The Futurist Files

Futurism was Russia's first avant-garde movement. Gatecrashing the Russian public sphere in the early twentieth century, the movement called for the destruction of everything old, so that the past could not hinder the creation of a new, modern society. Over the next two decades, the protagonists of Russian Futurism pursued their goal of modernizing human experience through radical art. The success of this mission has long been the subject of scholarly debate. Critics have often characterized Russian Futurism as an expression of utopian daydreaming by young artists who were unrealistic in their visions of Soviet society and naïve in their comprehension of the Bolshevik political agenda. By tracing the political and ideological evolution of Russian Futurism between 1905 and 1930, Iva Glisic challenges this view, demonstrating that Futurism took a calculated and systematic approach to its contemporary socio-political reality. This approach ultimately allowed Russia's Futurists to devise a unique artistic practice that would later become an integral element of the distinctly Soviet cultural paradigm. Drawing upon a unique combination of archival materials and employing a theoretical framework inspired by the works of philosophers such as Lewis Mumford, Karl Mannheim, Ernst Bloch, Fred Polak, and Slavoj Žižek, The Futurist Files presents Futurists not as blinded idealists, but rather as active and judicious participants in the larger project of building a modern Soviet consciousness. This fascinating study ultimately stands as a reminder that while radical ideas are often dismissed as utopian, and impossible, they did—and can—have a critical role in driving social change. It will be of interest to art historians, cultural historians, and scholars and students of Russian history.

Iva Glisic is a historian of twentieth-century Russia and the Balkans.

Elegantly argued and meticulously documented, Glisic's book makes a substantial contribution to our knowledge of Russian Futurism.

William G. Rosenberg, coauthor of Processing the Past:

The Futurist Files is thoroughly researched and well written. Glisic's primary task is the repositioning of the Futurists away from the impractical and apolitical concepts of 'utopian' movements to a serious and practical group of artists and writers engaged with political and social realities and struggling in practical ways to achieve their artistic and cultural goals. Her important study complements an extensive literature on Mayakovskii, Tatlin and others, as well as more general studies of early Soviet artists and writers and their 'utopian' visions. Her extensive archival work shows that not only were the Futurists themselves engaged with practical politics, especially after 1918, but that the authorities before and after the Bolsheviks came to power also viewed them in these terms. The Futurist Files should find a substantial readership in and outside the Russian and Soviet fields.

Margaret Samu, coeditor of From Realism to the Silver Age:

Glisic writes in a clear and highly readable style and does an admirable job of bringing together a huge number of primary and secondary sources. The scholarship is sound and the content is well organized.