- We live in a time when visual media and communication prevail, when the level of general culture is at a tragically low level, and reckless (rare and aggressive) behavior towards public space does not stop only when it comes to cultural events, although perhaps there it is most unexpected, assuming that it is a question of a part of the citizenry “who loves culture”
- Values are not some kind of abstract philosophical category, but are what decide whether, for example, when you go to a museum you treat the works on display with respect, or you destroy someone’s creative work in order to take a “perfect” selfie and carelessly move on… Or, even more bizarrely, you turn your back on someone who, despite his physical disability, managed to get to a cultural event in a wheelchair
The recent performance of the monumental work “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff, which delighted a large audience in the City Park in Skopje, was one of the most impressive cultural events this summer. Thousands of visitors enjoyed the spectacle that united more than 200 musicians and choristers in one place. In her post on social networks, TV presenter Iskra Misic praised the artistic performance, but also criticized the behavior of some of the concert attendees (unbecoming behavior of certain people in the audience, disrespecting the basic rules of general culture, attempts to enter the enclosed space between the stage and the audience, an argument of a larger group with the security…), but mostly the attitude towards the people in wheelchairs who came to watch the event…
The last time I wrote about this topic was some time ago when an adult man broke three toes on the right foot of a 19th-century sculpture by the great master Antonio Canova while posing next to it at the Gypsoteca museum in northern Italy (the man was caught on surveillance cameras getting “comfortable” and sitting on the pedestal on which the sculpture is placed). This case of the destruction of a work of art due to ignorance of the value of art is just one, perhaps radical, example of the lack of a basic or general culture of how the audience should behave in public spaces, but the sequence goes on and on. Especially in our environment where we are not alien to numerous examples of audiences who do not know the basic etiquette of behavior, in this case, at a concert, because respecting the artists for whom we went to a concert does not only include turning off the mobile phone, although many think that they are done with that. Many times I have barely refrained from reacting too violently in cases of the audience being late, whispering, coughing, creaking the chair, applauding between stands…, actions that seem minor to me now after the incident in the City Park. The general low culture of the Macedonian audience, the one that claps between stands, comments loudly in the theater or stomps all in front of them in museums and at concerts, points to the fact that there are still those who have not realized that art is not intended only for lovers, but that it is a base for the development of every person.
We live in a time when visual media and communication prevail, when the level of general culture is at a tragically low level, and reckless (rarely aggressive) behavior towards public space does not stop only when it comes to cultural events, although perhaps there it is most unexpected under the assumption that it is a question of a part of the citizenry “who loves culture”. Every day we witness littering on the street and in parks, damage to benches, bus stops, children’s playgrounds, graffiti on facades, monuments, loud music and excessive noise, disturbing disrespect in traffic, parking in places for people with disabilities, pushing and jumping queues…
But let’s return to the “cultural” audience, or rather the audience of cultural events, which, with the exception of exceptions, is seriously disoriented between lost value systems and market operations, and mostly as a result of quasi-education instead of real and quality knowledge, especially among the young generations, who, under the overwhelming influence of new trends, have completely lost even elementary ethical orientations. In such a social climate, decadence occurs in a cultural and moral sense, which noticeably grows, which is a worrying fact. The biggest victim is precisely the values, which are not some kind of abstract philosophical category, but it is what decides whether, for example, when you go to a museum, you will treat the works on display with respect, or you will destroy someone’s creative work with the intention of taking a “perfect” selfie and carelessly move on… Or, even more bizarre, you will turn your back on someone who, despite his physical disability, managed to come in a wheelchair to cultural event.
