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The pictorial work carried out by Andrea Benetti, on the theme of We define, as follows, the three phases which scan the relationship
“velocity”, arises after a careful observation of man’s behavioural between man and velocity and, consequently, with the surrounding
metamorphosis, developed in the last two centuries. environment.
A first connection establishes relation between various individual’s In the first phase, called cycle of “natural velocity”, man lives only with
behavioural changes and the speed progression, introduced in the the natural resources of the earth and is in total harmony with the
social dynamics by the discoveries in the technological and mecha- environment. In this phase the human being uses the speed offered
nical field. by nature, respecting the congenital limit (common phase to every
Benetti, in fact, has focused his attention on the invention which civilization).
have increased the speed in the pace of human life, attributing to it a We enter the second phase with the invention of the engine. Man
fundamental role in the metamorphosis of man’s behaviour. crosses for the first time the border of the natural velocity with the
The genesis of the “speeding” process, starts with use on large scale of aid of the engine machine, and of the numerous applications it is
the engine machine in production, transport, communication, etc. suitable for. Consequently there were many changes in production,
Later the speed increase assumed a frenetic pace in the second half transport, communication, etc. This change has modified an ancient
of the XX century, up to nowadays, highly distinguished by radical te- balance, which regulated the relationship between velocity and the
chnological changes and, consequently, we became “accustomed” environment, creating the “mechanical velocity”.
to the never-ending process of “speeding”. In the third phase, which we entered a short time ago, taking for gran-
Nowadays man lives speed as a resource having two sides: full of ted the mechanical speed, we passed onto the “absolute velocity”.
extremely positive potentials on one side which can change into ne- With the mass use of the telephone, television, internet (and digital
gative, any time speed is used in a senseless way. It’s important for technology in general) every day we “pulverize” the concept of vehicle,
Andrea Benetti to underline that the present analysis and the artistic that is to say in this phase the vehicle loses each meaning, because
action which follows are not meant to be a censure or an accusation the physical movement of the person is not needed any more.
towards velocity, but a reflection on the way it can be used. It is just thanks to man’s metamorphosis, created by his relationship
with velocity, our historical cycle appears “unique”, that is to say not typical of previous civilization norms,
“Velocità assoluta I” (2008) - Olio e caffé su tela - 30x40 cm. / “Velocità assoluta I” (2008) - Oil and coffe on canvas - 30x40 cms.
because our is the only historical cycle which has known the mechanical velocity and the absolute velocity.
Today man seeks, as a rule of thumb, speed in every field; a chase very often induced by seductive messages,
promoted at art by a sophisticated propaganda. Without a critical filter, the person becomes victim of a psycho-
logical conditioning, acting on the subconscious and directing it inside scientifically elaborated routes.
The obsessive dependency from the speed changes dramatically the uses, the traditions and man’s life in
general, up to distorting, in extreme cases, the perception and value of life itself.
The senseless use of speed does not leave room to any reflection: the risk is that the speed becomes the
dogma for a lifestyle and not something to be used when necessary.
This has modified a big part of the society and it often happens that it is sought in areas where its use is senseless.
A possible explanation to this frantic and uncritical immersion in velocity is perhaps due to the man’s attempt to be
able to win at every cost precious time to life, increasing the numerical density of the events which characteri-
ze it, with the subconscious attempt to “surrogate” the duration; unfortunately all of this can produce collateral
effects, which often are to the detriment of quality of life itself.
Speaking metaphorically, we can hypothesize an “accordion effect”, in which the musician increases in the
instrument the number of the “creases of the bellow”, trying to increase the extension. As a matter of fact, the
extension of the bellow can not go beyond the length of the arms’ player, and the possible result will be only
to worsen the sound quality.
When meditation and spirituality had a fundamental role in society, the theme of eternal life was sole mo-
nopoly of the metaphysical sphere and was explored by principals and rules belonging to such field; today
materialism tends to prevail on everything and the “accordion effect” seems as an improper materialistic
answer to the primitive search of immortality by the human being.