French film and science fiction; Big Data and surveillance; fashion; architecture and slums; 3D printing; and the evolution of Futurism studies. Presenters are academics mainly from Victoria University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences but also from the University of Auckland, Massey University and the University of Queensland.

Towards the end of the day’s activities, at about 6pm, there will be a launch of Victoria University Senior Lecturer Dr Miriam Ross’s new book 3D Cinema: Optical Illusions and Tactile Experiences. The launch will include a conversation about the present and future of 3D cinema. There will also be screenings from recent 3D feature films.

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