Jernej Kožar
EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT WITHOUT THE BLUENESS OF THE SKY
MONOMENTIVIVI – THE SOCIAL AESTHETICS

Retrospective 1962 – 2000

The society of spectacle
History (of art)
Exhibition
Futurology
Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky

"Nowadays an artist appears on two different levels: as a bard - a romantic rebel in the world which denies his endeavours - or in the oppression and realization of art, where an artist disappears only to reappear in the shaman democratisation of art. Works of art as goods are alienated both from the producer and from the user. They are removed from the everyday life as a unique fetish and robbed of its "aura" through a reproduction. In the economy of simulacra an image is torn out and floats free from all indicators - any image can be visualized, even (or especially) those the most progressive and subversive ones; like goods – products with prices but nevertheless worthless. A gallery is a terminal (a station) and a museum is a terminus (the final phase) in the process of alienation. The museum represents the final establishment of prices and of prices which give an image its meaning."[1]

A society of spectacle

We live in a society of spectacle. Artists are pillars of the society, for they create works of art and the appearance, the facade of this society which hides its real problems. The society of spectacle is dominated by the mass media, especially by television, still the most influential of all. A given word is meaningless, in the society of spectacle moral is immoral and vice versa. The society of spectacle is capable of a great regeneration. For example, Marcel Duchamp, who rebelled and made trading with works of art and art as such relative and then finally grew completely away from it, is in the society of spectacle still considered one of the pillars of the 20th century art.

A socially alert artist has an access to many data, which he can explore independently and unburdened to a great extent. The trade with works of art is nowadays extensive and an artist does not have to depend on one patron only. Nevertheless, the reality reveals that society has not changed much since Renaissance, Baroque, or the 19th century. Much of the capital has remained in the hands of few people. The strategies for preservation and multiplication of capital have remained the same. Which leaves an artist dependent on the elite of the society, for this elite is the main customer of his art.

And the artist, whether his patron is a state (through scholarships) or a capitalist by using his works of art or by granting him a scholarship, has to deal with an almost impossible situation of surviving himself and his ambitions. Forced into these relationships, the artist is willing to forget his mission and is often forced to make likable, simple works of art, which are purposed to agree with his patron's little sophisticated taste. The individual micro destinies of artists as well as the destinies of other people can sometimes be painful, but the artist's mission goes way beyond the borders of his world. His works of art become the most important elements in the history of mankind and when displayed in museums they arouse admiration long after the society which they reflect disappears. The patrons themselves try to make works of art well known and celebrated in museums and in history, usually by rising the prices of these works of art. Knowing all this, a spectator nowadays expects artists to fight the established social standards and to expose the fatal mistakes and processes of the society, which lead to the destruction of the society and of our civilization, and not just to call people's attention to the mistakes of the same society.

There are numerous problems artists should point out: morality, the decline of ethical principles, the domination of law, dishonesty, the advocacy of the old ethical principles and their ignorance at the same time – immorality, unemployment, unproportional material and social development, wars and refugees due to the irregular distribution of capital.

But after some time this kind of sharpness wears away and artists begin to deal with their inner problems and with the problems of form. They can fall into formalism or even lartpourlartism. It is not my intention to deny the excellent results of formalism, or even lartpourlartism, but my opinion is they only support and preserve the society of spectacle.

Pino Poggi is an artist who has kept his criticism of social problems through all his works. Pino Poggi as an artist has taken his mission seriously, he has broken the bonds of lartpourlartism and has dealt with the real problems of the society of spectacle. Pino Poggi has been calling people's, owners', workers' and artsists' attention to the dangers of supporting the society of spectacle, for it is self-destructive in its basis. Nevertheless, he has been trying to convince us quite the opposite, always with a greater zeal. This kind of a duality - on one hand a society which is self-destructive and on the other a vital one, full of optimism and kind to human beings, the society of spectacle - is a wolf disguised as a grandmother. This basic lie of the society is the problem which the artists should call our attention to. Pino Poggi is one of them.

History (of art)

The preparations for the »Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky« exhibition started in 1997. Pino Poggi was, at that time, a member of the committee which selected winners of the »Artist and Urban Environment« exhibition.

Pino Poggi's exhibition was supposed to be just one of the exhibitions in the Museum of social art, but this sort of a museum still does not exist in Slovenj Gradec.

The exhibition »Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky« presented Pino Poggi's 40 years of work - his classical sculpture, conceptual works, drawings and sketches, videos, performances and installations, known as environments.

Pino Poggi was born in Genova and there he met with the great Italian tradition of sculpture. He gave lessons at the Academy in Genova after completing the study of sculpture there. Later on he came to Slovenia, to Slovenj Gradec and to Maribor, where he worked with Tihec. Later on he moved to Germany, at first to Munich but then he has settled in Mitterfecking near Regensburg. At that time he donated a monumental sculpture »S« to the city of Slovenj Gradec. The sculpture is situated in the north of the city. »S« can stand for freedom, (which is translated "sloboda" in the Slovene language); world (in the Slovene language "world" is translated by "svet") or/and Slovenj Gradec.

Poggi started a movement called Arte Utile in the 70s. The idea of Arte Utile is a communication between artists and passers-by in the streets. The movement wants to bring art and people closer together but not in the sense that anyone can be an artist; it carries an idea that every human being is a special kind of an artist and not an idea of an artist being a special human being.

The Arte Utile artist chooses a theme, makes a collage of images and encourages visitors to participate in his concept. After some time he invites them to discuss the works. In the last, third stage of Arte Utile, the artist incorporates the documents which were made during the process in an Arte Utile installation.

Arte Utile deals with the current problems of the society, investigates the society and instead of running into a dream world of art it is always alert and ready to change standard social relationships. Arte Utile demands art to be not only beautiful but also useful and mainly socially alert in order to offer people besides aesthetic components other views as well. In 1977 Poggi presented the Arte Utile at "The 6th Documenta" in Kassel.

