When we first released our opening theme, we included this blurb to kickstart some responses:
“To create, creativity, the power to create, creative resistance – things as elusive as they are central to what makes us human. It may be difficult to define what it means to create, but perhaps that difficulty is central to what creativity is. For creativity challenges us, provokes us; it resists easy definition. And in the world of today, where everything is valued according to its utility, perhaps to create something beautiful, something genuinely new, is itself a political act.”
This was one of the responses we received:
USE ART TO SAVE YOURSELF, THEN FIX EVERYTHING
I stumbled upon this journal high. I was at my parents’ home in coastal Victoria, bed-ridden and recovering from an operation so traumatic that I got Endone for a week(!).
This I am sharing to provide context.
The context of mind-bending, soul-crushing, gut-wrenching boredom.Remember that. You’ll need it for later.
Nervous? I’m terrified.
So now on the theme… Create. ‘Perhaps to create something beautiful, something genuinely new, is itself a political act.’ …What is a ‘political act’? Who knows, but the ambiguity brought on by my aversion to definitions has gifted me an opportunity to be subversive.
Brilliant.
This journal informs me that it was inspired by a ‘climate of crisis’.
No better time to espouse nonsense then.
No really now, I’m actually just really bored. So bored that Pokemon will not do. Get this bored and your vision goes sideways. Your hands may tremble. Preoccupation (or perhaps an Endone side effect) manifests itself deep inside your head, thumbing away at any of the space left for everyday thought. Exercise helps soothe it; screens kill it. Be thankful that your lover isn’t around- they’d be walking into a hurricane of creative impulse and emotional instability.
And no one needs to see that.
So how does this cursed creativity manifest? Thank your head.
It records everything you experience, subconsciously or otherwise. Culture, language, and morals will distort those images. Memories add tints to your telescope of perception.
Then there’s the drunkenness, induced by the wealth of experience that is This Wonderful Life™. Now that dash of boredom, (lurking at 10:15 on a Saturday night) surfaces these ideas. All over the desk, notebooks and papers. The walls too, if you fancy yourself unhinged.
With this in mind, it appears that anything you may create (or think) is in itself only an amalgamation of inputs. You cannot escape these inspirations, as they unfortunately are what make up your living experience. These constants ensure that everything can always be linked backed to something else. Thus, ‘Pure originality’ is a hoax. And as for the Ancients? Why, they simply stole our ideas…
Against this impossibility of originality, Marcel Duchamp’s 1913 work Bicycle Wheel poses a problem: it challenges exactly that. The visual appropriation is obscene. (Duchamp simply took a wheel off a bicycle and fastened it to a kitchen stool.) Bicycle Wheel, viewer be willing, broadens the scope of what art is. It was that idea, that art is not merely aesthetic, but conceptual, that was revolutionary. And this is what makes art dangerous. It will hit you in the face. The soft lights and hushed reverence of the gallery lull your precious preconceived notions. Then BANG. Your reality has been reassembled. Everything has changed.
Such a phenomenon presents implications for your political participation.
Give artists a chance, and they will prompt your emotive response into reawakening that ever-sleepy reason, (hopefully) resulting in a critical re-evaluation of, you know, everything.
Skeptical? Try these:
Joel Sternfeld’s On This Site
Ian Dury’s Spasticus Autisticus
Leigh Bowery’s Cunt
Marco Evevsitti’s Helena
Such effects are something most authorities have an interest in stifling – conceptual art often encourages rejection of the status quo in unimaginable ways. This rejection might just get the masses thinking. If the masses are thinking, they are less susceptible to be conned by lazy policy. They may demand things, such as freedom instead of safety; nuance instead of three worded slogans. Even the Chinese police know this. They don’t beat Ai Weiwei up for fun. And unlike our politicians, artists understand the human condition. This asset gifts them immense power.
So, for those wanting to reimagine democracy (or just even their personal style), here is my directive:
If you want to reimagine anything, look to the artists, and create something. Research, re-appropriate, be quiet and problem-solve your issues within art. Lose the screens, lose the news. Both push us to thoughtless reaction. Such distractions impede boredom’s vital development, where this all began….
Once you achieve a considered perspective via artistic engagement, you might engage in discussion that extends beyond the usual ‘F*** Tony Abbot’. If your friend/victim does the same thing, then you may have rejuvenated the ever-wilting debate for a second. If this ever happens, I’d be less inclined to believe that the Australian electorate is deserving of its current circumstances.
So please, save yourself and fix everything – do art.
Conclusion: this falls within your scope of responsibilities as a reader.
Postscript: A friend of mine once exhibited plain canvases, painted yellow. We listened to the incoming viewers clumsily attempt to find some ‘deeper meaning’. They really did try quite valiantly. But to think that he was merely taking the piss…
