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25.04. READING WEEK 14

IN CATHERINE ZIMMER’S ARTICLE “VIDEO SURVEILLANCE, TORTURE PORN AND ZONES OF INDISTINCTION”, THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES THE SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF HORROR MOVIES INTO THE SUBGENRE CALLED “SURVEILLANCE CINEMA”.

THIS TERMINOLOGY IS USED TO EXPRESS THE SIGNIFICANT PRESENCE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS IN SUCH MOVIES.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HORROR MOVIES IN THIS DIRECTION IS PUT IN PARALLEL WITH US. POLITICAL EVENTS SUCH AS BUSH’S WAR ON TERROR, WHICH INDEED WAS BASED ON AN AUGMENTED USAGE OF SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS.

MORE SO, THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SURVEILLANCE CINEMA AND THE TORTURE PORN GENRE, IN WHICH SEXUAL CONNOTATIONS AND AESTHETICS OF TORTURE WORK ON THE SAME LINE.

THE RESULTS ARE BLOCK-BUSTER MOVIES, MEANING, WORKS THAT APPEAL CONSISTENTLY TO THE PUBLIC.

THE ARTICLE ANALYSES, IN PARTICULAR, THE SAW SAGA, WHOSE DISCONCERTING SUCCESS IS TESTIMONIED BY IT BEING COMPOSED OF 9 MOVIES, WITH AN OVERALL BUDGET OF $97.000.000 AND GENERAL PROCEEDS OF $1.016.891.688. 

IN SAW, THE KILLER JIGSAW KILLS ON THE BASES OF HIS OWN CONVICTIONS, WHICH USUALLY ARE DETERMINED BY THE VICTIMS ABUSING THEMSELVES OR OTHERS. IN SUCH TERMS, THE MOVIE PROVIDES A SORT OF JUSTIFICATION FOR THE KILLER’S ACTIONS, MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHO IS AT FAULT. LASTLY, THE KILLER KILLS BRUTALLY, PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY HUMILIATING ITS VICTIMS. 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE MOVIE IS EXPLAINED THROUGH CONCEPTS FROM PHILOSOPHER GIORGIO AGAMBEN, NAMELY, STATES OF EXCEPTION, ZONES OF INDISTINCTION AND BARE LIFE.

STATE OF EXCEPTION APPLIES WHEN GOVERNMENTS, ON THE BASIS OF A BETTER GOOD, STOP ACTING ACCORDINGLY TO LAWS.

BY DOING SO, THE GOVERNMENT SELF-PROCLAIMS ITSELF AS THE ONE WHO CHOOSES WHOSE LIFE IS WORTH LIVING OR NOT.

ZONES OF INDISTINCTION ARE THE PHYSICAL SPACES IN WHICH THE STATE OF EXCEPTION APPLIES.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE SURVIVE WITH NO POLITICAL OR LEGAL RIGHTS, THEREFORE THE CONCEPT OF BARE LIFE AND HOMO SACER: A MAN WHO, IN ANCIENT ROME, DID NOT POSSESS EITHER A HUMAN CONDITION- COULD BE KILLED BY ANYONE WITHOUT INCURRING LEGAL IMPLICATIONS-NEITHER A DIVINE ONE, FOR HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SACRIFICED.

AS STATED, THESE CONCEPTS APPLY EFFICIENTLY TO US. POLITICS IN THE MATTER OF CONTROLLING TERRORISTS: SCANDALS LIKE ABU GHRAIB AND GUANTANAMO BAY PRISONS EXEMPLIFY THIS.

WHAT THE ARTICLE DENOTES ARE THE CORRESPONDENCES OF THESE CONCEPTS IN A SURVEILLANCE CINEMA MOVIE LIKE SAW: THE NARRATIVE BEHIND THE CHOICE OF JIGSAW’S VICTIMS CREATES A STATE OF EXCEPTION IN WHICH THE KILLER DECIDES WHO IS TO LIVE OR NOT. FURTHERMORE, THE INCORPORATION OF VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SHOWING TORTURE PORTRAYS THE VICTIMS AS BARE LIVES.

THE ARTICLE FINALLY PROVIDES IN-DEPTH REFLECTIONS ON THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THE MOVIES AFOREMENTIONED AND CURRENT POLITICS. 

WHAT IS AT STAKE IS NOT THE OPPORTUNITY OF DISTRIBUTING HORROR MOVIES, AS REPRESENTATIONS OF HUMAN FEELINGS LIKE FEAR. 

A CAPTIVATING CLAIM IN FAVOR OF SUCH MOVIES IS HERE REPRESENTED BY ITALIAN SINGER FRANCESCO BIANCONI, WHO HIGHLIGHTS HOW THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A “FAKE FEAR”, COMING FROM MOVIES, CAN HELP IN OVERCOMING A PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITION. 

FRANCESCO BIANCONI ADVERTISING A RECORD CONTAINING VARIOUS HORROR MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS

HORROR MOVIES HAVE ALSO PUSHED THE BOUNDARIES OF ARTS AND MUSIC, AND IT IS THEREFORE WORTH MENTIONING TITLES LIKE THE CABINET OF DR.CALIGARI, AS AN EXAMPLE OF GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM, OR DARIO ARGENTO’ SUSPIRIA USAGE OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND MUSIC.

STILL FROM 1920S ROBERT WIENE THE CABINET OF DR.CALIGARI

STILL FROM 1977 DARIO ARGENTO SUSPIRIA

WHAT CATHERINE ZIMMER IS INTERESTED IN, INSTEAD, IS TO SPUR THE PUBLIC IN ACKNOWLEDGING THE CONNOTATIONS SURROUNDING A PARTICULAR TORTURE-BASED CATEGORY OF HORROR MOVIES, WHOSE ARTISTIC VALUE IS DOUBTFUL, AS MERE FAKE BAROQUE TORTURE AESTHETICS.

IN SUCH TERMS, TO CRITIC OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO FUND SUCH PRODUCTS IS PRAISEWORTHY. 

FROM 1993 CARO DIARIO, MOVIE DIRECTOR NANNI MORETTI COMMENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRAIS THE 1986 SPLATTER MOVIE "HARRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER".

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16.04. READING WEEK 13.

ON MAY 15, 1870, ARTHUR RIMBAUD WRITES:

on the calm black water where the starts are sleeping

white Ophelia floats like a great lily;

floats very slowly, lying in her long veils…

in the far-off woods you can hear them sound the mort.

for more than a thousand years sad Ophelia

has passed, a white phantom, down the long black river.

for more than a thousand years her sweet madness

has murmured its ballad to the evening breeze.

the wind kisses her breasts and unfolds in a wreath

her great veils rising and falling with waters;

the shivering willows weep on her shoulder, 

the rushes lean over her wide, dreaming brow.

[…]

o pale Ophelia! beautiful as snow!

yes child, you died, carried off by a river!

it was the winds descending from the great mountains of Norway

that spoke to you in low voices of better freedom.

[…]

it was the voice of mad seas, the great roar, 

that shattered your child’s heart, too human and too soft;

it was a handsome pale knight, a poor madman 

who one April morning sate mute at your knees!

IN A PARALLEL BETWEEN RIMBAUD’S POEM “OPHELIA”, AND THE IMAGE OF THE CORPSE OF ALAN KURDI DESCRIBED IN EMILY REGAN WILLS’S “ALAN KURDI’S BODY ON THE SHORE”, ALAN KURDI IS OPHELIA.

THE WIND UNFOLDS IN A WREATH HIS KID-SIZE JEANS AND SHOES; IT MAKES THEM RISE AND FALL WITH THE WATERS.

THOSE WINDS, DESCENDING FROM THE SOULS OF THE HALICARNASSUS’ MAUSOLEUM, NEAR THE TURKISH BODRUM BEACH WHERE HE WAS FOUND, SPOKE TO HIM IN VOICES OF BETTER FREEDOM.

YET, IT WAS THE LONG BLACK MEDITERRANEAN RIVER’S VOICE THAT SHATTERED HIS CHILD’S HEART.

FROM HIS BANKS, THE WESTERN WOODS ARE NOT THAT FAR-OFF. 

THERE, FOR MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS, WE HEAR THE MORT, IN THE FORM OF A PHOTOGRAPH, CAPTURED BY A POOR MADMAN, ON ONE SEPTEMBER MORNING.

BOTH EMILY REGAN WILLS AND ENRICO DE ANGELIS’S ARTICLES TOUCH ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF SHOWING IMAGES PORTRAYING DEAD PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF WARS LIKE THE SYRIA’S ONE. 

THE ANALYSIS REVOLVES AROUND THE ISSUE OF BRUTAL IMAGES ACTING EITHER AS RELICS FOR THE EVENTS THEY DEPICT OR, IN OTHER CASES, AS OFFENSIVE REPRESENTATIONS.

EMILY REGAN WILLS ANALYSES, FOR INSTANCE, THE IMAGE OF ALAN KURDI'S CORPSE AS IT BEING BOTH A DISTURBING QUIET IMAGE OF 3-YEAR-OLD DEAD CHILDREN, AND WHAT THE WESTERN COUNTRIES NEED TO TAKE ACTION, FIGURATIVELY, IN STANCE OF IMMIGRATION.

SMALL DONATIONS AND HUGE PROMISES, AND YET WE FACE THE REALITY: EUROPE STILL DOES NOT HAVE A FAIR AND RESPECTED TREATY OVER IMMIGRATION.

THIS IS THE POLITICS OF THE NOW, IN WHICH DREADFUL PICTURES ARE USED TO SAVE OUR FACES INSIDE AN UNFINISHED ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN. 

DAY BY DAY, CONTEMPORARY LIVE NEWS CHANNELS ARE REMINISCENT OF THE DE ANGELIS AL KATHIB’S SYRIAN ARCHIVE: A COMPENDIUM OF TRAGEDIES OPENLY STREAMED 24 HOURS A DAY.

VIRUSES PREVENTIONS. NATURAL CATASTROPHISE. DROWNINGS. CLIMATE CHANGE.

ON TALK SHOWS WE REDUCE THESE INSTANCES AMONG “COMPLEX ARGUMENTS”; SMALL DISQUISITIONS ARE SUFFICIENT TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT ARGUMENT.

