
This lecture examines the work of Italian Futurist, painter and musician Luigi Russolo, presenting a reading of the mechanical sound synthesizers, the intonarumori, that he began to create in 1913. It traces the roots of Russolo’s instrument to Leonardo da Vinci’s noisemakers, and then reestablishes the previously unacknowledged prominence of occultism, including theosophy, in early twentieth-century Italian culture. There it operated in tandem with contemporary scientific ideas about X-ray and wireless telegraphy—all with an emphasis on waves, vibrations, and their new communicative potential. With this in mind, it can be argued that Russolo’s noise aesthetic and its practical manifestation—the intonarumori—were for him, and for his Futurist associates, elements of a multi-levelled experiment to reach higher states of spiritual consciousness. Tuesday, 3rd July 2018, 6:00pm Florence Peel Centre 126 Moor Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne Convened by Anthony White Free to attend Luciano…