Čarobnica elektrika i malo značaja
MAGICAL ELECTRIC POWER

Summary/Abstract: The Magical Electric Power appeared pompously at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The 19th century, with Progress as its motto, left to its heir, the 20th century, a miracle that would bring about the changes nobody could have anticipated at that time. The Magical Electricity itself was unaware of its magic-wand powers. It invented the time of immediacy, the time from which the passage of time was excluded, the time in which the perfect and future tenses as well as conditional modes were all transferred to the present tense. The accelerated development of technique opened an unavoidable question: where does culture begin and where does it end in a world in which Botticelli´s Venus advertises lingerie, Vermeer´s Milkmaid works in a multinational dairy conglomerate, while a muse and a painter lend their names to automobiles (Clio, Picasso). For a goddess and a servant to be used as motives for advertisement and commerce is a symptom that should not be ignored. And, then, thanks to television, everything became a show. The appearance of “the society obsessed with shows”, in the 1960s, scandalised the world. Soon, the scandal was forgotten while the show remained. Today, culture has to be a “cultural event”. If there is no event, there is no culture. A cultural event exists only if its products are broadcast, celebrated and praised by the media – be it a book, a ballet performance, a concert, an exhibit or anything else.

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