Visual arts served different functions throughout history

I'm in the final editing of the volume 2, of my series, titled "Modernity" ... and can't resist sharing this short passage about the different functions visual arts have assumed under the different models of society that succeeded each other along the path of societal evolution. 
 

Bear in mind that the volume 4 of this series will focus exclusively on the arts so my touching on this subject in the volume "Modernity" is necessarily sketchy... 

 

Anxiety in this frightful Geopolitical moment...

In an article, titled "Iran-Russia hit maximum strategy", Pepe Escobar sums up the gist of the anxiety that characterizes the present Geopolitical moment :

“One of the crucial geopolitical questions of our time is how an emergent, supposedly Chinese hegemony will articulate itself. If actions speak louder than words, then Sino-hegemony looks loose, malleable and inclusive, starkly different to the US variety”.

 

Humanity's fate will most probably be decided in this first quarter of 2022

The first quarter of 2022 will most probably be remembered, for a long time to come, for having decided humanity's model of collective response to "the Great Convergence of Late-Modernity". If I'm proven right then what happens in this month of January will be determinant for the future of humanity.

So how best can we summarize the situation ?

A Chinese-Russian Christmas tale ?

I spend my time, retreated from society, writing thinking and image-making. I'm presently writing a volume about Modernity. My perception is thus necessarily the long haul. Unfortunately these last few days the anti-system bloggers, who constitute my first source of information, were overtaken by too much fantasy for my taste. 
To console myself in this period of the Year I hereafter share a Geopolitical Christmas tale that is rooted in the last episodes of actuality.

Debt jubilees merely treated societal symptoms ...

The following is an extract from the "Volume 2. Modernity" of my series "From Modernity to After-Modernity" that I'm presently editing.

I give this extract as a blog post because it is adding some more substance to the post "Michael Hudson Asks Naked Capitalism's readers... " that I published on 2021-04-15. 

Art versus propaganda

The difference between propaganda and art resides in the function of their signs.

The first is at the service of individualism while the latter serves the community (1) : 

 

Digital wall 301 is online

The complete gallery of 256 digital variations that compose wall 301 is online and so the total digital variations grew to 3,884.

Here under are a few sample panels from this last collection. The size of the printed panels of each of these variations is 60 x 90 cm and added together they form a wall of 9.6 x 14.4 meters. 

Click on the images to get a larger size at 1200 x 800 px.

"The Continuum of the Cultural Field" got finally published.

The first volume of the series "From Modernity to After-Modernity" just got published in e-book form and is available from my website. The 1st edition totals 705 pages.

The complete series will total 5 volumes : 

Volume 1 : The continuum of the cultural field
Volume 2 : From Early-Modernity to After-Modernity
Volume 3 : The societal formation of knowledge
Volume 4 : The essence of the arts is societal and not individual
Volume 5 : Societal evolution and societal governance

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"The continuity of the cultural field" (10). The axioms of civilizations

3.2.1. Signals of imperial stabilization

An empire is a system of governance reigning over multiple cohesive polities. By cohesive polities I mean societies whose citizens have been bound together for multiple generations through the sharing of a common worldview. Over time such a binding necessarily resulted in the creation of institutions and habits that grew their specific national flavors. 

"The continuity of the cultural field" (9). The axioms of civilizations

3.2. Imperial stabilization

The earth's average temperatures increased abruptly some 12,000 years ago and they stabilized a little less than 9000 years ago. Since then they have varied within a very narrow bandwidth, of + 0.5 °C to - 0.5 °C, which procured humanity a unique climate stability that climatologists have never observed in the earlier climate history of the earth.

"The continuity of the cultural field" (8). The axioms of civilizations

3.1.3. The growth of village population fostered ever more recourse to force

Ultimately free tribesmen did not rush to adopt agriculture. It was not as if this new technology was adopted after having been perceived to offer the paradise on earth. The rise of agriculture was imposed as an answer to an existential threat. Three factors combined that imposed its rise  :

 

Michael Hudson Asks Naked Capitalism's readers...

 

 Michael Hudson's article "If Democracy Winds Up Creating Financial Dominance, What Do We Call China?" attracted a flood of comments, on the blog "Naked Capitalism", to which I added my two cents.

Here follows an edited version of my comments.

