Contemporary particularities of culture

a) The unprecedented development of culture, meaning two tendencies: industrialization and decentralization.

The extraordinary development of industry, agriculture, transportation, has a correspondent in culture. Today we are witnessing an unprecedented cultural development in all fields:

production, distribution, consumption. Perhaps, in all of mankind’s existence so far, the level of cultural creations has not been as high as in the last few decades, all areas included. There are 961000 book titles appearing every year, 11900 daily newspapers, a staggering number of radio and T.V stations, painting and theater have never known such development: it is an overwhelming explosion. But the real revolutionary explosion is in the distribution field. This became simpler, so simple in fact that man has easy access to all cultural products, sometimes he is even “bombarded”

with a huge amount of such products. At the same time, consumption grew strongly, sales of good literature have doubled in the last 10 years, and the number of musical organizations and the ones interested in art grew rapidly; for example: there are two major tendencies in culture: on one hand, a tendency towards industrialization, both on a production level – mass cultural products – as well as in distribution. Many of our cultural needs are modeled by the same production process that exists in order to satisfy them. Some cultural goods can not even be regarded as the result of an industrial production process (movies, T.V. programs, radio, discs, books) when we talk about industrialization we don’t only think about multiplying works of art, but also creating them in conditions similar to industry. Mass communication means create an industrialized distribution.

The trend is easily noticeable when the studying of the production and distribution of each good takes place. On the other hand, we are witnessing a reverse decentralization process, of production for self consumption. Group theater is a phenomenon which occurred in theater. The extraordinary

50 A circuit with a specific topic

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expansion of “do it yourself” hobbies or trends are a reaction to cultural industrialization, the number of collectors grows, the number of Saturday artists increases, amateurs as well, connoisseurs in one area or the other. After a conducted international research, in large European cities, these occupations represent 40% of spare time. An authentic mark of this trend is the increased number of requirements regarding subjective participation of readers, spectators and auditors, for realizing ideal works of contemporary art. More eloquently, for sustaining this argument is the Internet phenomenon, where production allows for a vast array of goods, and distribution is basically, a new phenomenon, for the rest of the world, while for the USA, it is history already.

As a particular feature of contemporary culture, we mention the increase of required investments in this field. Not only in new genres, which are directly linked to the technological process, but also in the matter of classical ones. A theater hall today requires substantially increased arrangements, as compared to the past, a sculpture or painting workshop also includes new and expensive equipments.

We must not see decentralization today as a exclusive consequence of cultural industrialization. Marx said: “the exclusive concentration of artistic talent within an individual and the enclosing within the masses is a consequence of labor division and the communist society does not comprise of painters, rather at the most people that occupy themselves with painting”; of course, it is natural that as spar time increases, people allocate more and more of it to cultural activities, ironically, especially in developed capitalist countries!

b) Mass - culture. Mass - media

Mass culture is the direct result of mass-media actions. Lack of space does not allow us to analyze, put their study is essential to any research on contemporary culture. We realize this only by taking a glimpse on the traits, functions and consequences of their actions.⁵¹

Traits:

- Omnipresent and public: they are to be found everywhere, they have a large, non-restricted area, they are at everyone’s disposal, we see them at all times.

- Rhythm and periodicity

- Universality, as contents are distinguished by complexity and multilateral elements.

- Penetrating power : they include the masses, are addressed to all, directly, no intermediaries, they simplify the distribution of information

- Instantaneous and actual communication - Accessibility

- A major art of them become household cultural activities.

Functions:

- informational - cultural

- socializing: they determine a specific way for social interaction, for stimulating and organizing man’s need for sociability

- the need for education and instruction

- the need for “compensation” trough fun and “entertainment”

There are multiple consequences, which have not been yet fully enlightened by research. It is certain however that mass – media generalized information, cultural and entertainment access, but the contradiction of creation reappears as a dilemma between creator and consumer: as long as man needs to feel the lack of connection between his activities and his own creative powers and

51 Escarpir R.; La Revolution du livre, Flammarion, Paris 1965/1970 35

has no contact with neither science nor culture, a contact which would be based on such an activity, we have a “crisis” or “alienating” phase, which has been observed by all researchers.⁵² But it is easier to raise a factory in an open field or to tear a secular tree from its roots than to modify the ideas of an individual and to adapt his mentality to a new situation, at an accelerated pace. Researches in this field appear to be flawed precisely because they apply a completely new phenomenon to old ways of thinking.

There has been a lot of talking on subjects such as “audiovisual culture” and it has been said that the USA does not have a culture of its own, or it is precisely audiovisual culture, such a peculiar phenomenon, which characterizes the USA, even more as an entire generation grew under the influence of such a culture, different from the classical one, but culture nonetheless. We do not try to present the USA with a culture, but it is the only country where the phenomenon is relatively old and has not suffered the influences of classical culture.

c) The industrialization of art or the enlightenment of industry

An entire chain of purely technical analysis of the current development status of civilization reveals the connection one way or another. The industrial revolution cancelled the esthetic dimension which the manufacturing world possessed, from the existence of masses. The belief had been spread that technique and art have been separated forever. Still, it is noticeable, one way or another, that a connection between contemporary artistic means and esthetic concepts and that absolute border where the technique of our time will develop. Beyond a certain demarcation line, it begins to crystallize itself from raw surfaces and solid shapes, from the artificial game of light and shadows which is specific to technique, a beauty that enriches human senses with a new kind of perception and pleasure.

