Manifesto. From Futurism to the Present Day

The book contains 102 art manifestos from the 20th and 21st centuries

This selection shows the way of the art manifesto as a form of experimental and provocative thinking from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. The selection tells about how the moods and ideas of the global society have changed, how different belief systems have fought with each other, trying to find the most appropriate art principles for their time. I hope that this book will strengthen our love of experimental culture, as well as expand the boundaries of artistic imagination.

Artis Ostups

The book is introduced by a series of texts belonging to the historical avant-garde – Futurism, Dadaism, Suprematism, Constructivism and Surrealism – which can be considered the beginning of the manifesto as a unique literary genre. The avant-garde period is followed by post-war and modern manifestos that seem less utopian and aggressive than their predecessors. The important world samples are organically supplemented by manifestos of Latvian artists and writers.

A small annotation is provided for each of the selected manifestos, in which the circumstances of its creation and the author/authors are announced.

The book is supplemented by Artis Ostups' foreword on the history of the manifesto as a specific literary genre, the peculiarities of its form, its place in the history of art, today's topicality and selection principles.