tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post6954774161429509464..comments2024-03-01T02:55:20.164+01:00Comments on Cultura Universale: L' "Occidente"Cultura Universalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05566808217432725369noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post-63084747662722702862009-06-29T05:37:20.167+02:002009-06-29T05:37:20.167+02:00Graffiti are present in many shapes. They usually ...Graffiti are present in many shapes. They usually originate from letters composing a “tag”, which is a contraction of the artist’s name, or an acronym, or a pseudonym (three, four letters maximum). It is depicted in big dimensions and the letters are deformed in a way that it is sometimes difficult to find the original letter shape from what appears to be a quasi-abstract ensemble, or a blizzard of geometric lines. Colors are chosen in a way that the result resembles a cubist, or futurist, painting. As paint is becoming more and more difficult to acquire (either because it is too expensive, or because warehouses are better protected ) latest graffity are bi-chrome or even monochrome. <br><br><br>The painter depicts his/her own tag is a given space, as this way of expression pertains to the individual. Even when he/she is a part of a group of artists, or a suburban gang, every artist will generally have a separate portion of chosen space at his/her complete disposal (even though other possibilities exist, being a spontaneous form of art). What is the message given? Generally there is no specific content. The graffiti is the outcry of the individual self, a strong and powerful way to scream “I am there, I also exist, I am beautiful, in spite of the repression”, in spite of the mass culture, and -being the artist often a “marginal” from the point of view of a conventional society - is a weapon against the arrogance and the imposition of the capitalistic society. This is why often graffiti are present on buses or trains: not only the message spreads around when the vehicle moves, but the attack is directed towards the very expression of the technological (and capitalistic) society, seen as a monster who devours and annihilates the artist’s ego. It is not very different from the way the cavemen wanted to affirm their influence and power over cattle or beasts, depicting those on the walls of the cave and imprinting their palms on the figure’s body. It is an expression of conquest and revenge over a stranger’s force, yesterday the nature; today, the society.<br><br>In the above-mentioned form, graffiti mainly constitute a western phenomenon, in Europe and the States, mainly in the outskirts of metropolis, where the individual feels a real urge to assert himself/herself.<br><br>(c) Mr. Paolo Sabbatini, Director of Italian Culture Office ShanghaiIIC Shanghaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17834386225735029318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post-49064640021789995662009-06-29T05:37:20.168+02:002009-06-29T05:37:20.168+02:00It is necessary to distinguish between the individ...It is necessary to distinguish between the individual’s protest against an idea, or an oppression by a foreign interference which he/she does not like (a “psychical oppression”), and the one against something physically harmful. The protest of the new born baby is directed towards the different physical conditions experienced at birth: cold, noises, hunger, solitude. A grown-up may attack the foe or enemy in a struggle for life, but, more frequently, he/she protests against the idea that something harmful will appear: no more retirement benefits, for example, and the perspective of becoming helpless at a old age; the progressive extinction of animal species and depauperization of marine life, with the consequent threat of hunger for ourselves or our descendants. These fears are an element of cohesion for group protest, eventhough the initiative of “coming out” always pertain to the courage of an individual (or few individuals: the others would aggregate and dis-integrate according to the above mentioned “natural law”). He/she would protest against an abuse already committed by others: the mothers of “desparecidos” in Latin America’s dictatorial regimes, the subordinate against the superior in the hierarchy, your neighbor if you would listen the radio at 100 decibels and so on.<br><br>On a more sophisticated level, an expression of protesting against “the world” as opposed to the individual, is the “graffiti” phenomenon. Since immemorial times, all around the world, one could observe how humans deemed necessary to depict images in the caves. As far as we can judge, these pre-historic forms of graffiti were not meant to express protest but were a way to assert presence, property and power (a component still present in today’s manifestations), for religious or magic reasons. During the history, graffiti may have been used as a way to denunciate (or ridicule) the habits or the misdeeds of other beings: in the streets of Pompeii, the Roman town still intact under a thick layer of volcanic lava, derisory or politic graffiti can still be seen (in the simple form of writings, without any artistic pretension). This form of protest through scripts has survived till today, and there are no geographical nor lexical or linguistic boundaries: it is present almost everywhere in the world. Who does not remember to have written something funny or ridiculous at school, against classmates or teachers, even on the blackboard?<br><br>But from a philosophical or ideological point of view, what is interesting in the present analysis is the artistic graffiti in the western society, where it is considered “criminal art”. As this is art indeed, by all means, performed by accomplished or talented artists, sometimes properly educated, most of the times autodidact. These graffiti are an outburst of beautiful colors and shapes, from where one could see the trace of genius, used in a context or in places which offend the conventional sense of esthetics or someone else’s privacy, or the common good. These are visible on monuments, on public property, or on newly painted walls of houses - possibly on bourgeois houses, and this is an act of heroism for the “artist” - . Spray paint is used, often difficult to erase, and artist usually steal the paint from warehouses or shops. As the repression form police is very hard, the graffiti usually find their natural habitat in suburban areas, which - often degraded - seem somewhat embellished by this lively form of art, which becomes a demonstration of endurance of life and victory of creativity in spite of adverse conditions in a hostile environment.IIC Shanghaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17834386225735029318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post-81158540722332729282009-06-29T05:32:59.733+02:002009-06-29T05:32:59.733+02:00Protest appears as the stand of the individual in ...Protest appears as the stand of the individual in front of the conventional world which does not satisfy his/her want of privacy and freedom, or need to be recognized as a distinguished entity apart from the mass. It is mere a physical law: on a surface of water, drops of oil would navigate separately at first. By the force of attraction, they would melt and form larger, round conglomerations. But when these would become too large, these would split again into smaller parts and return to be small drops. If a parallelism could be drawn with the human world, one could notice a tendency to associate, up to the point the individual would suffer and see its own peculiarity threatened by the appurtenance to a group which, for mere physical reasons, has become too large. It is a very strange alchemy. So far, the human sciences have not found the “recipe” which could express, in mathematical terms, this natural law of aggregation and disintegration of human groups; in other terms, when one could expect the fragmentation of groups and the insurgence of individual rebellion.