RELENTLESSLY, WE STRIVE FOR THAT ACCIDENT, THAT IMAGE, WHICH SHOCKS OUR WESTERN TEA DRINKERS’ CONSCIENCES.

IN THIS CONTEXT, IT MAKES YET MORE SENSE TO PARALLEL ALAN KURDI’S IMAGE WITH THE 1852 PAINTING OF OPHELIA BY PRE-RAPHAELITE ARTIST JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS.

1852 JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS' OPHELIA IN COMPARISON WITH 2015 IMAGE OF THE CORPSE OF ALAN KURDI

IN THE SHAKESPEARIAN’S HAMLET OPHELIA, FILLE MAUDITE, IS A VICTIM OF THE EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND HER, OVER WHICH SHE DOES NOT HAVE CONTROL, MOSTLY SINCE THEY ARE ARRANGED BY POWERFUL MEN FIGURES.

SUICIDAL BY DROWNING, HER DEATH IS NOT SHOWN DIRECTLY, BUT NARRATED THROUGH ANOTHER FEMALE FIGURE, GERTRUDE.

AS IF, HER DEATH’S ABSENCE ON STAGE WOULD ACT FOR THE PRESENCE OF SUCH DRAMA.

A DRAMA WHICH, IN OUR CONTEMPORARY TIMES, MUST BE AMPLIFIED ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA STAGE, IN ORDER TO BE PROCESSED.

IT CAN HAVE ITS 15 MINUTES OF FAME, ACTING DAZZLING, AS OPHELIA’S WANDERING RAVINGLY AMONG THE WOODS.

THE LAST MINUTES BEFORE CEASING TO EXIST, GOING BACK TO BEING ABSENTLY PRESENT.

GENTLY OPHELIA, LYING DEAD AMONG THOSE SURREY’S WOODS CRITICIZED BY ART CRITIC JOHN RUSKIN, WHO WILL THEN REQUIRE THEM FOR HIS OWN PORTRAIT.

HEROICAL OPHELIA, PERSONIFIED BY ELIZABETH SIDDAL INSIDE A VICTORIAN HOT BATH. PLACED THERE BY HIS HUSBAND DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND FRIEND JOHN MILLAIS, SHE WILL END UP GETTING A FEVER FOR ART. 

ART FOR ART’ SAKE.

ART FOR DEATH ‘SAKE: STILL, WE ARE RESEARCHING THE PERFECT, INSTANTANEOUS WESTERN SHOT PORTRAYING DEATH.

INHERENTLY WAITING, FOR THE FINAL HARD RAIN THAT WILL GONNA FALL.

PERFORMING "A HARD RAIN'S A GONNA FALL", BOB DYLAN SINGS ABOUT "SOME SORT OF END THAT'S JUST GONNA HAPPEN".

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13.04. READINGS WEEK 12.

PAOLO CIRIO’S ESSAY “EVIDENTIARY REALISM” AND FULLER, WEIZMAN’S INTRODUCTION FROM “INVESTIGATIVE AESTHETICS” CONVEY COMPELLING VIEWS ON THE RULE OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE XXI CENTURY.

THE CLAIM PROPOSED IN THE SOURCES IS THAT TO BE PROPER MILITANT ARTISTS TODAY, THERE SHOULD BE A FOCUS ON THE INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF REALITY.

THE CASE OF FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE EXEMPLIFIES THIS: A GROUP OF RESEARCHERS FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS COLLABORATES ON THE ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS FOOTAGE FROM VARIOUS WAR SCENARIOS TO DECONSTRUCT THEM AND PRESENT THEM FACTUALLY VIA 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS.

FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE CONTAINS ALL THE COMPONENTS WHICH RENDER CONTEMPORARY ART APPEALING: THE COLLABORATION OF PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT STUDIES, THE USE OF DIFFERENT VISUAL MEANS AND THE APPLICATION OF CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGY FOR CONCRETE CIRCUMSTANCES.

WHAT IS APPARENT FROM THE READINGS OF CIRIO AND WEIZMAN IS THAT ART NEEDS TO SPEAK ABOUT THE TIME IN WHICH IT IS CREATED AND CONSUMED.

THIS ALLEGATION MAY SOUND NATURAL TO YOUNG REVOLUTIONARY SPIRITS. HOWEVER, WHEN WE COME INTO CONTACT WITH THE MAINSTREAM ART SCENE OF A CITY LIKE ROME, OPEN-AIR MUSEUM AND HOMELAND OF THE 60S ITALIAN AVANT-GARDE, WE REALIZE ART IS PERCEIVED AS SOMETHING ELSE.

WHEN ANALYZING THE ROMANIAN CURRENT ART EXHIBITIONS SCENE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF AN EX-STUDENT OF A COLLECTION BUILDING AND MUSEUM STUDIES COURSE, ONE CANNOT HELP TO REMEMBER INSTRUCTOR SARAH LINFORD’S WORDS ON THE “BLOCKBUSTERS” EXHIBITIONS, MEANING TEMPORARY EXPENSIVE SHOWS THAT NONETHELESS CAPTURE THE ATTENTION OF A VAST PUBLIC.

EXHIBITIONS LIKE THE €15 CHIOSTRO DEL BRAMANTE’S “MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO: INFINITY”, THE €13 MAXXI’S “BOB DYLAN RETROSPECTRUM”, OR THE €10 MOST CENTRALLY LOCATED PALAZZO CIPOLLA’S “RAOUL DUFY: THE PAINTER OF JOY” ACT, EITHER FOR THE ARTWORKS SHOWN OR FOR THEIR CURATION, MORE AS 19TH-CENTURY PEEPSHOWS THAN AS THE SAME-CENTURY EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS.

PROOF OF CHIOSTRO DEL BRAMANTE'S ENTRY FEE. OTHER FEES FOR THE ABOVE CITED EXHIBITIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE -SECTION "VISITA IL MAXXI AND HERE

IN AMY F.OGATA “VIEWING SOUVENIRS, PEEPSHOWS AND THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITIONS”, OGATA DESCRIBES 19TH-CENTURY PEEPSHOW SOUVENIRS FROM THE FIRSTS WORLD’S FAIRS AS EXAMPLES OF WHAT WALTER BENJAMIN DESCRIBED AS THE “PHANTASMAGORIA” RELATED TO THE EARLY STAGES OF MASS CONSUMPTION.

BY SHOWING EXHIBITIONS THAT PASSIVELY ENCHANT THE VIEWER INTO A “PHANTASMAGORIA” WORLD MADE OF RECOGNIZABLE ARTISTS, IDENTIFIABLE ART MOVEMENTS AND INTERACTIVE INSTAGRAMMABLE CORNERS, THE ROMANIAN ART SCENE RENDERS ART A MASS CONSUMPTION PRODUCT.

NONETHELESS, WE ARE LED TO COMPREHEND SUCH DECISIONS IF WE COMPARE THE ANNUAL BUDGET OF THE ITALIAN MINISTRY OF BENI CULTURALI (1.6 BILLION EUROS, 2019) WITH THE ONE OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF CULTURE (3.8 BILLION EUROS, 2021).

FRANCE IS, NONETHELESS, THE SAME COUNTRY WITH REGIONAL FUNDS FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS.

HOW MUCH VALUE CARRIES A STATE-FUNDED ARTIST IN COMPARISON TO AN INDEPENDENT ONE?

AMONG THE FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS FOR FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE, ONE FINDS:

THE EUROPEAN RESEARCH COUNCIL;

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS ($18 BILLIONS) 

OAK FOUNDATION (£481 MILLIONS);

SIGRID RAUSING TRUST (£429 MILLIONS);

TO BE FOUNDED BY PROMINENT ORGANIZATIONS OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT REDUCE THE VALUE OF AN INSTITUTION.

HOWEVER, IT POSES A DOUBT OVER THE CONCRETE CHANCE OF INDEPENDENT ARTISTS TO REALIZE A PROJECT LIKE FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE.

THERE COMES THE QUESTION POSED BY FULLER AND WEIZMAN TOO, WHETHER IS THIS ART OR INVESTIGATION.

TO THIS STANCE, ONE MAY FIND HESITATIONS IN THE OUTCOMES OF PAOLO CIRIO’S PROFESSED EVIDENTIARY REALISM.

CIRIO AND WEIZMAN RELY ON DIGITAL TOOLS TO CONSTRUCT A FACTUAL DEMONSTRATION OF REALITY, WHICH OPPOSES THE XXI CENTURY NOVICE REGIMES’ MANIPULATION OF THE TRUTH MADE POSSIBLE BY ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES.

THE DOUBT LIES IN WHETHER, BY IMPOSING A PRACTICAL TRUTH ON ITS PRODUCTS, AS PAOLO CIRIO’S INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS FROM BRECHT’S WRITING THE TRUTH DEMANDS, EVIDENTIARY REALISM IS ACTING AGAINST ART’S DEMAND OF POSING DOUBTS IN THE VIEWERS.

IF WE NEED TO RELY ON TECHNOLOGY TO DEMONSTRATE A FACT, ARE NOT WE CLAIMING THAT HUMAN COGNITIVE CAPACITIES CAN BE EXCHANGED WITH AI?

IN RESPONSE TO PAOLO CIRIO’S CLAIMS, ONE COULD POINT OUT THE CASE OF PIERPAOLO PASOLINI’S LAST MOVIE SALÒ.

PASOLINI' SALÒ POSTER

BY SHOWING THE “PHANTASMAGORICAL” ATTITUDES OF A GROUP OF FASCISTS TOWARDS EVERY FORM OF VIOLENCE, PASOLINI COMMUNICATES EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE IS SHOWING.

ULTIMATELY, A COUNTER-RESPONSE TO PAOLO CIRIO AND WEIZMAN’S DEMAND OF CONTEMPORARY ART TURNING TO REALISM COULD BE THAT ART CAN BE ABOUT THE REAL, WITHOUT BEING REAL.

IN THESE TERMS, A LAST REFLECTION BY TOMASO MONTANARI ON WHAT IS ART TODAY PROPOSES AN ANSWER BY USING THE EXAMPLE OF GIOVANNI DE GARA’S INTERVENTION ON THE BASILICA OF SAN MINIATO, IN FLORENCE.