It was deliberately decided not to introduce the whole concept of Arte Utile at the "Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky" exhibition, for its process is so complex, complicated and at the same time magnificent and interesting that it would only be fair to introduce it separately from other works. This does not mean that works are not organically connected, on the contrary, but by using Arte Utile at this exhibition some other emphases could have been neglected.

At the exhibition "Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky " we wanted to place the main emphasis on Poggi's installations - environments. First we introduced some individual stages of the artist's life chronologically, from traditional sculpture, books-projects (art books), drawings and the sketches of futuristic urban solutions, installations of smaller dimensions to industrial design. In the great hall of the Art Gallery three installations were exhibited:

»Truth or Hysteria – the Earth in the year 1999«, »Opera Concreta (Tella – comunication)«, »Everything is Different without the Blueness of the Sky« and »Impotence (mea culpa)« which were all made as models in the 70s and 80s. Such installations are always made as models first (approximately 1:20) and then enlarged in dimensions dependent on the capacities of exhibiting rooms.

______________________________

 

Poggi's art is filled with appeals to spectators to take some time and to consider things. For these are not just simple images; it is important how these images are put together into a special composition. The artist does not use these works only to introduce complicated theoretical art problems to the spectator, but also to present him the problems of the today's world through beautiful objects. These problems comprise pollution, too fast way of life, eating disorders… These are all sociological problems, resulting from the way of life that has evolved through history.

Chairs and tables are a detail of a »Libro Environment« installation and at the same time they could be just chairs and tables for a spectator to sit at, or to turn over the pages of the books on these tables and to find out something new, which will surely be useful to him in the future. The benches and chairs are works of art which were created by the spectators who left messages and drawings on them. On the bench there was a book called AU PROCESS with Enrico Crispolti's brilliant preface, in which he has explained Poggi's Arte Utile in details. The spectator has to interfere with the exhibited works, and he has to do it actively, not only contemplatively. To what extent this really happens depends on the society's cultivation. How cultivated some people in Slovenj Gradec really are could be seen in their reaction to Poggi's intention to cover a statue of a horse in front of the Art Gallery in the Main Square in Slovenj Gradec.

Poggi's art calls our attention to the dangers which western European culture had to confront with and the reason for his doing this is that he wishes us to avoid some of these dangers. Poggi's works are not just full of criticism and modern and with a historical context - they are in fact incorporated into history. They are incorporated not only into the Renaissance and the Baroque Italian tradition which can be seen in Poggi’s earlier works, but also into a great deal older traditions from antiquity. This reveals Poggi's understanding of his mission in this world.

Pino Poggi is: artist, philosopher, carpenter, sculptor, soldier, lover, politician, paleontologist, writer, architect, poet, professor, director, singer, gardener, farmer, photographer, futurologist, merchant. In a word, uomo universale.

The exhibition

The Art Gallery in Slovenj Gradec comprises the first floor of an old city house and the first floor of a twenty-year old building, the ground floor of which has recently been changed into a passage with shops. In front of the Gallery, which is in the Main Square, was a construction made of splinter. This construction announced that the »Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky« exhibition was taking place in the Gallery. An inscription, which was in capital letters, "SOCIALNA ESTETIKA" (SOCIAL AESTHETIC) was written on the panels in front of the Gallery; on the other side there was an inscription 1962 – 2000 and the front panel said PINO POGGI and BREZ MODRINE NEBA JE DRUGAČE (EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT WITHOUT THE BLUENESS OF THE SKY.) A funnel made of splinter was used to cover the statue of a horse, which Poggi despises because of the terrible influence that he believes it has on the city, its citizens and on the audience in general. Namely, Poggi considers the statue aesthetically and visually unsuitable, a complete failure with no meaning that usurps the main area in the centre of this mediaeval city - the space surely intended for more important emphases.

The exhibition was entered by stepping on a doormat with Pino Poggi's signatures. This is called »A Self-portrait«. An artist and his work is put on a pedestal by institutions, in our case the Gallery, so by stepping on this doormat the author is thrown from the pedestal from the very beginning.

The floor of the Gallery was all covered with a white plastic foil. This plastic foil can symbolize Poggi's occupation of the Gallery's rooms, not only with his works but also by changing the appearance of the rooms, which were now completely new, cleansed and white. Namely, Poggi functions on many different levels of art; he deals with fine arts and other branches of art as well. He also concerns himself with details - such as the name of the gallery and her place in the town, for example.

The white plastic foil stresses the exhibited arts and their particularities, it makes them stick out among the ordinary objects. But the plastic foil is also a hommage to the period from 1962 – 2000 in which the artist created his exhibited works of arts.

First room

In this room the »ready mades« were exhibited. Poggi's »ready mades« do not carry as much irony as those of Duchamp. Poggi only uses them as ideal markers for his ideas. The exhibition started with an affecting installation »Tanja«, which was set in the first room of the old building. The installation was made of objects belonging to the artist's recently deceased wife and with Poggi's works of a great importance to her and their life together.

There were also four other installations in this room, besides »Tanja.« An installation »Christ«, which has all the characteristics of a classical sculpture, is one of his earlier works. In addition there were sketches for models, models for environments and three other installations with Christ, named »He Has Died for Us«, in the first room. These three installations are made of a cloth and ordinary wooden crucifixes. The crucifixes are coloured in red or only slightly changed but basically in the same condition as when the artist got them. These Christ are »ready mades« and as such carry a certain ironic message to the so-called »instant« Christianity. The crucifixes reveal Poggi's special attitude towards Christian religion and to still strong Catholic tradition in Italy. His attitude reveals problems, conflicts and sometimes irony as well.

A model for a children's playground shows Poggi's occupation with social problems in his early years. »Never cease beginning and never start ceasing« is a meaningful quotation from Cicero, written on a small sheet of paper (approximately 5 cm), nicely framed and fixed with special vices under a magnifying glass. Any visitor who tries hard enough is this way able to symbolically begin the journey to the understanding of Poggi's art.

