August 2004
Observing the new, the novel, what happens alongside the evolution of our lives, naturally makes us think it concerns us more. The overemphasis of the "new" in art is also related to the insatiable need of the media and those involved in the art market to continuously offer fresh material for consumption. And there's no doubt that anything new evokes in everyone a thrill of excitement and admiration, or, at the very least, hope and anticipation, as we feel that each genuinely new direction is increasingly difficult, ever rarer, and hence more precious. However, along with this need for the new, we must also continuously invoke some other thoughts. First, it's impossible to perceive and appreciate the truly new in art if we are not well acquainted with and have not deeply enjoyed what has preceded it. Besides, even the denial of the old is based on the old. Second, the fundamental problems and issues that have preoccupied humans since the dawn of time were, are, and remain the same. They are existential problems that appear in each era in different guises. Usually, the distance between the time of creation and the time of communication with it allows for better focus on the problem and deeper understanding of its essence. It's often said that the characteristic of great works is that they transcend their time. This means they were able to speak about the essential issues with such precision that, albeit in different ways, they are understood by each succeeding era. Third, philosophy, which is another direction of human engagement with existential problems, and indeed more applied than art, never despised the past. On the contrary, it constantly returns to it and draws inspiration reverently. Plato has never gone out of fashion. Fourth, science discovers new truths and, once proven, condemns old truths to historical oblivion. However, the truths of art coexist. None has overturned the others, and almost always an old truth becomes relevant again, hence new. Perhaps mediocre and bad art are more interesting when contemporary because through them we might understand the efforts of our contemporaries, and thus our own. But great art can only ever be contemporary. This is why the significant theater director Peter Brook said, "Contemporary is whatever grabs us by the throat."
Plato Rivellis