The creator at the time of quarantine, and the humanist implication apart from economy and science.

“The power of Good has fled for us into the nature of the Beautiful” Plato

“Artists of the world, may your many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy.” Letter by Pope John Paul II to artists 

Milan, 1st april 2020

Il world is standstill, and so are our lives, the only thing we know is that yesterday is the same of today and also the same of tomorrow. Outside the chaos reigns, but we are all at home now, alone with our feelings and thoughts.

A recent article on Mit Technology Review has showed how the new shut in economy at the end of the emergency will be extremely harmful for business which counts on a great number of people gathering in bulk: restaurants, coffee shops, bars, discos, museums, hotels, theatres, cinemas, art galleries, malls, craftsmanship fairs, musicians, and other artists, sport centres. The happen to be the places where you create beauty, joy, and therefore, according to Plato, the Power of Good. Isn’t this the latest expression of a extremely techno-scientific society, where everyone forgot to live following desire instead of mere survival? Why today not being scared is considered selfishness? Coronavirus revealed how today altruism is made pointing at your neighbour, expanding guilt. Why is lightness considered as being superficial?

Take life with lightness. Lightness is not superficiality, but to glide on things from above, not having boulders on your own heart. […] For me lightness  endorses with precision and determination, not with vagueness and neglect. Paul Valéry said: Il faut etre léger comme l’oiseau, et non comme la plume [ndr  be light as the flying bird, and not as the feather]. Italo Calvino, American Lectures.

If you live believing in chaos you feel afraid of something out of your control can happen at any time, but if you live looking at perfection of the world with the eyes of a creator then your fear turns into faith in life. In learning the technique as designer I helped myself into the expression of my abstract thoughts, the two things lines up, and support each other, no job can be done without the combination of a technique (male power) with the creative intuition (female power). I always thought isolation was a blessing for creativity, and great historical examples demonstrates it, such as Van Dyck with the painting of Saint Rosalia made in Palermo during the plague of 1624, Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague at the end of XIV century, and Boccaccio wrote the Decameron during the plague in Florence in 1348, they used the quarantine to give life to masterpieces. Today is a magical moment, because nothing happens random, after a great darkness there is always a big light, because these are the dynamics of the universe, like ying and yang. Today we do no have to take the role of a nurse, or saviour, charity is made with what you already have, and if your talent is in art then this is what you have to use to make light, enriching the cultural heritage of your own nation and of the entire humanity, in this way you will do a social service, qualify as an add value for the common good.

“Before thinking to change the world, make revolutions, meditate on new constitutions, establishing a new order, get first into your own heart, make the order, harmony and peace reign. Only after that look for souls that are similar to you, and move to action.” Plato

To all who are passionately dedicated

to the search for new epiphanies of beauty

so that through their creative work as artists

they may offer these as its to the world.

Letter by Pope John Paul II to artists 

It is not in the smallness of data analytics without thought, nor global comprehension where  we will find peace at the time of war, but in the immensity of desire, the feeling which brings to intuition, vision. Today revolutions are done with an internal movement, defending your own emotional freedom, with the determination of a No, and the welcome of a Yes, in tune with what we feel. Forbidding your neighbour to be your offender taking yourself away from the condition of victim, bringing peace in the harmony of your own home, and the good with the beauty of your creation.

Chiara Centrone