Second room

In the second room a visitor came across Poggi's statuary art. At the end of the 60s and in the beginning of the 70s Poggi was designing letters from Plexiglass. Many works were created, from those small in size (height from 20 to 30 cm) to the monumental »S«, a great public plastic, which is situated in the north of Slovenj Gradec. The model for this »S« can be seen in the installation »Tanja«. A special place in this room, which was full of Plexiglas works, was held by a model for a skyscraper, designed in the form of a letter »S« (AU alphabet). These letter sculptures are directly linked to conceptualism. But, Poggi's conceptualism is still concerned with artistic forms and with matter, he does not wish to dematerialize his works of art completely, as it can be seen in the works of Joseph Kosuth.

An installation »Hope« reveals most of the Duchamp tradition of modern art, cynicism and religiosity of Joseph Beuys, undoubtedly one of Poggi's greatest contemporaries. The installation »Hope« is probably the most poetic of all Poggi's installations. It is ranged into a private sphere because of its small dimensions and a visitor has to try hard in order to see what is closed in those five jars for preserves. On the walls there are photographs of AU environment made in great dimensions and bellow are five jars for preserves, filled with a black and green substance and put on a pedestal. Poggi's intensive concern with mythology is given expression in this room once again. The jars are Pandora's boxes, carefully closed and preserved. There are tags on these jars, revealing their contents.

Besides »Hope« and the AU letters there are other three important works, which interfere with the mass media, in this room. Poggi became familiar with the mass media already in the 60s. During the first swing of television he realized the great danger behind this mass entertainment technology. For an installation »For a Better World (Listen and Inform)« he used a telephone connected to an old radio with a wire. He used his first telephone number, too. This installation was made already in 1968, which in itself speaks about the author's alertness and sensitivity to changes in the society. This was the time of a great technological progress, of the first walk on the Moon, the cold war was in full swing and it was also the time of a great development in communication technologies. The development in communication technologies has made communication easier and has connected people all over the world. But these people are at the same time controlled by self-willed rulers and by those who control information. Poggi soon realised that: the radio and the telephone are connected through the wire. The wire implies we should listen to the radio over the phone. A radio is a communication-information technology which enables one person to communicate with many, but a telephone is a communication-information technology which enables only the communication of two people at the same time. Sending messages from one person to another is a so called personal communication. With the radio and the telephone, which are connected through the wire, Poggi wanted to stress the inability of a two-way communication in a radio. He wanted to stress out that we who listen are left to self-willed programme and news designers and that we do not have any chances of being heared over selves. Information goes only one-way, a listener's opinion can never be heard.

Another installation is about similar problems and is called »For a Better World (Listen but do not Starve)«. Here we have three small pieces of bread stuck on a similar radio. This ironic combination of communication technology and basic food, which also has some symbolic meanings, tells us about the power of communication-information technologies which communicate one way only. And we who listen are left at the tender mercy of those who create news, we let overselves be convinced of almost everything, we are even ready to believe that we are doing just fine, that our politicians are thoroughly honest, doing their jobs correctly. We are even prepared to forget the hunger all over the world. In this way »For a Better World (Listen but do not Starve)« implies that a piece of information has become the basic food, the food that has begun to replace bread.

Before entering the third room a visitor passes a brass sculpture »Today's newspaper« dating from 1975. This is a newspaper cast in bronze, frozen in its existence and thus a today's newspaper forever. It is an intimate work faced with marginal everyday events which are thus turned into important ones. The »Today's newspaper« could be only an old newspaper cast in bronze or it could be the newspaper with the news and the articles. But, there is nothing more out-of-date than yesterday's news. That is why it is cast in bronze, it will always be the today's newspaper and will, with its illegible presence, point out to our customs and to our way of life. The »Today's newspaper« is a stunning work for it offers numerous interpretations. An ordinary, everyday object ceases to be mediocre and is eternalized in bronze. A Duchamp ready made is thus brought to the second level. Here Poggi reaches for the principles of pop art. The »Today's Newspaper« is a link between the second and the third room, a link among communication technologies; a link between newspapers and art books.

Third room

In the third room art books, object books were exhibited. These books represent the next great complex of Poggi's work to which he has given a great deal of his creative power. There were five books exhibited which were supposed to be a premonition of the power and diversity of Poggi's thought. These art books can be either the artist's photo albums, his sketch books or his notebooks. As a whole they represent a unique art document. Such an art book cannot be viewed as an ordinary book because it is unique and because no copies have been printed. The five exhibited books are: »Climbing the Stairs in Köln«, 1977; »1.2.3. Trees = the one and only God«, 1971; »Explore! House Coverings«, 1970; »War«, 1965/75 and »Numerus Clausus«, 1974. The first three are full of photographs and texts. The texts describe climbing the stairs in Köln, trees being viewed from a mythological and an ecological point of view and a story of Poggi and his daughter. The »War« from 1965/75 is a monumental work and is not simply an art book. It is Poggi's »Guernica«, his »Book of Kells«. Shocking photographs from newspapers and magazines, showing the horrors of wars, are accompanied by inscriptions »Guerra«, written in a handwriting and in red colour. These inscriptions appear as a more than ten-metre-long blood trail on a hard surface, resembling the skin of a human being. The last of these exhibited books is »Numerus Clausus« dating from 1974. This book differs from the others in being of metal. Its leaden sheets are locked with two steel belts. The book is perforated with nails and closed with bolts so that it cannot be opened. There is a newspaper's photograph of the human brain on its cover.

Art books are direct predecessors of netart for they all work within a medium that is not intended for fine arts only. Namely, this medium is primarily used for introduction of works of art and not as a medium expressing artistic ideas. Could we compare art books and netart? Yes, because an artist is faced with the medium in the same way, he has to deal with other elements like editions, massiveness, selling strategies… as well.

Besides books there are also sheets of paper with Poggi's poetry and an AU environment detail in this room. The sheets with poetry are written in Poggi's handwriting.

