#and with ideals i mean of people. constructions based on incomplete perception of them. made willingly (tho unconsious) or externally

[cacaitos]

only respect for the girlies and their devotion to images and ideals and their ego-destroying sisyphean pursuits.

[dillydedalus]

january reading

why does january always feel like it’s 3 months long. anyway here’s what i read in january, feat. poison experts with ocd, ants in your brain, old bolsheviks getting purged, and mountweazels. 

city of lies, sam hawke (poison wars #1) this is a perfectly nice fantasy novel about jovan, who serves as essentially a secret guard against poisoning for his city state’s heir and is forced to step up when his uncle (also a secret poison guard) and the ruler are both killed by an unknown poison AND also the city is suddenly under a very creepy siege (are these events related? who knows!) this is all very fine & entertaining & there are some fun ideas, but also... the main character has ocd and SAME HAT SAME HAT. also like the idea of having a very important, secret and potentially fatal job that requires you to painstakingly test everything the ruler/heir is consuming WHILE HAVING OCD is like... such a deliciously sadistic concept. amazing. 3/5

my heart hemmed in, marie ndiaye (translated from french by jordan stump) a strange horror-ish tale in which two married teachers, bastions of upper-middle-class respectability and taste, suddenly find themselves utterly despised by everyone around them, escalating until the husband is seriously injured. through several very unexpected twists, it becomes clear that the couple’s own contempt for anyone not fitting into their world and especially nadia’s hostility and shame about her (implied to be northern african) ancestry is the reason for their pariah status. disturbing, surprising, FUCKED UP IF TRUE (looking back, i no longer really know what i mean by that). 4/5

xenogenesis trilogy (dawn/adulthood rites/imago), octavia e. butler octavia butler is incapable of writing anything uninteresting and while i don’t always completely vibe with her stuff, it’s always fascinating & thought-provoking. this series combines some of her favourite topics (genetic manipulation, alien/human reproduction, what is humanity) into a tale of an alien species, the oankali, saving some human survivors from the apocalypse and beginning a gene-trading project with them, integrating them into their reproductive system and creating mixed/’construct’ generations with traits from both species. and like, to me, this was uncomfortably into the biology = destiny thing & didn’t really question the oankali assertion that humans were genetically doomed to hierarchical behaviour & aggression (& also weirdly straight for a book about an alien species with 3 genders that engages in 5-partner-reproduction with humans), so that angle fell flat for me for the most part, altho i suppose i do agree that embracing change, even change that comes at a cost, is better than clinging to an unsustainable (& potentially destructive) purity. where i think the series is most interesting is in its exploration of consent and in how far consent is possible in extremely one-sided power dynamics (curiously, while the oankali condemn and seem to lack the human drive for hierarchy, they find it very easy to abuse their position of power & violate boundaries & never question the morality of this. in this, the first book, focusing on a human survivor first encountering the oankali and learning of their project, is the most interesting, as lilith as a human most explicitly struggles with her position - would her consent be meaningful? can she even consent when there is a kind of biochemical dependence between humans and their alien mates? the other two books, told from the perspectives of lilith’s constructed/mixed children, continue discussing themes of consent, autonomy and power dynamics, but i found them less interesting the further they moved from human perspectives. on the whole: 2.5/5

love & other thought experiments, sophie ward man, we love a pierre menard reference. anyway. this is a novel in stories, each based (loosely) on a thought experiment, about (loosely) a lesbian couple and their son arthur, illness and grief, parenthood, love, consciousness and perception, alternative universes, and having an ant in your brain. it is thoroughly delightful & clever, but goes for warmth and humanity (or ant-ity) over intellectual games (surprising given that it is all about thought experiments - but while they are a nice structuring device i don’t think they add all that much). i haven’t entirely worked out my feelings about the ending and it’s hard to discuss anyway given the twists and turns this takes, but it's a whole lot of fun. 4/5

a general theory of oblivion, josé eduardo agualusa (tr. from portuguese by daniel hahn) interesting little novel(la) set in angola during and after the struggle for independence, in which a portuguese woman, ludo, with extreme agoraphobia walls herself into her apartment to avoid the violence and chaos (but also just... bc she has agoraphobia) with a involving a bunch of much more active characters and how they are connected to her to various degrees. i didn’t like the sideplot quite as much as ludo’s isolation in her walled-in flat with her dog, catching pigeons on the balcony and writing on the walls. 3/5

