|
by STELLA MERLIN
Anthropologist Duccio Canestrini has curated a provocative exhibition that places masculinity under the spotlight with Maskio – The Nature of Man, located at the University of Florence’s Museum of Natural History ( Maskio 146, 132, 22 – Toscana Museums.)
Exhibition planners will not want to miss this show which offers creative solutions to exhibition design in virtual worlds. Text panels mounted on simple yet elegant fluted columns offer convenient one-click translations from Italian to English. The avatar’s point of view is considered at every turn; floor-mounted directional signage and text panels lend themselves nicely to walking in mouse-look.
The curator states that “Being male (unlike being female) is not easy, nor predictable.” His presupposition that being female is both easy and predictable sets the tone for this exhibition, along with the direct question posited, “What happened to the stronger sex?” In response, the exhibition proceeds with a brief historical exploration of symbols of masculinity, including a massive image of male genitalia carved in marble.
In one room, sexual conquest, that age-old determinant of virility, is considered via masculine charm and seduction, and the more direct route – domination and rape. These concepts are creatively illustrated with floor-strewn peacock feathers juxtaposed by a wall-sized tapestry depicting the ancient Romans’ Rape of the Sabines.
Canestrini’s exhibit demonstrates that while the physiological status of masculinity is eternal, the concept of virility varies over time and regions. One example presented, is that of ancient Greek warriors who enjoyed homosexual relationships with young men without their virility being socially compromised.
The curator presents the Mediterranean man as a sort of ideal: unemotional, led by reason alone, this man is secure in his position as the head of a household where he commands the respect and authority of a king by virtue of his status as the breadwinner. The floor image, though pixilated and blurry, is of a lion with a scepter, an ancient phallic symbol of power and authority.
Canestrini graciously granted RezLibris an interview in which he was asked, “In your opinion, must a man be misogynistic to be powerful?” Canestrini responded, “When a man has achieved that which we call ‘power’ I think he can do whatever he wishes, even associate with powerful women, women that seem like women but reason and act like men (the worst kind of men, I mean, for example Condoleeza Rice or Sarah Palin.) Along their journey towards achieving ‘power,’ women are obligated to adjust to masculine logic.”
Deeper into the exhibit, a concept emerges: The male has lost his place in this world. One room is dominated by a massive, revolving icon of a woman (the same as seen on public bathroom doors) with a red slash through it. The message is clear: No women. The curator shares his impression that “Confrontation with women (and their logic) is complicated, increasingly demanding, and more involved than expected” leading men to prefer the company of other men. After listing some exclusively male institutions throughout history, Canestrini reflects on the modern age where “men find it very hard to find a territory, even in public life, where women are not allowed.”
Struggling to re-assert their masculine status, the curator states outright that unlike men, women are not obligated to prove that they are worthy of being women. (When interviewed, he dismisses the obvious societal expectations with which women have traditionally been saddled as proof of their femininity, such as marriage, home-making, and childbearing, as aspects that pertain only to the historical and social sphere, and not necessary to prove a woman’s feminine status.)
Today’s “Male for Sale” surrounds the avatar-viewer who moves through a gallery space littered with magazines bearing representative images, the “masks” that man is required to wear: the metrosexual, the athlete, the politician, etc.
Like the Greek hero Hercules (who killed his wife and children), the curator feels that men must atone for some unknown sin and demonstrate, using (in)human efforts, that they are not little boys, not women, and not homosexual. Perhaps this has lead to a modern-day “phallomania” where advertisements for penis enlargement are commonplace. An entire gallery is devoted to a giant marble phallic sculpture as the avatar-viewer walks over images of Warholesque erect penis postage stamps.
Canestrini presents contemporary masculinity as all but destroyed. “By carrying out a real male shooting, feminism (both in its early and late stages) has almost completely dismantled virility, and has thrown the man out with the bathwater.” He cites key social events which triggered this male crisis: the entry of women into the corporate work force (leading to competition) and “sexist” laws such as employment quotas and lowering pension ages.
When asked whether society would be healthier if women returned to a traditional lifestyle, as housewives, leaving the world of work (outside of the home) to the men, Canestrini responded, “Today, in order to work as cashiers at supermarkets, young mothers allow their children to be raised by inexperienced babysitters… Certainly this is not emancipation; even they would be happy to stay at home with their children.”
Yet it is undeniable that the feminist movement has indeed changed the workplace as well as the world. Canestrini feels that due to the feminist movement which “almost completely dismantled virility,” men are burdened with a sense of guilt and consequent self-flagellation with no means of escape due to a lack of viable alternative models. Today’s man is “weak, angry (and) confused.” Suffering an identity crises, he is “is in a corner and often confused.” Two large panel images of Elemire Zolla’s book "The Androgyne: Reconciliation of Male and Female" punctuate this room and lead the viewer to the next gallery strewn with the results of this desecration. “Languid, fashionable men with neat nails. Men on show, erotic jewels: here is the latest provocation. Men as subjects, wrapped in cellophane, sold in supermarkets.” An accompanying image shows two women giddily shopping for cellophane-wrapped men.
Canestrini ends his exhibition with a plea. “Accepting one’s own fragility is fine with us, but please don’t ask us not to be male. Men are dusting themselves off – getting rid of the attacks, troubles, words. Men now want their nature back.”
Duccio Canestrini is an author, a member of the Italian Association for the Ethno-Anthropological Sciences (Associazione Italiana per le Scienze Etno-Antropologiche), instructor of anthropology at the Trentino School of Management, and a professor of Cinema and Photography at Lucca University. For ten years he was editor and reporter for the ethnology section of the Italian monthly magazine Airone.
This exhibition lacks citations for information sources and accompanying art images. Given the provocative and controversial nature of the content and concepts displayed, the exhibition might generate feedback and interactivity with a “viewer response” bulletin board.
|
Arts & Entertainment 
