In the summer of 2004, six friends from different fields, ( advertising, art, commercial show business, branding and communications, theatre and cultural theory) were invited to meet in a castle on the Austrian Hungarian border. Their goal was to set up a model, a manifesto for a new youth movement.
During a two week brainstorming, with daily sessions looking at how youth cultures and subcultures worked, they developed a manifesto for "The Charismatic Movement", and launched the project of "Luka and the Last Celebrity".
The basic premise of "The Charismatic Movement", was that charisma, and presence, would have a marketable and desirable value.
A Charismat, would own no possesions themselves, they would only wear what was given to them for free, they would stay always for free, eat for free, and succeed.
A Charismat would exchange personality and presence for material possessions, shelter, food, they would become desirable objects for the giver, but would never own anything themselves.
All materialist ideas of having were swapped for the idea of having experience..
The idea was that charismats would question the goals of contemporary consumerism, by becoming a consumerist object or luxury item themselves.
A charismat (Greek "kharisma," meaning "gift) is a person whose personalities are characterized by a personal charm and magnetism (attractiveness), along with innate and powerfully sophisticated abilities of interpersonal communication and persuasion.
A charismat is capable of using their personal being, rather than just speech or logic alone, to interface with other human beings in a personal and direct manner, and effectively communicate an argument or concept to them.
To promote this concept, it was decided that the world of pop music was the easiest, most accessible and most effective way of reaching a large public, with its message.
