A study of physicality in Futurist theatre: its meaning of abstraction and mechanisation

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00497
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02040:European literature-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: KIKUCHI Masakazu 大阪大学, 大学院人文学研究科(外国学専攻、日本学専攻), 教授 (30411002)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 未来派 / フィリッポ・トンマーゾ・マリネッティ / 身体表象 / 綜合演劇 / 歴史的前衛

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Through a meticulous examination of theoretical works such as manifestos on Futurist stage arts and the dramaturgy centered around "synthetic theater," this study elucidates that the abstraction and mechanization of corporeality in Futurist theater were a result of the era's mechanistic faith and the pervasive, interpenetrative perception of spacetime. These factors necessitated a transformation in bodily representation to align with contemporary times. To achieve such bodily representations, efforts were directed towards the interchangeability of body parts, a shared language with machines, and the abstract visualization of thoughts and emotions. Furthermore, this study identifies that the orientation towards these bodily representations can be traced back to the issues surrounding the perception of subjectivity and objectivity in early 20th-century avant-garde art, marked by the rampant subjectivism and the counter-movement of negating individuality and embracing objectism.

Free Research Field

イタリア文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

未来派の舞台芸術における身体表象の抽象化と機械化が持ち得た意味を、同時代の文明の発展や時空間の認識のもとに解明できたことで、前世紀の前衛芸術運動のみならずヨーロッパの演劇史においても未来派を正当に位置付け、その貢献を主張することができた。また、時代における身体表象の変化といった観点からは、人工知能や仮想現実が発展した現代において、物理的身体の意味や役割の変化、潜在的な可能性について再検討するための示唆を与えたという意味でも、本研究はアクチュアルな社会的意義を持つことになったと言える。