Response to Futurism

Futurism, like most art movements within Modernism, was reactionary against what had come before it.  The Futurists here wished to do away with the ways of perceiving linked to the past.  The past is dead and the present is alive, so why keep celebrating something that isn't fresh? The only true way to arrive at something "new" is to look ahead and break away from the mainstream ways of doing. Within the continuum of Modernism, each new movement replaced what came before it as a reaction against the current art standard as well as a reaction to the sociocultural times in which the artists lived.  The new dream of the Futurists in their time of a newly industrialized society, was an expression of greater speed and intensity, achieved through aggression.  It is interesting to note that these artists lived in a time just before the beginnings of World War I.  I bet that the aggressiveness of their plight would not have been so heavily assumed if WWI was already underway or had just concluded.  Hence, the Futurists perceived their present sociocultural condition in 1909 as stale and wallowing, and their supporting notions of war seemed appropriate.

The art world has changed greatly since 1909, and the overarching period of Moderism died out in the late 1960's, replaced by Postmodernism.  A great lecture about the art world from the 60's to present can be found here: Dave Hickey, glasstire.com . Hickey argues that the art world used to revolve around underground movements that would continually arise from new youth artists, perpetually destroying whatever the established mainstream at the time was.  In our current situation, everything is fair game and mainstream, given equal opportunity.  There are no new movements and from now on their won't be; there is no more underground-- a compelling argument.  I tend to agree with a lot of Hickey's argruments.

New Media is not something "new".  The term is really misleading. Sure technology is always changing, but this affects all art areas as well as the non-art consumer mainstream.  Experimental film is not a new idea either (eg. Hans Richter, Rhythmus 21).  Therefore, in our current 21st century moment, we are allowed and encouraged to look back on the 20th century for inspiration as our tools for creating become more complex.

FYI...the original Richter film I posted does not have sound, somebody added that.