cassandra at the wedding, dorothy baker phd student cassandra returns home attend (sabotage) her twin sister judith’s wedding to a young doctor whose name she refuses to remember, believing that her sister secretly wants out. cass is a mess, and as a shift to judith’s perspective reveals, definitely wrong about what judith wants and maybe a little delusional, but also a ridiculously compelling narrator, the brilliant but troubled contrast to judith’s safer conventionality. on the whole, cassandra’s narrative voice is the strongest feature of a book i otherwise found a bit slow & a bit heavy on the quirky family. fav line is when cass, post-character-development, plans to “take a quick look at [her] dumb thesis and see if it might lead to something less smooth and more revolting, or at least satisfying more than the requirements of the University”. 3/5

the office of historical corrections, danielle evans a very solid collection of realist short stories (+ the titular novella), mainly dealing with racism, (black) womanhood, relationships between women, and anticolonial/antiracist historiography. while i thought all the stories were well-done and none stood out as weak or an unnecessary inclusion, there also weren’t any that really stood out to me. 3/5

sonnenfinsternis, arthur koestler (english title: darkness at noon) (audio) you know what’s cool about this book? when i added it to my goodreads tbr in 2012, i would have had to read it in translation as the german original was lost during koestler’s escape from the nazis, but since then, the original has been rediscovered and republished. yet another proof that leaving books on your tbr for ages is a good thing actually. anyway. this is a story about the stalinist purges, told thru old bolshevik rubashov, who, after serving the Party loyally for years & doing his fair share of selling people out for the Party, is arrested for ~oppositional activities. in jail and during his interrogations, rubashov reflects on the course the Party has taken and his own part (and guilt) in that, and the way totalitarianism has eaten up and poisoned even the most commendable ideals the Party once held (and still holds?), the course of history and at what point the end no longer justifies the means. it’s brilliant, rubashov is brilliant and despicable, i’m very happy it was rediscovered. 5/5

heads of the colored people, nafissa thompson-spires another really solid short story collection, also focused on the experiences of black people in america (particularly the black upper-middle class), black womanhood and black relationships, altho with a somewhat more satirical tone than danielle evans’s collection. standouts for me were the story in letters between the mothers of the only black girls at a private school, a story about a family of fruitarians, and a story about a girl who fetishises her disabled boyfriend(s). 3.5/5

pedro páramo, juan rulfo (gernan transl. by dagmar ploetz) mexican classic about a rich and abusive landowner (the titular pedro paramo) and the ghost town he leaves behind - quite literally, as, when his son tries to find his father, the town is full of people, quite ready to talk shit about pedro, but they are all dead. it’s an interesting setting with occasionally vivid writing, but the skips in time and character were kind of confusing and i lost my place a lot. i’d be interested in reading rulfo’s other major work, el llano en llamas. 2.5/5

verse für zeitgenossen, mascha kaléko short collection of the poems kaléko, a jewish german poet, wrote while in exile in the united states in the 30-40s, as well as some poems written after the end of ww2. kaléko’s voice is witty, but at turns also melancholy or satirical. as expected i preferred the pieces that directly addressed the experience of exile (”sozusagen ein mailied” is one of my favourite exillyrik pieces). 3/5

the harpy, megan hunter yeah this was boooooooring. the cover is really cool & the premise sounded intriguing (women gets cheated on, makes deal with husband that she is allowed to hurt him three times in revenge, women is also obsessed with harpies: female revenge & female monsters is my jam) but it’s literally so dull & trying so hard to be deep. 1.5/5

the liar’s dictionary, eley williams this is such a delightful book, from the design (those marbled endpapers? yes) to the preface (all about what a dictionary is/could be), to the chapter headings (A-Z words, mostly relating to lies, dishonesty, etc in some way or another, containing at least one fictitious entry), to the dual plots (intern at new edition of a dictionary in contemporary england checking the incomplete old dictionary for mountweazels vs 1899 london with the guy putting the mountweazels in), to williams’s clear joy about words and playing with them. there were so many lines that made me think about how to translate them, which is always a fun exercise. 3.5/5

catherine the great & the small, olja knežević (tr. from montenegrin by ellen elias-bursać, paula gordon) coming-of-age-ish novel about katarina from montenegro, who grows up in  titograd/podgorica and belgrad in the 70s/80s, eventually moving to london as an adult. to be honest while there are some interesting aspects in how this portrays yugoslavia and conflicts between the different parts of yugoslavia, i mostly found this a pretty sloggy slog of misery without much to emotionally connect to, which is sad bc i was p excited for it :(. 2/5

the decameron project: 29 new stories from the pandemic, anthology a collection of short stories written during covid lockdown (and mostly about covid/lockdown in some way). they got a bunch of cool authors, including margaret atwood, edwidge danticat, rachel kushner ... it’s an interesting project and the stories are mostly pretty good, but there wasn’t one that really stood out to me as amazing. i also kinda wish more of the stories had diverged more from covid/lockdown thematically bc it got a lil repetitive tbh. 2/5

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine 39

Spoilers, obv.

