Dirty Light - Marko Ciciliani

class system to a capitalistic one, left behind a society with a need to balance these new
developments. It can be assumed that as a result of this a large set of concepts emerged that
were led by a sense of purity. 4
Already before the Industrial Revolution education gained higher relevance as it was
considered to be one of the key elements in the process of developing an identity though
insight and knowledge. In his function as minister of Education of Prussia, Wilhelm von
Humboldt (1767-1835) introduced a new system of education that was very influential and
emulated internationally. The goal of education was to give a person the capacity to fully
develop his individual powers, and to shape his personality as an aesthetic and harmonious
object. The idea of an aesthetic object was often used as an analogy for education. This reveals
that a sense of purity was at play, along with a strong differentiation between the inner and
outer world. 5 In a letter from 1790 Humboldt wrote:
All of our happiness lies so strongly in this pure and ideal sphere of our emotions (…),
where everybody shapes his own world and feels himself at home. (…) As soon as we
try to exert influence on our environment, we are swept away as by a storm. We step
outside ourselves, destroy the familiar hut in ourselves, but we remain an alien in the
palaces that we build around ourselves. 6
With Industrialization alternative lifestyles came into fashion. Homeopathic medicine,
alternative beliefs (like theosophy, monism or Darwinism), macrobiotics, anti-alcoholism,
vegetarianism, physical fitness and nudism, all enjoyed increased popularity. 7 These lifestyles
were primarily seeking to return to the essence of life. Also sexuality became a strictly
moralised field, especially during the Victorian Era in England. On the outside, sex took a
rigidly codified form and was increasingly confined to the bedrooms of married couples for the
mere purpose of reproduction. 8
The drive towards purity took its most devastating and destructive form in a large number of
ideas on genetic and racial purity. The 19 th century was characterised by strong mixophobia
that resulted in – and in turn fed itself by – various new “scientific” theories on races and
4 Labrie, Arnold: “Het verlangen naar Zuiverheid”, in v.d. Laarse, Labrie, Melching ed., De Hang naar Zuiverheid,
Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis (1998), 27.
5 Labrie, Arnold: “Het verlangen naar Zuiverheid”, in v.d. Laarse, Labrie, Melching ed., De Hang naar Zuiverheid,
Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis (1998), 22f.
6 quoted after Labrie, Arnold: “Het verlangen naar Zuiverheid”, in v.d. Laarse, Labrie, Melching ed., De Hang naar
Zuiverheid, Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis (1998), 23, from a letter from W.von Humboldt to C.von Dacheröden,
20/03/1790 from Wilhelm und Caroline von Humboldt in ihren Briefen (Berlin 1906-1916; edited by A. von
Sydow) Vol.1, 103. (my translation).
7 Segal, Joes: “Gestolde Identiteiten”, in v.d. Laarse, Labrie, Melching ed., De Hang naar Zuiverheid, Amsterdam:
Het Spinhuis (1998), 194.
8 Foucault, Michel: Sexualität und Wahrheit 1, Der Wille zum Wissen, Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp (1977), 11ff.
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