ART HISTORIAN TOMASO MONTANARI LESSON

IN 2018, THE ARTIST TREATED THE ROMANICHAL BASILICA’S FAÇADE WITH GOLD THERMAL BLANKETS, COMMONLY USED WHEN RESCUING MIGRANTS.

GIOVANNI DE GARA - ELDORATO - JUNE 2018 - BASILICA OF SAN MINIATO - FLORENCE

BY COMMENTING ON THE THEME OF HOSPITALITY PERSONIFIED IN THE DOOR ELEMENT, AND MAKING A STATEMENT ON THE ROLE OF CHRISTIAN’S MANTRA OF “LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF”, THIS INSTALLATION PROVES HOW ART CAN TALK ABOUT THE REAL WITHOUT BEING RELATED TO DATA AND TECHNOLOGY.

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02.04. READINGS WEEK 11.

REPUDIATION IS A CONCEPT HISTORICALLY LINKED TO DIVORCE.

IN MANY PRIMORDIAL LAWS, SUCH AS THE ISLAMIC SHARI’A AND THE ANCIENT ROMAN ONE, IT DESIGNED THE UNILATERAL RIGHT OF THE HUSBAND TO SEPARATE FROM THE WIFE. THIS IDEA LIES THEN IN THE ASSUMPTION OF THE WOMAN BEING DETERMINED BY THE MAN.

BY READING REBECCA STEIN’S PIECE “THE BOY WHO WASN’T REALLY KILLED”: ISRAELI STATE VIOLENCE IN THE AGE OF THE SMARTPHONE WITNESS”, WE CAN MAKE A PARALLEL BETWEEN SUCH DIVORCE DYNAMICS AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINE RELATIONSHIP.

THE PIECE HIGHLIGHTS, THEREFORE, HOW THE ISRAELI STATE, BY MANIPULATING VISUAL MEDIA WHICH DEPICTS IT AS A COLONIAL POWER, REPUDIATES THE ROLE OF PALESTINE AS AN INDEPENDENT STATE. MOREOVER, IN ISRAELI HUMAN-RIGHTS ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR HAGAI EL-AD’S WORDS, ZIONIST IDEAS CARRIED OUT BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT PROMOTE THE DENIAL OF THE TERRITORIAL OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GOVERNMENTS PROPAGANDA AS FACTS AND THE DEFINITION OF ANY FORM OF OPPOSITION AS EITHER TERRORIST OR TRAITOR.

REBECCA STEIN’S CLAIM LIES IN IDENTIFYING THE WAYS BY WHICH ISRAELI PROPAGANDA HAS MUTED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE ADVENT OF NOWADAYS TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS, SUCH AS THE SPREAD OF SOCIAL MEDIA. THIS IS DEFINED BY THE TRANSITION FROM ISRAEL CLAIMING VISUALS DEPICTING KILLINGS PERPETRATED BY THEIR ARMY WERE MANIPULATED TO THE ASSUMPTION THAT THERE WOULDN’T EITHER BE THE NECESSITY TO INVESTIGATE VISUALS MORE, SINCE IT IS IN THE NATURE OF THE ENEMY TO LIE.

THIS IMPLIES THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT CONTROLLING AN INCONTROLLABLE AMOUNT OF SMARTPHONE-RECORDED SOURCES IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. ESPECIALLY IF THESE ARE COMBINED WITH RECORDING CAMERA VIDEOS AND 3D REPRODUCTIONS OF THE SCENES WHICH ATTEST THE ORIGINAL SOURCES’ VERACITY, AS THE ORGANIZATION FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE DOES.

FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE 3D REPRODUCTIONS WORK. FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS HERE THE LINK.

IN 1979, JOY DIVISION SINGER IAN CURTIS SCREAMED THAT WHEN YOU LOSE CONTROL, YOU SHOW UP ALL THE ERRORS AND MISTAKES. DESPOTIC REGIMES AND THEIR REACTION TO AN INCESSANT VOLUME OF ACCUSATION SOURCES SEEM TO GIVE THE SINGER REASON.

IAN CURTIS PERFORMANCE OF "SHE'S LOST CONTROL", 1979

IN DENYING SO MUCH THE EVIDENCE, YOU LOSE CREDIBILITY.

THIS HAPPENS, FOR INSTANCE, WHEN A GOVERNMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE ABOUT THE CASE OF A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD BOY BEING SHOT IN A CROSSFIRE BETWEEN ISRAELI AND PALESTINE TROOPS, WITH A VIDEO DEPICTING THE KILLING, RESULTS IN CLAIMING THAT THERE ARE INDICATIONS THAT THE BOY DID NOT ACTUALLY DIE.

THIS HAPPENS, ALSO, WHEN VIDEOS OF THE MARCH 2022 MASSACRE OF BUCHA, PERPETRATED BY RUSSIAN TROOPS OVER THE BODY OF 20 INNOCENT UKRAINIAN CITIZENS, ARE ANSWERED BY THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AS FAKE, AND MANIPULATED TO THE POINT THAT THE UKRAINIANS THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE KILLED THEIR OWN PEOPLE.

ONE COULD NOTICE, THEN, POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN RUSSIAN AND ISRAELI PROPAGANDA AND THEIR DUALISTIC APPROACH TOWARD THE INTERNET. BOTH PARTIES, THUS, DESPITE HAVING TO ANSWER THE ATTACKS COMING FROM INTERNET VIDEOS DEPICTING THEM AS PERPETRATORS, THEY ACKNOWLEDGE AT THE SAME TIME INTERNET'S POWER. THIS IS EVIDENT, ON ONE SIDE, IN “EXPERT IN PALESTINIAN MEDIA MANIPULATION” RICHARD LANDES TALK TO THE ISRAELI MILITARY’ SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM, IN WHICH HE INCITES THEM TO USE BLOGS TO SPREAD THEIR PERSPECTIVE. ON THE OTHER, THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE POWER OF THE INTERNET BY A STATE RELYING STILL MUCH ON TV IS PERCEIVABLE WHEN, IN THE DW DOCUMENTARY "THE PROPAGANDA FOR UKRAINE", RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS DMITRIY POLYANSKIY INCITES JOURNALISTS TO READ HIS TWITTER PROFILE AND TELEGRAM CHANNEL, IF THEY WANTED THE TRUTH ABOUT BUCHA. 

STILL FROM DW DOCUMENTARY, "THE PROPAGANDA FOR UKRAINE". FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS, LINK MINUTE 32:08

IT GETS INTERESTING, AND PERHAPS NECESSARY, TO ANALYZE THE ISRAELI PROPAGANDA ALSO OVER A RELIGIOUS LENS.

IN THIS SENSE, THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY ONE OF US CAN HELP.

"ONE OF US" DOCUMENTARY OFFICIAL TRAILER

THE MOVIE GIVES THE WORD TO 3 EX-MEMBERS OF THE CHASSIDIC COMMUNITY, WHO DESCRIBES THEIR PAST TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES LINKED TO THEIR RELIGIOUS MEMBERSHIP. IN A SEGMENT, PIECES FROM A VAST MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY INSIDE A NY STADIUM SHOWS PREACHERS RANTING ABOUT THE “CALL OF THE SPIRITUAL LEADERS OF OUR NATION, WHO HAVE RECOGNIZED THE DANGER OF THE INTERNET, THAT THREATENS OUR CONTINUOUS EXISTENCE AS PEOPLE OF THE GOD”.

VIDEO FROM THE 20 MAY, 2012 IN QUEEN'S CITY FIELD STADIUM, NEW YORK. MINUTE: 1:26:31. FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS, THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY LINK, MINUTE 15:12

THIS HARSH REPUDIATION OF THE INTERNET GETS, HOWEVER, IS IN CONTRAST WITH SOME OF THE VOICES NY TIMES JOURNALIST MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM COLLECTED INSIDE ITS ARTICLE OF THAT PERIOD, IN WHICH PARTICIPANTS OF THE EVENT ADMITTED HOW THE INTERNET WAS USEFUL FOR THEIR JOB.

WE STILL TODAY, IN ITALY, HAVE PROBLEMS WITH RECOGNIZING THE AMBIGUITY OF THE FUTURE AS INCOMING IN THE FORMS OF AI CHATGPT, CURRENTLY BLOCKED IN THE COUNTRY BECAUSE OF PRIVACY ISSUES IN ITALY, OR LESS TECHNOLOGICAL BUT STILL ONTOLOGICAL FORMS SUCH AS INSECT FOOD AND SURROGATE MATERNITY.

THE REBECCA STEIN PIECE PROPOSES THEN ITSELF AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHY WE SHOULD, FOLLOWING NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF’S CONCEPTS OF VISION DIFFERENT FROM SIGHT, LOOK AT GOVERNMENTS’ ACTIONS WITH A  PSYCHOLOGICAL LENS, AND NOT JUST WITH EYES.

MEANING, ANALYZE, AND NOT JUST RECEIVE.

WHEN DOING THIS, WE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW IDEALISTIC CLAIMS, SUCH AS THE PALESTINE STATE BEING NATURALLY INCLINED TO LIE, ARE SYMPTOMS OF SOMETHING ELSE, WHICH IS IN THIS CASE THE RECOGNITION BY THE ISRAELI STATE OF THEIR ENEMY ADVANTAGE IN THE FIELD OF INTERNET SHARED VISUAL SOURCES. 

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28.03. READINGS WEEK 10.

THE DW DOCUMENTARY “THE PROPAGANDA WAR FOR UKRAINE” IS A PROPER TOOL TO UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH PEOPLE’S INDOCTRINATION THROUGH VARIOUS CHANNELS IMPACTS THE EASTERN EUROPE CONFLICT, ON BOTH SIDES. 

IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PROLIFERATION, TECHNOLOGY AND ITS CAPABILITY TO REACH THE ENTIRE PLANET GETS USED LIKE A WEAPON. 

