04 POWER

The question of Power, its use and effects, has been a constant source of controversy throughout history. To address this issue, its meaning, history, literature and artistic interpretations, would require us to write many treaties.

Power is one of those words that everybody talks about, however, due to its capability for having several meanings, for its power of mutation, it is impossible to reduce it to a general, simple and common definition.
There are incredible works related to Power coming from a variety of fields, one great example is The Prince, a modern political philosophy treaty, written by an often misunderstood Florentine: Niccolò Machiavelli. The list of contributions in search of acknowledging the notion of power is endless, so are the possibilities to define it as something specific to politics and the relation between the State and society.

However, Power goes beyond politics. Power is Kafka’s literature—which is part of our universal memory. Power is Maradona’s goal against England in 1986, but not only because of its beauty but also because of the historical moment when it happened.

Power is when a 25kW+ techno bass-line crosses the dance-floor to end up as a feeling in your legs that cannot help but move. Power is dance music: it shaped a whole generation’s behaviour and morals based on values such as inclusion and diversity.

Power is when an artwork unveils the truth of things by suggesting different perspectives and interpretations of the real.

Power can be passive, tacit, explicit, silent, soft, loud and extreme—an endless list of adjectives can be linked to it. Power is everywhere, surrounding, shaping, conducting us. How to define it? How to classify it? How to perceive it? How to use it? How to control it? You can exercise it without recognizing it. You can abuse it until it makes you go blind, until you lose your head: like Napoleon, ending up on an island, in exile.