Recently I have been deeply influenced by an Essay titled "Walking" written by Henry David Thoreau. An American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian and leading transcendentalist. This blog then, is based on his Essay, although it is not about love for nature or travel/expedition narrative. Basically, my blog is about culture, especially but not restrictively in relation to its elements. I'm not a student of cultural studies or cultural anthropology, so my views are far from being "scientific", although I did used some theoretical approaches.
Beforehand, lets look at the meaning of
Culture, although many scientist defined different concepts and meanings of the term "culture", it is based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator and philosopher, Cicero: "cultura animi", describing the development of a philosophical soul, which was understood teleologically as the one natural highest possible ideal for human development. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a modern context, by stating that culture "refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human". Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of community of interacting human beings.
Further,
Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake. Art has had a great number of different functions throughout its history.
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When sometimes I am reminded that the business people and bureaucrats stay in their offices not only all the afternoon, but the night too, sitting before their computers, talking through telephones or having meetings in their meeting room, so many of them, as if the purpose of life was to work and sit in the office, and not about the real purpose of life. I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide or destroying this earth long ago.
I myself feel that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend several hours a week at least, savoring the sweetness of art and culture through museums and art centers, theaters, concert halls, galleries, libraries and other places for art. Absolutely free from all worldly engagements. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom and independence, which are the capital of this activity.
But the cultural walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking tours, as but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. Most of our adventures these days are but tours, and come round again at evening to the old hearth-side from which we set out. If you would get adventure, go in search of the springs of life. When we take cultural walks, we naturally go to the museums and art centers; what would become of us, if we walked only to shopping malls and restaurants ? Even some part of business people and bureaucrats have felt the necessity of importing the arts to themselves, since they did not go to the museums or art centers. Incorporating paintings and sculptures in their homes.
Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the art centers or museums, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked into museum bodily, without getting there in spirit. In my cultural walks, I would fain forget all my mornings occupations and my obligations to society. But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the office. The thought of some work will run in my head, and I am not where my body is, - I am out of my senses. When that happens, I would feel inclined to return to my senses. What business have I in the museum, If I am thinking of something out of the museum?
My vicinity affords many good cultural walks; and though for so many years I have took so many of them, and sometimes for a full day, I have not yet exhausted them. An absolutely new exhibition is a great happiness, and I can still get this anywhere. Two or three hours spent in museum, will carry me to as strange country as I expect ever to see. A single painting or sculpture which I had not seen before is sometimes as good as the Masks of the Bambara People.
I can easily spend two, three, four, any number of hours, in museums, looking at the paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures and cultural objects, commencing from the first collection, with reading all the related information, without missing a single object, sometimes pausing at one that is really fine art, at which I can look at for some time. Replenishing my spirit. Draw inspiration. Remove myself from everything unessential, open my mind and senses and plunge into experiencing the mysterious. As Albert Einstein has said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science". Searching for that basic human instinct for harmony, balance and rhythm. Trying to understand this life through many mediums and styles. Not really caring about all the classificatory disputes about art.
The same happens in library or book shop, particularly in antiquarian one, where the smell of books is like the greatest perfume ever discovered. Going through each shell, putting interest in books that I never heard of, paying attention to each one, looking at their beautiful covers, reading their prefaces, trying to understand what the author tries to say, is replenishment of my mind.
Sometimes people get discouraged by art. Feeling discouraged by those so-called high society or the critics of art, of those who imply that they understand all the theories, the stylistic approach, the distinctive methods, techniques and forms. The loose brushy, dripped or poured, the arrangement of shapes, color, texture and lines. The use of medium, the intensity, the stroke, the tone, the pigments and the rhythm. I say do not be discourage. It does not matter if you don't understand those things. It does not matter if you are just a "common" viewer. Some say that paintings in the museum hears more ridiculous opinions that anything else in the world. So be it. Don't pay any attention to what they have to say.
Art is an act of expressing feelings, thoughts, and observations. Art is often intended to appeal to and connect with human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Art may be considered an exploration of the human condition; that is, what it is to be human. To find harmony, balance and rhythm, experience, expression, communication of ideas, exploration and many more that only you alone can know.
I can still remember and feel the first time I looked at "The Wave" by Carlos Schwabe in Städel Museum. It was full of people. Yet, I was completely detached from my surrounding. Fully focused and all my senses intact, I could feel great emotion coming from the anguished expression of the women the misery of the soul. It gave me inspirations and replenished my spirit. And that how it supposed to be. It should not be treated as an object followed by formal discussion.
I can also remember and feel the first time I went to Anthropological museum to encounter the cultures of other worlds. The rituals, the art, how people live their life in different societies and different times.
At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the art is not private property, the art is not owned privately, and the cultural walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come again when the art will be a status object, bought by the wealthy. In which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only. Therefore, I am glad that art museums and galleries are open to public viewing so art is available to everyone.I am also glad that Anthropological museum continually gives us access to a different views of the world.
As there is something in the art that feeds the spirit and inspires, will not man grow to greater perfection intellectually as well as spiritually under these influences ?