RUSSIA ACKNOWLEDGED THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY AS TERRORIST WEAPON DECADES AGO, AS SVITLANA MATVIYENKO EXPLAINS IN HER “NUCLEAR CYBERWAR: FROM ENERGY COLONIALISM TO ENERGY TERRORISM”. IN THIS, SHE POINTS OUT HOW THE RUSSIAN COLONIAL APPROACH TO NUCLEAR ENERGY BASES, MEANING CAPTURING THEM FROM WEAK TERRITORIES, AND ITS TECHNOLOGICAL MODUS OPERANDI SERVED THE COUNTRY TO IMPOSE TERRORIST CONTROL BASED ON FEAR. THIS IS ULTIMATELY VISIBLE IN THE REPRESENTATIONS OF ITS LEADER’S OFFICE, IN WHICH MANY TELEPHONES ARE PORTRAYED ON HIS BACK, REPRESENTING THE SPECTRUM OF NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION.

PRESIDENT'S DESK.

NOWADAYS, TECHNOLOGY NEEDS TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF SOCIAL MEDIA, AND THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT KNOWS THIS. THAT IS WHY WE ARE NOW ACCUSTOMED TO GOVERNMENT MESSAGES IN WHICH THE POWER IS PRESENTED WEARING CASUAL CLOTHES, READING MESSAGES VIA THE FRONTAL CAMERAS OF ITS SMARTPHONES. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SUCH PLATFORMS IS THAT, IN PRINCIPLE, THEY DO NOT SERVE GOVERNMENTS, BUT ORDINARY PEOPLE. IN WAR TIMES, THIS SEGMENT IS REPRESENTED BY SOLDIERS. THEREFORE, WE MAY END UP APPLAUDING A MALE MISOGYNISTIC SOLDIER WHO CAN CONSTRUCT A WELL-ARRANGED VIDEO BETWEEN A CAMPAIGN AND ANOTHER.

FOR AS MUCH A DYSTOPIC REALITY AS THIS MIGHT SEEM, IT IS SO EFFICIENT THAT THE COUNTER SIDE NEEDS TO RECOGNIZE THE POWER OF THIS TOOL. 

WE SEE, THEREFORE, RUSSIAN PRO-REGIME YOUTH GROUPS PAID BY THE GOVERNMENT TO SHARE COMMENTS BELOW OFFICIAL SPEECHES’ POSTS.

RUSSIA’S PROPAGANDA APPROACH IS WAY LESS MODERN THAN ITS UKRAINE COUNTERPART AND IT BUILDS ON THE ONE FROM THAT SOVIET EMPIRE ITS LEADER LOOKS UP TO. IT IS STRUCTURED AROUND A STRONG USAGE OF THE TELEVISION MEDIA, IN WHICH IT IS MANDATORY TO COMMUNICATE POWER. A FIGURE LIKE VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV, WITH HIS AGGRESSIVE LANGUAGE AND MILITAR JACKET, PERFECTLY COMMUNICATES THIS. 

SOLOVYOV UNIFORM.

HOWEVER, AS DISSIMILAR AS THESE TWO COUNTRIES MIGHT SEEM, ONE COULD ARGUE THAT AT THE SAME TIME THEY LOOK VERY MUCH SIMILAR. 

THE MODERNITY APPEAL OF UKRAINE’S ADMINISTRATION LOSES ITS ATTRACTIVENESS, FOR INSTANCE, ONCE IT GETS ATTACHED TO CONTINUOUS DEMANDS FOR WESTERN WEAPONS. 

FOR AS MUCH UNDOUBTED IT IS TO RECOGNIZE THE REQUIREMENT OF THIS MEDIUM IN THE FIRST PART OF THE CONFLICT, IT IS NOW RATIONAL, AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR, TO ADMIT THAT THE FLOW OF WESTERN WEAPONS DID NOT CEASE THE CONFLICT. 

IN THIS SENSE, IT IS SAD TO END UP PUTTING ON THE SAME LEVEL THE INCESSANT RUSSIAN CLAIMS OF THEIR COUNTERPART BEING FASCIST, WITHOUT GIVING REASONS FOR IT, WITH THE REPETITIVE CALL FOR WEAPONS OF THE UKRAINIANS.

IT GETS ALSO UPSETTING TO SEE SUCH A MODERNIST ADMINISTRATION, WHICH IS OPEN TO BEING PHOTOGRAPHED ON THE COVERS OF VOGUE AND HOSTED IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS LIKE THE OSCARS NIGHT, THAT ON THE OTHER HAND STILL BELIEVES IN THE POWER OF WEAPONS TO END CONFLICTS.

“THE COUNTRY MADE OF STEEL”, AS ITS PRESIDENT PUTS IT, DOES NOT PRESENT ITSELF AS TOUGH AS THAT STEEL WHEN IT COMES TO DEMANDING A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION TO THE U.S.

FOR ALL SUCH REASONS, THE DW DOCUMENTARY IS EFFICIENT IN PUTTING INTO QUESTION THE APPARENT FACTS PROPOSED BY THE TWO DEPLOYMENTS ON THEIR DIFFERENT PROPAGANDA CHANNELS.

ONE COMMON EAST AND WEST GOVERNMENTS’ WAY OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA IS TO CLAIM THEY ARE JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE THEY REPRESENT. INDEED, WE HAVE IN ITALY A PRESIDENT WHO SHARES HER PERSONAL NOTES WITH HER FOLLOWERS ON HER ACCOUNTS, AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, HER OPPONENT DRESSING IN UNFORMAL CLOTHES, AND HOSTING PUBLIC TV TALKS.

ITALY'S PRESIDENT CHATTING WITH HER FOLLOWERS VS. RIVAL PARTY' SECRETARY ATTIRE.

IF GOVERNMENTS ARE THE SAME AS THE PEOPLE, WHY ARE SALARIES THAT DIFFERENT? IF GOVERNMENTS ARE THE SAME AS PEOPLE, WHO ARE THE PEOPLE?

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19.03. READINGS WEEK 8

BOTH SUSAN SONTAG AND JUDITH BUTLERS REFLECT ON THE THEME OF WAR, THE FIRST FOCUSING ON ITS VISUAL REPRESENTATION, AND THE SECOND ON ITS ANTHROPOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE. BOTH SOURCES THEN CONCENTRATE ON THE EMPIRICAL MODERN THEORIES BEHIND WAR, MEANING THE PUBLIC AND THE MEDIA’S COMPULSIVE DISTRIBUTION OF HEARTRENDING IMAGES AND THE FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE OF WAR, WHICH LIES IN CONSIDERING ONE’S LIFE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANOTHER ONE. 

VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF WAR EXIST SINCE ALWAYS. SONTAG STARTS FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BETWEEN 1914 AND 1918, HIGHLIGHTING THEIR RECURRENT THEMES SUCH AS THE LAND BEING TORN DOWN BY BOMBINGS. THIS A THEME THAT WE CAN TRACE TODAY EITHER IN VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF WAR ZONES, SUCH AS JOURNALIST FRANCESCA MANNOCHI’S REPORTAGES, OR IN THE STAGING OF WAR'S AMBIANCE. PECULIAR IS, IN THIS SENSE, TO LOOK AT BALENCIAGA’ SS23 SHOW SETTING ARRANGED BY VISUAL ARTIST SANTIAGO SIERRA. THE SHOW’S POST-APOCALYPTIC EMPHASIS GREATLY MERGES THEN WITH SIERRA’S MUD ENVIRONMENT.

ON THE LEFT: IMAGE FROM FIRST WORLD WAR; ON THE RIGHT, ABOVE: IMAGE FRM FRANCESCA MANNOCCHI’S REPORT FROM UKRAINE; ON THE RIGHT, BELOW: SANTIAGO SIERRA, HOUSE IN THE MUD, KESTNERGESELLSCHAFT, HANNOVER, 2005.

WAR, INDEED, CAUSES DAMAGE ALSO INTERNALLY. ARTISTS’ LIVES AND THEIR REACTIONS TO WAR MAY HELP US IN UNDERSTANDING THIS, AND THEREFORE, FIGURES LIKE PIET MONDRIAN AND JOSEPH BEUYS ARE WORTH DISCUSSING. WITH BROADLY DIFFERENT PRODUCTIONS, RESULTING FROM THE TWO BEING SUBJECTED TO TWO DIFFERENT WORLD WARS, WORKS SUCH AS 1930 MONDRIAN’S COMPOSITION WITH RED, BLUE AND YELLOW AND 1985 BEUYS PLIGHT’S INSTALLATION AT MUSEUM POMPIDOU SPEAK OF WAR’S CONSEQUENCES DIFFERENTLY THAN WHAT THE PUBLIC IS ACCUSTOMED TO. 

ON THE LEFT: PIET MONDRIAN, COMPOSITION WITH RED, BLUE AND YELLOW, KUNSTHAUS, ZURICH, 1930; ON THE RIGHT: JOSEPH BEUYS, PHLIGHT, MUSEE POMPIDOU, PARIS, 1985.

THE IMAGE ON THE LEFT THEN IS THE RESULT OF MONDRIAN’S ACCOUNT OF EUROPE AS PROGRESSING DECADENTLY. THE CONSEQUENCE IS A RETURN TO BASIC GEOMETRIC FORMS, ARRANGED IN AN EXQUISITE AND IDEAL FORM. 

ON A MORE INTIMATE LEVEL, THE RELATIONSHIP OF JOSEPH BEUYS WITH FELT MILITARY BLANKET TAKES FORM IN THE INSTALLATION ON THE RIGHT. THE ARTIST PARTICIPATED DURING SECOND WORLD WAR AS A NAZI GERMAN AVIATOR. ON MARCH 1944, AN ACCIDENT LEAVES HIM MORIBUND IN THE CRIMEA REGION’S WINTER. THERE, LEGEND SAYS HE WILL BE CURED BY TATARS NOMADS, WHO WRAP HIM IN FELT MILITARY BLANKETS. THIS EXPERIENCE AWAKES THE ARTISTS, WHO THEN DISPLAY THE AMBIVALENCE OF SOLITUDE AND SHELTER HE FELT DURING THAT EXPERIENCE IN THIS INSTALLATION. A PIANO’ POTENTIAL SOUND GETS NULLIFIED INSIDE A SOUNDPROOFED ROOM, SURROUNDED BY FELT.

