So I went back and re-examined the napkin to find it said "Futurists." Type that into google and the results are somewhat less interesting, though not however, a world away...
They appear to be a group of people who set about to change the world but didn't quite succeed to their own expectations. They appear to have spent their time writing manifesto's to or about one another and the world. To express their view on a new world order. Claiming war to be a purging tool, academia to be shunted, and people who didn't get the cause to be spat upon. Fillipo Marinetti was the ringleader, and a fascist sexist pig by all accounts. But its not all cybermen and new world orders, some interesting art came out of the movement. This one in particular caught my eye...
This remarkable piece of work is by Antonio Sant'Elia, although perspective can at times feel like the bane of my life, I try my best to implement it in my artwork. And so this gentleman has my utmost respect. Sant'Elia uses bold groupings and disposition to create a heroic sense of industrial expressionism.
His goal was to design a mechanised city of the future. Full of interlinking, cathedral-esque skyscrapers, connected via aerial walkways. Fully embodying the scale and excitement of modern technology & architecture... I think Sant'Elia would be impressed with the likes of the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai...
Along with concepts such as the rotating skyscraper, also planned for Dubai...
And I think, although we have not physically built our first mechanised city yet, as he evisioned all those years ago, I'm sure he'd be impressed at the extent of our imaginations in terms of fantasy future cities created for games and film on a regular basis...
A sense of creativity and artistic expression being applied to architecture is commonplace these days, and actively encouraged, and it was the likes of the 'Futurists' that pioneered these ideas. I've always looked on in envy at the likes of Dubai and New-Yark, Chicago etc for their towering skyscrapers and super modern, at times space age, feel to their cities. London, much as I love her, for her dense history and beautifully ancient architecture, was a little laking on the front of modern spikes in the sky, and a flat city doesn't provide much of a skyline. However with the presence of the oncoming olympics lingering ahead, Londons councils bucked its idea's up and commissioned a streak of shiny modern skyscrapers to accompany our beloved 'gherkin'...
Unfortunately only the 'Shard' (Pictured directly above) has been built so far and will be completed for the olympics. The 'Spiral' and the 'Cheese-grater' pictured either side of the 'Gherkin' above are still in commission but don't have a hope of being complete for this summer...
Interesting fact about the 'Gherkin' the top portion is a beautiful glass dome of interlinking diamond shaped windows which all meet at the top, providing a gorgeous 360-degree view of London and the sky above. All of which can be observed from the 'a'la catre' restaurant housed inside. And all you have to do to get a table is pay nearly a thousand pounds per year in membership. (Meals not included in membership fee.) Can you believe that? Like they honestly wouldn't make more money opening it up to tourists and the public? Proof of elitism, the haves and have-nots, and the archaic class system at work...
Whenever these new ones get finished, however, is fine by me. So long as they open the top floor up to the public. London's blend of old meets new is seamlessly erratic and I love it. The more we can do to define our skyline the better, and we have the Futurists to thank for it all...
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