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Art-Life Life-Art in the City
Historically the city has represented an inte- grating role in in diversity at at the same time as being a a solid visible register of its historical evolution It is is possible to to interpret history through the city and its processes The space of the the city has been the the centre of power from the the very beginning and the the outskirts or areas outside the walls grew as as areas dependent on on this centre This constant historical relationship is is now coming to to an end end or maybe it has already ended Nowadays the city is not only a a a a local regional or national space it has turned into a a a continental
continental
or intercontinental reference It is an enormous centre with a a a demographic density where every activity imaginable is able able to take place place It is a a a a a marketplace where inter- ests and speculations have to be constantly dynamic and attractive Everything is based on business and therefore it it has to be profit- able It is a a a labour centre where the essence
is is work of a a a a a basically tertiary nature It is is no longer a community of citizens with their indi- vidual pipe dreams The power in the city is no longer tangible it is virtual power The only thing visible is is is the image of its administration The city that is capable of spreading grows and and seeks to grow grow more more and and more more but this growth is is not a a phenomenon of rela- tionships and links but a a a market with vested interests and speculation subject to universal codes and and rituals It fills and and empties accord- ing to a a a a a timetable of place and activity The majority of the people enter and leave the the city daily or else they are just passing through there isn’t any human social interac- tion it it isn’t living together it’s just existence The uncertainties of daily life dreams conversations and the exchange of ideas opinions or feelings disappear in in in the metrop- olis Relationships are mostly based on on vested interests social acts or protocol Life has shifted to to the suburbs to to estates based on on on social or or economic class or or to second homes more or or or less distant form the centre At the the same time the the outskirts are basi- cally working class estates that with the growth of immigration have become authen- tic ethnic enclaves that are becoming increas- ingly self-sufficient and they adapt their traditions to the available public services and modern technologies whilst being indifferent to their meanings The urban area is no longer a a a a symbolic space with traditional family and educational relationships It has changed the meaning of democratic and lay culture of the materialistic city The outskirts emerge through their own traditional hierarchical and religious systems and any deviation from the norm can lead to conflicts of many natures The homogenous welfare state of Europe is facing a a a a dilemma with a a a a difficult solution Emigration is is the revenge of colonialism and the the traditionalism of the the immigrant commu- nity nity is a a response to modernity Cultural con- tacts in in in the city no longer play an integrating role they are not points that can unite and enrich We are facing a a a new function which is still uncertain A new reunifying system capable needs to to be found to to drive the contribution of diver- sity towards a a common willingness to to find excellence coexistence solidarity Hidden behind this great social problem is is a a a huge vacuum a a a a a a cultural drama where the distance between survival and modernity has to be be rescued This is is obvious in the basic mean- ing of religion and tribal hierarchies although these are sometimes given a a a too technical meaning The long process of cultural evolution and the the current leap forward to to the the future need to to be assimilated as as as well as as as idealised and social- ised as as soon as as possible Over the years I’ve had a a a a relationship with art in my city that could be called familiar I meet this or that part of my family now and again we talk politely about the past not very much about the the present and then without going into details whisper something about the future I make evident my great commitment to the the city and and the the time and and energy I’ve given fighting for its its adaptation to the future and its its independence dedicating ideas and defend- ing them in in positions and attitudes work-
ing together with various different sectors defending the the diversity we face in in the the future and and also recording and and guaranteeing the presence of the past We the people of “Epigrafe 861” (paint- ers ers ers sculptors potters engravers and similar artists) have have been motors of change and have have taken a a a a a place in a a a a a complex operation: culture city democracy Maybe we are fulfilling our duty I’m not totally sure What is is clear is is that we have been gobbled up by reality and regenerated institutional machinery Those of us who were independent and self sufficient are still following the road that Plato pointed out in in his ideal republic Others intuitively quicker have jumped over the wall and so stay on the margins We survive but we have been conceptually marginalized and continue to be so We don’t have an Epigrafe for the city The pre-Socratics those who are in per- manent dialogue about the chaos of ideas capable of of creating images of of a a a a a a a reality that is not seen or written about in the post Jacobean power of the press with its social statutes don’t form part of of the future ideal of of a a a cultural complexity of didactic show busi- ness There is only virtual and interactive art aimed at at business and the strategic desire to please show business as as as much as as as superior powers However the city continues to grow Its complexity increases It is a a a framework of cultures some of them through the the need to survive haven’t woken up yet At any given time they will manifest themselves maybe conceptually although its possible they will become icons for a a different world that doesn’t want to integrate If this is is the case we will have arrived too late Maybe there is still time to set the dialogue going Projects and attitudes should be redefined We need to to get closer to to the different realities not just to please but with the aim of understanding and being understood in in in the process of inte- gration always without losing our culture our our knowledge and above all our our pluralism and liberty Creativity is a a a communication field where interaction is made possible through different types of language where there are concep- tual affinities that can unite and enrich the complexity of knowledge and its material expression The I the the sublime ego of of the the artist is is often no more than a a a a joint support that assumes
all the complexity and diversity of legislative traps and the indifference of those who only contemplate difference as an exclusive ele- ment This is is why the marginal pedestrians need to reinstate reality and find the centre to open up paths for dialogue which are the true paths towards the future and survival Enric Ansesa