STILL TALKING ABOUT THE DEPICTION OF WAR, SONTAG POINTS OUT A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STAGED AND UN-STAGED PHOTOGRAPHS. THE SCHOLAR CLAIMS THAT WHEN DESCRIBING WARZONES, HAVING AN UNPREDICTABLE AND INARTIFICIAL DEPICTION RENDERS BETTER. IF WE LOOK AT PHOTOGRAPHY AS A VISUAL FORM OF REPRESENTATION EVOLVING FROM PAINTINGS, FOCUSING OUR ATTENTION ON SUCH VISUAL SOURCES MAKES SENSE. THEREFORE, A POWERFUL EXAMPLE OF NATURAL VS. THEATRICAL STAGING OF WAR ZONES CAN BE FOUND WHEN LOOKING AT AND UN ONE LOOKS AT PHOTOGRAPHY AS A FORM OF REPRESENTATION WHICH HAS DEVELOPED FROM OTHERS, 12.000 B.C LIBYA TADRART ACACUS REGION’S CAVE PAINTINGS AND ANTOINE JEAN GROS’ BATTLE OF NAZARETH, 1801.

ON THE LEFT: 12.000 B.C CAVE PAINTINGS FROM LIBYA, TADRART ACACUS REGION; ON THE RIGHT: ANTOINE JEAN GROS, BATTLE OF NAZARETH, MUSEE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE NANTES, NANTES, 1801.

IN BOTH IMAGES THE VIEWER ASSISTS IN A BATTLE. HOWEVER, IN THE LEFT IMAGE, SUBJECTS ARE VISIBLE AND COMPREHENSIBLE. THERE IS THE PRESENCE OF NATURAL ELEMENTS, SUCH AS MEN, ANIMALS, ROCKS, AND WEAPONS MADE OUT OF WOOD. BY LOOKING, INSTEAD, AT THE RIGHT IMAGE, WHAT WE PERCEIVE IS PURE CHAOS. DESPITE THE PAINTING’S MODERNITY WHEN COMPARED WITH THE CAVE PAINTINGS ON THE LEFT,  WE DO NOT SEE MUCH-CIVILIZED BEHAVIOR, TO THE POINT WHERE THE PRIMITIVE PICTURE LOOKS MORE RATIONAL IN ITS NATURALITY. 

GAINING A PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAR’S QUESTION IS DIFFICULT. AS AN ENTITY THAT CANCELS ALL THAT CAME BEFORE, WAR LEAVES US WITHOUT KNOWING WHICH DIRECTION WE SHOULD HEAD. JUDITH BUTLER PROPOSES UNEQUIVOCALLY THE POINT THAT WE CAN ADVOCATE WAR AS IRRATIONAL SINCE IT PRESUPPOSES A DIFFERENCE IN HUMAN LIFE. WHEN A STATE, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PEOPLE, DECIDES THAT FOR ITS SAFETY OTHER PEOPLE NEED TO DIE, IT UPHOLDS THAT THOSE WHO WILL DIE ARE WORSE THAN THOSE WHO WILL SURVIVE. BUTLER ARGUES THIS SINCE WE WILL ALL DIE ONE DAY, SO ALL OUR LIVES ARE PRECARIOUS IN THE SAME SENSE, AND WE SHOULD NOT DIFFERENTIATE THEM PROVOKING DEATHS AND DESTRUCTION. IN LIGHT OF THIS, LOOKING AT BOB DYLAN’ SONG MASTERS OF WAR LEAVES US WITH DOUBTS. IN THE SONG, DYLAN GOES STRAIGHT TOWARD THOSE WHO HAVE INSTIGATED WAR, CONDEMNING THEM TO DEATH. WOULDN’T SUCH A VIEW GET US ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE MASTERS?

ULTIMATELY, ISSUING A REFLECTION ON WAR FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF THOSE WHO DID NOT PERCEIVE IT IS CRUCIAL. AS NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF ADVOCATES WHEN DESCRIBING BLM PROTESTS’ AMBITIONS, ONLY WHEN ALL THE SUBJECTED MINORITIES WILL BE FREE THE WORLD WOULD BE DEFINED AS SUCH.

IN THIS SENSE, AN ARTWORK LIKE THE FOLLOWING ONE MIGHT BE DEFINED AS MILITANT FOR THESE CAUSES.

THE WORK, BEING SHOWN DURING SPRING 2022 -MONTHS AHEAD OF THE UKRAINE INVASION- JOHN CABOT ART&DESIGN FINAL EXHIBITION’S, PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC OF ROME’S ORTO BOTANICO A SCULPTURE MADE OUT OF BLACK CLOTHES. THE CLOTHES ARE SUSPENDED AND ARRANGED IN A BUSTLING SOOTHING FORM. BY PRESENTING THE MUNDANE PUBLIC EVERYDAY CLOTHES ARRANGED IN A VIOLENT AND MASSIVE FORM, THE PIECE WANTS THE PUBLIC TO RECOGNIZE WAR INSTANCES AS AN IMPELLING CLAUSE.

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13.03. READINGS WEEK 7

THE TWO MAJOR CONCEPTS THE READER GETS FROM READING PHILOSOPHER ACHILLE MBEMBE’S ESSAY ON NECROPOLITICS AND HIS INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK THE BECOMING BLACK OF THE WORLD REGARD TWO TERMS COINED BY THE SCHOLAR, NAMELY “NECROPOLITICS” AND “NECROPOWER”. THE FIRST CREATES A PARALLEL BETWEEN GOVERNMENTS AND PARTS OF THE POPULATION CONSTRICT TO DEATH. THE SECOND, INSTEAD, DESCRIBES A CURRENT SOCIETY ENSLAVED AT EVERY LEVEL TO TECHNOLOGICAL CORPORATIONS. BOTH ARE PROMINENT CLAIMS IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES FROM A NON-WESTERN PHILOSOPHER UNSATISFIED WITH AN IDEA OF SOVEREIGNTY BASED ON RATIONALISM. HIS LIFE EXPERIENCES AND STUDIES SERVE THEREFORE TO SUGGEST HOW LOTS OF CONTEMPORARY INSTANCES DO NOT FEEL VERY RATIONAL. I WILL NOW EXPLAIN THE TWO CONCEPTS IN DEPTH, USING MBEMBE EXAMPLES AND PROVIDING NEW ONES.

ACHILLE MBEMBE BUILDS HIS CLAIM ON THE WORK OF TWO OTHER MAJOR MODERN PHILOSOPHY SOURCES: THE ITALIAN GIORGIO AGAMBEN'S IDEA OF “STATES OF EXCEPTIONS” AND THE FRENCH MICHELE FOUCAULT’S CONCEPT OF “BIOPOWER”. 

STATES OF EXCEPTION, IN AGAMBEN’S IDEA, ARE LEGALIZED SPACES INSIDE NEO-LIBERAL COUNTRIES WHERE THE LAW DOES NOT APPLY FOR MAJOR OTHER PURPOSES. A MAJOR EXAMPLE OF THIS IS CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN NAZI GERMANY, IN WHICH PEOPLE WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH AND DETAINED IN AWFUL HUMAN CONDITIONS BECAUSE THEIR RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL STATUS DO NOT ALIGN WITH THE GERMAN REGIME’S IDEA OF PROPER CITIZENS. 

AN INTERESTING TAKE OF THIS, NOT DESCRIBED IN THE TEXTS, IS AGAMBEN APPLYING THIS CONCEPT TO THE 2020 LOCKDOWN PERIOD, WHEN MAJOR WESTERN GOVERNMENTS OBLIGED PEOPLE TO REMAIN AT HOME IN AN ATTEMPT OF ARRESTING THE SPREAD OF THE COVID-19 VIRUS. A POSITION GIORGIO AGAMBEN AND HIS COLLEAGUE MASSIMO CACCIARI WILL JUDGE AS RE-AFFIRMED WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF GREEN PASSES, CERTIFICATES WHICH WOULD ATTEST CITIZEN’S VACCINATION TO THE VIRUS IN ORDER TO ACCESS SOCIAL EVENTS. THE SCHOLARS BELIEVE THIS WAS A PRETEXT OF NEO-LIBERAL WESTERN STATES TO USE A HEALTH EMERGENCY TO IMPOSE CONTROL OVER PEOPLE. ACHILLE MBEMBE WILL THEN IN PART ALIGN TO THESE POSITIONS IN ITS ARTICLE “THE UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO BREATH”.

MICHELE FOUCAULT’S IDEA OF “BIOPOWER”, INSTEAD, CONDEMNS THE DOMAIN OF LIFE, INTENDED AS HUMAN BODIES, OVER WHICH THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CONTROL. AN APPLICATION OF THIS IS ABORTION REGULATIONS, WHEN GOVERNMENTS DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT AND IN WHAT WAY A WOMAN SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF TAKING DECISIONS OVER HER PREGNANCY. IN THE SAME WAY GO REGULATIONS OVER EUTHANASIA, MEANING THE INTENTION OF CITIZENS IN WORSE HEALTH CONDITIONS TO END THEIR LIFE. 

ACHILLE MBEMBE PAUSES A DOUBT OVER THE RATIONALITY OF THESE ISSUES, ALL GRANTED BY LAW. THEREFORE, HE BUILDS HIS CONCEPTION OF NECROPOLITICS AND NECROPOWER, ACTIVELY BLAMING GOVERNMENTS TO PERSUADE POLITICS WHICH CAUSES PEOPLE’S DEATH. 

MIGRANTS' SHIPWRECKS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA CAN BE USED TO SUSTAIN MBEMBE’S CLAIM. BUILDING ON THIS, THE 26 FEBRUARY CUTRO SERVES AS AN EXAMPLE OF BOTH NECROPOLITIC AND NECROPOWER. ON THAT DAY, A SHIP CONTAINING APPROXIMATELY 120 PEOPLE WRECKS OVER THE COASTS OF CALABRIA, IN SOUTH ITALY. INVESTIGATIONS ARE NOW TAKING PLACE OVER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT FOR THE DEATH OF ALMOST 80 PEOPLE AMONG WHICH 12 WERE CHILDREN. THE CHARGE ACCUSES THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT OF OMITTING AID AFTER KNOWING ABOUT THE SITUATION THROUGH ONG. REPORTS. THIS ISSUE THEN DOES NOT ONLY ATTEST TO A GOVERNMENT AS ACTIVELY PURSUING, OR DENYING PURSUING, ACTIONS THAT CAUSE THE DEATH OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN. AT THE SAME TIME STAND AS AN EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPORARY ’ENSLAVEMENT TO TECHNOLOGY, WHICH ATTESTS AS THE ONLY METHOD BOTH TO SIGNAL DANGER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA THEN AS A TOOL TO USE TO RESCUE PEOPLE.  

