Rembrandt van Rijn painted the famous "Night Watch" in 1642. This masterpiece of the Dutch master was created at the peak of his artistic development and shows the painting technique, the play of light and shadow, but also the fantastic characterization of the characters from the merchant class that is becoming more and more powerful. In addition to wealth, the political power of that "shooting society" is shown in a very realistic form, in the language of Instagram, without beautification and filters.
The top painters of the Renaissance and Baroque were actually the counterparts of today television, because every great work shows social themes, power relations, customs, and points to different forms of social pathology. They capture the "spirit of the times", which is a set of individual and collective experiences at a certain historical moment.
ONE FRAME, AND THE MESSAGE IS MUCH
These days it is Serbia country in standby state. In the absence of concrete news, the government alternately sends two seemingly completely opposite messages through its media. One is a catastrophic prediction of our fate under sanctions from America, and the other is diffuse because it implies the existence of some kind of miracle, almost a religious apparition that will bring us salvation in moments of collective despair. I thought about how today, if by some chance Rembrandt were alive, the picture would look like to show our condition to future generations. Since I am ignorant of painting, I borrowed a template that was created these days at one of the meetings of the Government in an expanded composition, with the only item on the agenda - the fate of Nis.
Instead of a video, only one frame was used, which sublimated the entire message, like a photograph. In the picture are (left) Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Đurić and (right) Eternal Director of Srbijagas Dušan Bajatović. Behind them, we only see the bodies of a man in a jacket without a tie and a cameraman in a white T-shirt filming "handheld". It may seem like a bizarre comparison to you, but exactly this situation would be ideal for a painter to paint a portrait of Serbia-in-waiting.
Everything is there for you. You have two representatives of the coalition in power, with worried, dumb expressions on their faces. Bajatović is a kobayagi of the left, Đurić is a kobayagi of the right. Bajatović sits with his arms crossed on the table, his eyes fixed on space, with the expression of a man who has completely lost hope. Crossed hands show that there is no more opportunity to do anything, he is waiting for the verdict and he knows it is unfavorable. He lost and that's why you can see his complete helplessness. I place myself in your hands - I am ready for the worst, says this man in the picture.
Next to him is a younger colleague, Đurić, who is looking to the side, following the message of that invisible and omnipresent force. He is also serious but also somewhat redundant, because he is not the master of the situation either, but listens to the voice of some authority who does not announce good news.
These two men on two chairs symbolize the downfall of our politics, because neither Bajatović's Russians nor Đurić's Americans are now friendly towards Serbia. Admittedly, according to facial expressions, Russophiles are more apathetic. The third chair, next to Đurić, is symbolically empty, which tells us that there is no hope that someone else, say the Chinese brothers, will help us.
And now more about the symbolism of the two torsos in the background behind the sad duo. The cameraman turned his lens somewhere behind the actors, which speaks of their insignificance. Someone else is in the center of attention, while a man in a jacket looks like a government official who physically restricts the cameraman, determining the limits of his movement. The only illogicality of the presentation is the squishy, baroque stomach of the cameraman, which gives rise to the insinuation that this is a journalist of the regime, someone at the mercy of the government. Since I don't know who the colleague is, I fence myself off in advance, because a chubby journalist would be a biblical association with a hermitage or seven skinny cows - which is a symbol of the economic crisis.
This is how the association would be with suitable and unsuitable media.
Rembrandt would certainly pay special attention to the play of light and dark in this painting. A dark wooden background, a slightly lighter table that reflects the light source, and darker chairs, covered with burgundy plush. The light falls on the faces of the actors from their left side, on our right in the picture. In the case of painters, it is usually Jesus, or some other kind of divine sign.
Chance wanted that divine note to be symbolized by a bottle of water "aqua viva" (living water), which, like Epiphany water, cures all diseases and shortages.
Who is not seen in the picture, but is there omnipresent? Of course, we are talking about Aleksandar Vučić, who is the only authority and the main one at this meeting. He would actually have the role of light in the darkness of the energy crisis. If you know that fact, then it is clear to you that Bajatović is not really listening to him carefully, while Đurić is expecting a directive. They don't really understand what the Leader is talking about either, but they were brought there to put on a show.
A REFINERY? CUTI REFINERY
This analysis of just one image from the video report from the Government session shows how superficial the visual media actually are and does not allow us to understand the essence of the message. We are becoming a civilization of the image, but even more a civilization of clips that replace the image. Since we do not have the concentration for the longer form, the clip on social networks is a real dimension of our perceptual and cognitive superficiality.
The messages conveyed to the public from the meetings about the future of Nis especially contribute to this sacred atmosphere. The energy collapse and political failure led to the shutdown of the Refinery in Pancevo. However, instead of closure, several parascientific euphemisms are being used in the media. The picturesque platitude "silent walking mode" is parroted. The refinery, just like the wine politicians from the picture, fell silent. They even say "a kind of silent walk", which reminds me of the prayer fasting and silence used by doctor Dabić, that is, psychiatrist Radovan Karadžić. A silent walk is the opposite of a loud protest, it is a mimicry of death. The refinery quieted down, or entered the phase of "warm circulation", which again reminds us, the simple folk, of the danger of cold radiators, or "warm tests", which, as we know, are the harbingers of the heating season.
MIRACLES AND MYSTERIES OF A FARCES
Is there any way to save us? Because the picture from the meeting tells us that we have neither a friend nor a brother, except for Orban, with whom we share our love for burek and cheese pie. Always with cheese, he said knowingly during the burek tasting in Subotica. President Vučić may not have a solution for Nis, but instead he wanted more onions in the burek, because the most famous baker in Subotica doesn't really know how many onions to put in a meat pie.
Therefore, he is the measure of all things, so the media first announced 100 possible scenarios for Nis, then we reduced to two or three, as Minister Handanović announced, offering her resignation, while sitting next to Sinisa Malog, who did not hide his sadness and desperation. There is too little faith in Mali, which is strange if we remember that he is one of Vučić's apostles. Unfaithful Little.
Among the miracles and mysteries, a special place was occupied by Jorgovanka Tabaković and her "special solution". Jorgovanka announced the second round of our suffering and penance, called "secondary sanctions", and it concerns the blocking of payment transactions. Governor Cica, as they beat her, says that our gold reserves are huge and never bigger, so it seems to me that she is the guardian of our family treasure and the guarantor that we will survive. We'll crunch the family gold while the tough times pass. The very term "unjust sanctions", or "external wall of sanctions" teleports each of our people to the nineties. Let's add to that the memory of the fuel shortage and the pouring of gasoline into bottles in the form of the mascot Nis, the dog Petroni, "a good dog from a good house"!
That the destiny of Nisa is inspiring is shown by the latest work of the artist Pianista, which also refers to the collective expectation of the resurrection of the refinery.
At the end of this story about the picture comes the news about the expression that Oxford Press chose as "word of the year". It is about "rage bait" or bait for angry reactions on social networks - "žiška" in our language. The picture "Silent Walk" tells us otherwise, it actually shows that even the figures from the government do not accept roaches and roaches. All that remains is to wait for the end of this farce.
