The Tsinghua University Museum of Art's special exhibition "The Futurist Universe" brings together more than 250 works from the thirty years between 1909 and 1939, when Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published his "Futurist Manifesto", to present a comprehensive view of the flourishing period of Futurism. The exhibits are divided into twelve thematic sections that cover a wide range of visual arts, design, poetry, theater, music, architecture, and even food. The curators use the visual form of Futurism as an entry point to expand the discussion to the social, cultural and intellectual history. "The Futurist Universe is both a conceptual journey and a feast that activates the senses.

The talented artists of Futurism find pioneering sensory forms for their avant-garde theories. The exhibition opens with a narrative of Futurist visual innovation, with a sketch by Umberto Boccioni, a representative of the Futurist movement, at the entrance of the gallery. In the painting, the artist breaks the classical dynamic balance of elegance and harmony, tearing down forms with twisting brute force, dissolving structural edges into space, and reconstructing sharp, flowing blocks. Interpenetration, the visualization between space-time and object that Cubism promoted, rises to a more modern and visible representation. Inspired by the techniques of motion photography, images of different moments coincide within the same frame, unleashing Plastic Dynamism.

The Industrial Revolution brought speed, efficiency and unlimited technological progress in the short term, and the Futurists were bold and determined to abandon all stagnant things and ideas. In Luigi Russolo's depiction of a thunderstorm landscape, the form of lightning outlines the flesh of a sturdy man. Russolo shifts the direction of nature, and the sacredness of light is no longer dependent on mysterious, unknowable natural forces, but is based on man's knowledge, grasp, and use of electricity. Driven by technology, futurists proudly eulogize the latest achievements of human civilization in conquering and revolutionizing the laws of nature: new things such as airplanes, automobiles and rumbling production equipment seem to promise a bright, glorious future. The painter Russolo was also the originator of experimental noise music, developing a mechanical device called the Intonarumori to simulate the sound of steam whistles, sirens, and roars. His sound work The Awaking of a Great City recreates the aural landscape of an industrialized metropolis, drawing the listener into a vast and ever-expanding vortex of mechanical utopia.

Chinese curator Sultan says, "Futurism is not only an exuberant and frenetic art movement, but also a cultural movement with a sharp point of view, a well-planned campaign propaganda." Futurism's publishing practice was one of the fronts of its propaganda, and in 1914 Marinetti's Zang Tumb Tumb started a typographic revolution. Traditional graphic conventions gave way to a dynamic, geometric division of the page, where words were broken down into individual characters that led the reader's gaze across the page in a dynamic, fast-moving manner. The all-encompassing universe created by the Futurists is so provocative to the eye and challenging to the mouth that it expands the desire of the mouth - the most novel and special perspective of this exhibition. Marinetti, for one, asserted that "man thinks, dreams and acts according to what he eats and drinks." Futurists feverishly transformed Italian cooking, systematically changing dining rituals with a view to causing a sensory revolution that would touch reality.

In 1930, Marinetti published the Futurist Culinary Manifesto. In the manifesto he abolished pasta as a central part of the country's diet, arguing that it led to laziness, pessimism and lack of passion and hindered the physical and spiritual progress of Italians. The abolition of pasta also had the economic advantage of reducing Italy's dependence on foreign wheat supplies. Futurist cooking emphasized the "art of eating" and was obsessed with the visual aspect of food, enhancing it with absolutely original stylistic means. Futurists even felt that food should no longer be confined to the goal of satiety, but should be transformed into a machine for the production of desire. On the other hand, dining rituals were also completely overturned, with the manifesto proposing a number of norms: knives and forks were banned; perfume was required to enhance and enrich the experience; part of the food on the plate would not be eaten, but merely perceived by smell and sight; no current political discussions were allowed during meals, and music and poetry were forbidden. The futuristic kitchen would become a scientific laboratory where conventional food processing equipment was replaced by experimental tools such as ultraviolet lamps, distillers, and chemical analyzers, and the food production process was put on a quantitative path, a practice that foresaw what would become food science. At the same time, the new diet required a new vocabulary, and the 1932 La Cucina Futurista put together a small dictionary renaming common foods, such as sandwiches TRAIDUE, desserts PERALZARSI, and cocktails POLIBIBITA.

"Italian Cocktails and Food" constitutes a separate section of the "Futurist Universe". Fans of wine culture will not be unfamiliar with the futuristic design of the brand posters on display, which have never gone out of fashion and are still being used today. Futurists, who have never been trained in bartending, are remixing different ingredients with their sensory intuition. It's as if they're doing a less serious chemical experiment, waging war on the classic recipes of cocktails. Futurist Mixology, pioneered by the non-bartender community, focuses on the local identity and modernity of the cocktail. We don't see any foreign imports in the recipes. Local Italian ingredients are blended for complexity and versatility in flavor, with a focus on surprise. Futurists expand the cultural meaning of cocktails, giving them a new social and psychological value. They use visual language to create a theatrical drinking atmosphere, where cocktails become a trigger for public discussion and a unique prescription for emotional excitement.

The technology of fusing the senses is the most valuable invention of futurism. This sensory technology not only serves visual innovation, but also inspires a renewal of reality. At a time when digital technology is increasingly limiting people's imagination and creativity, a trip to the "futuristic universe" is a rejuvenating experience. These "traces of history" from nearly a century ago in the exhibition can still evoke hope for the future and lead to a healthy interaction between art and society in the public sphere - something that is lacking in our time.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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