Technology and Emotions: The Futurists

Abstract

The technological and industrial acceleration seen in Europe at the end of the 19th century began to change the patterns of daily life permanently. Transport and cars were prominent in this transformation. Car manufacturing started in Germany and France at this time, and the Fiat S.p.A. Company began operations in Italy in 1899. The massive technological change transformed people's mobility and the speed of travel. It would also dramatically modify the face of conflict. All these changes added a new dimension to perceptions of the everyday world, such as the previously unknown blurring of views from speeding machines and views from the air. Photography enabled new ways of recording physical movement, which was investigated by early photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904) and the American painter Thomas Eakins (1844–1916) (1). The Italian artistic movement that identified itself as Futurism focused on the emotions associated with the “new face” of the world and their artistic expression (2, 3). In contrast to such earlier movements as Impressionism, which were largely defined by their work, the essence of Futurism was the verbal manifestos that defined the style of the movement. Futurism was defined by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944) in “The Futurist Manifesto,” published in the Parisian …