So far only Poggi's statues and installations have been mentioned so something should be said about his drawings, collages and photographs as well.

Poggi's drawings express the artist's great gift for observation and a great talent for drawing which enables him to capture the main characteristics of a form in only a few strokes. His drawings can be divided into quick impressions, profound studies of a human body or parts of a body, portraits, erotic drawings and drawings of animals. It is difficult to decide which are the best, but the drawings of animals are undoubtedly exceptional. However, drawings of the plans for installations and environments could be more interesting yet from another point of view. They express all the artistic openness and a remarkable ability for visualization of components in a room. Figural drawings comprise body parts studies, erotic drawings showing sexual intercourse, drawings using the usual iconographic motifs, such as a mother with a child, and drawings documenting different events, just like photographs. A contour made in just a few strokes with a virtuoso stroke is what they all have in common. The contour characterizes the body, the environment and the room, the artist needs only a few strokes to express his emotions and his impressions of a current situation. A great charm of these drawings is also directness, since the restless stroke of a pencil gives us the deceptive feeling of presence in the magical formation of an image. The same feeling of simultaneous presence can be felt while speaking on a telephone.

The feeling of presence can nowadays be felt while using contemporary technologies, from telephone to internet, but in the past this feeling was mainly obtained through art drawings. These are usually quickly made, inspired by a minor event which arouses an artist's sensibility. These drawings are made in only a few strokes but these lines are enough to identify a motif. This phenomenon of lines and their perception is a very interesting one. An observer recognizes a motif just from a few lines and shadows. The observer is not only capable of recognizing figures just from a few lines indicating an outline of the figure, but he can also guess its emotions, wishes, events surrounding it, its background. The quality of a drawing is in inverse proportion to the number of used art elements.

Architectural drawings and plans for utopian architecture depict buildings and elements of buildings or it could be that these drawings and plans are just architectural visions which rarely come true as a whole. They are more often used as component parts of some other creations. Religious drawings, showing the usual iconographic motifs of pieta or ceremonies like communion, represent a special chapter in Poggi's work.

Pino Poggi with his penetrating and critical eye sees everything and everybody, not a single event, no matter how marginal, can escape his criticism. He deals with both Greek and Roman mythology and also with some Christian themes but he never avoids the social component of an event. That is why all his works are socially conscious - Poggi uses them to interfere with the problems of the human society.

Fourth room

This whole room was occupied by an AU environment called »Libro Environment«. This is a cage, its dimensions being 2´2´5m, filled with school desks organised in four rows, each desk having two chairs. On these desks are books entitled »Ein AU Process« with Enrico Crispolti's introduction and some pencils. There are many drawings and inscriptions from visitors and from pupils inscribed on these desks and chairs. Poggi considers such an intervention the most important element of his exhibition. Namely, he expects visitors to react to all the exhibited elements by writing down their feelings or by discussing them.

The installation is called "AU Environment" and dates from 1977. AU stands for arte utile. This is not a useful art in the sense of arts and crafts, of course. The arts and crafts usually lack that artistic, metaphysical and sublime touch. Poggi's AU has all of the above, AU is not meant to be only an aesthetic experience or just an aesthetic pleasure. AU is much more than that, it should release immediate response in the observer, social interactions and finally some changes in the society as well. AU is supposed to be a useful art but this is only partly true. It is useful as any other art, that is only or mainly mentally. It could be more useful only in the way of being more legible and intentionally carrying one meaning only.

AU shares its passionate zeal with modernism – it is necessary to discover and invent new art tendencies and new products over and over again.

In contrast to other modern tendencies and art forms, AU is not just an art form but a whole new branch of art all together, even more than, for example, land art, because AU does not comprise fine arts only, but it also expresses its ideas in other branches of art.

The exhibition »Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky« is also a retrospection of Poggi's work, so that AU could not have been avoided. However, Poggi's AU is quite a special chapter in the artist's history so it should be dealt with separately. Only some basic things will be pointed out here. AU is a logical continuance of Poggi's work, as the readers have probably made out. The social alertness and the capacity to communicate with visitors have been made important with AU. The process of AU starts in the streets where an artist with his assistants encourages passers-by to write down their impressions of the collages, exhibited on improvised stalls. The artist uses photographs to show political and other current topics of the time on these collages. The passers-by then cooperate by writing down their comments to the photographs. During the second stage of the AU process the artist invites the audience to a public discussion, where he controls the debate on the same burning issues. The artist records and thus documents this debate with a video camera.

The third stage of the AU process takes place at an exhibition in a gallery or in a museum. The collages with photographs and inscriptions are now called the AU sheets. Poggi cuts them into small sheets of paper and puts them into special boxes made of metal, with locks. Visitors then have to open these boxes, take the sheets out and put them together in a whole (like a puzzle). This way also the visitors come in contact with these sheets and are thus more likely to understand the heart of the introduced problems. In this last stage of the AU process the artist is not present.

The AU process is a unique art since it unites the elements of happening, performance, public discussion, photographs, installation and some more into a magnificent entirety. At the exhibition »Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky« only some AU sheets were exhibited and since they are a final product of the third stage they can as such function as an independent graphics.

Fifth room

In the fifth room two models for AU environments were exhibited. Poggi has made about 60 models and they have been kept in the Art Gallery in Slovenj Gradec. One of the exhibited models at the exhibition was an »Ecological Triptych«. This is a box, more than a meter long, half a meter wide and divided into three parts within. Each of these three parts depicts landscape in miniature. The first landscape shows nature in its intactness, the second landscape is already marked with industry, factories and poisonous substances, whereas the third one shows nature which is dried up, bare and worn out because of pollution. There is a transparent bridge connecting these three landscapes and it takes the visitor to all the three periods of human history. These three periods are: Golden age, Bronze age and Iron age. It is based on a very old myth, which is understood somehow differently by Poggi. In Poggi's art both mythology and futurology play important parts. He is especially interested in futurology, more of which will be said later.

