D624
PROJECT 05

Only the barbarian can defend (I)

Countless and sudden social change –on a local and global basis- has created new social structures that in turn demand and create new forms of personalities. Consequently, the mechanisms of information accentuate the confusion on social collisions that are inevitably caused from such a continuous change, resulting to humans being saturated with insecurity and fear. Most times, this results to one wanting to “move” within his familiar milieu, which leads him to retreat and which is destined to cause confusion and a tendency to reject his own life.

Thus, we come to realise that fear is not so much linked with violence and accident, as it is with uncertainty and repulsion. For example, someone that will pretend the execution of a crime or an act of violence could be punished more severely than when actually having committed such an act. Insulting the principle of reality is considered a more severe offend than that of the actual attack. As a result a massive uncertainty emerges that defines the core of contemporary social mechanisms.

Funnily enough, all this uncertainty is due to a deconstruction of negativity within an environment of euphoria. We have everything. There is immense variety when it comes to commodities, and by being afraid we might lose what we already own, we freeze in front of the possibility of losing our comfort. Through a constant attack by information and image, we become unable to make out the borders of actions, so as to consciously incorporate ourselves somewhere. History is deconstructed and violence is neutralised, which results to any form of negativity turning into something forbidden. By that, we all begin to shut down into our self and uncertainty regarding one's self and others grows. However, we need to question whether in our pursuit to banish any bad stock and to highlight only the good values in life, we become extremely vulnerable to insult and extremely eager and desperate to create - or rather construct - an ideal reality that is flattering.

Loss and failure become intolerable for modern man, a state of mind created by its own propaganda, and this has formed our contemporary way of living. When the thought of failure overcomes man, he tends to cover up his personal insignificance with a crude attachment to other people's success, in order to avoid the depression that follows. These days, the profile sought after -and dictated by- the current life style, is dynamic, confident, liberated and charming.

“Our” European community is getting older and consequently, decaying. This superficially progressive and optimistic refusal of the past is proved on a closer look, as the incarnation of a helpless society that cannot face the future. We are losing the feeling of historical continuity, the feeling that we belong to a succession of generations that started way back and are now extending to the future. Maybe we have forgotten that Europe has operated as a compass of consciousness for modern civilization. Europe is now facing decadence due to the fact that it's getting older but also culturally highly refined and over-prosperous. European society has turned out to be lethargic, incapable of facing injustice –and its representatives- and to courageously stand for what they believe to be “the right thing”.

Therefore, man is encaged, squatting, and is now an animal in captivity with his instincts weakened. He retreats in his own thoughts, introvert, and gradually suffers from stress, depression and undefined discontent. Pavlos Nikolakopoulos comments through his work, Only the barbarian can defend himself (I) , how this model of the “psychological man” in our times, experiences an internal void and does not aim for personal growth or spiritual elevation, but mostly mental peace, in conditions that become more difficult and violent. Personal relationships have become vulnerable, unstable and our inner life no longer forms a protective shell from the danger that surrounds us, since we are the danger to ourselves. Being absorbed into our Ego is exactly what defines the prevailing atmosphere of contemporary society.

Myrtia Nikolakopoulou
Art Critic
May 2005