Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Italian poet and writer; founder, leader and theorist of futurism Date of Birth: 22.12.1876 Country: Italy

Biography of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was an Italian poet and writer, as well as the founder, leader, and theorist of the Futurist movement. He was heavily influenced by Bergson, Croce, and Nietzsche, though his interpretation of their ideas in popular consciousness was simplified and reduced. Marinetti traced his cultural and artistic beliefs back to Dante and E.A. Poe. He authored the novel "Mafarka the Futurist" (1910), the poetry collection "Zang Tumb Tumb" (1914), and the foundational manifestos of Futurism, including "The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism" (1909), "Let's Kill the Moonlight" (1909), "Futurist Manifesto on the Italo-Turkish War" (1911), "Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature" (1912), "Program of Futurist Politics" (1913, with U. Boccioni and others), "Splendid Geometries and Mechanics and New Numerical Perception" (1914), "New Futurist Painting" (1930), and more.

Between 1909 and 1911, Marinetti organized Futurist groups and mass performances of Futurism supporters throughout Italy. He was the ideological inspiration behind the creation of almost all the manifestos of Futurism, which were signed by various artists, sculptors, architects, poets, musicians, and others. In order to promote Futurism, Marinetti visited various countries, including Russia in 1910 and 1914.

Unlike expressionism and cubism, which emotionally localized themselves in the "minor register of perceiving the new age," Futurism was characterized by extreme social optimism and a major perception of the future. Inspired by this, Marinetti formulated the goal of the Futurist movement as a total innovation: "we must sweep away all already exhausted subjects in order to express our swirling life of steel, pride, fever, and speed." The rejection of the preceding tradition was articulated in the principles of anti-aestheticism and anti-philosophy, presenting the movement itself as countercultural. According to Marinetti, "we want to destroy museums, libraries, fight against moralism."

Marinetti's radical rejection of cultural heritage, which constituted not only an anti-establishment attitude but also an extrapolation of the motif of renewal to a positive evaluation of war as the "natural hygiene of the world" (he advocated for Italy's entry into World War I and volunteered on the front lines), gave rise to the idea of the "great Futurist laughter," which would "rejuvenate the face of the world." In his programmatic "Manifesto of Futurist Painting" in 1910, Marinetti formulated the aim of the Futurist movement as the total transformation of art: "we must sweep away all already exhausted subjects in order to express our swirling life of steel, pride, fever, and speed." The rejection of the preceding tradition was articulated in the principles of anti-aestheticism and anti-philosophy, presenting the movement itself as countercultural. According to Marinetti, "we want to destroy museums, libraries, fight against moralism."

Marinetti's rejection of traditional aesthetics led him to propose the abolition of theater, replacing it with a music hall that opposed the moralism and psychology of classical theater with "madly physical" performances. Within the same framework of artistic values, Futurism developed its programmatic orientation towards primitivism as a paradigm of artistic technique (such as the "red paints that scream"). Marinetti also emphasized the intention to shock and provoke (famous formulations include "without aggression, there is no masterpiece" and "spit on the altar of art").

Continuing the line of Dadaism, Marinetti proposed the liberation of consciousness from the dictates of logic and language. He advocated for the uprising against words, which could only be achieved by freeing words themselves from the logic expressed in syntax. According to Marinetti, syntax is powerless and absurd, so the goal is to "speak with free words." He believed that by destroying syntax and punctuation and allowing "images to intertwine disorderly and at random," the frequent net of associations would be thrown into the "dark abyss of life," preventing it from clinging "to the reefs of logic." Marinetti saw logic as standing between humanity and existence, making their harmonization impossible. Once "the freeing poet releases the words," he will "penetrate the essence of phenomena," and then "there will no longer be hostility and misunderstanding between people and the surrounding reality." Marinetti's concept of surrounding reality primarily refers to the technological environment, which he negatively perceived due to the rationality of traditional consciousness: "an insurmountable aversion to the iron motor has settled in humanity." Since only "intuition, not reason, can overcome this aversion," Marinetti proposed overcoming reason itself: "innate intuition... I wanted to awaken it in you and arouse disgust towards reason." He aimed to "escape from the thoroughly rotten shell of Common Sense," and then, "when logic is overcome, intuitive psychology of matter will arise." The result of rejecting the stereotypes of old rationality should be the realization that the "era of technology" will replace the "dominance of man." Marinetti's technological utopia envisions the final and consistent synthesis of man and machine, finding its axiological expression in the creation of a new mythology ("a new centaur is born before our eyes - man on a motorcycle, and the first angels soar into the sky on the wings of airplanes"). In this context, Marinetti sees the machine as "the most necessary extension of the human body" (similar to the basic idea of the philosophy of technology regarding the technical evolution as a process of objectifying the functions of human organs). In the relationship between "man and machine," Marinetti gives primacy to the machine, which sets the stage for Futurism's program of anti-psychologism.

According to Marinetti, it is necessary to "completely and definitively free literature from the author's own 'I'," to "replace psychology, which is now exhausted," with an orientation towards grasping the "soul of lifeless matter" (i.e., technology): "to hear the breathing of metals, stones, and wood through the nervous pulsation of motors" (similar to the idea of expressing the essence of objects in late expressionism). In this axiological space, Marinetti's paradigmatic theses regarding the establishment of a new "mechanical art" ("hot metal and... wooden beam excite us more than a woman's smile and tears") were met with controversial reactions. His programmatic proposal for the creation of a "mechanical man complete with spare parts" was seen as an embodiment of anti-humanism. The idea of the individual as a "cog" in the mechanism of "universal happiness" had a significant influence on the ideology of all early forms of totalitarianism, from socialism to fascism. From 1914 to 1919, Marinetti aligned himself with Benito Mussolini, and with the rise of fascism, Marinetti received the title of academician from Il Duce. Futurism became the official artistic expression of Italian fascism (Marinetti's thesis on the dominance of "the word Italy" over "the word Freedom," the "brutal" portraits of Mussolini by U. Boccioni, the famous painting "The Armored Train" by G. Severini embodying the idea of man as a "cog" in a military machine, the programmatic reorientation of late Futurism towards the ideals of social stability, constructive ideology, and the rejection of "undermining the foundations" can be seen in Marinetti's 1930 manifesto "Only Dynamism is Dynamic and Capable of Representing New Forms").

Marinetti had a significant influence on the development of the modernist concept of artistic creation. His program of presenting the "intuitive psychology of matter" in "lyrics of states" found its embodiment within the framework of Futurism, particularly in the dynamism and divisionism of G. Balla and U. Boccioni and the simultaneity of G. Severini. Later, Marinetti's program of "making things" in pop art inspired the "avant-garde of the new wave." His demand to "listen to the pulse of matter" inspired the branch of "impossible art": Earthwork or Land Art (such as R. Morris' "Earthworks are Wonderful" and D. Oppenheim's "Salt Flat"), Seawork (J. Dibbets' "The White Line on the Sea" and floating ice chips in the ocean), and Skywork (light, smoke, and laser constructions above New York). Marinetti's criticism of easel painting, the idea of frescoes projected onto clouds, became the aesthetic program and artistic technique of the "avant-garde of the new wave," primarily in the field of "impossible art."

In conclusion, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was a significant figure in Italian literature and the founder of the Futurist movement. His ideas and principles continue to influence the development of modern art and culture.