<br><br>Such recipe could explain the patterns of maximum growth of empires in the history and consequent fragmentation. Perhaps, and more practically, one could study (also from a numerical account) the formation of mobs in today’s frequent political manifestations, and find a mathematical law of to explain when the mob almost naturally disperses and individuals quit the group (one by one at first, then, almost magically, the force of dis-aggregation is stronger than the group cohesion and the mob dissolves). A quotation comes into the mind, form Manzoni’s “I Promessi Sposi”, when he describes the assault to the bakery in Milan (“ Il Forno delle Grucce”).<br><br>Another case of individual rebellion is the protest against a group which, albeit small, is oppressive of the individual “self”: the reaction of teenagers towards the family intended as a code of conduct; the spontaneous giving up, by an individual, of the appurtenance to a religious or political credo; ultimately, divorce from the spouse, when the “other” is perceived as a dangerous force thriving one’s affection and love towards submission and emotional slavery (and loss of independence).IIC Shanghaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17834386225735029318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post-32887249339108735942009-06-29T05:24:29.126+02:002009-06-29T05:24:29.126+02:00All the above gives some ground to the assumption ...All the above gives some ground to the assumption that in the West, according to the Greek tradition (on which the Roman one is based, and consequently the legal and social categories of the European countries), emphasis is given to discussion and possibility to disagree, rather than conformism and obeisance. The moments of intolerance which have characterized the western history (Fascism; totalitarian dictatorships) could be considered as moments of reaction to extreme situations of anarchy, which was considered as a degenerated democracy. At least in one case (the political situation in Italy after the 1st World War), the ingredients of that explosive mixture which created the “Mussolini phenomenon” were the freedom of expression wrongly utilized, the demagogic teachings of obscure humanitarian instances, vaguely tainted with socialist principles and a corrupt and inefficient political class.<br><br> Can we draw a pattern in the western history, in which we could see an alternance of moments of intolerance and moments of enlightenment (freedom)? The power of individuals was at times strong enough to oppose conformism. The French revolution had its origin in a diffuse discontent about the social conditions in the XVIII Century’s France and the privileges of the ruling classes, with the impoverishment of the lower classes and the non-recognition of the “bourgeoisie” role. So do movements such as the Marxism, which philosophically nobilitate the struggle of the proletarians (who, in turn, would take their strength form their indispensable role in the industrial process) and the Futurism, very violent in its objectives of shaking the society and proclaiming the power of the individual’s dynamics against stagnation, conventions, tradition.IIC Shanghaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17834386225735029318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4280915971396230670.post-27575955152847088082009-06-29T05:10:54.760+02:002009-06-29T05:10:54.760+02:00The WestProtest is the way of expressing human fee...The West<br><br>Protest is the way of expressing human feelings, perhaps the most immediate since the very moment we are born. The first sign of being out in the world, as soon as the newborn baby leaves the womb of the mother, is to protest because the environment is new and somewhat hostile, hostile because unknown. The first action of the baby is to cry , even to scream - and we all know how powerful is a a baby’s scream: it seems as if all his energy is directed towards this desperate need to be heard, to be understood, with no other way but through violent protest. <br><br> The life of man all through the history - and, we should presume, in pre-historic times -has been an immense way of declaring consensus or dissent. When dissent was there, history is an account of ways to express it. The topic is consequently so immense that it cannot be summarized in the few pages of an article (the mythic Library of Alexandria would not suffice either). We will thus try to analyze some ways (often the most evident ones) by which human beings express (or have expressed) protest.<br><br> Let us examine, for instance, the ways in which protest is expressed in “the West” (with all the limitations this denomination may assume: is this a distortion of the historical perspective? All the cultures are closely interrelated; but one cannot deny that, nowadays, the distinction becomes more and more evident, at least in social and political terms).<br><br> If we consider the ‘western society” as a separate entity, we should refer first of all to the Greek heritage and to the “Classic” philosophy. In the ancient Greece the concept of dissent and the consequent way to express it was a part of the day- to-day life and element of the State dynamics. The “perfect city” according to Plato, was the one governed by the philosophers; philosophy, as the quest for Knowledge, was the result of an exercise of questions and answers, often an intense debate, with the active participation of the disciple. The latter, far from being the passive recipient of notions, was a necessary element of the truth. A great emphasis was given, at that time, to the discussion and to the possibility to express the non-compliance or the dissent. An heritage of this concept is present in the contemporary Lexicon: the word “ostracism”, much used in the political jargon and in sociology, comes from the ancient Greek “ostraka”, ,i.e. the shells on which political opponents used to inscribe their veto in the public assemblies. The members of the city’s council would thus express their protest against the election of a citizen they would not esteem or, more simply, against an unwanted decision.IIC Shanghaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17834386225735029318noreply@blogger.com