And we collapse forward on the keyboard and twitch a while. This has been nightmarishly hard. I suspect the last arc will be hard (as nothing in WicDiv is easy) but the things we were juggling here were something else.

Before we dive in, some top-level thinking. The advantage of the way WicDiv is constructed is that we know what we're doing. A friend was just rereading the first arc, and noted how certain elements and approaches simply changed as the tone of the book solidified – while also noting that every direction we did take was there from the off. We knew the What We Were Doing but not always the specific How.

(Not least, as I was a hot mess in 2014. I'm amazed the WicDiv scripts weren't just bahsjasjfaglagsfk.)

But the problem with knowing the direction of the book is you're tied to ideas you may wish you hadn't put in play. Because a five year book is enough time to change significantly in what you consider a good idea or not – and even if you still think it's a good idea in the abstract, it doesn't mean it's an idea you would necessarily want to do any more.

At this point, there's various things flying around. Firstly, Laura has rejected her godhood. That's great. That's clearly the arc of the book. Secondly, Ananke is running her own eternal scheme with its eternal rules. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Ananke (and I'm using “Ananke” for “Ananke and Minerva” here) is significantly deceiving people on some key matters, and using the holes in their knowledge to her advantage. At this point in the story the same thing happens to her. We see that her own perception is also incomplete.

So – what's the thing she's missing?

I fell upon Maiden/Mother/Crone as a structure to create a relationship between Ananke/Persephone/Minerva. What action would Ananke buy?

It has to be archetypal and mythic. Cheaty postmodernism doesn't work. Myth is brutal and basic and ugly and wrong.

So – if the Mother archetype has a child, Ananke's doomed forever. It breaks the little eternal circle and Ananke thinks herself trapped in that sensory void forever.

There's nothing in the above specifically and individually which worries me too much. It's how they intersect with the rest of the plot, and how we can chart a line between them all without saying anything we don't want to say, or without causing undue emotional distress in a way we're uncomfortable with.

We end up with our solution, which is merely our best solution, which means it's far from perfect. We do as much as we can, and try and touch on stuff as gently as we can to avoid any fair misreading of the story. Even so, there's resonances in there I dislike.

There's a sentence that is said all the time in writing room situations: “This is the bad version.” It's said when people are brainstorming, and asking the audience to know this isn't good, but they are good enough writers to make it better – it's just a structure of the sort of things that the narrative could delineate.

It's easy to imagine The Bad Version of this plot. Laura finding out she has to have a kid to save the world! Baal and Baphomet fighting over who's the father! An issue cliffhanger where you think Laura's own choice has doomed the world! I shudder. Like, someone with a different aesthetic to me would have done all of the above.

Instead, what we try to do is what we have to do to make the story work, and do it in the safest way possible. It's the guiding aesthetic of most of this issue, in terms of separating the two key threads – namely not confusing Laura's choice to have an abortion and Laura's choice to reject godhood.

But still – I spent four years trying to think of something that Ananke would buy, based on our implicit story, which wasn't this, and failed. I'd rather not have gone this way. I'm happy with the issue, but it was a heartbreaking amount of work as I take all of this intensely seriously.

So, to return to the opening, the problem with being as structured as WicDiv is means that you are tied to decisions you made years ago, without which the story simply breaks.

DIE (aka Project Spangly New Thing) rejects this kind of plotting. It's just as messy emotionally as WicDiv (hell, even more so) but leaves the characters a lot more narrative freedom. I'd have done it anyway (because I hate to repeat myself) but the experience on arcs like this certainly feeds into it.

Anyway – I'll be talking some specifics in this as we go through, as I suspect it may be useful for people thinking about the impact of choices.

Jamie's Cover: Ananke in her cavewoman chic. That means 2 “persephone”, 2 “minerva” and 2 “Ananke” covers for this arc. The symmetry seems fun.

