Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Moozmuse's Culture Corner

“Culture” is not intrinsically a political topic, but it certainly can intersect politics or be political. This diary’s intent is to stimulate conversation on what culture is (arts? a group of people bound by a language or ethnicity? something else?). If enough of you like this idea, I would be happy to make it a regular feature. On the other hand, I may just do it anyway! I’d like to start the conversation with the concept of culture as represented by the arts, which are an important part of our lives, and an often neglected one. This can be a place for artists and lovers of the arts to gather, for those wanting to learn more about various forms of art, or anyone at all who might be curious about this nebulous thing called “culture”.

Wikipedia says:  

“…the word “culture” is most commonly used in three basic senses:

– Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture

– An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning

– The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group

So while my personal idea of culture in this context is more or less “the arts” – high or not, I don’t want to limit Moozmuse’s Culture Corner to that definition, so let’s keep those ideas flowing to inspire us.

Where I’m coming from: I spent more than a few years of my life studying and working in the theatre (thus the Brecht quote) in New York and Hamburg, so dramatic literature is an obvious favorite, and  of course, poetry can’t be far behind. And the performing arts  have a long tradition of political content, but all arts are expressions of the human soul, in its manifold manifestations.

To kick off this series, I’ll start with one of the most amazing theatre works of the 20th century, which I had the privilege of seeing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1984, “Einstein on the Beach” by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass:



Tell us what your idea of culture is, and your favorite expression of it. Cite your favorite poem, post a picture you like, or even talk about a recent film you saw. It can be related to ethnicity, folklore, music, performance art, or anything at all, whatever you fancy. Your ideas for future diaries are also welcome! Anything goes, except bad taste! (The last statement is a teaser, bound to elicit some kind of response – XD!)

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Categories: General.

/ 31 Comments

31 comments

  2. Kysen

    I love music…all sorts.

    Lately I’ve had Krishna Das on a fair bit (the more sleepless my nights, the more likely I am to turn to music that I find soothing/comforting)…so, here is one of my faves:

    Music, poetry, painting, theater, film, and food…I cannot imagine a life without them (especially food!). For me, though, music is woven into my memories more strongly than any of the others.

     

  3. sricki

    be a great series! We will be delighted to have it here. I need to give my idea of culture some thought though, I believe, before I try to pen a decent response.

    Also, it’s 4:33 AM here, and my brain quit working about 3 hours ago. Be back later.

    Thank you muchly for a place to discuss this topic though!

  4. Peter Jukes

    …but my brain is not functioning after an awesome party in the country, during which I got well and truly boshed, and didn’t get to bed till 5 a.m (I blame the Spanish guy who’s birthday it was). So I’m not sure I’ll be able to contribute for a couple of hours, until I’ve had a hair of the dog.

    But this will go down well with Moosers, I can bet. I started my writing career in theatre, and in those days in the UK, Brecht was the model – politically and aesthetically. I’ve grown a bit sceptical of verfremdungsaffect and tendenz style agitprop, and Brecht’s dealings with the DDR post war trouble me. However, my estimation of him as a poet has gone up considerably, especially his later introspective verses

    Good call, Moozmuse. Nice thing is this diary will stay up for days and still be active, long after my hangover has gone.  

  5. Peter Jukes

    Operas are probably my favourite form, when they work well, and so working on musicals has always been joy – the combination of music, drama, dance and spectacle. I post the intro to the musical I’ve written with Marco D’Cruze (he was behind last night’s mad party) but here’s another pitch video.

  6. bubbanomics

    Pacific Standard Time is getting cranked up.  Some 60 artistic institutions are working together on exhibits about the LA art scene.  Official start is October 1.  Gonna be a lot of booked up weekends for me and ms. bubba while this is going on… lots to experience.

  7. Stipes

    a recurring series, since I love discussing these highly philosophical topics.

    The concept of ‘culture’ has always intrigued me since it represents such a nebulous idea.  So how do I define culture?

    I define it as the background body of common experiences which bonds or glues a certain group or groups of people together.  In addition, I think that even within highly homogeneous groups, the importance of certain bits of these common experiences varies significantly by individual.

    And, even if we don’t share those experiences, we can recognize those common experiences and history in other groups and come to either appreciate, despise or be indifferent to them…even while acknowledging them as fitting within the definition of ‘culture.’

    Alas, I guess we know it when we see it.

    😉

    Moozmuse,

    Thank you so much for posting this diary.  As others have stated before, this site is principally political, but it’s these type of diaries which help bring a richness to communities that creates even stronger bonds.

    Cheers!

    -Stipes!

  9. mahakali overdrive

    I was first trained as an actress when young, which necessitated dance as well (and am a great dancer but will never be a ballerina, that’s for sure). Majored in Studio Arts (painting) for a year. Switched to Creative Writing for two years(poetry emphasis). Read often. Moved over to Literature with an emphasis in Theory, trying to merge me political interests with aesthetics. Big film buff. I think that covers all the bases…

    Wouldn’t even know where to begin. I like it all, more or less.

    Weakness for street art as a social expression. Find value in every aesthetic mode, more or less. Just love the arts!

    Occasionally I won’t like something. But usually I find interest in it all… excitement even. Life even.

  11. Peter Jukes

    …was seeing Win Wender’s wonderful tribute/restaging of some of Pina Bausch’s best dance numbers. I saw it in three D at a huge screening at the Sarajevo Film Festival. It’s the only film I’ve ever seen that really uses three-d for artistic purposes.

  12. Strummerson

    since I haven’t had time to read through the comments carefully.

    But I just wanted to say that I see culture as fundamentally political.  While this or that cultural artifact may or may not be political per se, any discussion of “culture” is both inherently and historically political.  The very concept of culture may suggest something organic and unified, certainly representative of a community, but cultures are almost always heterogeneous and far from static.  For instance, fish and chips may be as representative of English culture as any food, but some scholars believe it’s a Portuguese dish brought to England at the end of the 17th century by Jews after they were readmitted by Charles II (not Cromwell, as many believe, though he tried).  So this quintessential English food became so only after England lifted its ban on Jews that had existed for centuries.  Look behind any consensus culture, and you will find a political context.  Furthermore, the assertion of what constitutes the common ground of a particular culture is always a political act and often a site of contest.  The English Language may be fundamental to American culture, but it becomes consciously so only in a discourse of crisis, in the right’s calls to enshrine it as our “national language” before we all start speaking that nasty nasty Spanish and standard American English becomes Spanglish.  Both Baseball and Jazz/Blues/Rock ‘n Roll might be representative American cultural forms, but we all know how they were developed in politically fraught racial contexts.

    All this is to say that discussions of culture clearly belong in political fora such as this.  I would go so far as to say that any political forum that doesn’t engage the discourse of ‘culture’ isn’t doing its job very well.

    Finally, I wish I liked opera more.  I’ve tried.  But I thoroughly enjoy good musical theater.  But I wouldn’t be able to pick one cultural/artistic form that stands above all others as my favorite.  Unless one invents a poetrymusicfilmpaintnovel.

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