ART & BODY

Initiated in Italy in the early 20th century and the aim was to capture the dynamism and energy of the modern world, denouncing the past. The movement started from the Manifesto and Foundation of Futurism by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1908. The manifest was a violent speech to embrace modernity in private and public life and had attacks against the traditional cultural institutions.

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There was a series of Futurists manifestos where they theorised and enacted a radical association between art and life and it is considered by its contemporaries as the 1st original model of the historical avant-garde. They used performance strategies and happenings as a way to evoke strong reactions from the audience.

Versari, M. (2016) Futurism

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Women in Futurism

Futurism was a macist movement, often promoting aggressive ideas about speed, technology, and even “masculine” energy, sometimes explicitly dismissing women. Despite this, women were involved and pushed back from within.

Artists like Benedetta Cappa explored movement, rhythm, and emotion in ways that softened or expanded the movement’s ideas.

In 1912, Valentine de Saint-Point wrote the Manifesto of Futurist Woman, which argued that strength and creativity are not tied to gender. Instead of rejecting femininity, she reframed it as powerful and active. Her manifesto challenges both Futurism’s sexism and traditional ideas of the female body, making it especially relevant when thinking about how bodies are represented, controlled, or liberated in performance.

 

Black artists and parallel modernisms

There were no widely recognised Black artists within Futurism itself, reflecting the movement’s narrow, Eurocentric focus. However, at the same time, Black artists were developing their own modern movements, especially during the Harlem Renaissance.

Artists like Aaron Douglas explored rhythm, movement, and modern life through a Black cultural lens.

Rather than celebrating machines and speed in the same way as Futurists, these artists often focused on lived experience, identity, and the body in motion within urban space offering a different, equally modern way of understanding energy, movement, and presence.​

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