Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises

Umberto Boccioni, The City Rises

Upon first view of Umberto Boccioni's The City Rises, my immediate interpretation was that the work was depicting a storm scene. A tornado or hurricane, with wind everywhere. Boccioni's short strokes and white dashes created movement initially upon my view, appeared to be wind or rain. Upon further inspection, I saw fire and chaos. This scene was not one of madness brought on simply by a natural diaster, but it was one that encased the madness of the subjects within it. In reality, Boccioni was creating a scene reflecting the modernization of culture. Beyond the insanity that appears in the forefront, there in a stable serenity in the buildings behind where the "fire" takes place. They are streamlined and put together with geometry and lines that are mathematically precise. The juxtaposition between the crazy scene and the modern structures provided an interesting affliction to the view of modern times that most held during the revolutionary era. People were scrambling and working hard in order to make something look effortless and calm. Of course the result of this would just be to further popularity and production of these buildings, leading in turn to more chaos in their creation.

In the modern world, it would be interesting to look at things in a similar perspective in regards to wealth, popularity, and technology. I believe that inherently they all have one connection that strongly connects with what Boccioni was saying in 1909. This is that as our world progresses, the human condition is changing from one which is personal and refined to a certain lifestyle, to one where expansion is king. The most relevant modern example I can think of is the recent growth of sites like facebook and twitter. In past times, it may have been a compelling pursuit to make oneself look good in front of their colleagues and friends and have a decent amount of allies. However now, being impressive and expanding your circle is easy as a click. The contradiction in this case, is that this large circle is really just a way of forming, or making a smaller circle.

As the old saying goes, "what comes around goes around." So far, industrialization and buildings haven't appeared to hurt society too much. Of course years from now, these examples could most certainly be looked at as a warning sign, and Boccioni's work will be one of the greatest proofs.