DYSTOPIA
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CH.00 THE LOBSTER Modern dystopia
CONTENT We live in a world of communication, everyone gets information about everyone else. There is universal comparison and you don’t just compare yourself with the people next door, you compare yourself to people all over the world and with what is being presented as the decent, proper and dignified life. It’s the crime of humiliation.
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ZYGMUNT BAUMAN
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CH.02 LIQUID LOVE
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Editorial
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CH.04 ERASED
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CH.01 WASTE LAND Architecture
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Illustration
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CH.03 DYSTOPIA Editorial
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THE LOBSTER Modern dystopia
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The word dystopia —a combination of the words “dys-” and “topos” which can be traced back to Ancient Greek— is translated as a “bad place”. In other words, a dystopia could be a futuristic universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through bureaucratic, totalitarian regimes, that use bureaucratic structures and technological advancement for their own goals. Such a universe could equally be characterized by human misery, squalor, oppression, disease, as well as overcrowding. In such a place, information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. It could be a place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives.
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Love and human feelings are usually frowned upon and considered to be a threat to said regimes, for fear of their leaders being overthrown. Dystopias in contemporary culture are used a tool and a metaphor in order to criticize current trends, societal norms, or our political organization in today’s world that is rapidly changing, thanks to technological progress. Namely, dystopian literature is used to “provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable”. “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, “Fahrenheit 451”, and “Brave New World” are the main pieces of dystopian literature.
THERE IS NO FREEDOM IN THE LOBSTER, NO TASTE OF TRUE PERSONALITY QUIRKS.
One of those is the “The Lobster”, a black-hearted flat-affect comedy, directed by Giorgos Lanthimos. The film is essentially a love story set in a dystopian future, where being single is a criminal act, leading to single people being arrested and transferred to a shabby hotel. During their stay there, they are obliged to match within 45 days. Should they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choice. There is no freedom in The Lobster, no taste of true personality quirks. It is ironical, therefore, that the word dystopia has come to represent a society in which individuals are repressed, personal freedoms lost and creativity stifled. A dystopia presents the inhumanity of the soulless state machine against the hopes and aspirations of humanity. It’s something we will all recognise.
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WASTE LAND CH.
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01 LIQUID SOCIETY loc. s.le f. sociological concept that considers the individual experience and social relations marked by features and structures that are decomposing and recomposing rapidly, faltering and uncertain manner, fluid.
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LIFE IS, IN ITSELF AND FOREVER, SHIPWRECK.
TO BE SHIPWRECKED IS NOT TO DROWN. THE POOR HUMAN BEING, FEELING HIMSELF SINKING INTO THE ABYSS, MOVES HIS ARMS TO KEEP AFLOAT. THIS MOVEMENT OF THE ARMS, WHICH IS HIS REACTION AGAINST HIS OWN DESTRUCTION, IS CULTURE.
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WHEN
CULTURE IS NO MORE THAN THIS,
IT FULFILLS ITS FUNCTION AND THE HUMAN BEING RISES ABOVE HIS OWN ABYSS.
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CH.
02 LIQUID LOVE A little story
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CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT ZYGMUNT BAUMAN IS THE FATHER OF THE DEFINITION OF LIQUID MODERNITY, WHICH WE USE IN ORDER TO REFER TO OUR PRESENT CONDITION. COMPARED TO THE RIGID AND PREDETERMINED SOCIO-POLITICAL SYSTEM THAT HAS CHARACTERIZED MOST OF HUMAN HISTORY UP TO THE LAST CENTURY AND WHICH HAS GUARANTEED (AND ALLOWED) OVER TIME THE EXISTENCE OF A VERY STRONG ORDER OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT, WE CURRENTLY NEED TO DEAL WITH THE FACT OF A CONSTANTLY CHANGING REALITY (AND ITS IDENTITY). IT IS THE MAN HIMSELF WHO CAN EDIT IT ACCORDING TO HIS OWN NEEDS AND TO THE IMAGE OF THE "LIQUID" WILLINGNESS TO INDICATE AWARENESS (BUT ALSO THE IMPOSITION) OF HOW NOTHING HAS OR SHOULD HAVE CLEAR AND DEFINED OUTLINES, BOTH WITH REGARDS TO THE WORLD OF LABOUR (BAUMAN STARTED AS A PHILOSOPHER AND SOCIOLOGIST OF LABOUR) AND THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS NEW WAY
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OF SEEING LIFE AND LIVING IT. HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS HAVEÂ ALSO BECOME LIQUID, NOT IN THE SENSE THAT THEY ARE SUDDENLY "DISAPPEARED", BUT RATHER THEY HAVE GONE THROUGH SOME FORM OF DILATION AND LOOSENING CONTRARY THE ACTUAL BUSTLE OF LIQUID LIFE. FOR BAUMAN, AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE UNCERTAINTY THAT HAS AFFECTED THE POSTMODERN MAN COMES FROM HIS OWN TRANSFORMATION, THROUGH THE EYES OF SOCIETY, FROM MANUFACTURER TO MERE CONSUMER. THIS ALSO APPLIES IN THE EMOTIONAL FIELD: THE LIQUEFACTION AND THE DRYING-UP OF THE FORM AND CONTENT OF RELATIONSHIPS, WHICH ARE CONSTANTLY ADAPTED TO THE TEMPORARY NEEDS OF THE CONSUMER. MAN (AS A HUMAN BEING) IS STUNNED AND DISORIENTED, HIS SUCCESS IN LIQUID SOCIETY IS CONSTANTLY POSTPONED AND REDEFINED; WHAT IS THE SENSE OF A STABLE RELATIONSHIP IN A COUPLE THAT REQUIRES INVESTMENT AND CONTINUOUS WORK? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "FOREVER", THE "TILL DEATH DO US PART"? IS IT NOT PREFERABLE TO THE HAVE OCCASIONAL MEANINGLESS ENCOUNTERS?
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DYSTOPIA An incomplete expression
Teatro Burri Milano 07.02.2017
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ERASED CH.
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Ash permeates the sky,
HATE Jagged, CROOKED architecture, A charcoal skyline filled with Wandering across grey fields Clanking cogs grinding, An inhuman
SCREAM
Shadows walking, slowly; silently, Figures standing straight No individuality survives, All are
EQUAL,
and yet there are those who lead Without warmth from the sun, No heat falls upon the Blackness fills the
SKIN
VOID,
Mere machines without thought I
DREAM of what might have been,
Fields of colour and life, full of creativity and uniqueness No place to voice my ideas,
DANGEROUS ideas crushed by those above Part of one collective MIND Merely a subjugated citizen! Josh GIBBENS
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We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think, we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone on genders. Maya ANGELOU
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We have lost our humanity. Tahereh Mafi
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Being alone never felt right , sometimes it felt good , but it never felt right Charles BUKOWSKI
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CREDITS NABA MA Fashion and Textile Design Art Direction, prof. Stefania Seoni A.Y. 2016/2017 Curated by:
Karvishi Agarwal Francesca Azzoni Brenta Bao Chiara Bernini Arianna Bonifazi Shreya Chhabra Payal Kale Annabeth Van Rooijen He Yan Matilde Zani In collaboration with:
Alina Cortese Giulia Leggieri
DYSTOPIA MAG
Every picture in this magazine belongs to the team.
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