Ibane’s ramblings
“The biggest danger, that of losing oneself, can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc is bound to be noticed.” S. KierkegaardArchive for Art
A decade of emptiness…maybe?
The other day discussing with some friends about music, art and Tiger Woods, I raised the question ‘What would they consider the movement including music, fashion, art,…that could define the last decade? As for example punk did in the 70s’. The answers were vague and there was not for example a band that we could agree to be like the band of the decade. A bunch of good bands but not the band that you will listen to them in 20 years and you will say ‘that’s so 2000’.
I have done this exercise with different groups of friends and people from different backgrounds and the answers are as different as individuals. My first thoughts were that the inability to find what would be the cultural movement that represent the decade means that we have left behind a decade of emptiness and decadence in creativity. Later, thinking about it a bit more, I thought that this decade is the decade of the facebooks, twitters, myspaces, blogs,…it has been the decade where everyone feeling some creativity inside could share with millions and millions of people almost instantly, and if something cool is happening it gets old-fashion as quick as it gets trendy. So it might be that we have lived some good moments during this decade, it might be that we just missed it because we were busy with facebook.
In any case, there are still some days to end this decade so there is time to have some band of the decade and all that. Oh no…Enrique Iglesias singing again. I guess not then.
The Frenzy Race to Culture
These days seem to me that there is no time to taste and enjoy all the cultural offer that in an overwhelming avalanche of happenings, events, movies, books, theater plays…is offered to us. The other day I went to see the last movie of Woody Allen (I will review it in another post), and one of the , I went with, stated:”It is ok but I can’t wait for the next one”, I got surprised by this comment. We had barely come out from the dark room and we were talking about next one. Why this rush? where is this anxiety coming from to consume art and culture compulsively?
Nowadays we have the most vast and extense access to culture and art than ever. Even if you have the privilige to have available the time to attend every possible event that you might be interested in you would need three or four lives. My first thoughts about this lead me to that art and culture have been infected also by the immediacy that we live in our daily life. Nowadays nothing is meant to last, everything is instant, you need to consume it and then you throw away.
Most of the times, I feel like fighting against this but this attitude places me immediately in the category of old-fashioned guy that thinks that any past time is better. And it is far from truth, I really enjoy what it is going on and I am lurking all the time new trends and trying to pay attention what it is out of there, but I refuse to enter in this frenzy race, some times even sounds like a competion, to attend events with no criteria. So I am investing my time discerning what is in my opinion worthy and what it is not. And if I find something that I have enjoyed, lately it is challenging (as I have posted it previously I think that mediocrity has gained a lot of space, visiting some Modern Art Musems some crap has literally taken the physical space), I will take my time to taste it and try to hold it as much as possible.
I support and I think that it is great advance that we can access to so much stuff, and therefore we have gained more freedom, however I also believe that also forces us to be more selective and to take care of the quality and be alert.
Ibane's ramblings 