-IMAGE FROM ONG SEA WATCH' SEA BIRD PLANE, PORTRAYING ANOTHER MIGRANTS' SHIP SANK ON LYBIAN COASTS ON 12 MARCH 2023. LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER CUTRO'S MASSACRE. AGAIN, A CALL FOR RESCUE TO THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WAS DONE AND NO ACTIONS WERE TAKEN.

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21.02. READINGS WEEK 5

For will is never quenched unless it will,

But operates as nature doth in fire,

If violence a thousand times distort it.

Hence, if it yieldeth more or ,less, it seconds

The force; and these have done so, having power

Of turning back unto the holy place.

if their will had been perfect, (like to that…)

It would have urged them back along the road

Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free;

But such a solid will is all too rare.

(Paradise, IV, 76-88)

And Whensoever the desires mount thither,

Thus deviating, must perforce the rays 

Of the true love less vividly mount upward

(Paradise, VI, 115)

DANTE MEETING PICCARDA DONATI - GUSTAVE DORE

WHILE ENTERING THE PARADISE, IN THE IV CHANT, DANTE MEETS PICCARDA DONATI. 

PICCARDA, XIII CENT. DAME, HAS BEEN OBLIGED BY HER BROTHER TO MARRY A RICH MAN, DESPITE HER WILL TO LIVE IN A CONVENT. SHE IS A MARTYR, BUT SHE RESIDES IN THE FIRST SPHERE OF THE HEAVEN.

THIS MEANS, SHE IS ATTRIBUTED WITH FEWER MERITS THAN THE SOULS IN THE OTHER SPHERES, EVEN THOUGH IN HEAVEN NO SPIRIT IS JEALOUS OF EACH OTHER POSITION.

DANTE WONDERS WHY AND CALLS FOR HIS COMPANION BEATRICE’S HELP.

BEATRICE ADDRESSES THEN HOW PICCARDA BECAME THE ACCESSORY OF THAT VIOLENCE SHE SUFFERED, ONCE SHE ACCEPTED IT AS A CONDITION OF HER LIFE. 

THIS THEME IS ALSO RE-AFFIRMED BY JUSTINIAN IN THE VI CHANT.

THE EMPEROR EXPLAINS THAT FOR AS MANY INTENTIONS MIGHT BE VIRTUOUS, ONCE HUMANS’ DESIRES ARE DIRECTED TOWARDS EARTHLY MORALITY, THEY ARE LESS RESEARCHING GOD’S LOVE. 

TO ANSWER MILITANTLY TOWARDS FORMS OF VIOLENCE IS WHAT NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF ASKS IN HIS APPEARANCE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER.

HE CONCENTRATES HIS ANALYSIS ON AMERICA’ STREET VIOLENCE, BY POINTING OUT WHAT HE DEFINES AS THE “SPACES OF APPEARANCES”.

BY THESE, THE WRITER REFERS TO ALL THE TIMES PEOPLE WHO HAVE FRACTURED THE CONTROLLED SYSTEM.

THE SCHOLAR ESPECIALLY DESCANTS ON BLACKLIVESMATTER’S RESPONSES TO WHITE SUPREMACY, A SYSTEM THAT HE IDENTIFIES AS IMPLICIT IN THE LAND WE CALL AMERICA.

THIS CLAIM CAN BE PROVEN BY THE DISTRESSING UN-COUNTLESS DEATHS OF BLACK PEOPLE REPORTED BY MIRZOEFF WHEN HE POINTS OUT THE METHODS THE BLM GROUP USED TO REMEMBER THEM.

AMONG THESE, EXAMPLES SUCH AS THE 2016 OAKLAND BRIDGE ACTION AND 2017 ONE AT TRUMP’S INAUGURATION STAND OUT AS STIMULATING AND EFFECTIVE. 

HERE, ACTIVISTS SHOWED UP UNITED IN CHAINS, IN A POWERFUL REFERENCE TO A SLAVERY STATE. TO CEASE THE ACTION, POLICE NEEDED TO CUT THE CHAINS. MEANING, THEY NEEDED TO FREE THEM. THEORETICALLY

SLAVERY. A CONDITION THAT NEVER ENDED. A CONTEMPORARY DISEASE, THAT GENERATES THE 2014 ACTION “DIE IN”, AT NYC GRAND CENTRAL STATION. 

REMINISCENT OF KOUNELLIS’ USAGE OF COATS DURING HIS 2019 FONDAZIONE PRADA’ SHOW, OR MORE SO OF PISTOLETTO’S VENUS OF THE RAGS, THE VIEWER ASSISTS IN THE PERFORMATIVE ACT OF LIVING CREATURES CLAIMING THEIR STATE OF LIVING DEATH. 

JANNIS KOUNELLIS - UNTITLED; 

BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTEST "DIE IN" - NYC GRAND CENTRAL STATION, 2014

MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO - VENUS OF THE RAGS, 1967

BUT, FOR EVERY ACTION ARISES AN OPPOSITE AND EQUAL REACTION, AS NEWTON THIRD DYNAMIC’S PRINCIPLE SUGGESTS, THE POLICE DID ANSWER.

MIRZOEFF SHOWS THEN THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT HE DEFINES, IN OPPOSITION TO THE SPACES OF APPEARANCE, THOSE OF “NON-APPEARANCE”. MEANING, THE ONES WHERE THE POLICE’S ORDER IS REAFFIRMED THROUGH VIOLENCE.

DITCHES WHERE POWER OPERATES BY COUNTER-USING THE SAME TOOL THE SCHOLAR PUTS AT THE BASIS OF ACTIVISTS RECLAIMING THEIR VOICE: VISUAL MEDIA.

BY MANIPULATING SURVEILLANCE AND BODY CAMERAS, BY TAKING TO COURT ELABORATED VERSIONS OF THE IMAGES THAT WOULD,  PERHAPS, INCRIMINATE THE RESPONSIBLE, POLICE ACTS ACCORDING TO PRIMO LEVI’ “I SOMMERSI E I SALVATI” FIRST CHAPTER. 

HERE, LEVI TAKES INTO CONSIDERATION HOW MEMORY IS FALLACIOUS. FROM THIS, HE POINTS OUT HOW MANY OPPRESSORS DID ACCOUNT FOR THIS PRINCIPLE TO INVENT THEIR TRUTH, JUSTIFYING THEIR GUILT AS BRAVADO. 

HE IS THINKING OF THE NAZI’S RESPONSES DURING NUREMBERG TRIALS. MIRZOEFF THINKS OF POLICE, AND TRIAL COURTS, AS WAYS TO REMAIN IN POWER. I AM THINKING OF A GOVERNMENT WHICH DOES NOT ALLEGES AS A “AZIONE SQUADRISTA”, MEANING PROPER OF A FASCIST GROUP, THE BEATING OF YOUNG LEFT-WING ACTIVISTS BY ADULTS BELONGING TO FAR-RIGHT GROUPS. MAINLY BECAUSE, AS THE U.S. COURT JUSTIFIES THAT ORGANIZATION SUBORDINATED TO THEM IN CONTROLLING THE STREETS, THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT IS JUSTIFYING ONE OF ITS COORDINATE CLAUSES: FASCIST GROUPS.

BY JUXTAPOSING DANTE’S MORALITY WITH BLM GROUP’ S RECLAIMING VOICE, ONE COULD SAY THEY ARE ACTING LIKE PICCARDA. THAT VIOLENT ACTIONS FROM ONE SIDE GENERATE VIOLENT REACTIONS, AND THAT THIS DOES NOT ACT EFFECTIVELY IN GENERATING PEACE.

THIS, HOWEVER, MIGHT BE ONLY PARTIALLY RIGHT. FOR ALL THE BLM’ SPACES OF APPEARANCE ACT, AS MIRZOEFF POINTS OUT, TO LET WE THE WEST UNDERSTAND WE NEED TO PAY OUR MORAL DEBT IN THE MATTER OF COLONIALISM. AND, AS THE BLM AGENDA POINTS OUT, THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS IS THROUGH EDUCATION. ACKNOWLEDGING THAT LETTING BLACK PEOPLE’S LIVES REST FREE IS ONE STEP IN FREEING THE ENTIRE MICROCOSM. 

EDUCATION IS THE ELEMENT THE FAMBUL TOK GROUP USED TO RECONCILE SIERRA LEONE TRIBES, WHERE POWER WAS IN THE HANDS OF WAR RESENTMENT, AS THIS REPORTAGE BY THE ITALIAN TV PROGRAM PRESADIRETTA PROVES. 

IN THIS, WE SEE VILLAGES REUNITED IN PEACE AROUND A SPIRITUAL FIRE, AFTER BROTHERS HAVE COLLABORATED WITH GUERRILLA GROUPS WHO TORTURED THEIR SISTERS. WE SEE ALL THE BRUTALITY OF WAR ACCOUNTED IN FILES COMPELLED IN THE “TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION” 'S BUILDINGS.

EDUCATION IS THEREFORE WHAT A PROPER PACIFIST ASSEMBLY SHOULD DEMAND TO FINALLY CEASE THE UKRAINIAN CONFLICT.

TO CEASE OUR ACTING IN THE SAME MANNER FRANCO BATTIATO SANG IN 1980' SONG "VENEZIA-ISTANBUL":

"e perché il sol dell'avvenire splenda ancora sulla terra

facciamo un po' di largo con un'altra guerra"

(IN ORDER TO STILL LET THE RISING SUN SHINE ON THE EARTH, WE GET OUT OF THE WAY WITH ANOTHER WAR)

FRANCO BATTIATO - VENEZIA ISTANBUL, 1982 (LIVE AT ARENA DI VERONA)

[32310305]

12.02. READINGS WEEK 4

Born green we were

to this flawed garden, 

but in speckled thickets, warted as a toad,

spitefully skulks our warden;

fixing his snare

which hauls down buck, cock, trout, till all most fair

is tricked to faulter in split blood.

