Another one of Depero’s projects that really stood out to me was another theatrical artwork and it is called  Mimismagia. This was a series of costume designs that were created in 1916 for a mimic-acrobatic ballet. “The costumes for Mimismagia were characterized by strange geometrical shapes that seemed to protrude from the body, turning the dancer from human into alien. They could be transformed, but they could also create noises, so they had a strange kinetic quality about them” (“About Futurism (1909-2009) and Fortunato Depero”). These costume designs are great examples of artwork during the Futuristic movement because of the geometrical shapes and the fact that the artwork is being turned into something that isn’t human-like.

Depero was a great innovator when it came to expressing that futuristic style in his artwork. The costumes in this piece were had material  sewn together so that the actor’s movements and gestures would “release certain springs and open fan-like contrivances, accompanied by bursts of luminous apparitions and rhythms of noise-producing contraptions” ( “Fortunato Depero and the Theatre”). Another interesting fact about Mimismagia is that it was an unfinished project that explored the synesthetic correlations between different sense impressions. Depero’s name for these costumes was Vestito ad apparizione.  Such ‘apparition-like outfits’ were conceived as “magical-mechanical equivalents to a complex simultaneity of forms, colors, onomatopoeic sounds and noises” (“Fortunato Depero and the Theatre”). I believe that this artwork and the other piece of artwork in my previous post were both really great for Depero’s career during the Futuristic movement. He was able to create some great pieces that really showed viewers and the people he was designing stuff for the real future of art.

 

Bibliography 

“About Futurism (1909-2009) and Fortunato Depero.” Irenebrination, irenebrination.typepad.com/irenebrination_notes_on_a/2009/01/about-futurism-19092009-and-fortunato-depero.html.

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