Since 1727, astronomers have defined a revolution as a body rotating around its own axis. Surrealists define a revolution in exactly the opposite way. They see it as an interruption of the monotonous rotation of Western civilization around itself, to do away with this self-absorbed axis once and for all and to open the possibilities of another movement: the free and harmonic movement of a civilization of passionate attraction.
But a revolution needs a center around which to spin... we need a center it seems, some axis that allows us to know we are spinning, confused perhaps disoriented, but not lost. I was surprised to see how even the pictures of revolutions below are centered. I wonder if perhaps particularly in times of upheaval, there is an inclination towards a focus as all spreads out in search of the new.
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| John Trumbull-The Committee of Five presenting their work to the Congress on June 28, 1776 |
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| Petrograd, 4 July 1917-Street demonstration on Nevsky Prospekt. |
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| Jacques Louis David- Tennis Court Oath |
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