18/11/94
Art and knowledge once had time and duration as allies and partners, depth and essence.
The goal existed for motivation, not profit. The "end" meant purpose, not conclusion.
Today, the dimension of time is either deliberately ignored or unconsciously turned into an adversary. And what moves on the surface carefully hides the depths.
Art adapted, obligatorily and willingly, and from being an apostle of duration and the hidden shadow of things, it became a propagandist of the ephemeral and superficial. Fashion became art and the art of fashion. The surface became a code of conduct and a passport to success. For the artist, success is the quick recognition of superficial virtues that define the art of fashion. For the viewer, pleasure is the ability to rapidly grasp those superficial features that reassuringly connect them to the known present.
Knowledge ceased to be a process, as this presupposes the unknown and its endless pursuit. From the "book of wisdom," we jumped to "user manuals." What we need to know "in order to." The ephemeral goal of knowledge only requires the possession of superficial elements. Computers, from simple numeric machines, became collectors of information, i.e., surface elements, whose processing, detached from the life span, serves only the present.
Our spirit easily adapted to this inertia that provides the illusion of knowledge in the shortest possible time. The former feeds on speed and quantity, the latter on duration and quality. Perhaps all this is due to the modern human's fear of not being part of the universe and time. Perhaps it's the illusion that enlarging the present pushes away tomorrow with the terror of death it hides. Maybe speed drives away thought and the painful dead ends it often leads to.
However, many years ago, a monk at the Sinai monastery started to create a Gospel. He cut the pages, bound the book, and then began to paint and decorate with gold and colors the first page. It took a lifetime before he could move to the second. Thus, he gained time as an ally and enclosed knowledge within the blank pages. For the greatest glory of Mankind.
Plato Rivellis