You notice it in the most iconic films. Typically, there are always shots of a human being or an animal observing the horizon. Sometimes with a sad connotation, other times in a more melancholic tone; but we have always loved how it makes us feel to observe the sky horizontally. We even create art that replicates precisely what our eyes offer us. Although, the key question here is Why does something so everyday and simple fascinate us in such a philosophical and profound way?
Well, in order to answer this, it is necessary to reflect on our lives. The levels of stress we handle are increasingly deeper and more intense. We sleep poorly, we eat poorly, we even make love poorly... Clearly, it is a vicious circle that does not have a clearly defined beginning, but we do know the damage it causes us and what we have to pay... It is a matter that has gotten out of our hands. I would even say that it is a way, the constant fatigue we feel, of ending each day or each afternoon simply but unmistakably looking at the sky and contemplating something better.
I regret sounding so pessimistic, but I do not like to lie. We love what a beautiful sunset offers us, precisely because we project peace and calm onto the beauty before our eyes. Ephemeral, fleeting, a single dose that relieves our marked daily schedule. For that reason, at any moment in our history we find the horizon as the absolute protagonist of our busy existences. Do not believe me, just look at the staging that David Lynch has provided in The Fabelmans and how he himself explains the concept of the horizon in art...
And if something connects minimalism with this element that we can all see anywhere in the world, observing the horizon, it is the ability to enjoy what is simple yet substantial. A good sigh, silence; perhaps a cup of coffee or maybe a pair of headphones while you walk to work are enough to deeply connect us to a phenomenon that we cannot stop observing day after day and that accompanies us at any moment in our lives. In the end, that is what we desire. A bit of surprise, of different value in a life that is increasingly monotonous, boring, and repetitive...