Futurism: The Radical Art Revolution That Predicted the Modern World

"Most art movements start in a studio. This one started in a ditch outside Milan."

In 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti swerved his Fiat into a canal, crawling from the wreckage electrified by a radical brainwave.

In this episode of HENI Talks, art historian Ben Street takes us on a high-velocity journey through the chaotic, brilliant, and dangerous trajectory of Futurism—Europe’s most aggressive avant-garde movement.

Ben Street traces how these radical Italian artists attempted to violently destroy the past to drag the world into the modern age. We look closely at Umberto Boccioni’s frantic attempts to capture raw speed on a still canvas, and Giacomo Balla translating the invisible world of sound waves and chronophotography into oil paint.

But what happens when an obsession with the machine age meets the brutal reality of mechanized warfare? We explore how the early, fiery rebellion of Futurism collided with the rise of fascism, ultimately transforming from a radical political threat into the foundational language of modern graphic design and commercial art—a legacy you can still hold in your hand today with Fortunato Depero’s iconic 1932 Campari Soda bottle.

🎥 Presented by HENI Talks — films that bring art, design, and architecture to life.

Filmed at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

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