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The concept of culture depends on the context in which it is approached. For some people visiting theatres is a form of culture. In that instance, culture is seen as a form of cultivation. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci or any other artefact may be seen as a symbol of a cultivated lifestyle or civilisation. This perception is very contained and narrow. In this context, culture is very often reduced to that of an industrialised nation: A nation has or is a culture. Here, the concept of culture is often seen as a set of values, believes, concepts and mental pictures that are shared by the actors within a certain area (for example nation) or as the artefacts of creativity like art (paintings, opera) or cultivated behaviour (eating habits, taste in clothing). This perception is often called a “closed concept of culture”:
Think of a shipping container. This container holds a certain culture. The container is closed, so it does not change whatever it contains. Now you have thousands of containers on a ship, each touching several other cultures, but the contents do not mix, they stay contained inside the closed container. This mental picture was developed by J. Bolten – a professor at university, active in culture studies – in order to illustrate this “closed concept of culture”. Bolten wanted to show that this idea does not make much sense for understanding cultures. I have already illustrated how the term relates to human interaction and reciprocal relationships rather than to a painting or styles of fashion. Obviously, Humans move. They have always done so. They go from container to container. So, whatever is inside does change. Some aspects of it change faster, others change slower. The way people decorated their pottery changed as they had contact with other societies. In that way, every aspect of culture can change over time.
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