manifesto / questionnaire / interrogation / definition / formula / policy / mission / voices by Gregory Maass & Nayoungim
Creativity:
I wouldn't label myself as an expert in art history, psychology or anything so if my thoughts seem a bit off base at times it should be excusable since I'm not an academic by any means.
Many people mix up intelligence and creativity. In reality mental illness tends to be a stronger indicator of creativity than intelligence is believed to be. Mental illness seems to herald creativity rather than intelligence.
Creative individuals face fear, punishment, and social exclusion due to their ability to instigate change which is not always welcomed.
People generally prefer stability over change and are wary of anything that disrupts the norm. In order to avoid facing repercussions some individuals are willing to portray themselves in a comical or harmless manner, like for example Slavoj Žižek, Alfred Hitchcock or of course Nam June Paik (yawn!) who want to be seen as jesters in order to appear non-threatening.
The second approach involves simplifying your demeanor, to play dumb, to fit in. This tactic serves to protect oneself from hostility. There is a shared origin between illness and creativity; they are both perceived and felt in a similar manner by those who experience them first hand. There is a tendency to exhibit higher levels of depression and anxiety, including of course paranoia.
Psychoticism is when creativity affects how the world is perceived in a way that may not align with reality as somebody else perceives it.
A person should find an outlet for their creativity. It’s often seen that many individuals with creative potential end up unnoticed and facing challenges like homelessness or even imprisonment.
The initial phase of creating involves a surge of observations, information, thoughts, ideas and even emotions emerging from this chaos from which order eventually arises. These individuals have the skill of focusing on various tasks simultaneously to uncover unexpected insights and connections between seemingly unrelated elements to develop innovative ideas and approaches. Isolation may sometimes be misconstrued as disdain.
Creative individuals often exhibit volatility and a lack of regulation as a natural tendency to changes. But at the same time change serves as an element in the life of creative individuals.
Creative individuals are twice as likely to face psychiatric challenges compared to less creative individuals. Depression is frequently encountered among personalities along with issues like alcoholism, substance abuse in general, and sadly suicidal tendencies.
Why anatomy/organs and texture, inside and outside?
Anatomy focuses primarily on the structures of humans and animals through methods, like dissection and the examination of body parts arrangement. In plants anatomical elements encompass roots, stems, and leaves. Texture pertains to the surface look and feel of materials such as glass.
Just an example: in today’s society where social media is a common part of our everyday routines, people, across various age groups are mentally impacted by the societal standards of appearance and body-image ideals that prevail in their surroundings. Many experience dissatisfaction with their bodies due to factors like obesity or anorexia. Certain common concerns include breasts, hair, facial structure, skin tone, muscles and so on. This trend emerged quite recently in the twentieth century and has since become more widespread. In the past individuals regarded their bodies rather as given and unchangeable without questioning it.
This shift is part of a pattern, in which our bodies are no longer essential to us. We have reached a point where we no longer rely on our bodies as much as before. Many physical tasks that were once vital such, as producing food, engaging in relationships, and giving birth have been outsourced.
Our artworks are so much better than we both are.
Intention/Meaning/What do you want to say?/What does it mean?/What is your message?:
What do you mean and what’s your intention are scary questions! I am not a motivation coach at all. I just have crumbs from the fast-food philosophy kitchen for you.
The result of decisions shapes the meaning we perceive, which is influenced by the situation at hand. Decisions do and do not derive from meaning. There is an infinite feedback loop.
Some activities can be considered meaningful, like burning incense, drinking coffee without cream or without milk or getting a haircut, even if they are harmful to others, like smoking or building narco-subs, inventing dynamite, or being in a tight spot for a long time, on death row for example. The concept of meaning is intricate and multifaceted; it is deeply intertwined with the notion of time and encompasses qualities such, as coherence and insightfulness while being both explanatory and predictive in nature. What do you mean to the artwork, the world?
Is there significance beyond death. Can we find purpose in its wake? Living humans possess the ability to self-reflect. Have an awareness of their own existence along with insights, into their inner thoughts and emotions, and mental bowls.
