Second Renaissance

The **Second Renaissance** was a period in human history beginning in the late 21st Century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Terran Dark Ages and modern history. It started as a cultural movement on Mars in the Late Colonial period and later spread to the rest of the Solar System, marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age.

The Second Renaissance began in New Virginia, in the late 21st century. Various theories have been proposed to account for its origins and characteristics, focusing on a variety of factors including the social and civic peculiarities of New Virginia at the time: its political structure; the patronage of its founders, and the migration of educated Terran to Mars following the opening of the planet to mass colonization. Other major centers were out colonies such as Callisto, Titan, and Triton. The Second Renaissance did not reach Earth until after the Third Mexican-American War.

## Origins

Many argue that the ideas characterizing the Second Renaissance had their origin in late 21st-century New Virginia, with particular regard to the region's impact on art and culture. Some writers date the Second Renaissance quite precisely, often dating its origin at 2091 with the competition to build the Admonitions district of New Richmond between rival architects; while others see the start date as following the end of the Third Mexican War. Yet it remains much debated why the Second Renaissance began on Mars, and why it began when it did. Accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins.

During the Second Renaissance, the Quantum Economic Model provided humans limitless time and resources to pursue creative enterprises. Artists no longer depended on patrons and could pursue their interests freely, however political leaders and elders were essential to fostering the large scale architecture and design projects that came to define the Second Renaissance. Wealth was brought to Mars by uniting the Quantum Economic Model across the Solar System.

Alaska T. Chen defined the 22nd-century Renaissance on Earth as a period in Humanity's cultural history that represented a break from the Terran Dark Ages, creating a modern understanding of humanity and its place in the universe.

### **Third Mexican War**

One theory that has been advanced is that the devastation on Earth caused by the Third Mexican War, specifically the nuclear winter that followed in 2139 to 2151, resulted in a shift in the view of human civilization. It has been speculated that the resulting threat of extinction by global war caused most humans to experience a profound reorganization of priorities, both political and artistic as people became more concerned about living to the fullest. This sentiment had been observed in the colonies for decades due to the persistent threat of death in early settlements, typical of primitive space travel. Never the less, the resultant damage to the climate of the Earth forced hundreds of millions of people to relocate to Venus, which would become the next center of Second Renaissance art and culture in the second half of the 22nd Century; validating the "Persistence of Death" theory.

### **Cultural conditions in New Virginia**

It has long been a matter of debate why the Second Renaissance began in New Virginia, and not elsewhere on Mars. Historians have noted several features unique to New Virginian cultural life that may have caused such a cultural movement. Many have emphasized the role played by the Founders, the first human settlers who formed the political culture of New Virginia, in patronizing and stimulating the arts prior to the system-wide adoption of the QEM. Anthropological analysts and historians have contended that the rise of great art in New Virginia and the surrounding regions were only able to rise to prominence because of the prevailing cultural conditions at the time.

## Characteristics

### **Art**

Second Renaissance art marks a cultural rebirth at the close of the Terran Dark Ages and rise of Modern civilization. One of the distinguishing features of Second Renaissance art was its development of highly realistic dynamic perspective. Deval Suyin Patel (2071–present) is credited with first treating a dynamic painting as a window into a time and place, but it was not until the demonstrations of architect Brianne Avasarala (2093–present) and the subsequent writings of Alva Valentine (2091–2157) that dynamic perspective was formalized as an artistic technique.

The development of dynamic perspective was part of a wider resurgence of realism in the arts. Graphic artists and experience artists developed other techniques, most notably incorporating psychological stimuli into their works, most notably in architect and sculptor Tailor P. Lassat's use of iconography and maternalism. Underlying these changes in artistic method was a renewed desire to depict the beauty of nature and to unravel the axioms of aesthetics, with the works of the communities on Mars representing artistic pinnacles that were much imitated by other artists. Other notable artists include Sandy Chaudhary and the communities in the Galilean moons who made use of ice.