#futurism

#futurism

Federico Seneca (18911976) emerged as one of the most influential graphic designers of the early 20th century, known for fusing avantgarde artistry with commercial clarity. As art director for Perugina and later Buitoni, he reshaped Italian advertising by replacing literal imagery with bold, metaphordriven visuals. His most iconic contribution was the Baci chocolate identity, inspired by Hayez's *The Kiss*, featuring two lovers silhouetted against deep midnight blue. Drawing heavily from Futurism and Cubism, his work embraced geometric forms, dramatic contrasts,

Here, in the omphalos of the newly-minted Commie Corridor was a display of cultural force every bit as robust as the political one which had recently vaulted socialist Zohran Mamdani to the Democratic nomination (and, in short order, the mayoralty). So why, then, as the Rochdale duo took the stage in their preferred semi-darkness, was the atmosphere cut with an unmistakable current of dread?

In The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI, the futurist Ray Kurzweil imagines the point in 2045 when rapid technological progress crosses a threshold as humans merge with machines, an event he calls "the singularity." Although Kurzweil's predictions may sound more like science fiction than fact-based forecasting, his brand of thinking goes well beyond the usual sci-fi crowd. It has provided inspiration for American technology industry elites for some time, chief among them Elon Musk.

Bitcoin is a financial tool born of code and cryptography. But seen in a wider frame, it belongs to a cultural lineage more than a century old. Since the 1910s, avant-garde movements have probed questions that later became central to Bitcoin: Who decides value? Can rules replace rulers? How do systems record time, distribute trust or resist authority? Far from appearing out of nowhere in 2009, Bitcoin crystallized ideas that had long circulated in artistic experiments.

"We're leaving behind the old system of extraction - reliance on land, labor, and capital - and entering a new world powered by technologies that need no external input to continue growing."

Sebastian Black's exhibition, Old Friends, at CLEARING Los Angeles features compelling repetition in painting, evoking architectural perfection and a connection to the Precisionism movement.