-
HOME / PUBBLICAZIONI / COLLÒCULI > WE ARE ART
Paolo Giulierini
Director of the National Archeological Museum of Naples
Collòculi, the name of Annalaura di Luggo’s installation, is a word made up of two terms referring to “conversation” and “eye”: nothing could be more appropriate in a museum such as the Mann, which intends to present itself as a place of observation and reflection on ancient and contemporary societies. And the first assumption to make is that we can no longer afford to be, today, a mere place of beauty or even a treasure chest of an ancient golden age. Why? Simply because that age never existed. The same issues of unease that the electronic eye shows us in the enthralling videos, are still unresolved today and snake undisturbed through the ancient world like ferocious demons. A thousand statues of Venus are not enough to erase the past and present misdeeds operated on women; while, for example, the many paintings or reliefs with kneeling barbarians or African peoples remind us that Rome’s power was also based on the pillar of slavery. And so forth. Our eye must, therefore, continue to observe, unceasingly, beyond appearances, constantly imposing on itself a capacity for observation with a critical sense. Otherwise, it is better to be like the poet who, from Homer onwards, was traditionally represented as being ‘without pupils’, because he was endowed with an inner sight that enabled him to grasp the essence of life. Let us, therefore, approach the eye to understand ‘which side we are on’ and if we have lost our way, let us soon get back to seeing, activating ourselves in the name of that humanity that is still on the margins. We will have given meaning to art, to museums and to our being humans.