Many installations and texts have been made from this study. They all speak of the dangers of pollution and of too fast and thoughtless industrial development.

Sixth room

The sixth room was occupied by Poggi's models for furniture and by hand-made shoes. There was an armchair, set in the corner, made of steel and covered with leather. A special "s" curve was stuck in its triangular legs. A padded suitcase filled with bones and other remains was used as a platform for the chair's legs. In this room Poggi's texts were read - poetry and drama - and video films were presented. These video films were mainly documentaries which showed Poggi's performances or other events connected with his work.

Video "D6 - a Football Match" (16 min, 1977) is a documentary of a football match between Kassel city councillors and the artists participating "The 6th Documenta" in Kassel, in 1977. Among the participating artists were also Pino Poggi and the famous Joseph Beuys. This film is the only document of this important match in which the artists lost with the score 17: 1. The film was recorded by one of the Poggi's students under Poggi's guidance.

"The End of a Crisis (I don't want to be a robot anymore)", (24 min, 1982) is a recording of a performance which was done by Poggi three times, in 1975, in 1977 and for the last time in 1982. The artist experimented with a modern material - plastics.

He is dressed in plastic bags which are a symbol of a consumer society. The artist is being filmed by a static camera. In the performance the artist is undressing his plastic clothes and writing "Ich will kein Roboter mehr sein" on large sheets of paper at the same time. He can hardly move due to his terrible clothes and yet he is able to write " I don't want to be a robot anymore". When he is stark naked he realizes that together with his clothes he lost all the ties with his society. He has lost everything and that is why he commits suicide.

So, no matter how rotten and money grabbing a society can be, it is still a society. And since people are social human beings they cannot exist without a society.

"One of Us Who Refuses to Get Rid of His habits! / Einer von uns, der sich von seinen Gewonheiten nicht trennen will!" (24 min, 1980) is a document of a performance where Poggi is being filmed by a static camera. He is sitting by the table and eating canned fish. The video is a short version of a performance which lasted for several hours. The artist wants to call our attention to the unbearable situation of an exaggerated and senseless exploitation of nature. Once again a visitor is reminded of the problems of a technological progress, with its advantages and disadvantages and the consecutive changes which are made in the existing social relationships.

"X+Y+J+J+Y+X=?", (60 min, 1980) is a video starred by Poggi' father. He walks from the outskirts of Genova towards its centre. Poggi walks in front of him and films his father's feet only. He guids his father and talks to him throughout the walk. After almost an hour walk, in the centre of Genova, Poggi lifts the camera so that now his father’s face can be seen.

By using this video Poggi wanted to point out to the alienation among people in larger cities, to the changes of social norms and to a different kind of behaviour which has been enforced with the arrival of the new times. That is why the actor is the artist's father; these changes are even more painful and difficult to understand for the older generation.

"Halgato" (1994, directed by Andrej Mlakar, art director Pino Poggi) is the first main feature with Pino Poggi as an art director.

Seventh room

There were drawings and sketches exhibited on one side and an installation

"Consumer Compromise", 1966-2000, on the other side of the room. The installation was made of three elements: the Soviet Union flag, two American 1 dollar bills and a bill for ten Slovene tolars. The Soviet Union flag was cut in half and put between the two American bank notes. The former Soviet Union flag which was cut in two pieces, symbolizes the disintegration of this country as well as the shattered dreams of socialism.

This installation shows one social order being replaced by another one, which is neither better nor worse, just different in its appearance and one that uses different symbols for its identification and propaganda.

In the passage between the old and the new building of the Gallery four models for AU environments were exhibited. The first model was for the performance "The End of a Crisis (I don't want to be a robot anymore)". The next three models were used as a legend for the three installations exhibited in the Gallery's great hall.

The new part

Poggi's installation "Hysteria or Reality" (The Earth in 1999)", 1983, reveals the author's attitude towards pollution and his prediction for the next 16 years, which was made when the year 2000 was still regarded as an important turning point.

Things might not be as obvious in the present because we still have our green valleys and vast woods which might grow faster than those by the Amazon are cut down. But, the fact is that pollution is still as much of a problem than it was ten or twenty years ago. It is just that twenty years ago nobody realized these problems, except perhaps artists. Our landscape might not look like the one on the Moon, but if we continue with the senseless exploitation things will not end happily. By using expansive propaganda actions big multinational companies have turned our attention away from such problems. Pollution causes all kinds of diseases which are more or less successfully constrained by using new drugs every time. But these new drugs enable new kinds of disease to develop. And since these diseases are not directly linked to pollution they seem less important.

The installation "Hysteria or Reality (The Earth in 1999)" should be hence understood symbolically and should be looked at from two different points of view. We can be either optimistic because the worse did not come true since the Earth is not as polluted as the installation predicted. Or, we can be pessimistic - thinking that the Earth might not look as the landscape in ashes, but there are many problems, such as diseases, viruses…, hidden under the green surface. These problems are far from being recognized or solved.

"Verita o Isteria (The Earth in 1999)«, dating from 1983, is made of ashes, a transparent plastic foil and some metal buckets filled with dirty water. A mound, man-made from ashes, symbolizes the ashes of the dead as the final product in the process of life…Ashes to ashes and dust to dust…

The buckets filled with dirty water, full of motor oil, symbolize the limited quantity of water, already polluted and neglected, which can only lead to the extinction of the human race in the near future. The transparent plastic foil protects the mound and produces an interesting game of light and shadows at the same time and this defines Poggi not only as a conceptualist but also as an artist who undoubtedly knows much about the problems of art.

The hall was then narrowed into a corridor where the AU environment "Everything is Different Without the Blueness of the Sky, Opera Concreta (Tella-comunication)" was set. The installation was made of a blue material, stretched in the corridor. There was a canvas fastened with some ropes to a wall. Visitors were supposed to move these ropes in order to change the canvas's appearance. While removing the ropes and thus giving this installation a whole new look, visitors communicated with each other. A communication among visitors is the leit motif of all Poggi's works and the same goes also for this installation. But it could be said that the component of communication is the most present in this installation, since it encourages visitors to communicate with each other and to willingly interfere in the work of art, not one after another, but together. Hence the subtitle of the installation "Tella - comunication (canvas - communication)."

