This, &, more importantly, Kirby's bk "Happenings", were no doubt very important to me at some point or another. I'm sure I read at least one other bk about Italian Futurism but this is the one I'm positive of. The emphatic embracing of the industrial world seems naive & stupid in this era where industrialism is so obviously eco-destructive & capitalism is so obviously anti-humanity (& anti-life in general) intensive, but, in the 19-teens, this take on culture might've been the rough equivalent of Gangsta Rap in the sense of 'Fuck Y'all. This is what's here, we're gonna run w/ it.' The Italian Futurists were visionaries, they just didn't see far enuf. I think the dadaists saw much further. Legendarily, Marinetti (a primary Futurist) was friends w/ Mussolini. Both had very clear ideas of how they wanted to transform Italy. Mussolini caused alotof megalomaniacal grief. Marinetti probably didn't. From a formal perspective, the Italian Futurists broke new ground out the wazoo. Performance Artists of these days shd be this imaginative.. but are they? ( )