Contamination
Tomaso Marcolla
Italy
Artist site
Curatorial note
We felt a shiver of vibration at seeing Tomaso’s simple graphic for ‘Contamination’. The clash of the dandelion, (blown as a symbol of hope, childhood and lazy summer days) morphed into the corona virus sphere made us think about the many different meanings for ‘contagion’ at this moment. How do new behaviours and values catch on in societies? We have seen a contagion of new behaviours and more positive values since the lock down, and many of these are clearly ‘un-capitalist’ behaviours – helping each other, sharing what we have, putting others first. And for some of us, this positive contagion is giving renewed hope.
By contrast Tomaso’s other design, ‘Humanity’ rouses different ideas, referencing the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus https://www.ancient.eu/sisyphus/ punished by Zeus for trying to cheat death by eternally having to roll a huge boulder uphill only to have it roll down again. It makes us think about the denialism embedded in our economies built around the myth of eternal economic growth. The challenge of decarbonising our societies on time while our leaders insist on endless economic growth as the way to measure progress can be likened to pushing that boulder uphill.
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