100 Years of Georgian Futurism

Abstract

The centenary of the Futurist group and journal H2SO4 (1924) prompted the Institute of Comparative Literature and the Centre for Advanced Studies of Ilia State University in Tbilisi to set up an international conference, Recalling Avant-garde Moments, Reconnecting Avant-garde Scenes, 9–11 October 2024. The Georgian university teamed up with the Institute of Philosophy and Art History of Leuphana University of Lüneburg and organized a programme that retraced and compared various avant-garde scenes of the 1910s and 20s. Here, a celebration of one-hundred years of Georgian Futurism was combined with a discussion of other, comparable and often related avant-garde tendencies. Among the papers presented, the conference offered altogether seven presentations focusing on Futurism, discussing the Tbilisi avant-garde of 1917-1921, H2SO4 and the artists who made this publication possible.
The gathering at Ilia State University in October 2024 was a fitting reminder how an international network of inter-avant-garde alliances can give rise to artistic developments that add new facets and fresh colours to the broad family of Futurist groups all over the world. It showed that Futurism had a pervasive, far-reaching and often profound influence in other countries. Yet, it also showed that Futurist artists never followed a monolithic set of prescriptions but rather incorporated ideas and devices from many sources. Their attempts at finding alternatives to traditionalist art meant that they adopted aspects of Futurism and combined them with other, indigenous sources of inspiration. This resulted in a wide spectrum of Futurisms that were distinctly different from the one created and directed by F.T. Marinetti. The Georgian journal H2SO4 shows that Futurism had a fertilizing influence in the Caucasus, yet also revealed that Georgian Futurism adapted the ideas received from Italy and Russia to a local agenda.