Phil Jimenez's Cover: I first saw Phil's work in his pop-thrill issues of The Invisibles, an obviously influential work on yours truly. We worked together on Angela: Asgard's Assassin together, which was a thrill, and this glam-metal take on her. He's also very lovely. As such, Minerva in full-on catwalk mode is a great take. I love these kind of maximalist high-thrill ones. And LIZ's ‘When I rule the world’ has just come on my WicDiv shuffle at this point, which seems appropriate for Minerva stomping down a lightning-catwalk. Also, Dee Cunniffe (who has flatted nearly all of WicDiv) provides colours. Nice work, Dee.

Page 1-2

Black spaces. Like the opening of the arc – C's idea, I believe. Also, ensuring we get our page turns right. We dropped the recap for once. Normally we'd drop it in the mid-point of the issue instead of the first interstitial, but it would have broken the space.

Obviously mirroring the start of this arc.

The first obvious bit of delineation: this is ten days after the end of last issue. Laura stopped being Persephone 10 days ago. As such, anything that happens now is not connected to that.

The biggest reading we wanted to avoid: “Laura's abortion is the ritual by which she rejects and escapes the Persephone-Mother archetype”. Especially if people, either pro or anti choice, could make an argument we're saying we're saying the act is human sacrifice – a reading which seems especially possible in a story that already has human sacrifice in it.

Page 3-4-5-6

Reestablishing what folks have been up to in the gap – in short, bits and pieces, bits of information the characters should exchange, etc.

The Cass/Woden dialogue is stuff I'd have liked to get into issue 33, but was cut due to space and focus. It was Mimir's scene, and as he's been silent for the whole book, he gets to speak. The “He stole my life/I stole his” was all that was required. This is detail. Interesting detail, but detail. And, yes, loaded.

There's a lot of “starting other stuff” in this sequence – clearly the “ritual” is going to be important next arc.

I love what Jamie is doing quietly with Mimir and the boxes at the back of the room on page 4. Like, I wonder what's in each of those boxes, right? There's some horrible pure objectification here. Like, Pokémon. Got to catch them all.

You can tell that Woden is more chill with Minerva, right?

It was originally written with Minerva noting that mind-controlled-sex-is-rape at the end of page 4. That felt frankly aggressive, as if we were using it as a punchline. Instead, we soften it, and move it mid-panel, which changes the feeling around it, hopefully.

On page 6, I really like the “Hmm. You're learning.” It still makes me laugh.

Making the gun's controls REALLY VISUALLY OBVIOUS is not exactly subtle, but 100% needed to make sure the scene make sense.

Page 7-8-9

With a month gap between issues, it's possible that the reader may not have noticed that we've changed the issue structure from the rest of this arc. It's not “past stuff then present stuff” like the others. It's at least one reason why we didn't give a preview – that and that the first pages of the issue are entirely non-characteristic in terms of where the issue goes.

Anyway – first page is a pure repeat from issue 34, so a free page. This issue is a little longer than normal, due to normal cheats. It's actually 20 new pages long... plus one new panel.

Page 8 is very peak Jamie, plus Matt, for a certain mode. I never get bored of seeing what they do with blood together. Ananke's expression in panel 4 is just particularly well chosen. This isn't how Minerva feels last issue – that's after thousands of years of dwelling on it. This is first exposure. You don't go straight to AGRGRHRHRHRHH.

And back to the still angle on the third panel. Like, the static nature of these seems important in terms of mood.

I really hope Ananke isn't licking that knife.

Page 10

I spent the best part of a day trying to work out what to name this interstitial, after naming it a few things previously. That we end up with a very limited Bowie nod says everything. Anything else seemed to create resonances we were trying to avoid. Once more, the aim is to separate the two decisions from Laura as much as possible.

Page 11

I know drawing London kills Jamie, but I'll miss seeing stuff like this monthly when it's gone.

We don't know Laura's walked out of a clinic for a few pages, but it was important to just give her space here.

Researching locations in London, in terms of placing the events, the timing, what would be available, and Laura's condition after an abortion and trying to find a way to be sensitive to all of that as a writer. Ideally, I was looking for an option around Highbury & Islington, as I always prefer to reuse settings. In practise, this was best.

Page 12

I basically described Beth's crew as Valkyrie-plusses. As in, the mini-bosses in a videogame. Elite models for a basic troop type.

Toni pushes to the front, as he's always been the most talkative of the Other Two. Writing this I realised who he is here – he's basically “Imagine Marvel Boy, if Marvel Boy was a total idiotic dipshit.”

(Instead of the “mostly idiotic dipshit” he was in YA. Love you, Noh-Varr! KISSY FACE.)

I believe Jamie laughed at this a fair bit.

