Home Arts Serge Segay, Rea Nikonova and Italy: Between Futurism and Mail Art
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Serge Segay, Rea Nikonova and Italy: Between Futurism and Mail Art

  • Valentina Parisi
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Volume 13 2023
This chapter is in the book Volume 13 2023

Abstract

This essay examines the contacts between the Russian artists Rea Nikonova and Serge Segay and Italian authors of Visual Poetry, with a special focus on the international Mail Art network in the second half of the 1980s. While Nikonova and Segay’s literary works and their rôle in the formation of the Transfurist group have already been well researched, their relationship with Italian artists interested in the Futurist tradition has not yet received much scholarly attention. Drawing on a rich spectrum of archival materials, this essay shows how this creative exchange was instrumental in the re-positioning of the Russian couple in the 1990s, focussing in particular on the case of Segay, who characterized his trip to Italy in November 1989 as “going back” to the roots of Futurism and as a means of “moving forwards”. While Carlo Belloli’s preface for Segay’s Poèmes pour ballerines de grand théâtre de l’URSS (Poems for Ballerinas of the Great Soviet Theatre, 1990) situated his Russian colleague within the ‘family’ of Futurism, Segay’s interest in Italian art was indeed more broadly oriented. He undertook a number of collaborations with Italian authors of Visual Poetry and mail artists inspired not only by Futurist, but also Dadaist and Surrealist strategies. In this essay, particular attention will be devoted to two books authored by Segay and Nikonova with Vittore Baroni, using the technique of the cadavre exquisite, as well as to their sound improvisation with the Turinese artists Alberto Vitacchio and Carla Bertola, Zvukovoi kvadrat (Sound Square), released as a record in 2007. Lastly, my analysis will refer to Nikonova and Segay’s collaboration with the Milan-based artist Ruggero Maggi, which led to a series of exhibitions oscillating between the idea of “a museum without walls” (pursued at that time within the Mail Art network) and the interaction with local communities in Yeysk and Milan.