Ideas:
It’s a pretty tall order. …
At the occasion let me please quote Roger Meyers Jr., cartoon-in-cartoon animator of the hit show The Simpsons who said: “You take away our right to steal ideas, where are they going to come from?”.
We are not born anew in a void each time we make a show or pick up the chisel (the what?) in the studio, move the cursor, hold the paint brush. We are not the permanent amateur. We are under many influences, it’s a wonderful deluge we embrace.
I have to elucidate this a bit further down the road.
Pyramids/mortuary cult/death:
The ancient Egyptians were known for their death rituals that have been passed down through generations.
The great pyramid of Giza is world famous, while the title of the greatest pyramid globally belongs to the pyramid of Cholula, in Puebla, Mexico with an estimated volume of 4.45 million cubic meters. It fell from the ugly tree, if you ask me.
The majestic Giza pyramid, once adorned with a white limestone casing, is believed to be built to entomb the late pharaoh Khufu for his journey, to the afterlife as the king of the dead. It was crucial to handle the remains with care to ensure a transition for the former Pharaoh in his new role. Scholars suggest that apart from being a place for the pharaoh the pyramid also served as a repository for objects, for essentials required by him in his afterlife. There are esoteric theories surrounding pyramids such, as numerology and the concept of "pyramid power" along with anti-gravity technology in the field of pyramidology that suggest they may have been constructed by entities other than the known historical civilizations like the early Hebrew and Aryan people or even beings, from Atlantis or extraterrestrial beings.
Our society prioritizes material possessions such as property and wealth over the value of life, this can be compared to a culture fixated with death rituals and practices. We evolved to revolve around the concept of death; viewing items like just as an example a McLaren W1 or a vacuum cleaner as symbols of this obsession with death. We seem to idolize the idea of death by burying ourselves in dead objects and constantly engaging in destructive behaviors while rarely focusing on creating. Creating something is the exception. We live in a world of destruction external, like war, like the destruction of the environment, and internal like cancer, and for example mental illness.
Methods:
However, there's another thing, methods also often wrongly called techniques that I'm keen on exploring.
Moving smoothly from one element, from one object to another is crucial; this requires an approach in place to guide the process effectively towards a specific goal, let’s say an exhibition, as intended by a planned and organized method.
For instance, using statistics helps analyze data effectively, dog sledge is an effective form of transportation, sautéing is a wonderful cooking technique and project-based learning is the educational strategy. Approaches often consist of a defined sequence of choices and steps to be applied in specific situations; typically described as a series of actions that can be repeated consistently.
By addressing both theoretical, see knowledge, and practical challenges, see money and time.
Techniques are more open-ended.
But I am talking too much, you start looking at me worried.
Frankensteining:
One method we develop and employ on a regular basis is Frankensteining, which
means collecting objects and ideas from various sources, dismantle them, and reassemble them to create outright bizarre, singular, unexpected results.
Utter boredom:
We are not humorists. But we do like funny methods of production. Funny meaning here difficult to explain or understand; strange or odd in nature or maybe witty on the fringes. That’s what keeps us alive.
Fun fact: life presents us with a barrage of information every day that we tend to filter out, about 95% (don’t quote me). We tend to focus on about 5% of that information which may not always reflect reality; instead we spin it into a sort of narrative akin to a fairy tale. When one confronts life as is without any embellishment it can lead to desensitization. Utter boredom often acts as a defense mechanism in situations signaling our intimate connection to the unrefined essence of life itself. In this context boredom shouldn't be confused with depression. You may feel the urge to engage in activities when you are bored, during a depression you don’t feel the urge to act. Taking action and indulging in imaginative scenarios can serve as effective distractions from feeling bored and restless; seeking entertainment as a remedy for boredom might not yield lasting results
People often express their dissatisfaction with feeling bored and generally try to avoid it as they perceive it negatively; counterintuitively we view boredom as a profound aspect of life itself – a state that arises when our minds are inundated with excessive stimulation, such as encountering a multitude of thrilling works of art one, after another without pause until the excitement wanes and monotony sets in.
We should embrace boredom as a profound aspect of life.
