Christian Caliandro on Conformism and the 21st Century

In an essay on Artribune, Christian Caliandro argues that 21st-century culture has undergone a fundamental mutation, increasingly demanding conformity and confirmation of what is already known. He contrasts this with the hidden, subterranean subcultures of the 1970s, such as the Neapolitan jazz-rock-psychedelic-social scene of Napoli Centrale, built by war children like James Senese, which imagined a different Italy. Caliandro cites Jerry Saltz on a shift toward smaller, strange, urgent art made from cheap or found materials, emerging from private spaces. He describes the 21st century as a shapeshifter, an organic ghost, where works function as announcements of a fragmented future already present. The essay references Ryuji Miyamoto's 1987 photograph of Kowloon Walled City, Marco Strappato's 2015 work "Over Yonder" at The Gallery Apart in Rome, and includes a poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Caliandro teaches art history at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and is a member of the scientific committee of Symbola Foundation.