Post #586417 by trutiki on Mon, Apr 25, 2011 8:02 AM

From its inception hasn't Tiki been essentially cultural tourism for the masses? It was all based on adding fun and novelty to an otherwise ordinary existence. The consumer ephemera whether it is art, vintage, handcrafted or mass produced, just serves to revive in the person who creates it or procures it a trace memory of an experience or feeling. It is neo luddite to define change as dilution and to hold oneself apart as somehow being "not of the mass" or as being more worthy because one resists the new. We are not static creatures. We continually bring into our dwellings and our doings bits and pieces from our travels through time.

On the other hand it is good that there are those whose scholarship and experience has created a pivoting point for all other growth. Isn't the idea of a time "line" an insufficient method of understanding current cultural trends? Now we have convergence and horizontalization where people collaborate across boundaries to add value, creation or innovation. Used to be we were a top-down society with cultural mantras delivered to disciples who would further the cause and keep the message pure.

This type of discussion and the continual categorization of information is invaluable to fortifying the fulcrum. Lamenting the gentrification of the neighborhood isn't.

[ Edited by: trutiki 2011-04-25 08:03 ]