Mass society does not want culture, it wants leisure.
Hannah Arendt
© Frederick Wiseman, National Gallery
editorial
what we consume
beauty, its expressions, all kinds of artistic forms
commodities: sold as consumable goods, disposable, recyclable, reproducible
culture as a concept, as a market
mass consumption: a sledgehammer effect, cacophony, saturation
laprovence.com, grand parade of the festival off d’Avignon 2025
the representation of beauty: hook, substitute, exhaustion of the work in its image
loss of emotion
derivative products at the forefront, we enter through the shop: T-shirts, bags… or through the bar: the festival’s eco-cup… bearing the image of works we haven’t yet seen or heard
© Etsy
the object becomes a vehicle for experience, a substitute and a trace
artistic expression gone astray, perverted
identification with the idol: a look, a sense of belonging, a role model
cultural tourism
the corridors of consumption
predefined, marked out, agreed, sensational routes
quotas, airlocks, pace, human herds, mass movements and experiences, remote-controlled and audio-guided
standardised…
‘immersive’ experiences of pictorial works with 3D glasses: never seen before!
it’s turning into entertainment: making it spectacular, attractive, accessible!
a distraction from oneself and a diversion that perverts the relationship with the work
impossible to confront its uniqueness
capturing images: the camera intervenes/diverts before/instead of/during the visit/the performance
no direct, immediate encounter with the creation
the work as a backdrop for a selfie that ticks the box: The Louvre is done, we’ve done Notre-Dame de Paris
we’ve done three or four shows a day
that’s done!
bulimia, gluttony, infobesity
quantity vs quality: always more, the rapacity of concert encores, we want value for money!
either we applaud, or we leave before the end, or we jump from one show to another until we are saturated and numb
b r e a t h i n g . . .
I slip through the gaps, I slalom on instinct, on feeling
I look for the truth in all this: the unique emotion that the show (concert, choreography, play, etc.) offers me
I open myself up to the new and unprecedented experience of the work, which is always fresh
I allow myself to be deeply touched in my innermost being by the discreet, the fragile, the authentic
an affinity, a resonance between the creator and me through the work
slowly, an unknown, new inner space unfolds: the wonder, the miracle of an encounter
it is rarely spectacular
© Lefteris Piraeakis, ap
Almost everything that happens is inexpressible and takes place in a region that words have never touched. And most inexpressible of all are works of art, those secret beings whose lives never end and which our passing lives touch.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
© Caspar David Friedrich, Lever de lune sur la mer
