What is a Manifesto?

What is a manifesto? According to the online dictionary it is "a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, asone issued by a government, sovereign, or organization."Having this clear I was able to understand a little bit better "The Future Manifesto"by F.T. Marinetti and the first chapter of Reality Hunger by David Shields. 

I believe Shield´s main purpose is to change the art as he states “intent is to write ars poetica for the burgeoning group of interrelated but unconnected artists in a multitude of forms and media… who are breaking larger and larger chunks of “reality” into their work” (3). From what I was able to understand, he was mainly discussing the reality and originality of the arts. He believes that artistic movements are the ones that influence and help evolve the arts, leading to a connection between the art and real life.

On the other hand, “The Futurist Manifesto” deals with the idea that people should embrace to the new technologies, therefore to the future. When he states, “Do you want to waste the best part of your strength in a useless admiration of the past, from which you will emerge exhausted, diminished, trampled on?” It is clear to me that he no longer cares about the past and that he believes that its just a waste of time. Leading me to a conclusion that his main idea is for us to use our strength to focus on the future.