Abstract

This essay examines the contacts between the Russian artists Rea Nikonova and Serge Segay and Italian authors of Visual Poetry, with a special focus on the international Mail Art network in the second half of the 1980s. While Nikonova and Segay’s literary works and their rôle in the formation of the Transfurist group have already been well researched, their relationship with Italian artists interested in the Futurist tradition has not yet received much scholarly attention. Drawing on a rich spectrum of archival materials, this essay shows how this creative exchange was instrumental in the re-positioning of the Russian couple in the 1990s, focussing in particular on the case of Segay, who characterized his trip to Italy in November 1989 as “going back” to the roots of Futurism and as a means of “moving forwards”. While Carlo Belloli’s preface for Segay’s Poèmes pour ballerines de grand théâtre de l’URSS (Poems for Ballerinas of the Great Soviet Theatre, 1990) situated his Russian colleague within the ‘family’ of Futurism, Segay’s interest in Italian art was indeed more broadly oriented. He undertook a number of collaborations with Italian authors of Visual Poetry and mail artists inspired not only by Futurist, but also Dadaist and Surrealist strategies. In this essay, particular attention will be devoted to two books authored by Segay and Nikonova with Vittore Baroni, using the technique of the cadavre exquisite, as well as to their sound improvisation with the Turinese artists Alberto Vitacchio and Carla Bertola, Zvukovoi kvadrat (Sound Square), released as a record in 2007. Lastly, my analysis will refer to Nikonova and Segay’s collaboration with the Milan-based artist Ruggero Maggi, which led to a series of exhibitions oscillating between the idea of “a museum without walls” (pursued at that time within the Mail Art network) and the interaction with local communities in Yeysk and Milan.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Editorial IX
  4. Volume Editors’ Preface XV
  5. Section 1: Futurism Studies
  6. 1 Italy
  7. Futurism in Italian Verbo-Visual Poetry after the Second World War 5
  8. Bang Tumb Tuuum! The Influence of Futurism on Italian Avant-garde Comic Strips 39
  9. Even the Great Marinetti Got It Wrong: Giovanni Tuzet’s Logical Neo-Futurism 69
  10. 2 Russia
  11. Gennady Aygi and Russian Futurism 97
  12. Serge Segay, Rea Nikonova and Italy: Between Futurism and Mail Art 135
  13. Konstantin K. Kuzminsky as a Neo-Futurist 167
  14. 3 Asia and Latin America
  15. The Post-utopian Avant-garde Poetics of the Korean ‘Futurist’ Min-jeong Kim 197
  16. The Infrarealist Movement and its Futurist Roots 227
  17. Russian Futurism and Brazilian Avant-garde Poetry: Incorporation, Translation, Convergence 253
  18. 4 Music, Sculpture and Architecture
  19. Back to the Future of The Art of Noises: The After-Life of Futurism in Twentieth-Century Music 285
  20. Postcolonial Retro-Futurism: Alessandro Ceresoli’s Linea Tagliero Prototypes 315
  21. 5 Artist Statements
  22. Transfuturism Manifesto 349
  23. From Words-in-Freedom to Epigenetic Poetry: Evolutions in Futurist Recitation and Performance 353
  24. The Future of Futurism in Digital Photography 367
  25. The Infinite Wrench: An Ensemble Member Reflects on the Theatre Company ‘The Neo-Futurists’ During and After Greg Allen’s Tenure 377
  26. Section 2: Reports
  27. EAM2022 in Lisbon: The Global Expansion of Futurism in the 1910s and 1920s 399
  28. Futurism and the Brazilian Week of Modern Art (1922): Some Thoughts Prompted by the Centenário da Semana de 22 407
  29. Anton Giulio Bragaglia: The Archive of a Visionary 425
  30. Rosa Rosà / Edith Arnaldi / Edyth von Haynau (1884–1978): A Woman Photographer and Her Futurist Inspiration 437
  31. Section 3: Critical responses to new publications
  32. The Crisis of Humanism, the Search for a New Man and the Historical Avant-garde 447
  33. Looking at the Lives of Avant-garde Women: The Collector as Scholar and Feminist 453
  34. Exhibiting Italian Art in the United States: From Futurism to Arte Povera 463
  35. Section 4: Bibliography
  36. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2020–2023 471
  37. Section 5: Back Matter
  38. List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 495
  39. Notes on Contributors 501
  40. Name Index 509
  41. Subject Index 541
  42. Geographical Index 569
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111318394-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Table of Contents V
  3. Editorial IX
  4. Volume Editors’ Preface XV
  5. Section 1: Futurism Studies
  6. 1 Italy
  7. Futurism in Italian Verbo-Visual Poetry after the Second World War 5
  8. Bang Tumb Tuuum! The Influence of Futurism on Italian Avant-garde Comic Strips 39
  9. Even the Great Marinetti Got It Wrong: Giovanni Tuzet’s Logical Neo-Futurism 69
  10. 2 Russia
  11. Gennady Aygi and Russian Futurism 97
  12. Serge Segay, Rea Nikonova and Italy: Between Futurism and Mail Art 135
  13. Konstantin K. Kuzminsky as a Neo-Futurist 167
  14. 3 Asia and Latin America
  15. The Post-utopian Avant-garde Poetics of the Korean ‘Futurist’ Min-jeong Kim 197
  16. The Infrarealist Movement and its Futurist Roots 227
  17. Russian Futurism and Brazilian Avant-garde Poetry: Incorporation, Translation, Convergence 253
  18. 4 Music, Sculpture and Architecture
  19. Back to the Future of The Art of Noises: The After-Life of Futurism in Twentieth-Century Music 285
  20. Postcolonial Retro-Futurism: Alessandro Ceresoli’s Linea Tagliero Prototypes 315
  21. 5 Artist Statements
  22. Transfuturism Manifesto 349
  23. From Words-in-Freedom to Epigenetic Poetry: Evolutions in Futurist Recitation and Performance 353
  24. The Future of Futurism in Digital Photography 367
  25. The Infinite Wrench: An Ensemble Member Reflects on the Theatre Company ‘The Neo-Futurists’ During and After Greg Allen’s Tenure 377
  26. Section 2: Reports
  27. EAM2022 in Lisbon: The Global Expansion of Futurism in the 1910s and 1920s 399
  28. Futurism and the Brazilian Week of Modern Art (1922): Some Thoughts Prompted by the Centenário da Semana de 22 407
  29. Anton Giulio Bragaglia: The Archive of a Visionary 425
  30. Rosa Rosà / Edith Arnaldi / Edyth von Haynau (1884–1978): A Woman Photographer and Her Futurist Inspiration 437
  31. Section 3: Critical responses to new publications
  32. The Crisis of Humanism, the Search for a New Man and the Historical Avant-garde 447
  33. Looking at the Lives of Avant-garde Women: The Collector as Scholar and Feminist 453
  34. Exhibiting Italian Art in the United States: From Futurism to Arte Povera 463
  35. Section 4: Bibliography
  36. A Bibliography of Publications on Futurism, 2020–2023 471
  37. Section 5: Back Matter
  38. List of Illustrations and Provenance Descriptions 495
  39. Notes on Contributors 501
  40. Name Index 509
  41. Subject Index 541
  42. Geographical Index 569
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 3.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111318394-007/html
Scroll to top button