I happened on this quote the other day:
So...we should sequester the artwork (which was painted to be seen and experienced, right?) away from people because the very fact that they are people is destroying the artwork... Um... really?
On the other hand - we've live in a time when we could create a near perfect reproduction of the work - I mean, it's already available online (and it's very cool, btw) - to the point where (with enough money of course) it could look, sound, even smell like the real place. Or we could go digital. Imagine a huge ceiling that is a video screen projecting the that Michelangelo masterpiece - and with the touch of a button or whatever - you could zoom in and see the face of Adam or the cherubs or Moses or whatever. Heck, it might even already exist.
I guess my question would be...would we still be experiencing the "real thing"? I mean, I've never been to the Vatican - I haven't stood in the chapel itself.
But I know the work - the ceiling - Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood - the Last Judgment behind the altar... So, I HAVE experienced the Sistine Chapel, even though I haven't been there...
But how far removed from "really" experiencing it am I?
More to the point of where I'm going. How present is our experience with Christ? How "real" is it? Have we "been there"? Are we experiencing a copy that has come to us through generations of interpretation and "restoration"? Or does each generation experience Christ new? Lamentations says that God's compassions are new every morning...is our experience of the Risen Christ so new and fresh, too?
The head of the Vatican Museum has warned that dust and pollution from tourists visiting the Sistine Chapel could endanger its priceless artworks. 'Such a crowd... emanates sweat, breath, carbon dioxide, all sorts of dust,' he said.
Vatican Tourists 'Ruining Sistine Chapel'; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 10, 2010.
So...we should sequester the artwork (which was painted to be seen and experienced, right?) away from people because the very fact that they are people is destroying the artwork... Um... really?
On the other hand - we've live in a time when we could create a near perfect reproduction of the work - I mean, it's already available online (and it's very cool, btw) - to the point where (with enough money of course) it could look, sound, even smell like the real place. Or we could go digital. Imagine a huge ceiling that is a video screen projecting the that Michelangelo masterpiece - and with the touch of a button or whatever - you could zoom in and see the face of Adam or the cherubs or Moses or whatever. Heck, it might even already exist.
I guess my question would be...would we still be experiencing the "real thing"? I mean, I've never been to the Vatican - I haven't stood in the chapel itself.
But I know the work - the ceiling - Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood - the Last Judgment behind the altar... So, I HAVE experienced the Sistine Chapel, even though I haven't been there...
But how far removed from "really" experiencing it am I?
More to the point of where I'm going. How present is our experience with Christ? How "real" is it? Have we "been there"? Are we experiencing a copy that has come to us through generations of interpretation and "restoration"? Or does each generation experience Christ new? Lamentations says that God's compassions are new every morning...is our experience of the Risen Christ so new and fresh, too?
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