"The continuity of the cultural field" (7). The axioms of civilizations

3.1.2. Force stabilized village life

The period between 8,000 and 5,000 years ago was generally characterized by trial and errors to stabilize and reproduce the institutions of power which was accompanied by the parallel trials at sharing the narrative of new worldviews.

"The continuity of the cultural field" (6). The axioms of civilizations

3.1.1. agriculture had been experimented long before answering a vital societal need

The reason agriculture finally got practiced some 10,000 years ago in the Tri-Continental-Area was not at all because tribal populations had suddenly discovered the marvels of seeding and harvesting.

"The continuity of the cultural field" (5). The axioms of civilizations

3.1. About Early Kingdoms and Empires

Some 11,700 years ago an abrupt climate warming put in motion a cascade of events that unleashed a deep destabilization of the life conditions that had prevailed over the past tens of thousands of years during which people had been living in tribal societies the world over. It was this destabilization that put in motion a societal chain reaction which ultimately set humanity on the long and tortuous path of civilization building.

"The continuity of the cultural field" (4). The axioms of civilizations

Part 3.  the axioms of civilizations

Introduction  

I plan on publishing this part 3 in its entirety on this blog (6-8 more articles). 

Being one part of a book, that is in the final stages of editing, these articles do not give a footnote explanation for some dates and facts because these facts have been touched upon in the earlier sections of the book.

About the societal chaos fostered by the crisis of our times

I was reading an article this morning titled "L’Université et son double" published by Dedefensa a blogging platform in French. The title translates as "The university and its double" or better perhaps "the university and its shadow". My interest was prickled by an insistence on Modernity's excesses at all levels and more particularly by the expression "the  advancement of progress is galloping mad".  I commented the following :

"The continuity of the cultural field" (3). Two irreconcilable understandings about how reality operates.

Here is a chapter of "The continuity of the cultural field" that addresses the origins of the night and day difference between the civilizations of the West and of China.

2.2.4. shared worldviews stabilized early power societies 

"The continuity of the cultural field". (2) Modernity is dieing. What comes after Modernity ?

While writing my earlier books I published a first draft  week after week.  

For the present book I will, from time to time, publish some parts that I think illustrate a particular   flavor of our present air of the time. 

 

Today I offer a chapter about what comes after Modernity.
Your comments are welcome.

"The continuity of the cultural field" : A new project (1)

I just commented on an article written by Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog.

The substance of this comment addresses one of the matters I'm presently writing about. 

Here follows this commentary :

 

 

Digital variations : Wall 205 is online

The complete gallery of 256 digital variations that compose wall 205 is online.

Here under are a few samples from this collection. The size of each of these variations is 60 x 90 cm and the complete wall is 9.6 x 14.4 meters. 

 Click on the images to get a larger size at 1200 x 800 px. 

Digital variations : Wall 204 is online

The complete gallery of 256 digital variations composing wall 204 is online.

Here under are a few samples from this collection. The size of each of these variations is 60 x 90 cm and the complete wall is 9.6 x 14.4 meters. Click on the images to get a larger size at 1200 x 800 px. 

 

 

Digital variations : Wall 203 is online

The complete gallery of 256 digital variations composing wall 203 is online.

Here under are a few samples from this collection. 

The size of each of these variations is 60 x 90 cm and the complete wall is 9.6 x 14.4 meters. 

Click on the images to get their full size.

The ebook "First societal blow in Late-Modernity" is online

 

I formatted the series of articles titled "First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity" in e-book form and made it available from my website.

This series has become a long text. The 2nd edition of the book totals 599 pages.

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First devastating societal blow in Late-Modernity (20)

 7.4.6. giving meaning to one’s life

Last article in this series. 8,052 words.
 

I want now to address, the perception of our present human condition, from a holistic angle. This placing into perspective, of the structural factors that shape the human condition in Late-Modernity, forms the conclusion of this long series of articles.

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Content

7.4.6.1. the whole is the ultimate purveyor of the universal potential
7.4.6.2. polarities are powering changes and transformations that open the doors to the universal potential
7.4.6.3. living species are the embodiment of life
7.4.6.4. Non-submission to the foundations of life results in the species’ extinction
7.4.6.5. the settlement of disputes, between their polarities, leads species toward more complexity
7.4.6.6. the loop from the whole to the local and back to the whole
7.4.6.7.  the true meaning of life
7.4.6.8. a new credo in After-Modernity

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