3 Aimless Manifestos : Andrew S. Guthrie [82]

Andrew S. Guthrie
Hong Kong
http://www.localidea.com/

3 Aimless Manifestos by Andrew S. Guthrie

#1:

1. The interpretation of art (whether the form is visual, aural, or textual) rests on ambiguity.
2. The positive aspect of ambiguous meaning is its openness; the system isn’t closed.
3. Meaning in art is then decided to be something that must be undecided, unlike other systems of thought.
4. The ambiguous meaning of art is not without an ethic, or a moral purpose. The above points inform an ethical point of view.
5. Play is the natural inclination of art; creativity occurs when one least expects it (yet artists have come to blows).
6. No coercion should occur, because we are playing with meaning.
7. Art is a specific realm within “the nature of reality”: it consists of humans talking to themselves.  
8. If the meaning of Art is ambiguous then this proposal is also ambiguous; in other words, meaning in Art can potentially be unambiguous.
9. Art is a proposal for Society that cannot limit its subject matter without sacrificing its openness.
10. If we strip art of an ultimatum we deprive the demagogue of its resource.

 
#2:

1. Nothing but the market determines the unambiguous value of art.
2. All art has an exact value regardless of the individual artist's aimless labor: how much did the materials cost?
3. The value of artistic labor is at first extra-economic (useless) but is targeted to become priceless (over-priced).
4. The rise in the cultural appreciation of an artwork parallels its monetary appreciation.
5. The art market demands nothing more or less than the same innovation driving all production.
6. If it is not innovation, “newness”, that drives the market, then the artwork is intended for niche markets, known in the art world as “genres”.
7. The art product perfectly represents speculation as a well-regarded aspect of complex economies.
8. Artistic patronage may be altruistic, but it is primarily the outcome of excess income. The patron is still in the market for something.
9. The standard for financially successful artistic productions parallels other modes of contemporary entertainment: magnificent scale and spectacular presentation in market sanctioned venues.
10. The artist’s self-imagined values, the feeling the artist receives when in contemplation, is a state of mind (or existence) seemingly counter to market interests. These expressions must fulfill their uselessness for art to become a well-conceived form of extra-market exchange.

 
#3:

1. Poetry is sometimes disdained as useless. But a balanced ecology shuns refuse and demands reuse.
2. The speed of poetry metaphorically adapts itself to the practical demands of recycling.
3. Poetry’s use value is thus measured, positively or negatively, as time; what ordinary speech or exalted music consumes.
4. This consumption is less basic than food, but something similar to air.
5. For speech to become true it must become useless, something devoid of guile.
6. The turn of language that allows for poetry is (much) too nuanced (for) practical demands.
7. Herein lies its uselessness, which is now proposed to counter the assumed usefulness of other forms of speech.
8. If not for practical reasons, speech has always aspired to truth; speaking the truth – unless it was truer to tell a lie (unless lying seems more truthful).
9. Poetry has enough angles for you to decide which one is for you.
10. The assumed difficulty of poetry is having (that one has) to go-over-it many times.