Page 13-14

I considered various captions for Laura here, but no matter what they did, they blurred the line between her abortion and her abandoned godhood. As such, the relative silence was considered more effective.

13-14-15-16

A lot is packed into this space. In an ideal world, I'd like another page for it, to extend Beth's choice to shoot or not, but it's all there.

Key delineations here: obvious restatement of the 10 days since she's been a god, to ensure it's clear. “Panel 3”; Beth never knowing (nor caring) where Laura has just been; Robin actually being human; Laura's privacy being respected; the “I've got more imminent problems” to separate her being shot from this; most importantly, Laura never knowing that this decision was important to Minerva, and never letting Minerva's mistaken beliefs impact her decision. Laura' abortion is her choice and doesn't need a bunch of mythic stuff attached to it for her.

The “shame” line resonates with another, more optimistic, line on the first page of Young Avengers. This speaks to the books, and the choices and the attached psychology.

Page 17

Oddly, the “no cameras in the bathroom” information we've set up allows this scene. Minerva isn't someone who would vocalise much if someone could have hear. You can imagine her looking in each booth to see if someone's around. I did consider moving to captions for a page, but Minerva getting captions for this one event seemed aesthetically off.

Page 18

Self-evident interstitial, and so long a bit of text I can hear designers wincing.

Page 19-20

Earliest scene so far in WicDiv. I did consider having it set after the murder, with the grandson coming back to hear her last words, but the “alive-dead-alive-dead-alive-dead” was getting a bit silly. A quietly magical breakfast conversation seemed the way to go.

I think the bleakest and darkly funniest thing in the issue is the “Eventually, we'll learn. It may take a thousand years, but someone will figure it out.” Oh, you total optimist, you.

I do like the mood of the colouring for this.

Okay – the key structural bit for safety-proofing this plot? The absolute minimisation of the gap between discovering the fourth rule, discovering Laura has had an abortion and then discovering that the fourth rule is just a lie. The longer it hangs, the more it is letting people live with an idea we find reprehensible. The thing I knew when starting this arc is all of this had to happen inside the same issue – the problem there being, that it also had to be foreshadowed enough to not come out of nowhere. And if you foreshadow too heavily, it's as same as saying “this is where it's going”.

Anyway – that wrapped up, we move towards the end...

Page 21-22-23-24-25

The continuation of last issue's end. Laura and her captions.

Some perfect McKelvie expressions, and some key beats. Like, this also adds shade to last issue – I forget if I mentioned that one of the key beats of the series (Laura rejecting her godhood) being dramatised by her swapping a SIM card seems absolutely key to where we are.

Two key expressions – the glance to camera with “I'm not a god” and “So what? So do you.” I could marry Jamie for these.

Matt working the blacks and the ochres here is fascinating.

Thought experiment: originally the layout on page 21 had two captions in panel 3 and two in panel 4. I moved the first from panel 4 to panel 3. Why? A single caption always has more weight in a given space. Having two in each was effectively giving no extra weight to any individual caption. Instead, three in one makes that the conversational beat and the one over the spiral-staircase means the latter just hangs there.

(In short: less dialogue/caption in any space makes the line more important. SPACE=MEANING is what I've been saying all along, usually with panel size. As in, “bigger panels read as more important.” But the same sort of thinking applies to lettering in terms of the space it is allowed to “control.”)

End of page 21 – a final restating of the two events being separate. Laura choosing to have an abortion is something she decided when starting to put her life back together. It's not a cause of her stopping being a god – if anything, it's something that's resulted from her new state of mind.

Lots in terms of mode in 22, but I love how Jamie has handled the nudity in the second panel. As in, she's a girl changing for bed, but she's never presented as something to be objectified, to looked at. Laura is always someone we're meant to be. We are meant to inhabit her, and her us.

The panel at the start of 23 is the extra panel we squeezed in. One panel for this amount of extra material, leading to the better reveal seemed a good choice.

Did I mention I lost a line I really liked last issue? The “At long last, I know what I'm not” was originally “I know what I am/and I know what I'm not.” Which is pretty and elegant, but also confusing with this ending – the “what I am” is “not a god” and what I'm not” is “a god”. Prettiness only goes so far, especially as it's not as if Laura's going to stop and explain that.

Lots of key bits of dialogue in these pages, obviously. “I distrust anyone who tells me who I am. Especially if I agree” and all that.

Obviously in storytelling choices, this is reprising, in an inverted way, the end of The Faust Act. Instead of a flash of light, fading into darkness, darkness emerging from light. Also, really strong choice of expression in that final panel.

