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Manifesto of Futurist Woman (Let's Conclude)
video, 11 min. 13 sec.
2008

Manifesto of Futurist Woman (Let's Conclude) depicts a group of majorettes marching across an urban space, apparently performing a generic choreography. However, the majorettes, instead of following the usual terpsichore, actually broadcast a message coded in Semaphore, an outdated naval signal language. The message performed by the majorettes is the concluding part of Manifesto della donna futurista, written in 1912 by the French poet, playwright and performance artist Valentine de Saint-Point as a response to Marinetti's infamous call, in the 1909 Manifesto del Futurismo, for the 'scorn of woman'. Saint Point's manifesto proposed a strong woman as a role model who would re-appropriate her instincts and vital strength in spite of a society which condemned her to weakness. Saint-Point desires "to annihilate the categories of men and women, the bipolar subdivision that predisposes a master/slave dialectic. Yet she recognizes that futurism is right. Its emphasis on force, on strength, and on destruction of the past fits within the female futurist's worldview. [...] Like male futurists, de Saint-Point follows the heroes, becoming warrior or nurse [...] She must create children, not only for herself but as warriors for the nation. In effect, de Saint-Point here attempts at times to break from the female stereotypes, but ultimately succumbs to Marinetti's virile propaganda. She tries to inscribe female futurism within the male paradigm." (Clara Orban).



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