Homo Manifestans or Artistic Interpretation of Social Upheavals at the Beginning of the XXIst Century

Abstract

The paper analyses the interrelation between different methods of cognition of the modern world and its inward processes, in particular, social upheavals at the beginning of the 21st century which are enquired with varied tools: artistic interpretation, sociological analysis, philosophical insight and historical evaluation. Building on the pictorial suite Mani-Festa by well-known Catalan modern artist Antoni Miró (b. 1944), the paper addresses causes, nature and visible outputs of the global phenomenon named “people on streets” using thoughts, considerations, views and conclusions of such scientists, thinkers, writers and historians as Z. Bauman, L. Donskis, M. Castells, R. de la Calle, M. Shore, R. Dasgupta and others. The analysed Catalan artist reflects in faces of his protagonists the collective image of the struggle for human rights, paraphrasing R.de la Calle. It is a collective image of some spiritual unity which emerges around a common objective uniting people of diverse background, professions, nationalities, age. Analysing the creative interpretation of “social context” by the case of art works of the Catalan painter, Antoni Miró, the author demonstrates how the thoughts, suggestions and conclusions of related disciplines – sociology, philosophy and history, existing in a given social time, are condensed in artistic expressions. And sometimes, it is a work of art or a work of literature that could help to understand better the ongoing processes and phenomena of surrounding world providing deeper, more comprehensive and more emotional vision. Along with mentioned thinkers and writers, the artist puts the question: what would be then, after the building ground, as Z. Bauman coined, has been cleaned. Should it be a new – perhaps, creative – and better solution for the world affirming the “there-is-no-alternative” principle.