26

Referencing ‘Dancing In the Dark’. Springsteen's is obviously great, but I'm thinking of the Downtown Boys' cover which is much closer to where WicDiv is coming from.

I choke up at all this scene. Been a long way to get here, Laura. Onwards.

The trade collection for Mothering Invention is out in October. We have two Specials before next arc, WicDiv: 1373 (out at the end of September) and WicDiv: The Funnies (out in November.)

We're then back in December, where we begin our final arc.

It's called – “Okay”. Including the quotation marks. Yes, we're going out on another Bowie reference.

Thanks for reading.

[fifthimageart]

Thesis Introduction/Chapter I  - Draft II

Bloom & Decay:Beyond Opulence aka.Toward a Fetish for Destruction

----

Introduction

It's funny how specific moments, memories of situation and context, eventually become nothing more than abstract and confused fleeting moments. Looking back, memories announce themselves as degrading reels of film, playing over and over, with subtle variations depending on how forcefully we try to change the moments long since experienced. However, even in the best imagined outcomes, reality molds the mind back to the inevitable result of the things that have already come to pass. So much of our early lives, simple joys, and ignorant based bliss, lost into the void of the mind and it's need to distinguish our pasts, presents, and futures.

In writing on the Destruction of Art Symposium, which was a month-long symposium focused on the exhibition of destructive works that took place in 1966 London, Kristine Stiles describes Destruction in art as not being the same as destruction of art. Moreover, went on to write that the destruction in art addresses the negative aspects of both social and political institutions, and manifests as an attack on the traditional identity of the visual arts themselves (ks). While these artists were responding to their overarching philosophies of destruction in the form of ephemeral art object and performance based works, there never was an established movement nor manifesto solidifying the practice. While the symposium itself was formulated by the artist Gustav Metzger, who coined the term ‘Auto-Destructive Art’ seven years prior, it would seem final meditations of both destruction and decay as being separate from any particular cannon following the month-long event would end there.

 Embracing the passing of time and it’s inherent destructive nature, as now memories and their icons are left to decay and new found freedom to bloom into the unrecognizable, Post-Opulence aims to reveal the contemporary mimesis of permanence as nothing more than shadowy reflections of a luxurious modern projection of both the ideal and iconic state. In practice, it creates deep afflictions and inaccessibility to a conventional aesthetic, through variable acts of destruction toward the art object. Post-Opulence highlights power invested in a sought idealized form, to then create struggle over the former iconic object through its breaking, burning, and eventual revelation of new bloom. Additionally, makes reference to both actions and signals of changed circumstance & time, as all eventually fades again into nothingness.

It is important to note the way in which visual communication has evolved since the birth of the image, and how visual communication and culture were key in terms of survival and production of both community and culture since the Upper Paleolithic. However, where have we progressed in regard to the way in which we in a broken capitalist culture, invest in the ideals of the ideal, consume art, and adorn creation as a half-realized concept. Additionally, within a culture that both appropriates and consumes the aesthetic and moral principles of it’s would be counter. I equivocate our contemporary ways viewing of this progression/interactions with the art object much like Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality*, in which reality itself is formed from an endless reproduction of the real. Moreover, Developing into a relationship of equivalence, indifference, to then the extinction of the ‘original’. In short, the way in which mass production has shaped our way of viewing, has destroyed and/or altered the relationships we have with our own experienced reality. Additionally, has created a perceived hierarchy of these two visual forms of completion and degradation into two opposing icons of ‘status’. (I,IV)

In our own western cannon, following the end of World War II, iconoclasm via the abstract form became the predominant means of cultural expression within a mass episode of cultural forgetting within the western world, in that there were no means of both accurately confronting and aestheticizing the horrors of the post-war world that remained grounded in it’s reality and truth. In the destruction of recognizable imagery In favor of the abstract form, reality was even further removed and that unpleasantness successfully buried. This brings to question the role of the Icon in relationship to our visual memory, and how the representation of our realities are chosen, with history and its sediments being presented to us as abstract entities that reject the creation of concrete memory. As the physical presence of Icons manifest, transform, and are replaced over time, truth and origin destroyed as they are given new rendering and context. In terms of the destroyed icon/object, questions in regard to a distant history should be contextualized again as a sense of excitement of mysteries to be solved, as well as answers to be found. As acts of destruction are not registered in the same way of those of traditional (commercial) production, Iconoclasm stems from the situational and the variable, where there is no belief in proscribed image. Take for example the earlier burial practices of Mayan sculpture*, when people would continue to engage with sculptures after they were both made and broken by foreign forces. As attackers would destroy them as a means of attacking ideology though the breaking of icon, the community would then salvage and reclaim what remained to use as building material for new offerings, structures, or other sculptures.  (I,I) (I,III)

