Art
in the 20th century failed to successfully communicate the failure of modern
culture due to its take-over by the fourth estate. Art has become a commodity
of the media, it is used in the further spectacularization of society, and any
art that attempted to criticize this was immediately absorbed by the spectacle
& sold at a corresponding price to the people; who when receiving anything
in this form are so far removed from the actual meaning behind the art that
they’re left to creating meanings for themselves. When art is left to the
individual to provide it with meaning it becomes empty, as any possible meaning
can be given to anything -- nothing is everything or everything is nothing.
This also creates within each individual a certain amount of self-absorption.
Along with other devices of the spectacle ("modern art," cellular
phones, the idiotic television and other so called "advents" in technology)
the self has been allowed to create an individual world tailored to the means
of consumption. Each person wanders blindly thru the modern day market place
unable to convey any real intellectual decision because no one else is privy
to his or her own personal reality -- and each personal reality comes with its
own personal vocabulary in which the only true forms of public interaction are
slowly becoming those based on the vocabulary of the multinationals.
When
art wasn’t dealt with in this way it was completely forgotten to the moment
in time which produced it. This is the ultimate failure of our society. It refuses
to remember what has just happened because it isn’t broadcast over the
television or the radio. We’ve become too lazy and are letting ourselves
be ruled by a ticking time bomb; one which will address the continual degradation
of the environment and dismiss these concerns in the same sentence; one which
will openly concern itself with pathogens (such as the AIDS virus) causing the
death of millions each year, but never allow the proper research for a cure
because of the power of its pharmaceutical industry -- which will line our children
up and force pills down their throats for any of innumerable reasons -- never
inquiring into future effects of drugging the youth because they know that it
will be forgotten by a society which is so unaware of its current predicament
that it allows its own doctor’s to be bought by these industries. It is
no secret that many pharmaceutical companies offer doctor’s vacations for
prescribing new pills to their patients, but yet nothing is done about this.
As long as little Billy doesn’t speak up in class anymore
then
the problem is solved.