New Information Regarding the Futurist Radio Manifesto

Abstract

Pino Masnata, co-author with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti of the 1933 Futurist Radio Manifesto, wrote a forty-four page explanation of the manuscript in 1935, connecting many ideas expressed in the manifesto to the “new” physics of the
twentieth century—Einstein’s Special and General Theories of Relativity, breakthroughs in the understanding of cellular structure, and the development of quantum physics. Masnata’s gloss, archived with the Marinetti Papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, dispenses with the cult of the machine to suggest the “metallization of the body” could result from advances
in molecular biology. Masnata distinguishes the new acoustic art of radio from the other arts, positing it as an art of infinite space and time. This article consists of a background and introduction to Masnata’s manuscript, including occasional
analysis or interpretation of the significance of the scientific references to the poetry of the Radio Manifesto. A listing of the section headings of the manuscript with a very brief synopsis of each follows at the end.