The visual experience should not be reinforced to seek the supplementation of images and icons, but rather embrace the decay of them as concrete evidences of what was. Moreover, carry the sediments of said decay into new forms of linear narrative. While representation is inherently untruthful as an imitation of reality, Modernist ideology called for the delusion of it and is thus much more dangerous. Where the physicality of the made form is a manifestation of tangible truth, Paintings color the texture of the mind. To quote Harold Rosenberg, “Art as action rests on the enormous assumption that the artist accepts as real only that which he is in the process of creating*”. In what could’ve been unknowingly hinted by him at the time, was the potential for narcissism in self-referential types of art that creates a volatile iconization of itself. (I,II)

Referring back to to Auto-Destructive Art, it found manifestation (or lack thereof) not only in the physical practice of destroying works, but also by means of the manifesto/lecture format. Much like Post-Opulence, acting somewhat beyond a means of a self-authoritative artistic practice, Auto-Destructive Art worked as a synthesis of the aesthetic values of destruction, and the performative aspects of public/collective engagement. Specifically to Post-Opulence, the lecture/manifesto takes form in events which I’ve come to call ‘burnings’, in which art is taken, completely burned, and the remains both distributed and left to their next incarnation. The burnings have manifested as a social form of catharsis and community building, with the focal point being this intention and draw to a process of destruction. Here, Post-Opulence begins to integrate the art and social practice, into a celebration of the post-apocalyptic and aestheticization of the decaying form. ‘What is needed is not a definition of meaningful imagery but the development of our perceptive potentialities to accept and utilize the continual enrichment of visual material.’ - Richard Hamilton (Group 2: Richard hamilton, John McHale and John Voelcker), ‘Are they Cultured?’, in This is Tomorrow, ed Theo Crosby, Whitechapel Art Gallery/Whitefriars Press, London, 1956, unpaginated* Where Auto-Destructive Art and Post-Opulence splits, is the intention in the embodiment of a specific set of ethical and political ideals. Where the theory of Auto-Destructive Art was an attack on the capitalist art market through an art lacking material form, Post-Opulence is rather a rejection of the idealized state of material form, as well as an attack on the notions of  iconization through similarly problematic traditional gallery systems. Additionally, there are three key notions within the manifestos of auto-destructive art that I recognize as being problematic. First, Auto-Destructive Art lacked any type of grounded history, to the extent that reproduction of the first manifesto in the second edition was used as a ploy in which to validate the movement. In contrast, Post-Opulence takes into account the conceptual history of the destructive process/destruction of object outside of the narrowed scope of any contemporary practice and the singular western canon as a whole. Secondly, in the second manifesto it is the stated intention of Auto-Destructive Art to reflect the power ‘man’ has over nature. Within Post-Opulence, the relationship between maker and these natural and chaotic forces is innately symbiotic. Lastly, the work of Auto-Destructive Art began to be defined by its political motivation, and thus created icon and symbolic metaphor. These, being the conceptual and ideological frameworks that Post-Opulence aims to destroy & transcend. (II,I) *Expand

Chapter I: Root/Relevant Philosophies and Theories - Post Opulence

There’s something interesting about the ways in which both new (or rather transformed) object and form, inadvertently manifest from the functional object left to the mercy of both time and the space. Looking at city streets and various attempts at a particular idealized design or outcome, there are moments in which de/composition is inherently born, though perceived as negative moments of degradation & incompletion. In terms of Post-Opulence, what if the ways of viewing such things were radically shifted? For example, through the scope of Post-Opulence, the construction site wall becomes a completely autonomous, and more importantly anonymous, social practice of creation through destruction of an original idealized state. Moreover, the unintentional care of the graffitied and clearly long-since weathered billboard.

(Not Pictured)

These moments, seemingly about nothing, are sediments of our own daily rituals over time. Moreover, are an example of the ways in which we engage with what is left.

Post-Opulence meditates on comprehensive aesthetic systems, and refers back to the fundamentals of both the physical and metaphysical in acknowledgement of absolute reality that all things are in a state of decay, to eventually fade and thus become nothingness. Moreover, that it’s from that nothingness that revelations of the infinite potential for new and transformed aesthetic experience of the real is only then possible. As we view decay as being dark, morbid, spoiled, or fleeting, it is an equal element in an interlocked relationship to the perception of bloom as being lighter and louder in terms of having the idealized texture of vitality.This, being an allegory for the treatment of the art object, space, and contemporary icon, as we operate in a means in which to preserve longevity and a holding onto the opulent form.