So, it is no coincidence that esthetic value of products ceases to be a luxury product privilege that a new field of applied art is flourishing: “industrial design”, which takes place everywhere in the field of esthetic industry, that an array of states are compelled to foresee a percentage of sums allocated to public buildings being designed for esthetic aspects; it appears that design will last longer than other ephemeral experiences of contemporary art and that we will be able to talk about a civilization of industrial esthetics. This comes as a result of tighter relations between industry and art, a process of humanizing industry, or perhaps a process of reconciliation.

An edifying example will be the “tourist destination”, its elaboration, construction and exploitation means.

Inequalities in cultural development. “The ideas of the dominant class are dominant ideas regardless of the era, meaning the class that has the dominant material strength also dominates the spiritual dimension. Bourgeoisie transformed the physician, the jurist, the priest, the poet, the scientist in workers and employees, so that inequalities in the capitalist economic system made a mark on cultures as well”⁵³

Colonial politics of great powers had as a result the creation of great differences within the cultural environment between the colony and the metropolis, because cultural infrastructure was neglected or stopped from developing in the colonies, in spite of the fact that some of these colonies had a remarkable cultural past. Sometimes it got as far as national cultures of peoples under colonial rule were prohibited and replaced with a version of metropolitan culture. Anti-colonial struggle and the reviving of the affirmation of the national spirit have tried to remedy this state of things. But the backwards status and the absence of a cultural infrastructure raise great issues and, so far, the distance has not decreased. It is enough to think about the differences that exist between educational systems – a sine qua non condition for the existence of a strong culture –

52 Tourism may be one of the “treatments”, in which the “producer” of the “emotion” is the same with the

“consumer” of the experience. Providers only make the “experience” worth living, they are the “infrastructure”.

53 K.Marx – Opere alese. Bucureşti. Ed. Politică 1968 36

in spite of recent efforts. Latest information from a UNESCO study indicates that 70% of world population is deprived of the effective use of their right to information. UNESCO launched an action to minimize this, which may ensure minimum information, by recommending the existence of 10 newspapers / day, 5 radio receptors and 2 T.V. receptors for each 100 inhabitants. This is a minimum requirement, and the fact that a major part of mankind may not accomplish this reflects the real appalling status of the state of things. Educational difference is at its highest rate yet: 40%

of the adult populations are analphabets. Furthermore, at the dawn of the century, young men which became of age (developing countries estimate of 1.6 billions) will have at an adult age the now given baggage of information, baggage delivered by an insufficiently developed educational system which is unable to provide a formation in accordance with the requirements of the century.

At this time, third world countries are making serious efforts. But on the contrary, there is another powerful factor which may not be neglected. Today’s communication, culture’s distribution has as a prerequisite a more and more updated technology, which rapidly changes under the influence of the technological progress and which implies larger and larger amounts of money, which is hard to come by in developing states. We have the recent example of the Iraqi people, which, being on the brink of war, were confronted with an informational blockade, only to become easy pray for the mass-media afterwards; or Romania in 1989 or after 1990. But these effects are short lasting, they can be annihilated, with huge costs sometimes…

We do not wish to say that there are superior and inferior cultures in the world, developed or backwards cultures. Not at all, for mankind all cultures are equal and have the same value and importance in the treasury of mankind. We must understand however that at this time, we have different production, distribution and access capabilities regarding culture due to economic differences, that different state cultures are on different developing stages, in accordance to the economic development. We can not limit the cultural development of poor countries to a mere conservation of traditions and folklore – like Discovery Channel shows or spectacles offered to foreign tourists. Traditions die slowly under the influence and pressure of imitating habits from developing countries. Folklore starts to be a sort of “museum item” which is “paraded” on different occasions or for foreign tourists. A relevant example is given by V.R. van der Duim for Tanzania (The ATLAS Conference – Quality of Life, Leeuwarden, June 2003): Tanzania’s areas which are opened for tourism are those which have mobile phone coverage, which allow for communication. The chief of a Massai village, which, for example, has a mobile phone, asks for a 10 minute pause time, in which they change their jeans and T-shirts with traditional costumes, after which tourists will enter the “traditional life” of a Massai village! The same thing happens in Sibiel, near Sibiu. Furthermore, new forms of culture are fighting with “authorities” in order to obtain recognition. Only time may validate them, but today’s consumption is instantaneous, it has no desire to wait; the decision must be taken now in order to sell.

The development of national cultures is the only just path for the development of world culture, and the diversity that exists among national cultures is capable of raising the cultural value of mankind’s culture, to raise it to even higher peaks! Today though, the word “national” is under the pressure of globalization, and may be replaced with “community”!

The world divide in different political and economic systems lead to the apparition of cancerous elements within culture, which modifies culture’s true purpose and role, and stops it from developing. Still, the rush for tourist destinations determined the “loisirs” industry to revitalize traditional cultural elements from many areas of the world, both for their value, but also for their specificity. Once entered in the circuit of mass tourism, locals develop new forms of being market competitive. Sometimes, the reacting speed is amazing, an eloquent example being the one in the movie “The day the fish arrive”.