If the answer is yes, then one wonders why there is so many issues of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping, and cultural conflicts, while, at the same time, there are thousands of artistic institutions, and countless artistic events. What is even mind-boggling is that people can enjoy and appreciate art and at the same time still be discriminatory or even racist.
Well, things are not as simple as that, art is only one aspect of culture, culture is not just about painting, music, theatre, literature or dance. Culture is seeped into all the activities and expressions that extend below the surface and unite individuals under a common sense of self. All of us are cultural beings. All of us have culture. Our culture shapes how we see the world and make sense of it. The essence of culture is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized society. Unfortunately, culture has also been (and still is) used by some in a negative manner. Throughout history, culture has been used by some to oppress other groups, to look down on others, and to form preconceived and often negative notions regarding various cultures.
The root of hate crimes, racism, discrimination, racial profiling, stereotyping and cultural conflicts is difference. Cultural conflict will occur when beliefs and traditions of one cultural group represent a challenge to individuals of another. Such conflict is not always violent, it can come in a form of disagreement or discord or friction, which can occur as an intragroup conflict or intergroup conflict. A tension may at later stage bring violence. However, this does not mean cultural differences inevitably produce conflict.
When problem or an issue surface, intragroup or intergroup, it is often a response to difficulties in dealing with differences. Whether this pertains to racial, religious, political, social, or economic matters difference is often a source of fear and misunderstanding. When differences surface in or between societies, culture is always present, shaping perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes. Many conflicts throughout our history are not just about territory, boundary and sovereignty - they are also about acknowledgement, representation and legitimization of different identities and ways of living, being and making meaning.
Despite that, culture does not always play a central role in conflict. Conflict can be a complex and often tightly woven web of factors. These factors are embedded in specific historic, political and social context. But here too, culture can play subtle role especially when we hold our identities. That's why despite the increasing diversity in many communities, bias, prejudices, racism, discrimination and hate crimes still pervade our society.
In this decade and decades to come, the advancement of transportation, telecommunication and technology rapidly grows, makes the world smaller and smaller. Advancement of transportation and industrialization accelerates the human migration in unprecedented manner. Therefore, according to the IOM's World Migration Report 2011, the number of international migrants was estimated at 214 million in 2010. If this number continues to grow at the same pace as during the last 20 years, it could reach 405 million by 2050.
While some modern migration is byproduct of wars, political conflicts, and natural disasters, contemporary migration is predominantly economically motivated. The pressures of human migrations, have contributed some negative aspects in an unprepared communities. Hence, bringing cultural conflicts. When a community is not prepared to accept and/or misunderstand the differences of cultures, fears of the lost of jobs or opportunities, or migrants becoming part of the so-called problem neighborhoods, tends to rear the ugly head of racism, prejudism, stereotyping and hate crime. Thus, the way community negatively portrays immigrants within their communities also leads to negative portrayals of societies outside their community.
In different circumstances, the contemporary conflicts around the world, particularly but not exclusively with religion as conflict factor, contributes to bias perception about different societies.
My cultural walking made me realize that artistic practices and cultural understanding could ease and adapt people towards different cultures. Art can initiate connections between cultures in a non-threatening way. It can start communication and interaction. Art can inspire curiosity. Curiosity about other cultures can lead to acknowledgement of cultural diversity. Communicating this diversity trough art can allow preservation, healing, reconciliation and peace-building. Art can stimulate cultural awareness and celebrate diversity, it can make us realize that people/societies are not all the same, that people have different values and perceptions, and being different is beautiful and not at all threatening as well as, most importantly, teach us to communicate with one another in a better way.
My cultural walking is discovery. It's a walk into different worlds. When I undertake my journeys into different worlds, I leave all my preconception and walking into museum of art or anthropology I learn the history, the tradition, and trough that I observe how different cultures deal with their own issues, how they express themselves, their ideas, beliefs, interpretations, perceptions, views and self-actualization, quest for spiritual enlightenment and pursuit of knowledge as well as their social structures and values.
When I do that, I smile and admire other cultures, inspirations and ideas flows in me, and ultimately in the end, I accept the differences.
Marcel Proust, the French novelist, observed that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new lands but in seeing with new eyes".
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Sources:
1. Henry David Thoreau -
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays, Dover Thrift Editions
2. Michelle LeBaron - "
Culture and Conflict." Beyond Intractability. Conflict Information Consortium. University of Colorado.
3. The Power of Culture -
Culture and Conflict: Introduction. www.powerofculture.nl
4. World Migration Report 2011, International Organization for Migration
5. OED Online -
Art, Oxford University Press
6. Useem, J., & Useem R. -
Human Organizations
7. Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C.A. -
Multicultural Education. Allyn & Bacon
Next, you will be guided through a long underground passage that is called Gelo Giri Cave. Architecture of this passage is dominated by the usage of stones from Mount Merapi. This place exhibits documentary oil paintings of the personage that represents 4 figures from Mataram Dynasty. Through the various Sultans and their families paintings, the voyage of the Sultanate history, art and culture will reveal by itself. There are two outstanding paintings made using a 3D technique that shows portraits of woman whose eyes seemingly follow you around the room.
