Ancient Artists
What does it mean to be an artist in 2017? I remember when I was writing essays at university, they used to stay contextualize your argument. So in the same spirit, lets contextualize our artistic careers for a moment
Scientists have been monitoring the Suns equatorial plane and have found that it has shifted some degrees. The equatorial plane of the Sun never changes, apparently. Science likes to make a lot of assumptions. Theyve concluded that something is pulling our solar system down. What is in fact happening, that that another solar system is intersecting with ours. Imagine two Swiss watch mechanisms comingling. Our Sun is twinned with another star, as most stars are (most stars exist in twos that rotate around each other). The other solar system comes into contact with ours every 11,000 years or so, and its gravitational pull is associated with extinction-level events.
As if that wasnt enough, both solar systems (ours and theirs) are decending into a plane of intense energy, known as the galactic plane. I believe Never A Straight Answer (NASA) calls it the Kuiper Belt. We do this every 26,000 years, and such crosses are associated with irrevocable societal changes.
The impacts of these dynamics are now undeniable. All the planets brightness is increasing, and all are experiencing their own distinct climate change. Increased volcanism. Increasing intensity and frequency of earthquakes. Increased shark attacks. Unexplained plant and animal die-offs. The Schuman Cavity Resonance of Earth is jumping higher. Scientists said is could not do this. Scientists say a lot of things. The economic effects of our changing planet are obvious. Crop failures bring high prices, as an example.
I think the message to take from this is that there are no more rules. Everything is changing: forget what youve been told about the world. Forget what youve been told about yourself. All models, assumptions and limitations are being broken. There is nothing standing between you, and who you want to be. If this is true, then it would be dangerous to believe otherwise, because you would be standing in the way of nature. It comes down to whether you can embrace these changes, or whether you resist them.
These events have very real physiological and physcological effects on humans. The galactic plane, for one, is an area of intense radiation. You may see people completely lose it, in very public ways. You may see groups of people suffer blood clots, or go on shooting sprees. You will see increased terrorism and acts of mindless violence. Where energy cannot be processed, it must explode, somehow. This all comes from resistance__a refusal to embrace the changes that are upon us.
What is so interesting about living today, is that all institutions, governments and mainstream media are caught in the same state of resistance. They have their models, their agendas, and ideologies, and they refuse to deviate. They see the changes, but refuse to accept them as real. Nevertheless, they are real, and will sweep them away. By that, I mean our institutions will really start to demonstrate their incompetence. They will completely misjudge their actions, and in reaction they will become punitive and draconian. This is forcing us to make a distinction. It is forcing us to see beyond politics, systems, models and ideologies.
The institution of art, or what was call The Art World is no different. It too has taken the same marching orders as all other institutions have, from ideology. The evidence is in all contemporary art__the rigid assumptions of ideology are there, working away in the background.
If youre a conceptual artist, or aspiring conceptual artist, I invite you to see beyond ideology. If I was an art student or critic I would call it Post-something, like post-ideology or post-politics
but its so much more than that
So, how do you do this? Earlier I wrote There is nothing standing between you, and who you want to be. This defines the essence of Self Development. As far as I can see, Self Development is the way out of the paper bag of ideology. Its that simple!
With ideology, you set up rigid system that you must adhere to. With Self Development, you set a process in motion with latent and unknown potential. Closed system, versus open system. Rigidity versus expansion. Self-protection versus self-expansion.
What if our institutions__the art world included__actually turned away from politics and embraced a method of Self Development__What if art was just one arena of expressing human potential? What if the way we judged art wasnt how well it adhered to some unspoken politics, but how clear its expressiveness was? What if art school wasnt some structureless luxury, but a place where young adults were put through traumatic experiences in controlled environments that would actually make them GROW__wow! Im totally there. Well, in fact, well all be there soon, because everything political is about to collapse under its own weight.
How to be an artist in 2017 and beyond? Make one simple distinction: the limitations of ideology and all the chaos it brings is inevitable. Embrace the chaos and be open to the new experience that true self development brings.
