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Curator's Statement
Introduction
Last and Universal: the Semantics of Judgment
Thought Through Images
Seduced by Freedom of Thought
Art in the Age of Short-Term Memory
A Call to Artists and Audience
Seventeen Modern Tales
Seduced By Freedom
Of Thought
There have been many Last Judgments in the history of art, Michelangelo’s
fresco in the Sistine Chapel being the best known. Artists marshaled every
aspect of composition, iconography and even color as powerful tools in their
effort to convey an intense and ineffable mixture of repugnance, fear, joy,
and relief for earthly suffering and obedience.
Last Judgment frescoes and paintings hail from an era when people were not
seduced by the freedom of thought. They trusted instead the authority of their
church and sovereign lord to establish what was just and unjust, good and
evil in the course of their lives.
What sets our era apart is the distinctly different concept we have of ourselves.
We consider ourselves free and autonomous; we think we are capable of distinguishing
right from wrong. Above all, we consider these conditions of selfhood an inviolable
and inalienable victory. We process every new cultural influence through the
filter of our modern selfhood before we accept it, integrate it into our mental
or spiritual being. The massive diffusion of information (and culture, through
which we access information) has allowed for the triumph of such a new sense
of selfhood. And these processes evolved relatively recently in human history.
Next: Art in the Age of Short-Term Memory
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