Censure, racism, dependence, homophobia, consumerism, sex, and pornography. The list is endless, and today’s modern society is hell bent on building its legacy on technology. Vacuous ideas are voiced left, right, and center, and we all end up signing on the dotted line, willing to give away a piece of our dignity and privacy. We live in a rollercoaster where the highs and lows of the economy impact our wellbeing. In this life, you have to have money to pay for your rights not to be trampled on.
With a simple click on the screen we accept and reject, and we think we hold the power when reality could be no further from the truth. We cover ourselves with the clothing dictated by those who have the authority just because they “think they know best.” A small scrap of fabric that covers our insecurities. Our feelings are contained and controlled, as if they were unmanageable beasts, instead of precious treasures.
We live in a postmodern world where digital friendships flourish and the ties between people in the here and now fade away. We are so immersed in the possibilities and lives of others that we forget who we are and who we want to be. The entertainment industry has made it its job to modify our vision of the world to its tastes. Apathy would be the perfect word to describe our attitude and conformity is what feeds our soul.
L’ère du vide by Gilles Lipovetsky speaks of the modern reality we live in, where the new quickly becomes old and we turn to something else. We see traditional institutions like the nation and the family break away. Even culture and the arts are to be consumed, we see people flocking to museums taking pictures of themselves alongside the great works, rather than trying to educate themselves. Museums have become tourist stops and not centers of learning.
As individuals we latch onto this one-dimensional capitalism and as a result, we are superficial, more informed but less structured, and cynical. We are critics with no foundations to stand upon. We are easily led and we hold to our faces the countless screens that tells us who we are supposed to be and what are dreams look like.
Drugs help us bear this unbearable burden of insignificance. Our priorities have changed and the first step is to be accepted by others. Rejection is impossible to withstand, so we bow our heads and jump off the bridge because everyone else is doing it. Our defenses are paper thin and each hurt is keenly felt, leaving behind an open wound that will never heal.
Everyone and everything has a price. There is no such thing as a private life. We flaunt every single instance for all to see because we never know how long the joy may last. We are never sure of who we are and what we have.
We are incapable of facing the world we live in and we learn to hate because we are hated by others. This existence can be hard to swallow, so we distract ourselves with little, meaningless things. We have gone from “I think,” “I feel,” to “I believe.” We believe and feel many things, but we hardly think at all.
So, welcome to the cruel world the artists Eduardo Salles, Pawel Kuczynski, and John Holcroft have created for us. They rip the blindfolds and show us the biting reality we live in today. There is no going back. There is no “blind eye” you can turn.