Now our whole task’s to hack 

some angel-shape worth wearing

from his crabbed midden where all’s wrought so awry

that no straight inquiring

could unlock

shrewd catch silting our reach bright act back

to unmade mud cloked by sour sky

FIRESONG, SYLVIA PLATH

SOMETIMES, TO - HACK SOME ANGEL SHAPE WORTH WEARING - DOES NOT COME EASY.

THE DIFFICULTIES ARISES WHEN WE ANALYZE WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATION OF OUR WARDEN BEING SKULKED IN VISION CULTURE, SPITEFULLY SHAPING HISTORY’S NARRATIVE.

FOR OUR WARDEN BEING THE POWER, BUT IN SOME CASES, FOR OUR WARDEN BEING OUR ANCESTORS.

OUR PEERS. THEREFORE, US TOO.

IN DISCUSSING THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THE U.S. LOYALTY TO THE SECOND AMENDMENT, MEANING THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, ELSA DORLIN CONJUNCTS IT TO JOHN LOCKE’S PRINCIPLE OF SELF-PRESERVATION, BY WHICH WE ARE ALL ENTITLED TO PRESERVE OUR EXISTENCE.

IN THIS, LOCKE POSES 4 IMMUTABLE PRINCIPLES, EQUAL TO US ALL:

LIFE, SECURITY, FREEDOM, PROPERTY.

THESE WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO SELF-PRESERVATION, MEANING FULFILLMENT.

BUT FOR AS MUCH AS THIS CONCEPTION PLACES ITSELF IN CONTRADICTION WITH THE 17TH-CENTURY NOTION OF A KING’S DIVINE RIGHT, BY READING DORLIN WE UNDERSTAND THAT WHAT IT CREATES IS IN FACT INEQUALITY.

WHAT IF I FEEL MORE FREE AND SECURE IN CONTRAPOSING MY LIFE TO SOMEBODY ELSE’S?

ELSA DORLIN RIGHTLY POINTS OUT, ALSO, HOW THE PRINCIPLE OF SELF-PRESERVATION, MERGED WITH THE INSEPARABILITY OF HUMAN AND THEIR PROPERTY, HAS RESONATED IN THE CREATION OF VIGILANTISM.

BY LOOKING AT 19TH-CENTURY SELF-ORGANIZED GROUPS OF VIGILANTES, COMMONLY UNITED IN THE DEFENSE OF PROPERTY THROUGH THE USE OF GUNS, AND BY THINKING AT CHARLES LYNCH’S VIGILANTES GROUP EXAMPLE, GRANTED BY LEGISLATORS, WE THEN UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS THAT NOWADAYS MAKE POSSIBLE THE ABSOLUTION OF BLACK PEOPLE'S KILLERS.

IN THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE HOW THIS WAS ALL MADE POSSIBLE BOTH THROUGH THE HELP OF POWER, BUT IN THIS, BY AN ENTIRE SOCIETY THAT AGREES WITH IT.

FOR IF THE NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF’S IDEA OF POWER IS HERE REPRESENTED BOTH BY VIGILANTISMS GROUPS AND GOVERNMENTS WHO ALLOWED THEM TO WORK AT THEIR PLACE, WE PEOPLE ARE TO BLAME TOO.

THIS IS PROMINENTLY AFFIRMED BY ELSA DORLIN, WHEN SHE BLAMES 20TH-CENTURY WOMEN FEMINISTS, WHO ARE GUILTY OF GRASPING A SOCIAL STATUS IN A SANCTIMONIOUS MANNER. WHICH IS, TO DENOUNCE RAPE AS A CHALLENGE TO THEIR WHITE PURENESS. AND BY DOING SO, THEY FORGOT ABOUT THEIR BLACK SISTERS, WHO WERE THE ONES MORE AFFECTED BY SUCH HORRORS.

AND, MORE SO, THIS IS RIGHTLY REPRESENTED BY THE 1916’S JESSE WASHINGTON EXAMPLE; THE LYNCHING OF A 17-YEAR-OLD BOY WHOSE BODY PIECES WERE SOLD TO THE PUBLIC AS SOUVENIRS.

THEREFORE, WHEN WE TRY TO RECONNECT ALL AS THE BASE FOR THE JUSTIFICATION OF OUR DAYS’ RACIAL ACTS, THIS ADMISSION MUST COME FORWARD.

THAT FOR AS MUCH AS THE POWER DID SEE REALITY VIA THE HOLES OF A KKK'S MASKS, BY PUTTING FORWARD A MIRZOEFF’ SIGHT-WAY OF SEEING, INSTEAD OF PSYCHOLOGICALLY VISIONING IT, WE ALL ARE THE ONES WHO WERE SEWING KKK’S COSTUMES. 

BY READING DORLIN’S OVERVIEW OF WHITE SUPREMACY’S DEVELOPMENT, WE THEN UNDERSTAND JUDITH BUTLER’S CLAIMS ON RODNEY KING’S CASE.

IN PARTICULAR, SHE BUILDS ON THE CAUSES OF THE ABSOLUTION OF THOSE AGENTS WHO, AS A VIDEO RECORDED BY A CITIZEN CLEARLY SHOWS, HAVE BEATEN KING ALMOST TO DEATH, AFTER HE WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE THEM.

BUTLER POINTS OUT HOW THE ENTIRE CASE HAS BEEN SEEN VIA A RACIAL LENS. SHE BRINGS UP, THEN, INSTANCES LIKE THE USAGE OF VIDEO’ STILLS TO CLAIM THAT KING WAS TRYING TO ASSAULT THE GUARDS.

IN THIS, AN HISTORICAL PERCEPTION OF THE BLACK BODY AS DANGEROUS AND POSSESSING VIOLENT CHARACTERISTICS IS WHAT ADVOCATES VIOLENCE AGAINST HIM.

SINCE EVERY VIOLENCE IS JUSTIFIABLE WHEN IT COMES FROM US ENACTING OUR PRINCIPLE OF SELF-PRESERVATION.

IN KING'S ISSUE, ONE ELEMENT THAT JUMPS OUT IS THE CITIZEN VIDEOTAPING POLICE BRUTALITY.

MIGHT THE CAMERA DEPICTING THE EVENT BE THAT ANGEL-SHAPED SYLVIA PLATH WANTS US TO HACK?

WE KNOW THIS IS OUR TASK, TO CONTINUE THE STEPS TOWARDS UNSEATING THE WARDEN. 

BUT SOMETIMES, WHEN WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT OUR BRIGHT ACTS ARE CONCEALED UNDER A SOUR SKY,

WE END UP UNDERSTANDING PLATH,

AND INSTEAD OF HACKING, WE JUST WANT TO REPAIR OURSELVES FROM ALL THIS CRABBED MIDDEN.

SYLVIA PLATH

[32310305]

06.02. READINGS WEEK 3

LEAKED IMAGES FROM ABU GHRAIB.

WHAT IS THE FIRST REACTION THESE IMAGES PROVOKE?

CONTRACTED FACE MUSCLES. DISCONCERT. 

DESPITE THE CONTEXT BEHIND THE PICTURES, IT IS FAIR TO ASSUME THEY DO NOT CAUSE THE SAME REACTION AS AN IMAGE OF A DUCK.

THIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT PER SE IS ENOUGH TO MAKE IRRELEVANT THE CLAIMS OF FORMER PRIVATE LYNDDIE ENGLAND. 

4 YEARS AFTER BEING ACCUSED AS A WAR CRIMINAL OVER THE RIGHT IMAGE ABOVE, THAT SHOWS HER TORTURING PRISONERS IN IRAQ’S SITE ABU GHRAIB, ENGLAND BLAMES THE MEDIA. IN 2008 SHE TELLS, IN FACT, TO GERMAN’S NEWSPAPER “STERN” THAT IF THE PICTURES WOULDN’T BE SHARED, FOR SURE IRAQIS WOULD NOT REBEL AS MUCH AS THEY DID AND MANY SOLDIERS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE.

-BELOW IS AN EXTRACT FROM THE INTERVIEW-

EXTRACTS FROM LYNDDIE ENGLAND INTERVIEW, 2008

THIS RESPONSE STANDS ALONE IN SHOWING THE VALIDITY OF NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF’S ARGUMENT WHEN HE CLAIMS THAT THE PICTURES FROM ABU GHRAIB, THAT COULD HAVE REDUCED GOVERNMENT’S INFLUENCE ON THE PUBLIC, HAVE CAUSED THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

PRIVATE ENGLAND’S RESPONSES ARE HERE TO SHOW US HOW WAR’S PSYCHE CHANGES SOLDIERS' ATTITUDES, MAKING THEM DIRECT THEIR GAZE ONLY AT THE MOTHERLAND’S BENEFIT. 

IN THIS, ABU GHRAIB’S PICTURES, AS SUSAN SONTAG POINTS OUT, CEASE IN BEING CONCRETE ENTITIES. THEY TURN INTO MEANS TO COMMUNICATE THAT SAME "SOLDIER BROTHERHOOD'S RELATIONSHIP" THE CORPORAL TIMOTHY UPHAM WAS RESEARCHING IN SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

THIS PHENOMENON OF WORSHIPPING THE MOTHERLAND, THAT EUROPE USED TO RECOGNIZE IN THE FAR UNITED STATES, IS RIGHT NOW MORE THAN EVIDENT IN EUROPE ITSELF.

SPECIFICALLY, WE MIGHT NOTICE A SIMILAR PATTERN BETWEEN THE 2003 EVENTS OF ABU GHRAIB AND THE 2020 ONES OF SANTA MARIA CAPUA VETERE’S PRISON, IN ITALY. 

JUST LAST YEAR, THE ITALIAN NEWSPAPER DOMANI PUBLISHED A VIDEO SHOWING POLICE HEALING PRISONERS' PROTESTS USING METHODS THAT, IF ON ONE HAND DO NOT RECALL THE REPUGNANT TORTURE PERPETRATED BY U.S. SOLDIERS, ON THE OTHER DO BLINK AN EYE TO AN HISTORICAL, ALL ITALIAN, FASCISM CORPORAL PUNISHMENTS.