Love vs. collaboration:
Collaboration sounds suspiciously like war. An ebb and flow of ideas and perspectives clashing together in pursuit of shared goals and outcomes.
Let’s talk about something else.
Love is an emotion that eludes precise definition; no verse can capture its essence completely. Never mind Shakespeare’s sonnets, which are concentrating on human nature. It's a force that breathes vitality into our existence; a sensation that makes us feel truly alive when embraced. It's a personal journey, for each individual; a language spoken only by those immersed in its profound depths. A unique emotional landscape that colors our lives with its nuanced hues. It can be quite challenging to distinguish between love and limerence or attraction since there is also an element of biochemistry at play in relationships. Love is not simply self-love or being in love for the sake of it; it goes beyond merging with or becoming dependent on your partner. True love is not about losing yourself in someone that would be considered selfishness rather than genuine affection. When you love someone it's not about what they can offer you. It's about embracing.
Readymade or found object:
For Marcel Duchamp the readymade held a lifelong fascination due to the fact I quote: "The curious thing about the readymade is that I've never been able to arrive at a definition or explanation that fully satisfies me." He advised to produce not more than one readymade per season, if not that would inevitably lead to inflation.
During a span of 30 years Duchamp created only 13 readymades in total. We seldom put this method of assisted, rectified, corrected, or reciprocal readymade to pure use. Let’s say one readymade every second season is more than enough, which is already 40 effing readymades in 20 years, which is quite presumptuous.
More death:
Things/ dead objects:
“Hello Kitty” is not really a cat nor a human. It is not a cat in the same way Minnie Mouse is not a mouse. Frustration!
Animals may be considered things and rightly so. We love animals, whales, because of their sheer size already, squids, because they think with their tentacles, elephants, because they never divorce‚ and also cats.
A cat is basically a velociraptor with a fur coat. Cute alert! We actually have 3 furry friends at home, which we saved from dire circumstances. Cats and dogs and things are considered dead objects. We tend to see our own characteristics reflected in animals – how they behave and what they need or feel mentally alike us humans. Which makes us grow fond of our pets and feel compelled to nurture and treasure them for their resemblance to ourselves.
But back to other things in general, they are bought or found, or handmade, custom made, borrowed and so on. They tie us to the past, we think that they make us what we are, we imagine that they represent us in a way. What really defines us are experience, relationships and it seems loss.
Relationships:
What do Pablo Picasso, David Hasselhoff, Kasimir Malevich, Henry Moore, and Spongebob Squarepants have in common?
We don't just reveal qualities, in objects that the onlooker tends to overlook; we also establish connections that go hopefully beyond a viewer’s assumptions or expectations – we create relationships. Relationships exist as the means by which different things, concepts or individuals are linked together and influence one another. It’s the space in between the objects that we thrive on.
Avocations/Outsider Art/books etc. :
We have avocations. In our case one of them is outsider art.
The genuine essence of the artwork is captivating. The artists focus isn't self-promotion driven by ego or amour propre but stems from a wellspring of creativity that compels them to work authentically and profoundly from within themselves. There's often an influx of mysticism or spirituality that resonates with them at some level of their existence. You can see this clearly demonstrated in the work of outsider artists like Malcom McKesson’s secret BDSM life and art, or Jon Sarkin an artist by accident, and his “Batman” paintings on LP covers series, or Forest Bess’s visionary paintings and radical theories.
Another avocation is movies. Let’s look at a film like “Vampiros Lesbos” by Jesús Franco for example, I watched it like 6 times or so. The beautiful Soledad Miranda plays a cool, seductive and convincing lesbian vampire. Her performance is the center of the movie’s hallucinatory imagery. It’s a sexual and abstract nightmare that feels like some strange erotic symphony of psychedelic poetry, going above and beyond itself to onslaught our senses with style, beauty, and hypnotism.
And of course books, we still read, and gather around us the actual thing itself.
We would shrivel and die without them. Instantly.
One of the individuals known for experiencing paranoia was Philip K. Dick.
