Futurism of the past in S.F. today
By: Janos Gereben
Special to The Examiner
October 9, 2009
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| Noise makers: San Francisco is celebrating the centennial of an avant-garde movement called futurism, during which “noise intoner” instruments called intonarumori were created. (Courtesy photo) |
“Futurism” is a historic artistic movement, not just a description of a forward-looking aesthetic. The avant-garde movement “obsessed with machines and mayhem” is a century old, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is at the center of marking the event.
“Metal + Machine + Manifesto = Futurism’s First 100 Years,” a series running Wednesday through Oct. 18,
is a collaboration between the museum and the Italian Cultural Institute, Performa 09, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and UC Berkeley.
Frank Smigiel, associate curator at SFMOMA, says, “Futurism ushered into being a new generation working across disciplines and together, in design, film, painting, dance, music and theater.”
In addition to exhibits, lectures and symposia, the event features
an unusual musical celebration called “Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners.”
The Oct. 16 concert — celebrating the centennial of the 1909 publication of F.T. Marinetti’s “Futurist Manifesto” — features works by local composers Luciano Chessa, Mike Patton, Text of Light, Blixa Bargeld, Carla Kihlstedt and Mattias Bossi, Elliott Sharp, Ulrich Krieger, Ellen Fullman, James Fei, John Butcher and Gino Robair, Pablo Ortiz and Theresa Wong and the sfSoundGroup.
Magik*Magik Orchestra will perform the pieces, playing futurist sound artist Luigi Russolo’s hand-cranked instruments “to realize an expanded field of orchestral sound.”
The instruments, called intonarumori (noise intoners), produce noises — explosions, howls, buzzes, hisses — not typically employed in Western music.
Bay Area-based composer Chessa, who directed the re-creation of 16 intonarumori, curated the concert of original and newly commissioned scores.
Minna Choi, director of Magik*Magik, calls the instruments “totally awesome and crazy.”
One, which is considered close to a string instrument — although it sounds almost nothing like one — has a tone that’s generated by rotating a crank at the back of the instrument. The faster it is cranked, the louder the pitch gets.
Another big Futurism event, on Oct. 18 at Brava theater, is “Action! Futurism Projected & Performed.” Curated by Lana Wilson of Performa and featuring theatrical installations organized by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, the five-hour presentation includes plays and films.
IF YOU GO
Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners
Where: Novellus Theater, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard St., S.F.
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 16
Tickets: $15 to $20
Contact: (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org
Action! Futurism Projected & Performed
Where: Brava, 2781 24th St., S.F.
When: 4 to 10 p.m. Oct. 18
Tickets: $10 to $15
Contact: (415) 641-7657, www.brava.org
