The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism
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Olga Sokolova
Abstract
This essay analyses the features of a new semiotic system and of a new language in advertisements and political texts issued by the Italian and Russian Futurists. My semiotic approach reveals the avant-garde’s intention to ‘destroy’ the sign and to undermine the traditional relationship between the signified and the signifier, as well as the avant-garde’s tendency to reject symbolical representation in favour of iconical and indexical types of representation. The Futurists’ special interest in advertising reflects their orientation towards overcoming the border between art and reality, and to break down the delineations between a sign and an object of reality. Commercial advertising, political agitation and revolutionary propaganda offered Futurist artists an opportunity for creating new realities. This essay identifies the main features of ‘contamination’ as a form of interaction between avant-garde and advertising discourses, such as creating new hybrid genres and text forms. It examines how the Futurists applied avant-garde linguistic tools, such as defamiliarization, neologisms and multimodality, to political and advertising discourses, and how they used avant-garde communicative strategies in their advertising texts. Furthermore, this essay examines the use of onomatopoeia and ‘telegraphic’ syntax as the iconical type of representation; it discusses the shift from iconical to indexical signification that can be found in advertising posters. Thereby I show how hybrid texts and new multimodal media operated with a combination of iconical and indexical modes of representation
Abstract
This essay analyses the features of a new semiotic system and of a new language in advertisements and political texts issued by the Italian and Russian Futurists. My semiotic approach reveals the avant-garde’s intention to ‘destroy’ the sign and to undermine the traditional relationship between the signified and the signifier, as well as the avant-garde’s tendency to reject symbolical representation in favour of iconical and indexical types of representation. The Futurists’ special interest in advertising reflects their orientation towards overcoming the border between art and reality, and to break down the delineations between a sign and an object of reality. Commercial advertising, political agitation and revolutionary propaganda offered Futurist artists an opportunity for creating new realities. This essay identifies the main features of ‘contamination’ as a form of interaction between avant-garde and advertising discourses, such as creating new hybrid genres and text forms. It examines how the Futurists applied avant-garde linguistic tools, such as defamiliarization, neologisms and multimodality, to political and advertising discourses, and how they used avant-garde communicative strategies in their advertising texts. Furthermore, this essay examines the use of onomatopoeia and ‘telegraphic’ syntax as the iconical type of representation; it discusses the shift from iconical to indexical signification that can be found in advertising posters. Thereby I show how hybrid texts and new multimodal media operated with a combination of iconical and indexical modes of representation
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Editorial IX
- Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
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10.1515/9783110646238-202
- Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
- Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
- Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
- Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
- Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
- The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
- Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
- Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
- The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
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Section 2: Archive Reports
- The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
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Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
- “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
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Section 4: Obituaries
- Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
- Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
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Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
- The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
- A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
- A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
- 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
- Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
- The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
- Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
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Section 6: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
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Section 7: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
- Notes on Contributors 479
- Name Index 487
- Subject Index 527
- Geographical Index 557
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Editorial IX
- Conventions of dates and transliteration used in this volume XXI
-
10.1515/9783110646238-202
- Marinetti’s Visit to Russia in 1914: Reportage in Russia and in Italy 3
- Futurism in the Russian Far East at the Beginning of the 1920s: The Historical and Cultural Context 35
- Velimir Khlebnikov’s Early Dramatic Production 73
- Maria Siniakova’s Sensual Futurism 122
- Mayakovsky’s Voices: Futurist Performance and Communication in Verse 157
- The New Semiotics of Advertising in Italian and Russian Futurism 188
- Futurist Wrestlers and Constructivist Worker-Sportsmen: The Russian Avant-garde and Heavy Athletics in the 1910s–1920s 214
- Zenitist Cinema: Influences of Marinetti and Mayakovsky 236
- The Futurist Tradition in Contemporary Russian Artists’ Books 269
-
Section 2: Archive Reports
- The Futurism Collection at the National Library of Finland in Helsinki 297
-
Section 3: Caricatures and Satires of Futurism in the Contemporary Press
- “The Broom of Satire, the Brush of Humour”: Mayakovsky in Caricatures Preserved in the State Literary Museum in Moscow 311
-
Section 4: Obituaries
- Daniele Lombardi (1946–2018) 339
- Enrico Crispolti (1933–2018) 349
-
Section 5: Critical Responses to Exhibitions, Conferences and Publications
- Futurist Art Post Zang Tumb Tuuum 357
- The Futurist Universe at the Massimo Cirulli Collection 367
- A Hundred Years of Futurism in Portugal: The Conference 100 Futurismo in Lisbon 380
- A Hundred Years of Portuguese Futurism: The International Congress Futurismo Futurismos in Padua 389
- 100 Years of Portugal futurista: An Exhibition and Study Day in Lisbon 400
- Ultraism and the Historical Avant-garde 421
- The Verbo-voco-visual Artists’ Books of the Russian Avant-garde 429
- Evolutions of Russian Futurism in the 1910s and 20s 435
-
Section 6: Bibliography
- A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2016–2019 443
-
Section 7: Back Matter
- List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 473
- Notes on Contributors 479
- Name Index 487
- Subject Index 527
- Geographical Index 557
