Reliving the past of futurism

Exhibition focuses on Italian movement a century ago that did much to shape the modern world, Lin Qi reports.

The present used to be the future envisaged by those living in the past. More than a century ago in Italy, a group of writers, artists and designers initiated a movement called futurism to advocate for progress and modernity brought by the Second Industrial Revolution. They depicted new aesthetics, lifestyle and convention in their work, and the trend soon became global to influence the cultural communities across Europe and in other parts of the world.