The Fourth Dimension and Futurism: A politicized space

Although scholars have recognized antirationalist premises undergirding the Italian Futurists rejection of parliamentary politics, the integral role of Futurist aesthetics in that polemical project has yet to be elucidated. Through an examination of Umberto Boccionis Futurist tract Pittura scultura Futuriste: Dinamismo plastico (1914) and works such as his Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), and Carlo Carras Funeral of the Anarchist Galli (1911), I explore the Futurists incorporation of French philosopher Henri Bergsons theories of time and space into a utopian campaign to transform the consciousness of the Italian citizenry and inaugurate a political revolt against Italys democratic institutions.