[1131267-personalspace-blog]

It Really is my Choice – The Identity Check.

“Fragmentation of the self in the digital culture leads to the dissolution of the knowing of the rational self”- Lincoln Dahlberg. Technology and the digital space play a very large role in the creation of what it is that we refer to as identity. The issue then arises where the concept of identity is defined by a system of zeros and ones that change constantly. In the article The Habermasian public sphere encounters cyber-reality, Dahlberg introduces dire consequences that the engagement with the digital space have on the self and the most prominent change is considered to be decentralization. I have to comment on the extent of the truth within these claims based on my opinion and experiences. Cyberspace is a very invasive component of everyday life. It is not easy to escape and thus constitutes the bulk of what we know to be real and ideal. It subtly shapes our perceptions of certain components to life and how one ought to possibly yield the best out of the life that they live and what I found to be fascinating was the following statement made by the author. He acknowledges that individuals have cognitive control and exercise it based on the objects that surround them. He further explains that the same individuals are reconfigured by their experiences in electronic media, which is a platform subject to change, and which is a platform that cannot sustain the image of the self that is created.

This is the crux of the article at hand. I would like to discover whether or not the perception of myself is subject to what the media depicts or claims to be a reality. Does my online experience render me helpless to the concepts of time and space and have the dissolute borders that once confined my thinking decentralized me? Identity has to do with discovery and development of notions of the self and these perceptions cannot be without observation of what is out there. The very fact that I use my senses without a second thought means that my brain function is akin to what it is I will perceive to be real. In these modern times, digital media is everywhere and it is therefore impossible not to consider what is presented to be the norm under these circumstances. The article suggests that cyberspace is a hyperreality and that it presents unrealistic claims to the individual to develop perceptions about himself. The very dissolution of the concept of time and space online is important to the online experience. One is open to a wide range of information and if one is capable of navigating the platform then one is able to make decisions regarding what they deem to be true. I certainly have to applaud the digital space for allowing people to see beyond their environment and envision the possibilities of abundance. I find it to be very restrictive to the development of the self to completely construct a perception without knowing what it is that is out there and the very nature of cyberspace is to depict the rest of the world and what it has to offer to the individual who cannot in their situation physically place himself in the observer position without restriction. Yes digital media may present romanticized truths about what is real, what may be achievable and what is fiction, however, ambition and competition thrive where people have created a vision of where it is that they want to be.

The article also suggests that cyberspace creates an environment that opens people up to what is called multiple –personality syndrome and this syndrome is aligned to the existence of an ever-changing electronic space. I believe that all human beings are susceptible to change be it online or in the environment outside of the media. Change is parallel to growth and things and where things change people ought to change to exist under the given norms. It is not realistic in my opinion to expect one’s identity to be defined solely by the things that they see outside of the digital space and accept that that is a true and authentic identity. Perhaps it is an incomplete identity! One created without the information that is relevant in that specific day and age.

The perfect example is how the media portrays the mandate of political parties. There are multiplicities of agendas that are explored and without the digital space,  an individual’s identity is only known and subject to the very limited options he has around his immediate vicinity. An individual ought to know all that is presented to him and then decide which parts will play a role in the decisions that affect their identity. The very fact that I am able to critique these theories align to my ability to exercise my cognitive function of choice. Without options there is no need for choices and thus where identity is concerned there runs a risk of suppression and ignorance. The article fails to acknowledge that the same results will occur whether one is online or offline where identity is concerned. Individuals express their identity online based on what is being shown to them and individuals develop their identity offline based on interactions with others and what the individuals are exposed to online and in my opinion this is a well-rounded experience to develop a fulfilling self-perception and identity.

Perhaps it is not fair to completely disagree with all of the statements that are made in the article. I have posted the link where my readers can look at it and create their own decisions about the emphasis placed on the digital space and how it poses a threat to development of realistic identities. I come from a very humbling background and it is the very nature of cyberspace that I have developed the resilience required to achieve what it is that I want to achieve. I reckon that my will to fight is something I identify and I would not know how to fight had I not watched all those motivational videos on YouTube.

Dahlberg, L. (2001). ‘The Habermasian public sphere encounters cyber-reality’. The Public, 8.3, pp 83-96.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVGk_jwyBXI