One of Depero’s projects that first stood out to me was I balli plastici. This is a set design that was created in 1921. In 1917, Depero  began to conceive of a Futurist ballet in which machine-like puppets would replace human actors and dancers.  He felt that this would emphasize the Futurist ideals of technology advancing and breaking free of human influence.

I feel like this represented a key idea and innovation for the Futurist movement during this time. Futurism was an artistic movement where technology was praised, and I think Depero was able to really capture that into these set designs. “A year later, Depero had created  a collection of marionettes and set designs.  He worked with a variety of composers to arrange existing and new pieces of music for each different act of his show” (“Depero Futuristi ” Balli Plastici.”). I balli plastici really changed the way artists viewed sculpture and other forms of art. For example, “In these scenic creations, Depero’s work from 1913–1914 was taken a step further: they were presented to an invited audience, and ‘sculpture’ thus turned into ‘theatre.’ This, one might say, became Depero’s artistic program for the next two years and led him quite naturally into the world of dance and puppetry” (“Fortunato Depero and the Theatre”). Depero was able to turn something so simple into a great piece of artwork that so many people praised him for. This really changed his work and how others viewed it because of the things he was able to create during this time period for artwork.

 

Bibliography 

“Depero Futuristi ” Balli Plastici.” Depero FuturistiRSS, www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/balli-plastici/about/.

“Fortunato Depero and the Theatre.” Italian Modern Art, www.italianmodernart.org/journal/articles/fortunato-depero-and-the-theatre/.