Hello uncultured swine,
Below is a transcript from an interview series I’m calling ‘Artists on Artists.’ The two artists in conversation are Umberto Boccioni, a futurist sculpture and painter, and William Morris, designer and painter from the arts and craft movement. Their work and ideologies are real, the references I used are real, but the conversation is straight from my arsehole. It’s quite unhinged - enjoy.
William Morris: Umberto! It’s nice to finally speak with you. The man who’s work literally shaped the futurist movement and revolutionised painting and sculpture! A real pleasure.
Umberto Boccioni: Yes.
Morris: Where are you dialling in from today?
Boccioni: Milan, very good to be back in Italy. My friends and I have just come back from long tours in London and France.
Morris: I assume your talking about [Filippo Tommaso] Marinetti when you say friends?
Boccioni: And some others.
Morris: I’m dialling in from my London estate now, a shame! We could’ve met before you left!
Boccioni: Is it?
Morris: Um. So, you’re back in Milan after working closely with Marinetti for a few years, some say he’s the mind and you’re the eye of futurism. What’s it like to work with him so intimately?
Boccioni: Well, he’s an icon. Marinetti is a poet and author and visionary really. Have you read his Manifesto Del Futurismo?
Morris: I couldn’t really get into it.
Boccioni: Oh? How so?
Morris: I’m quite passive so, the idea of violence as the only way to propel society forward is a little lost on me! Funny cause I’m an Aries. Also the tenth point in the manifesto...
Boccioni: You mean, “We will destroy the museums, libraries and academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.”
Morris: Yes, I think that’s the one.
Boccioni: What issue could you possibly take with that?
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Morris: So, your piece, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space [above], went viral during your tours, taking something from, really the futurist and burgeoning cubist community, to a larger audience. What drove you to make the piece and how does its success feel?
Boccioni: Drove is a such good word to use because that’s really what underpins my work in futurism. This concept of machinery, fabrication and development driving us forward. You know, natural evolution, so-called biology and ‘cycles’ are no more. We’ve developed an ‘unbirthed’ species of throbbing vehicles, cars and trains that chew and spit and grunt forward, propelling us into the future. Unique Forms represents where we are going - a cyborg no longer yielding to naturalism. Its success was inevitable because this is the only way forward.
Morris: You’re quite moved by this concept, I can see. I understand why people sometimes describe the futurist reverence for machinery as erotic.
Boccioni: Who says?
Morris: Some people, doesn’t matter. Obviously we work in completely different artistic spheres, but I nevertheless find it easy to admire your passion.
Boccioni: Oh, you’re an artist?
Morris: Yes. It’s ‘Artists on Artists.’
Boccioni: I don’t think I’ve heard of you. Wait, what’s your name?
Morris: William Morris. Sorry, I’m bad at talking about myself. I’m an Oxford man who’s, this is kind of embarrassing to say, credited with beginning modernism? I’m a textile designer slash painter? Lots of natural and floral motifs. Sorry.
Boccioni: I haven’t heard of you. Futurists have moved beyond you.
Morris: In a sense, yeah! And I’m ok with that! I preserve nature with my work and keep marks of my humanity in it – very inspired by John Ruskin, have you heard of him? No? He’s a socialist writer who values labour, so I actually don’t use machines at all-
Boccioni: -At all?
Morris: No, all handmade. Fabrics and all the rest.
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Boccioni: This is insane, machines are wonderful - how much these handmade fabrics of yours cost?
Morris: I mean, it depends on labour costs and-
Boccioni: -A lot then?
Morris: Not as cheap as a machine made textile, no.
Boccioni: Fucks sake, what’s the point?
Morris: It’s about paying for the artistry of the labour, and ethical labour…
Boccioni: God. So soft, I feel as if I’m talking to a woman.
Morris: True! Well, gender is a spectrum. Also, and I don’t mean to be rude, you and Marinetti are celibate so, I mean, are you an authority on ‘traditional’ masculinity? Sorry, that was rude, and politically incorrect of me. So sorry.
Boccioni: We can have sex! We just revile women.
Morris: I see, I have few male friends who also revile sex with women...
Boccioni: No! What? Marinetti and I are just mates.
Morris: It’s fine, I’m cool with whatever.
Boccioni: Go on then, what’s your fucking favourite piece of shit art that you’ve hand-made like a Neanderthal?
Morris: Thank you for asking! Strawberry Thief [above] is my most popular fabric and so, probably, my favourite. It was inspired by the Thrushes stealing from one of my estates in Oxfordshire. I was... unsure about the design and it took multiple days to carve out of wood first, then to print, but I think it worked out?
Boccioni: I mean... it’s nice. I like the salmon colour.
Morris: Thank you Umberto, means a lot. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you! Not the fascism vibes so much but, good to get a fresh perspective. Feel free to join me and Jane for dinner when you’re in London next! You can bring Marinetti or whomever -really- we’re quite open minded-
Boccioni: Please stop talking.
Well kids, did we learn anything about futurists and the arts and craft movement? No? That’s understandable.
A FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I am going to do as William Morris does and release Dis Content on a more ~organic~ timeframe. It will always be a Tuesday! but it may be weekly, fortnightly or here and there - just so I can get sunshine once in a while and let the creative brain rest a little. Otherwise that cunt will start shooting blanks.
Love you all so much and can not WAIT to speak to you,
C U Next Tuesday xxxxxx
Maggie Jean xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
THANKS GRACE FOR EDITING