LONG LIVE THE VORTEX!

While flipping through the reading, it's a bit of a shock to encounter the excerpt from "Blast" magazine. Even reading the description of the cover of the hopeful periodical makes it seem extremely out of place in the literature that surrounds it. A pink cover with the words "BLAST" emblazoned across the front? It sounds more like a less-feminine version of Cosmopolitan. We read the list of entries that were found in the first issue and we think that it must have been an extremely diverse anthology. Reading the entry "VORTICIST MANIFESTO, LONG LIVE THE VORTEX," the passage seems more appropriate for a present day opinion of art than something ready for the turn of the century.

"We stand for Reality of the Present" (1082)

Who doesn't? Sure, this is a generalization, but how can we not stand for the reality of the present? It is the present, after all. It is difficult to deny. I think the intention was to say that they would not be influenced by the past or future, but only accept what is true in the present.

"WE NEED THE UNCONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY"

The magazine starts off by asking for people to come with no preconceived notions. It even adds, "their stupidity, animalism and dreams." So, maybe it's not asking for them to rid of their presumptions. Rather, it wants the readers to come "as they are." They want their individual faults, problems, and desires to be exposed when thinking about whatever Blast contains. Blast is around for the individual.

"WE ONLY WANT THE WORLD TO LIVE, and to feel its crude energy flowing through us"

This statement alone seems very self-explanatory. "We only want the world to live." We only want the world to be itself? It's easy to see that this first entry in "The Vorticist Manifesto" was crafted to set the stage for an individualist way of thinking and creating Art, it's primary goal.

In addition to its content, which strives to make the reader aware of their own artistic inclinations, its form and structure is something extremely new and fresh to the writing scene. It reads mainly in short epithets, capitalizing its most important statements, and spacing them so that the reader might think it to be poetry rather than prose. While reading it, one gets the distinct impression that they are being shouted at. The passage declares that Blast does not care what class you are in or your income level. It only cares that you leave your baggage behind and just enjoy the Art.

It's no surprise that Blast did not do very well. The reading says that it was only able to release two issues. At this point in time, there probably did not exist a demographic that would have found Blast appealing. This is ironic because Blast sought to demolish demographics in its audience.