Reading Response 2 – J.P

Avant Garde Manifestos

F.T. Marinetti, “Manifesto of Futurism”; Aleksandr Rodchenko, “Who We Are: Manifesto of the Constructivist Group”; and El Lissitzky, “Our Book,” Graphic Design Theory: Readings From the Field by Helen Armstrong on pages 19-31.

Prompt

What political events were happening during the time and place that these manifestos were written? How did those events influence the authors’ beliefs?

Consider if and how these manifestos addressed the concepts of authorship/ownership, universal systems of communication, and social/political engagement.

Which elements of these texts remain relevant for the present, and which elements are problematic? 

How has the communication process changed since the early 20th Century, specifically with regard to technology?

Response

During the time of the manifestos writing, a World War was in progress as well as, “Industrialization, technological upheaval,” (19) in which, the World War could have been a significant catalyst in the changes that occured in industries and technology. These events may have influenced the authors’ beliefs due to the intense nature of how these events cause everyone to have to eventually change their life routines and how they planned for the future. With this in mind, with how uncomfortable these events made things, artists may have thought that it was important to make art more uncomfortable and open to interpretation seeing as things that many were against were happening without them having much of a choice in the matter. These manifestos addressed the concept of ownership through how the work was done and how it challenged their current concepts. This was important because universal systems of communications would be influenced by the government.

With a tendency to simplify, stabilize and control, the emphasis on this unversal idea would make it hard for rebellion which would cause lack of innovation due to fear of retaliation. Political engagement greatly influenced social engagement due to it already affecting many aspects of people’s lives at that time. The element of art benefitting from being provacative can be problematic due to how impactful social engagement has become and how offensive things can be due to the vast information we have now. Communication has become easier but still retains the complexities of social engagement. Technology makes everything more accessible but requires many of our freedoms to be sacrificed and it carries with it a great responsibilities that takes significant effort to truly understand.

There is more of a focus on getting people through the doors than letting people know what comes with going through the doors. Thus, technology can also be a detriment to quality of life when considering that it can feel more forced and imposed than one may feel comfortable with. Avant Garde artists going through some of these changes may have felt uncomfortable with feeling less than themselves and used the manifestos as a way of empowering artists.

Citations

Confidence and open mindness of Artists

Events influencing Manifestos

Innovation of imposed ideals

Utilizing Art

Problematic Elements

Engineers and Artists helping