A magnificent AU environment "Impotence (mea culpa)", 1980/83 was the exhibition's dramatic high point. There was an enormous landing in four graded levels set above the visitors. It was rounded by a strong metal net, coloured in gold. Opposite the entrance was an enormous mirror which reflected the whole installation. There was a big white egg covered in a thin metal net on the landing's top level.

The installation was based on the story of the tragic Midas, the king whom Dionysus granted a wish to turn into gold everything Midas would touch. Soon the tragic Midas could neither eat nor drink.

The egg stands for the beginning of life and this beginning is wrapped in the metal net, poisoned and trapped. And when this foetus grows up it is to notice a purified whiteness and the golden cage and it will be happy to be able to live in this society.

The elements in this story are similar to that of "The End of a Crisis (I don't want to be a robot anymore)". The hero in this film wants to break free from all the ties he has with the consumer society. He wants to jump over the fence, to climb over the golden cage and to take off those plastic bags. But the hero goes too far, since there is nothing on the other side of the cage, only the whiteness, the infinite whiteness without any recognizable cracks and voices. There is nothing to hold on to, he gets lost in time and space.

The installation "Impotence (mea culpa)", 1980/83 carries on where the installation "Hysteria or Reality (The earth in 1999)" finished. Namely, it states that the pessimistic vision from 1983 did not come true. Yet the truth lies somewhere else. Although we live in the time of prosperity and in spite of the fact that life expectancy is rising and getting better, we are still trapped in our expectations, in the smallness of our world and our unwillingness to look beyond this world.

An egg is always a symbol of a new, springing life. But this egg, which is over-dimensioned since the importance of an egg (in the meaning of life) is enormous, is wrapped in a metal net. Behind this net the white landscape descends in levels to a great golden fence. The golden net stands for the golden cage we live in. We have all our hearts' desires, gold, wealth and (fictitious) happiness but unfortunately a cage is always a cage.

The story returns to Midas, who wished that everything he touched turned to gold, or to Plato and his story of people with tied limbs, sitting facing the entrance with their backs. In this position they can only see the shadows from the outside world, but from these shadows they are able to make deductions about the true happenings in this world.

"Impotence (mea culpa)" is also about the fictitious Golden age we live in today, where we fail to see the real problems due to the abundance in the north of the globe. Surrounded by everything that we need we fail to see that the sources of energy we are using are limited, that people are dying of hunger and from different diseases in other parts of the world, that our world is nothing but a disguise and we are but prisoners in the golden cage. A quote from Poggi: "Our cosy little lives are nothing but a well-padded prison, where everyday, monotonous rituals take place. "

Futurology

Pino Poggi takes a great interest in futurology as well and his ideas reach as far as 20-30 years in time. He thinks about the future of traffic and about the density of population on continents. His attention is focused on Europe and its division and diversity, which both unite and disunite at the same time. He has strived for a clean environment and for a well-considered usage of new technologies. Some of his ideas are today becoming a reality - ecological movements or fast trains, for example. His utopias divided Europe into northern and southern Europe; people work in the north and rest in the south. With a proper infrastructure - such as fast trains - people commute up and down every day.

Now I would like to present some futurological ideas which, unlike those of Poggi, concern more distant future and comprise a whole era of a civilization - the life of human beings on the Earth. These futurological ideas are concerned with the beginning of life on the Earth and in the Universe in general. I would like to meditate on the question of whether we are alone in the Universe or not, because it is becoming obvious that each individual will be able to leave the Earth and our solar system and to head for far more distant places that we can possibly imagine right now in just a few years' time.

All these travels will be accompanied not only by the problems concerning physics, but especially by sociological ones, then problems of relationships between people and other living beings, and problems concerning the beginning and the development of an intelligent being's life. Man's world will not be limited by continents, countries or different nationalities anymore. Conditions will change and therefore some completely new interactions among people, other living beings and environment will occur.

Life on Earth started 4 billion years ago. At least 3 billion years had to pass for unicellular organisms to evolve into more complex ones, which probably happened 700 million years ago. Yet some more hundred million years had to pass for an intelligent being to evolve; human beings started to develop only 4 million years ago.

The development of science and technology led to the point, where man can search the Universe in order to find other habitable planets. Let us look at the evolution of man as an intelligent being. Naturally, it is assumed that we are not the only intelligent beings in the Universe. In the first stage of the evolution living beings begin to exploit the energy potentials of an inhabited planet, in the second stage they conquer and exploit the solar system of their planet, and finally, in the third stage the living beings conquer their galaxy and begin to communicate with other civilizations. When this stage of evolution is reached the living beings are able to actively change their planet also by influencing the ageing of the Sun and by expanding the boundaries of their existence way beyond currently known time limitations.

In the first stage species begin to exploit the energy potentials of the planet but before this a long lasting evolution from simple organisms to intelligent beings has to take place. Pollution is one of the major problems of every highly evolved civilization. Poisoning of their environment can cause living beings to lose their living space and to die out.

Pollution is a big problem nowadays; a greenhouse effect causes weather changes; the atmosphere is getting warmer which causes sea levels to rise and animals which live mainly in warmer climates to spread diseases. This might not be only because of pollution, it could just be a normal phase in the planet's evolution.

The development of nuclear weapon could be even bigger problem than pollution. This is the weapon which can cause a civilization to die out if it is developed before any intelligent beings could be ready for it. The primary element for the production of nuclear weapon is uranium 238. This element is becoming scarce in nature, since in the natural cause of events it disintegrates into useless uranium 235. And in order to produce uranium 238 artificially a more complex technology is needed. Being that there is more uranium 238 in the early geological years of a planet, there is a greater possibility for a nuclear weapon to be developed with a poorer technology. That would be even more dangerous, since we can assume that the intelligent beings in the early stages of evolution would not be able to understand all the consequences of the nuclear weapon properly. It appears that we are now in the stage of evolution when the use of nuclear weapon should not be a threat upon us, as the sword of Damocles; nuclear technology should be used for civilian purposes only.

