Frontiers of thought

Fronteiras do pensamento, edited by Gunter Axt and Fernando Luís Schüller, presents insights from Brazilian and international intellectuals and artists on the legacy of May 1968. Interdisciplinarity is the keynote of the writings, inspired by the lectures at the book's eponymous seminar, held in 2008 in Porto Alegre. The reflections presented in the texts were based on Edgar Morin's assessment of this episode, which sparked profound transformations in Western society. The French thinker wrote the article "The World I Saw and Lived," which presents a worrying diagnosis of global society. Morin points to the exhaustion of the current societal model but believes in the creative potential of humanity to reverse this situation. "Morin has no doubt that the current model of development and society is unsustainable. That humanity has finally reached an unprecedented impasse on a planetary scale. (...) But he is not entirely pessimistic. He invokes the metaphor of metamorphosis, trusting in the capacity for reinvention and self-recreation of a system in crisis," analyzes Günter Axt. Based on these conclusions, figures such as Sylvère Lotringer, Jurandir Freire Costa, Tariq Modood, Afonso Romano de Sant'Anna, Philip Glass, Gerald Thomas, José Padilha, David Lynch, and others use their artistic and intellectual experiences to analyze social trends and show possible paths for humanity. The result is a rich mosaic in which art is seen as a necessary driving force for a major shift in thinking and practices. Optimism and pessimism permeate reflections on the world we live in. Globalization, identity clashes, multiculturalism, and market interference in artistic creation are some of the elements and themes that punctuate the texts. Actions that are initially seen as irrelevant can reveal great potential for changing reality. Some authors, such as architect Daniel Libeskind, a specialist in museum creation, share this view. He emphasizes that actions such as constructing a building in a city can transform a city. The ideas presented in Frontiers of Thought are innovative and demonstrate the power of artistic practice and experience in people's lives and the diverse paths that can be taken to reinvent a collapsing society.