AFTER THE VIDEO, AS FOR ITS U.S. COUNTERPART, AMONG THE COUNTRY HOMELAND' SAVIORS STARTED TO COME OUT. PECULIAR IS, IN THIS SENSE, TO COMPARE TWO FIGURES SUCH AS RADIO HOST RUSH LIMBAUGH, WHO CLAIMED HOW ABU GHRAIB’S ACTIONS WERE SIMILAR TO THE GREEK LETTERS ASSOCIATIONS' INITIATIONS RITES AND THEREFORE NOT WORTH OF SUCH ATTENTION, AND ANDREA DELMASTRO DELLE VEDOVE, NOW ITALY’S JUSTICE UNDERSECRETARY, WHO RIGHT AFTER SANTA MARIA CAPUA VETERE’S EVENTS CAME RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE PRISON IN DEFENSE OF THE "STATE’ SERVANTS IN UNIFORM", WHICH WE CAN SEE IN THIS VIDEO.

THESE TWO EVENTS, AND CORRESPONDING KEY FIGURES, ARE THE RESULTS OF A COMMON IDEOLOGY THAT SEES THE CENTRAL STATE POWER AS AN INDISPUTABLE WINNER OF A WAR THAT, INDEED, CAUSES VICTIMS.

BOTH SUSAN SONTAG AND NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF AGREE, IN FACT, IN THINKING THAT ABU GHRAIB PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ALSO THE EVIDENCE OF A SPECIFIC IDEA BEHIND THE PRISONERS. MEANING, TO THINK OF THEM AS CREATURES WITHOUT ANY RIGHTS.

BOTH SCHOLARS THEN IDENTIFY A SIMILAR HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THOSE OF EARLY 20TH-CENTURY LYNCHINGS. IN THIS, MIRZOEFF REMAINS UNCERTAIN, SINCE THE IRAQ’S PICTURES WERE NOT MEANT FOR SUCH A WIDESPREAD PUBLIC AS LYNCHINGS PUBLIC EVENTS WERE.

HOWEVER, ONE CAN FIND A COMMON THREAD THAT UNIFIES THESE TWO, AND MORE, EVENTS IN THE IDEA OF USING THE INFERIOR TO COMMUNICATE A STATE OF POWER.

WE HAVE THEREFORE IRAQIS BEING TORTURED TO REPRESENT U.S. DOMINANCE. LYNCHINGS ON BLACK COMMUNITIES TO REPRESENT WHITE SUPREMACY. BUT WE HAVE ALSO POLITICIANS WHO BELIEVE THAT BLOCKING MIGRANTS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, WITHOUT LETTING THEM LAND, HAS THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF REDUCING THE DEATHS OF THOSE WHO TRY THE FEAT. THE IMAGE BELOW EXEMPLIFIES THIS.

-AT THE POPULAR ITALIAN TV SHOW "PORTA A PORTA", FORMER ITALIAN MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR MATTEO SALVINI SHOWS A POSTER THAT ADDRESSES HOW "SEA DEATHS" MIGHT HAVE DECREASED DURING HIS MANDATE. HE REFERS TO MIGRANTS DYING WHILE APPROACHING ITALIAN COSTS-

AND WE HAVE ALSO, IN THE LASTS DAYS, ITALY DEBATING OVER IF IT MIGHT BE RIGHT OR NOT TO STARE AT A PRISONER DYING OF HUNGER.

ANARCHIST PRISONER ALFREDO COSPITO IS RIGHT NOW, 6 FEBRUARY 2023, ON HIS 109TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE. COSPITO IS PROTESTING OVER HIS FORM OF DETENTION, WHICH WANTS HIM ISOLATED IN A SINGLE CELL WHERE HE GETS ACCESS ONLY TO HIS BED AND SERVICES. NO COMMUNICATION ALLOWED, DESPITE ONE HOUR OUTSIDE ONCE A WEEK AND A FAMILY MEETING ONCE A MONTH. NO BOOKS, NO PENS, NEITHER ANY FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT.

COSPITO IS A KEY FIGURE OF AN INSURRECTIONIST ITALIAN GROUP. HE KNEECAPPED A NUCLEAR INDUSTRY FIRM DIRECTOR AND PREPARED ANOTHER MAJOR BOMBING ATTACK, WHICH THEN FAILED. ITS STATE OF DETENTION, NAMELY “41 BIS", WAS GIVEN TO HIM SO TO CUT OFF HIM FROM ORCHESTRATING OTHER ATTACKS. 

DESPITE THE UNJUSTIFIABLE CONDUCT OF THE PRISONER, THE DOUBT COMES, AS TO WHAT MIGHT BE THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN A VIOLENT DEPLORABLE TORTURE OF OVERSEAS ENEMIES, AND A PSYCHOLOGICAL ONE, THAT REDUCES THE ENEMY IN PLAYING WITH MOSQUITOES, AS THIS VIDEO OF A FORMER 41BIS PRISONER SHOWS.

-ON THE LEFT, AN ABU GHRAIB IMAGE SHOWS "THE CHRISTMAS TREE", MEANING, A PRISONER BOUND WITH ELECTRICAL WIRE. ON THE LEFT, AN IMAGE OF ALFREDO COSPITO FROM HIS CELL-

[32310305]

29.01. READINGS WEEK 2

NICHOLAS MIRZOEFF CLAIMS THAT WE SEE WHAT SOMEONE ELSE WANTS US TO SEE. THIS THEORY IS BASED ON THE HISTORICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN “THE POWER” AND “THE PEOPLE”, AND HOW MUCH THE SECOND’S PERCEPTION OF REALITY HAS BEEN UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE FIRST. TO PROVE THIS, MIRZOEFF WISELY BRINGS INTO THE DISCUSSION THE EXAMPLE OF THE EX-U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL’S 2003 SPEECH AT THE UNITED NATIONS.

THIS IS, ACTUALLY, AN EXQUISITE EXAMPLE OF WHAT MIRZOEFF REFERS TO AS VISUALITY, MEANING VISUAL CONTENTS MANIPULATED BY GOVERNMENT. NONETHELESS, SINCE IT WAS THE SECRETARY OF STATE WHO IN THE END ADMITTED THE FALSITY OF HIS SPEECH.

POWELL’S OBJECTIVE WAS TO GAIN CONSENT OVER THE WAR IN IRAQ. TO DO THAT, HE CLAIMED THAT IRAQ HAD PROMINENT ARMS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. HE USED BLURRED IMAGES. SOURCES THAT WOULD NOT RENDER ANY MESSAGE IF LEFT ON THEIR OWN.

THE WINNING WEAPONS HERE ARE THE CAPTIONS, WHICH POWELL DESCRIBES AS THE RESULT OF EXPERTS AND INTELLIGENCE LABOUR. THE UNKNOWN AUDIENCE IS ASTONISHED. THEY BELIEVE POWELL. THEY WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE WAR.

LOOKING AT HISTORY IS A FUNCTIONAL TOOL TO UNDERSTAND HOW MIRZOEFF’S CLAIM DOES NOT APPLY ONLY TO MODERN DAYS. THEREFORE, THE 1780S PAINTINGS BY FRENCH ARTIST ÉLISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN PORTRAYING QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE WITH A ROSE AND WITH HER CHILDREN, THAT WE FOUND HERE BELOW, SERVE FOR SUCH SCOPE.

ÉLISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN - MARIE ANTOINETTE WITH A ROSE, 1783, OIL ON CANVAS

ÉLISABETH VIGÉE LE BRUN - MARIE ANTOINETTE WITH HER CHILDREN, 1787, OIL ON CANVAS

IN BOTH ARTWORKS, THE OBJECTIVE IS NOT TO REPRESENT THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY, WITH THE VIEWER RAISING THEIR HEAD TO A DIVINE KING, LIKE IN THE 1701 PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XIV BELOW.

HYACINTHE RIGAUD - PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XIV, 1700, OIL ON CANVAS

RATHER, THE PURPOSE IS TO PORTRAY A SIMPLE QUEEN, OUT IN THE NATURE WITH MODEST COSTUMES THAT CUDDLES HER KIDS.

THIS GETS INTERESTING IF ONE LOOKS AT HOW 18TH-CENTURY PEOPLE PERCEIVED QUEEN MARY: FINANCIAL SQUANDERER, STERILE - THE FIRST KID CAME 7 YEARS AFTER THE WEDDING - AND FOREIGN. SHE IS NONETHELESS ONE OF THE FUSES FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. THEREFORE, WE UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE OF THAT PAINTING: TRYING TO BE PORTRAYED AS ONE OF THE PEOPLE. DURING THE 19TH CENTURY PAINTINGS HAD A MAJOR ROLE IN COMMUNICATING MESSAGES TO THE FRENCH COMMUNITY. THE LOUVRE IS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS. ITS AIM WAS IN FACT TO LET PEOPLE SEE FRANCE'S CONQUESTS AND THE MONARCHY' SPLENDOR.

WE CAN SAY THE LOUVRE ACTED AS TELEVISION MEDIA, NOT ALWAYS IMPARTIAL. OR, ALSO, AS SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICIAL PAGES OF THE GOVERNMENT PEOPLE.

FOR ALL SUCH, IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMARK ON MIRZOEFF FINAL CALL TO RECLAIM A PERSONAL VISION OF THE EVENTS, NOT MANIPULATED BY THIRD PARTIES.

ONE COULD ARGUE THAT, RECENTLY, WHEN PEOPLE CLAIMED TO ACT IN SUCH WAYS, THE RESULTS WERE AMBIGUOUS. WE SEE THEN THE 40% OF ABSTENTION AT THE LAST 2022 ITALIAN ELECTIONS. THE SPREAD OF UNSCIENTIFIC THEORIES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC. THE ASSAULTS AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTERS IN THE U.S. AND BRAZIL. REASON WOULD TELL US EACH OF THESE EVENTS HAVE A COMMON EXPLANATION: POLITICAL PARTIES WHO THINK OF THEMSELVES AS BEING ABOVE LAW, SCIENCE, COMMON SENSE, HUMANITY. BUT WHAT CAN WE DO WITH OUR OWN REASON? WOULDN’T THIS END INEVITABLY IN A CIVIL WAR BETWEEN DIFFERENT VIEWS?

DESPITE SUCH A FAIR DOUBT, ONE THING REMAINS SURE.

TO STAND WITHOUT AN OPINION IS ALREADY AN ADMISSION OF DEFEAT.