Never-before-exhibited documents on Italian Futurism in Chile

On June 22, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in the Art Department of the Universidad de Chile inaugurated the exhibition titled "Futurism: First Vanguard." The exhibition presents original works and documents dating back over one hundred years, including manifestos, letters, and periodicals. Among the documents selected for the exhibition, there are 36 original manifestos belonging to the collection of the Fondazione Echaurren Salaris in Roma. Throughout his career, Pablo Echaurren, artist and son of Roberto Matta, collected apparitions of these manifestos in books and magazines published as far back as 1909, when that vanguard began. Later on, that material influenced paintings, literature, architecture, theater, film, fashion, music, dance, and even cooking. All these documents were the basis for the creation of the foundation that Pablo Echaurren and art historian Claudia Salaris have headed since 2010. The birth of Futurism was announced with the manifestó by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti titled Fondazione e Manifiesto del Futurismo (The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism) published by Paris's Le Figaro in February, 1909. It is one of the pieces included in the exhibition. Other documents in the show include Umberto Boccioni's Manifeste Technique de la Sculpture Futuriste (Technical Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture) from 1912, and Giacomo Balla's Le Vêtements Masculin Futuriste (Futurist Manifesto of Men's Clothing) from 1914, among others. All the works share a standard four cover format and each is signed by its author and includes the date and the author's address. Also to be exhibited are a group of fifteen texts from the Fundación Vicente Huidobro, including Pasando y Pasando (Passing and Passing, 1914), an essay on Futurism, and Sainsons Choisies (1921), a compilation of poems that established the foundations of Creationism. These works attest to the influence that these vanguard had in Huidobro's production during his stay in Europe, when he developed a relationship with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and his contemporaries. More information is available at the museum's homepage at: http://www.mac.uchile.cl/exhibiciones/expo/futurismo-primera-vanguardia