The Dangerous Liaisons Between “Young Slovenian Art” and Futurism
Keywords:
Slovenian literature, early avant-garde, futurism, constructivism, zenitism, literary influences, Delak, Ferdo, Černigoj, Avgust, Kosovel, Srečko, Pocarini, Sofronio, Carmelich, Giorgio, Stepančič, Edvard, Tank, Novi oder, Der Sturm, BauhausAbstract
The Slovenian avant-garde movements of the first three decades of the twentieth century can be clearly linked to Italian Futurism. All three waves of the Slovenian historical avant-garde were familiar with Futurist activities from their very beginnings. The third wave of the Slovenian avant-garde, represented by Ferdo Delak and Avgust Černigoj and his circle in Trieste, adopted some Futurist innovations, but the complicated and controversial relation of Italian Futurism to Fascism caused them to turn away from Futurism and move into the realms of Constructivism. Ideologically and politically linked to Russian Constructivism as well as to the intermediaries in the Bauhaus, the manifestos of Young Slovenian Art were filled with Russian Constructivist terminology, but they also echoed the proclamations issued by Marinetti, Prampolini, and other Futurist artists. This essay outlines the specific political circumstances of the Slovenian reception of Italian Futurism, and on this basis investigates its influence on the Slovenian theatrical avant-garde of the 1920s. During this period, Trieste and Gorizia became reference points for Futurism, thus enabling communication with some other artistic movements in the vicinity, from Constructivism in Ljubljana to Zenitism in Zagreb and Belgrade. The reception of avant-garde ideas in Slovenia was not only linked to Futurism but also influenced by the radical changes that took place in the geopolitical situation of Slovenian territory before and after the First World War. In the political climate of the rise of oppressive Fascism, following the First World War, artists belonging to the Slovenian-speaking community found it extremely difficult not to link the Futurist ideas with those of the Fascist movement. The intellectuals of the period recognized an ever-increasing transformation of Futurist art into Fascist propaganda. This evokes a specificity of the interrelation of the two movements that can be explained by the artistic and political game of les liaisons dangereuses.References
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