Wrote Sicilian essayist Leonardo Sciascia on the “Portrait of a Man” by 15th-century Italian painter Antonello da Messina:
“Is he a nobleman or a plebeian? A solicitor or a farmer? A painter, a poet or a killer? He just resembles. That’s all I can say.”
At Milan’s Palazzo Reale (via Finacial Times)
In an interview with Futurism, the Russian startup StartRocket wants to project advertisements into space. Said founder Vlad Sitnikov:
“We are ruled by brands and events. The Super Bowl, Coca Cola, Brexit, the Olympics, Mercedes, FIFA, Supreme and the Mexican wall. The economy is the blood system of society. Entertainment and advertising are at its heart. We will live in space, and humankind will start delivering its culture to space. The more professional and experienced pioneers will make it better for everyone.”
Vlad Sitnikov, StartRocket
Would you want to see an advertisement for Coca-Cola or Nike in the skies over New York? Seeing the Jordan Jumpman might be kind of cool. But already bombarded with ads as it is on TV, phones, and street billboards, it might be nice to keep the only place we know is 100% ad-free, the sky.
We discover our uniqueness through failed conformity. We're not here to follow. We're meant to bend standard practices in strange and wonderful directions.
Thinking different is the ultimate motivator. It carves us into individuals. We just have to remember that that's who we are, purple cows instead of mindless little robots.
“Originality consists of trying to be like everybody else and failing.”
Raymond Radiguet (view books)
When we wield the paintbrush, our imaginative grip never dies. We can invent our own systems that free us from the tyranny of sameness.
No matter how individually wrought, we sell our stems to the world so others will copy and create.
We've gone from the invention and proliferation of 15th century mirrors to human iPhone selfies, to the Google street view robot taking pictures of itself off mirrors.
Progress.
I'd been reading up on comparative religion. The thing is that all major religions have the Golden Rule in common. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Not always the same words but the same meaning.
Norman Rockwell, The Norman Rockwell Album
Sociologist Erving Goffman believed that all human interaction was a theatrical performance. In his most famous book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , Goffman called his analysis the study of “Dramaturgy.”
Dramaturgical analysis is the idea that we present an edited version of our selves when we meet others in person.
The internet, of course, adds a new layer of complexity to Goffman's perspective. If social media is edited real life, then our dramaturgical action is the physical extension of it. We are no less authentic online than we are in person.
Goffman's theory builds on American sociologist Charles Cooley's ‘The Looking Glass Self’ theory. In 1902, he contextualized the individual:
“I imagine your mind, and especially what your mind thinks about my mind, and what your mind thinks about what my mind thinks about your mind.”
Keep in mind that people didn't even think of themselves as individuals before the spread of mirrors in the 15th century.
We juggle identities online and off but each of us has a fixed character. It is our friends and family members and Google that know our truest self.
