Defining culture

I was asked recently on my understanding of culture during a dinner with some friends. And she actually stumped and belittled my short answer when I told her it was about the arts, appreciation of life, and involving pottery, dances etc. Maybe perhaps the fact that she used to work for MICA - Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Singapore's Government Ministry in charge of the creative industries, arts, heritage, library, media, info communications and government public relations. So I better give her some credit and do some work on the real definition on culture and have a shot at giving a longer excerpt on my understanding of it.


Wiki defines Culture as (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. And Culture can be defined as all the ways of life, arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the art.


My shot at explaining my deeper understanding of it again - Culture is about the arts, and a whole lot more. It's about all things in appreciation of the finer things in life, history, literature, language, religion and the grasp of the society fabric at points in time where it meant something. Like periods of European Renaissance where we have the best paintings by 14th-17th century artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The accumulation of humanism, arts, science, music, dance etc. being represented in their forms as they were interpreted by individuals. Where people in the future like ourselves can appreciate it and somewhat grasp that moment it was defined.


So if you ask me..Singapore has no culture. We have no defining moments and I do appreciate the government in trying to promote it. With all the fundings and I hope we have more opportunities to appreciate it, to refine ourselves, so that I won't have irritating people sitting beside me during concerts which talked loudly during Jeff Chang's concert at moments the symphony was playing. Those moments were NOT intermission time for people to go to the loo as well.

I leave you with a painting I saw recently at the Jeff Chang concert (which I will try to blog on the event later and explain how there are paintings to see in a concert) which somehow captivated me and I did up some research not knowing the importance of it. I just love it.





Het meisje met de parel - which in Dutch meant Girl with a Pearl Earring, also widely known as the "Mona Lisa of the North" by 17th Century artist Johannes Vermeer. The painting is universally recognized as one of Johannes Vermeer's absolute masterpieces. The painting is currently housed at The Mauritshuis in The Hague, which I hope to be able to see it some day just as I've seen the Mona Lisa and watched the Da Vinci Code. In the meantime, I shall go find the the novel by Tracy Chevalier inspired by the painting and watch the film starring Scarlett Johansson inspired by the novel. They bear the same name for titles.