And in order to use nuclear technology for civilian purposes only a more efficient technology and mostly a better sense for self-preservation was necessary. This sense for self-preservation obviously prevented the use of it for military purpose only. We can only imagine what could have happened if this weapon had been available to crusaders or to the Romans, the Spanish, who came to America, or to the Germans in the 1st and 2nd world war.

A species of intelligent creatures should develop a sense for self-preservation to a certain degree, otherwise it can destroy itself when confronted by such a devastating weapon as the nuclear weapon undoubtedly is. This species can destroy itself even before reaching the first stage in their evolution, that is the stage of exploiting the sources of energy of the inhabited planet.

Another danger for the survival of intelligent beings comes from the development of genetics which would enable human beings to redesign themselves genetically.

The Universe is 10 - 20 billion years old and the life on Earth started 4 billion years ago, but it still seems that the only intelligent life or organisms, which are able to communicate not only by sound or mime, is that on Earth. Namely, the fact is that we still have not found any clue which would presume the existence of another civilization in the Galaxy, despite the fact that there are roughly 200 billion stars in our Galaxy only.

N stands for the number of stars in the Galaxy.[2] The total number of extraterrestrial technological civilizations (ETCs) that have arisen in the lifetime of the Galaxy is expressed by the formula:

ETCs = N x A x B

Where A is a fraction determined by astronomical considerations and B is a fraction determined by biological considerations.

A = p1 x p2 x p3 x p4

Here p1 is the fraction of all stars in the Galaxy similar to the Sun, stars that are not too blue and not too red, not too luminous and not too under-luminous and not members of close binary systems. A reasonable estimate is that p1 has a value 0.1. The second term, p2 , is the fraction of these sunlike stars that have earthlike planets. We shall asign to it a value 0.1. Next term, p3, is the fraction of such planets occupying a habitable zone, not too close (like Venus) and not too far (like Mars) from the parent star. For p3 we shall also assume a value 0.1.

Fourth term, p4, is the number of solar systems within which there is at least one larger planet, as there is Jupiter - the planet which attracts most for life dangerous comets and asteroids - in our solar system. The value of p4 is also 0.1.

The number of stars in the Galaxy is:

N = 2 x 10 11

ETCs = 2 x 1011 x 10 -4 x B

This rough estimate gives 20 million planets in the Galaxy where there are such conditions that are suitable for life. Real difficulties begin when we attempt to estimate a value for the biological fraction B.

B = p5 x p6 x p7 x p8

In this expression, p5 is the probability that life originates in a unicellular form; p6 is the probability that life evolves into multicellular organisms, such as mammals; p7 is the probability that such organisms develop intelligence equal to or greater than that of human beings; p8 is the probability that intelligent life develops an advanced technological civilization.

Optimistic studies assume that p5 = 0.1, p6 = p7 = p8 = 1, and therefore

B = 0.1.

ETCs = N x A x B; ETCs = 2 x 1011 x 10-4 x 10-1 = 2 x 106

According to this argument of low credibility the number of extraterrestrial technological civilizations in the Galaxy is 2 million. These civilizations have existed at different times in the history of the Galaxy and the number of those existing at any moment is ETCs x t/T, where t is the average lifetime of such a civilization and T is the age of the Galaxy (approximately 10 billion years). Let us continue in this optimistic vein and assume that technological civilizations endure on the average for 1 million years:

The number of existing civilizations in the Galaxy at any moment =

ETCs x t/T = 2 x 106 x 106 : 1010 = 200

The number of existing civilizations at any moment, including the present, is therefore 200. A simple calculation then shows that in the disk of the Galaxy the average separating distance is approximately 1000 light years. Technological civilizations lasting for a million years have therefore plenty of time to communicate with other existing technical civilizations.

Let us look at a pessimistic and perhaps more credible view of the value B. Let us assume again that p6 = 0.1 is the probability that life originates on an earthlike planet in a habitable zone, although we have no clue as to how far this might be wrong. Also we have no guarantee that life will evolve, even over billion of years, into multicellular organisms. Let us assume that p6 = 0,1. Nothing compels us to conclude that advanced intelligence is inevitable, for numerous species on Earth have survived long periods of time without it. The environment must affect the right species in the right way at the right time so that natural selection favours the development of large brains. The probability of this happening is very small, but not to overdo the pessimism we shall assume that p7 is 0.1. Finally we must ask, what is the probability that intelligent life develops science and technology. Science and technology were not discovered by the numerous cultures of Africa, America, China, India, Japan, or almost any other, with the exception of the Hellenic world and the later European one, which evolved from it. Science made its first steps in the Hellenic world where a few individuals, who were ridiculed by their contemporaries, persisted in its development. Science was later developed in Europe in the face of organised hostility. The probability p8 of intelligent life constructing an effective scientific view of the universe is perhaps no greater than 0.1.With p5 = p6 = p7 = p8 = 0.1, we have B = 10-4 , therefore

ETCs = N x A x B = 2 x 1011 x 10-4 x 10-4 = 2 x 103

And the number of technological civilizations that have arisen in the lifetime of the Galaxy is now only 2000. For the Galaxy to contain at least one ETC at any one time, each must last for at least 1 million years. But a pessimistic (realistic?) estimate of the expected lifetime of an advanced technological civilization might be only a few centuries. Let us take thousand years, for example. This suggests that our technological civilization is alone in the Galaxy and that the next will occur somewhere in about 1 million years. But we should bear in mind that these guesses and solutions stand correct for the Galaxy only. The number of ETCs rises for 1010 when we take the whole universe, not only our Galaxy, into consideration.

