Sigmund Bauman’s concept of liquid modernity refers to a modernity that undergoes continual modifications in its form, in contrast to a solid modernity, which is understood as preserved in form and space. The author attempts to apply this metaphor of fluidity to the current stage of our era.
Continuing with the previous approach, the liquid skier does not easily retain his or her own skiing form over time. For this skier, what matters is not maintaining the form or conquering space, or even flowing in it; rather, flowing in time, as time is fundamental. Space is still solid and heavy; what has become liquid and light is time, as the liquid skier utilizes it to conquer skiing space.
Today, there exist a rejection of territorial confinement owing to the fluidity of displacements. In liquid modernity, the speed of displacement allows better access to the skiing space. The means of mobility are faster and allow access to it in less time. This allows the conquest of it.
In solid modernity, the objective was to conquer the skiing space and venture into it. In contrast, liquid modernity focuses on the conquest of skiing time, since the space is already explored and conquered, the purpose is how much less time we can ski it. Descending some mile-long slope is a desire of many, but accomplishing it in less time than usual, or possible, is the attraction. Temporal instantaneity is the norm, because “instantaneity means immediate satisfaction,” Bauman points out, but it also means immediate disappearance of interest.
Given that space has been conquered, what is being conquered is the time it takes to use that space by means of faster lifts and the better preparation of slopes that allow us to descend in less time. Nowadays, space loses value since any part of a mountain resort can be reached. What is valuable is in how much time we can get to that place, to that space.
Everything ‘heavy‘ of modern skiing (clothing, skis, boots) considered reliable and solid, has been discarded because of its weight and has become ‘light‘ in the same items. Today, what matters is speed, and in order to be fast, it is necessary to be light. Everything solid, everything heavy, has become a problem for the fluidity of the postmodern. Today, what is valued is to ski light, getting rid of any tie that restricts movement.
