Can't Escape It

     In the first of what will no doubt be a series of blog posts referencing my trip abroad, I want to talk about an exhibit I saw while in Florence. One of the  old banking family homes was turned into a museum which housed two exhibitions during our stay. There was one on the flow of money and how it influenced the growth of young Florence, as well as one titled "Declining Democracy". I figured that I was obligated to go to the exhibit. I was worried I'd run the risk of encountering only Italian, but during my stay I found many different displays questioning modern authority and showing various world populations expressing free speech. Reflecting on it now, the exhibition was kind of all over the place... It started with a poll on whether the majority was always right, then lead to an exhibit that tapped into twitter feeds and showed certain icons for whatever current events were popping up most. Then there was a plasmodial slime mold growth in a bizarre space-ship looking tube structure entitled "Parliament", followed by small films on public demonstrations. Interestingly enough, there were also various references to the potential inauthenticity of historical reenactments, questioning whether this reenactments would actually engage populations with past events.
     What was most interesting is pictured above. There was a group of artist called BUUU, who is trying to push boundaries between the internet, private, and public spheres. For example, the piece above was simply a white board with megaphones attached to the bottom. Visitors were encouraged to write their own political slogans, and respond to others. It blossomed into quite the display of various opinions. While I couldn't come up with anything profound enough to justify writing on the board, had I come up with something, I could have chosen to announce it to the small room over one of the megaphones. Here, they were pushing to people to publicly display their opinions in person. On the opposite wall there was a station where you were asked to record a video chiding Berlusconi. Immediately after creating it, it would appear on the monitor next to the camera, which displayed a website with previous videos.
     One conclusion I'm beginning to draw after this is that in more developed countries, we are seeing a decline in action, whereas in countries where democracy has not already been established, people are trying to establish their freedom. Perhaps I will explore this in blog posts throughout the semester, because this one is already quite long enough.