> Kathryn Aegis:
> I disagree. I have never heard of a philosophy, a movement, or a
> religion that has been defined by its artists or by their artwork.
As an expressive vehicle the artist acts as the barometer of an era. The
artist defines the personality and psychological condition of that which
the artist represents. The artist is the emotive aspect underlying and
outwardly representing any society or institituition. The artist
amplifies and accentuates the qualities of an organization while
revealing that organization's affectual ramifications. The statement of
an artist is first and formost a statement of condition, a state of
mind, a status of society. It is the testemonial of an organization's
member.
Encountering an alien organization, we would first attempt to gage their
technology, the potential threat of the encounter. But its through their
collective art that we will be able to percieve their intentions. Its
through their art that we will be able to see what kind of people they
are. Art is the professor of truth in that it cannot be shackled. It is
what it is. It reveals the fixations, pleasures, motivations, and
general concerns of that which it represents. The aesthetic runs through
and directs the technology. Technology exists for the sake of art ...
that which pleases us. We create the technology because our
pscychological [creative] condition necessitates it, and then the art
reveals the condition itself.
Thus [objectively] the importance of the artist is the artist's
revalatory capacity. The importance of a society's art is that arts
revealing of its society.
We create a system, and as members of that system we generate art, and
if that art shows problematic signs of neurosis, then we can and should
rethink the system. This is how the artist truely questions and further
aids to define that which is represented.
Art is the ergonomics of technology. It is how the technology "fits" the
people. It is an ecquisitely insightful reflection of the people.
Subjectively: Art is the manifestation of our pleasures.
Objectively: Art is the status of our condition.
Art can only aid in the self-definition of an organization to the degree
in which that organization is sufficiently aware of art's reflexive
capacity. To the degree that an organization uses art reflectively, to
that degree will art define the organization.
Thus, what role should art play in Extropian thought?
Subjectively: It should take full advantage of cutting edge technologies
to manifest our refined pleasures, which includes the expression and
transmittance of Extropic memes, a certain pleasure, while seeding
interest in the development of new technologies which will further
enable the manifestation of our progressively evolving pleasures.
Objectively: It should be persistently analysed in order to access and
refine the psychological condition and ramifications of the
organization. [This is the responsibility factor; self-evaluation.]
The latter [objective] use of art should be expected from any
individual, organization, nation, or society. Its merely a refined sense
of self-awareness.
One last quick statement on censorship. Censorship is a denial of
problematic symptoms. Censorship itself is a symptom of an organization
or society which is unwilling to take responsibility for that which it
manifests. Censorship may put a bandage over art, but the "pimples" will
continue to emerge and inflame until the organization accepts its
responsibility in initiating that which is the cause of the art, and
thus when that organization seeks something greater than a topical
solution. The alternative to censorship is acceptance of responsibility,
and re-assessment of idealogy.
Art which tests the limits of our experience, tests and redefines the
limits of our existence.
Explore and play!
-- Gregory Houston Triberian Institute of Emotive Education vertigo@triberian.com http://www.triberian.com 816.561.1524