The Archive of Contemporary Culture

Mari Synnøve Gjertsen

 

 

Culture as a constructed concept, including language and the idea of common decent, has been important in the formation of the nation state as we know it. This is because it gives its existence a reason, beyond the forceful land appropriation of some ruler, and creates a bond between the inhabitants. In believing in shared rituals and history we feel a togetherness that gives us a reason to create a society together. 

 

However it is important not to limit the understanding of culture to the falsely perceived stable condition of similar individuals living within definite geographical limits. Culture contains more than language and common decent and is in no way stable and consistent. With this understanding culture can be used as a backdrop for conflict, implying that people of different cultures have a hard time understanding each other and thereby living together in the world. 

 

In her book The Human Condition Hannah Arendt writes  “The task and potential greatness of mortals lie in their ability to produce things – works and deeds and words – which would deserve to be and, at least to a degree, are at home in everlastingness, so that through them mortals could find their place in a cosmos where everything is immortal except themselves.”1 What she describes here can be understood as culture, something that ties us together beyond our individual lives, and is a part of this everlastingness, or even creates it. In this understanding the objects humans create becomes important as immortal communicators of culture.

 

Today, in the world of internet and social media, infinite information and knowledge is seemingly available to the general public, as well as the possibility to make a statement about everything. This suggests that everyone can choose how to construct their own cultural position and thus curate the public view of their own self. Here we risk loosing the ethical norms that have guided the media for decades. We must also consider that the most used websites are controlled by big businesses that have a great interest in keeping you within their services, in order to make it more profitable. Thereby distorting the idea of freedom inscribed in this global network. This online sphere favours images and words, excluding physical objects, limiting the means of cultural communication. 

 

​