Discussion 1 This symposium explores the controversial status of Futurist movements in art history, and some of their ‘avant-garde’ practices. Speakers engage with various forms of Futurist art, performance and film, including the use of manifestos and demonstrations. Italian Futurism will be viewed in relation to other radical art practices across Europe. The Futurists’ disdain for traditional values and their pursuit of an ‘art of modern life’ will be explored in relation to prevailing concepts of modernity and ‘avant-garde’ utopias.

David Cottington, Futurism and The Avant-Garde  It is a commonplace of art history to observe that Italian futurism was among the first moveFuturism and The Avant-Gardements of the artistic avant-garde. But these terms, and the implications for understanding both futurist art and its significance for western modernism, are not often examined. What was ‘the avant-garde’, why did it emerge when it did, and what influence did it have on the sudden appearance of futurism on the European cultural stage?

Sophie Howarth, Phyllida Barlow, Paul Wood and Mark Godfrey, Discussion 1  From Russian Suprematism through Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and beyond, abstraction has been variously interpreted as nihilistic, political, sublime, decorative and ironic. While much writing about abstract art has been opaque, the talks here aim to clearly open up a variety of theoretical models for discussion.

Paul Wood, An Introduction to the Idea of Abstraction and Interpretation  Paul  Wood starts the day considering the roots of abstraction in Symbolism, and how it tended to be theorised by Modernist writers, including Alfred Barr. He also covers the role of Cubism in helping to realise a fully abstract art, with particular reference to Mondrian and Malevich, as well as exceptions to that rule, such as Kandinsky. The talk also explores the contrast between idealist and materialist ideas about abstraction, with reference to the Russian avant-garde.

Round Table and Q&A chaired by Gill Perry  Gill Perry is Professor of Art History at the Open University.