Becoming-Speed: Futurism’s Conflicts with Subjectivity and Motion

The futurist myth of speed was constructed around the possibility of a new subjectivity emanating from the altered sensations of a subject in motion. This myth of speed along with that of machinery emanated from an obsession with technological progress and its effects on the human subject. Like the majority of futurist myths, however, this subject on-the-move and his/her most typical experiences were constituted through a set of conflicting and ambiguous notions. This new subject, supposedly devoid of a hermetic identity, comprised multiple “beings,” each blurring into the new assemblages through which s/he travels. Yet, the experience of speed and the intensified perception it entails empowered the very same subject by reconstituting a strong sense of self. This paper analyzes some of Umberto Boccioni’s artworks, focusing particularly on the theme of the deconstruction and reconstruction of subjectivity via speed, movement and the type of represented mobility.