In 1916 the Italian Futurist artist Arnaldo Ginna filmed, edited and generally oversaw the creation of Vita Futurista (Futurist Life), the only officially “Futurist” film ever made. Created by a committee of futurists, including sculptor, painter and writer Giacomo Balla, playwright and poet Remo Chiti, writer Bruno Corra (also the brother of Ginna, and the co-creator of Ginna’s hand painted completely abstract films of 1909), founder of Futurism, poet, and declaimer F.T. Marinetti, poet and Author Emilio Settimelli, painter and Ginna’s film assistant Lucia Venna and Paolo Ungari, Vita Futurista directly took up several of the ideas proposed by “The Futurist Cinema” manefesto, which delacred that film was the “expressive medium most adapted to the complete sensibility of the Futurist artist.”

On the occasion of Performa 09’s celebration of Futurism, Performa, SFMOMA and Portland Green Cultural Projects had invited an incredible group of contemporary film and video artists to create their own versions of the original segments in Vita Futurista, re-imagining this film in relation to our future.

Aida Ruilova’s How the Futurist Sleepswas inspired by the Vita Futurista segment of the same name.

Ailda Ruilova is a video artist and musician whose short, lo-fi videos use disjointed sound loops and a horror movie-influenced aesthetic to viscerally evoke psychological states. Ruilova’s work has been exhibited at the White Columns Salon 94 and P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Berlin Biennal, and she was a finalist for the Hugo Boss Prize in 2006.

Commissioned by Performa , SFMOMA and Portland Green Cultural Projects

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