A Day in the Life of a Utopia
Interpreting and
critiquing Tomasso Campanella’s The City of the Sun
Tomasso
Campanella’s 1602 novella details a fantastical utopian society illustrated through
a poetical dialogue between two fictional characters who scrutinize over
its fundamental characteristics. Much in the way of Its late Renaissance counterparts,
such as More’s Utopia and Bacon’s New Atlantis, the text
utilizes a kind of proto-world-building style to describe all aspects of its society
crucial to its function as a utopian haven. These elements are not only organized
through rational placements but also through the use of metaphorical, astronomical,
and geometric principles cementing a systematic and visual display grounded in
optimistic progressivism and mysticism.
It is this juxtaposing theme A
Day in the life of a Utopia harnesses to explore the contrasting
aspirations and vulnerable perversions of such a vision displayed in Tomasso’s
text. Each painting utilizes iconography to explore a series of themes
pertinent to the City of the Sun’s logic. These panels then relate to
the other panels both sequentially and interchangeably. A linear reading
depicts the passage of time reflected in the darkening color scheme and sky- a
reference to the city’s preoccupation with astronomical readings and worship.
Non-sequential reading reveals the inversion of a theme initially presented.
Panel I (Dawn) symbolizes the freedom society achieves through the
semi-theocratic system of governance and through which egalitarian principles
are heralded. Opposite this painting, panel VII (Twilight) inverts this reading
by suggesting that freedom is only an illusion in a system which is inherently
and rigidly hierarchical. Each triangle represents a leader with their
importance and level of authority expressed in the size. Panels II (Sunrise)
and V (Evening) presents the city as an iconographic object of
progress which are then perverted by panels III (Morning) and
VI (Dusk)
which depict its
inverted icon as a void in the ground- a sequential depression reminiscent of
Dante’s rings of hell. Here ascension is contrasted by descension. Finally, the
central panel stands as a pivot point between the adjacent paintings. It depicts a a more representational image of the city echoing visions of concentric walls, celestial fascinations, and rising hills.
Dawn
Sunrise
Morning
Noon
Evening
Dusk
Twilight