Color photograph of a light skinned woman from the waist up, standing in front of a photographer's studio backdrop and looking at the camera with her arms crossed

Margaret Fisher

Paul Mellon Post-Doctoral Rome Prize
8 settembre 2008–7 agosto 2009
Professione
Video Director and Publisher, Second Evening Art
Titolo del progetto
Through the Eyes of Children: A Reassessment of the Role of Futurism in the Development of Early Italian Radio under Fascism
Descrizione del progetto

Italian Futurists who broadcast and theorized about radio from 1929 to 1941 are often credited with a historic role in shaping the style and character of early Italian radio. Children’s programs offer a stunning view of the progressive agenda of early Italian radio before Futurist involvement with broadcasting, and an excellent vantage point from which to open new lines of inquiry into Futurist radio activity and writing. To establish the condition of Italian radio before the Futurists, I will examine Italian radio’s pioneering phase (1925–28) that partnered children with technology. I will compile a database of broadcast activities and texts related to both groups, children and Futurists, and publish a bilingual sourcebook of previously unavailable texts and scripts. With this foundation in place, I will continue with a critical overview and essays on special topics: child protagonists in Futurist radio dramas; government policy and Futurism; the global vision of early Italian radio as one prototype for the internet; and a survey of the embrace of Futurism by early Italian radio to the present day.