Estimates of the number of technological civilizations existing in the lifetime of the Galaxy range from 2000 to 2 million, and the low value is probably nearer the truth. These technological civilizations probably do not exist simultaneously and this could also be the reason for the lack of communication. Extraterrestrial civilizations lacking advanced technology and science are probably more numerous because science and technology are not always present in a culture and their development could bring many negative consequences, such as nuclear weapon and pollution. Human beings are approaching the stage in their evolution where they will be able to redesign themselves genetically. The development of science and technology creates besides good things also serious hazards that can be destructive for a civilization. Perhaps only 1 in every 10 survives the first thousand years of science and technology development, all others either self-destroy or revert to an earlier low-technological state. Of the estimated 2000 technological civilizations in the Galaxy it is possible that only 200 survive for longer than 1000 years.

We must consider what happens to those civilizations that survive. A thousand years should be enough to develop interstellar space travel. Fusion power and other technologies still beyond our present enable a technologically advanced civilization to construct large space vehicles that can travel at, say, one-thousandth the speed of light. A journey of 10 light years distance, from one planetary system to another, will last 10 000 years. This is not unthinkable with a large space vehicle having its own biosphere and containing a unit for a million or more people. After 10 000 years of halt several new spaceships will embark on a new interstellar journey. In this way life could diffuse outward from the home planet at a rate of 10 light years every 20 000 or so years. Given this rate the entire Galaxy could be colonised in 100 or so million years - a period equal to 1 percent of the age of the Galaxy. This interstellar space travel could be looked at also from a different point of view which can lead to a conclusion that the Galaxy is perhaps now colonised by roughly 1000 technological civilizations.

When a species becomes highly intelligent and develops a technologically advanced civilization, the environment that previously directed natural selection falls under the control of the members of the species. Any irresponsible behaviour at this point can lead to disastrous consequences. A technologically advanced civilization composed of irresponsible individuals has little chance of surviving. Intelligent yet destructive forms of life have but a little chance to survive this stage in evolution and to set on interstellar space travel. Intelligent creatures who colonize the Galaxy are probably peaceful, not aggressive and do not subject other races. It is also possible that any such aggressive civilization, which wanted to subject others, would be destroyed by other civilizations immediately. The fact is that despite all probability calculi and despite all proofs that we have about the probable existence of extraterrestrial life of advanced intelligence in the Galaxy, we have not had any contact with it. Which is rather puzzling, because we find it difficult to understand why it ignores us.

It is quite possible that there are laws that technologically advanced civilizations should abide. Namely, all forms of direct contact with technological civilizations, which are unable to communicate with other foreign species and which are unable to prevent self-destruction, are strictly forbidden.[3] The species must demonstrate its fitness for interstellar space travel.

Astronomers have discovered at least 50 stars, which are surrounded by planets. In the area around PSR B 1257+12 AND Upsilon (50) Andromedae several planets have been discovered[4] which proves the existence of planetary systems other than those around the Sun. In the next ten years some more earthlike planets might also be discovered or we just might get the answer of weather we are alone in the Universe or not.

"Everything is Different without the Blueness of the Sky"

Let me conclude with some other elements of Poggi's art. There is a slight contradiction in his work: he severely criticizes western European industrial society, its capitalistic economy which causes diseases and pollution and the destruction of nature. But this is also a criticism of the same society the development of which made this art and this kind of expressions possible. This criticism could then, as in the natural cause of events, create conditions for an almost unlimited trust in the society's potentials, in its superiority and a belief that it might be chosen.

So we are faced with the art that severely criticizes the society, not in the sense of changing it since we can see this is not possible, but only to call our attention to its faults so that it could be improved. But on the other hand, this criticism is limited because it does not go beyond the limits of the same society that set them and the society a part of which this criticism undoubtedly is. This questions the meaning of criticism itself, considering the fact that it is so limited that it can only function in the same society that is being criticized and a part of which it really is.

Poggi obviously realized that there is nothing but the infinite boring whiteness beyond that golden age. He also realized that by undressing his clothes he could also lose all the ties he has with the society and this could be fatal.

In the moment we replace our society with another one (and there are many in the world) the criticism loses its meaning. Namely, there are cultures, which in their course of evolution have not reached the stage of capitalistic production and of constant drive for profit; they have evolved differently. Surely they have problems, but not problems like pollution. These problems are not acute and pressing enough to arouse criticism. Could it be that living in these cultures is more pleasant? Could it be that these cultures are inferior to western European culture since they are not familiar with the art of social criticism that would criticize either them or those that are even less evolved and those that are inferior to the western European culture, the swing of which seems unstoppable? But, such questions are not meant to be answered by art.

___________________________________

The Blue sky spreads over the carpets of a white inexpressive surface like a fishing net. The straining of a net is like a straining of the sky.

Interrupted events and broken thoughts of the fishermen ashore…

When speaking about the blueness of the sky we cannot forget the rainy days, the grey and foggy days when people wander around by themselves, absorbed in their thoughts. Long autumns and cold winters in the north make a great impression on a man from the south of Italy. People are different when the sky is not blue; but it is not just the question of colour, it is more the question of those small variations in pressure and hundreds of other minute differences. But for an artist the colour, and mainly the colour is important and the blue colour is the colour of the universe, of infinity and of wisdom.

Everything is different without the blueness of the sky; when the sky is not blue our lives are not the same, our eyes are empty and lowered; our voices subdued.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Brad Brace, The Palimpsest, http://www.nettime.org

[2] Edward Harrison, Cosmology, The Science of the Universe, Second edition, Cambridge Univesity Press 2000, str. 544-547.

[3] A man is a plunderer - his eyes are in front, whereas a rabbit - a prey - has eyes on both sides; other cultures might know the history of human beings - the crusades, colonialism , slavery, concentration camps.

[4] http://etacha.as.arizona.edu/~eem/exo.html (situation on 23rd of May, 2001)

gor

< Nazaj

> Slovensko
> English