TAO AND GLOBALIZATION[i]

L. C. Vinholes

Nowadays it is almost impossible to spent one day without listen on the radio and TV or reading in magazines and newspapers the word globalization. Many of us trying to be updated with this new concept use this word without understanding its real meaning and how important and deep it will be the reality of this globalization the next century.

Globalization will be more than just to create geo-political bodies between countries of one same region like Nato[ii], European Common Market, Pacific Rim[iii], Mercosul[iv], Nafta[v], Asean[vi] and others, to fulfill political and/or economic interests. Globalization will be more than just to bond countries it will be the overcome of the concept of national boundaries and cultures.

In the years to came, countries and regions will struggle for the survival of their culture and their old traditions. But they will fail. What they had and what they have now will be forgot by the future generations and will became not more than relics and pieces for museums or special events to remember. We are already undergoing this irreversible process not only inside our countries were regional dialects, traditions and even the folklore are disappearing, but also among our own countries were the affinities are becoming bigger every day.

When we have a group like TAO (and why not to remember here ISPAA[vii] too which started at the same Toyonaka city, under the same leadership) and we see the catalogues of its exhibitions we notice the tip of this iceberg called globalization. The members of TAO are not only from Japan but also from countries like Brazil with different traditions and cultures. Nevertheless they are working together trying to find common ideas, common interests and, as the mathematical expression says, a common denominator for themselves in order to reach common goals.

Globalization will create new gigantic communities around the world formed by artists and all kind of professionals and individuals belonging to diverse countries and continents, disregarding the traditional boundaries, speaking different languages, nevertheless thinking in similar way and creating things and  behaving in a way to be understood by all of them.

I am proud to belong to TAO and to have the opportunity, together with all his members, my dear friends, to commemorate its 40 years of activities. Also proud to be part of this endeavor made by all together in order to reaffirm the compromise to work for and to fight for changes that we face and the future that we see ahead for producers and consumers of a singular new culture.

Congratulation TAO!