One of the great intellects that emerged in the twentieth century prompts the question; why does this writer’s work hold special significance for us today? It's not his intense focus on religion or his deep exploration of morality and philosophy that sets him apart but rather his profound impact, on our understanding of sanity and spacetime. PKD shared a historical context and source material with fellow science fiction writers of his era; however, his focus was on the mind rather than technological progress or space exploration like others at the time did. His narratives take on a surreal quality that he presents in a seemingly logical manner. There is an unpredictability about him; he was dynamic and prolific but perhaps not always well composed, an amphetamine addict. He could be considered an outsider or perhaps not quite an insider, in the group.
(laughter). Though searching for something authentically reminiscent of PKD’s style, in our work would be quite futile.
Sexuality vs. sexiness vs. sex and art:
Often art has some form of sexual attraction or sexiness, meaning anything which has the ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of a person. I am not just talking about erotic art, more like something akin to let’s say George Maciunas “Excreta Fluxorum”, which is a compendium of the fecal samples of living beings - from spiders to elephants, neatly labeled according to the species. He called it the “shit box“. This doesn’t mean that it has to be pleasing to the eyes. It doesn’t even have to be pleasing to the mind.
Gender and sex are separate concepts. “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!”
Sexuality in people encompasses how individuals showcase their identity and desires through a mix of biological and psychological aspects. Along with physical intimacy and emotional connections within various social and spiritual settings, which have a life of their own. It has no clear-cut definition due to its wide scope. A short phrase thus easy to memorize.
There is a great deal of confusion surrounding the topic of sex assignment. Usually the doctor or midwife make a decision based on their genitalia. On the contrary gender is not something you are born with but something you learn through interactions. This learning process involves how you act and behave according to expectations and that’s why it’s called a gender role. Human beings can choose to associate themselves with a gender that may not align with their physical traits or reproductive organs. Highlighting the difference between gender and sex as distinct notions is important.
What I always wanted to say:
Sexual activity itself is a microcosm I can’t elucidate on here, due to lack of having anything interesting to say about it.
Motivation vs. Ambition:
When you feel motivated it brings happiness to you from within because of your sense of accomplishment and self assessment rather than relying on external factors like others opinions or material possessions, for validation or joy.
Contrary to this ambition deals with hypotheticals. Ambition revolves around thoughts like "what if I were" "what if I achieved" which are scenarios that currently have no basis in reality and are most of the time plain wrong.
Success:
Imagine a movie that flops at the box office but gaining a fan base over time, it's like the underdog story that adds an element of coolness to its legacy despite its initial failure to attract audiences commercially. Achieving success can sometimes feel like striking gold, luck definitely plays a part in the journey to success. While fame and fortune are often seen as goals, by most individuals it's surprising how some successful individuals find themselves discontent despite their achievements. Success is often associated with factors like sex, money and power among others; however, it's important to note that there seems to be a connection between success and unhappiness. Celebrities, in particular encounter situations that make them appear unhappy despite their achievements.
Fantasy/Phantuhsee:
Ambition shares a resemblance to fantasy and fantasy serves as a shield in some way according to the context to what I said earlier. Daydreaming and fantasy are set in a positive light as essential elements in our lives that help us plan and execute projects effectively while coping with reality by offering an escape, into an alternate world where things may seem more idealistic and less challenging to handle. It offers a haven. A cozy retreat. A dreamy realm where one can exist without the constraints of reality; a space, for engaging in a life shaped by imagination and introspection.
Forgetting artworks and memory and body:
This is a question concerning memory functions. We consider it a very healthy disposition; however we do not mean that we cannot recall at all what we did, but our memory is selective and recalling comes often with surprise. It’s not an amnesia regarding the past or lack of cognitive faculties. We just do not work in order to remember or be remembered. The original oeuvre vanishes from my mind and I am preoccupied with my next brain, my next target, and thus with new predilections, interests, and methods for example.
However, basically what defines a person and makes them who they are is their memories which encompass everything from personality traits to skills and habits that have been developed over time like an imprint, on a canvas of life experiences and behaviors stored in the mind. We remember to remember.
Why organs?/Anatomy?:
Body/Anatomy/Frankensteining: Health is so important to us.
Let’s not forget the body plays its part too as the vessel that carries the brain around. It plays a role in how we perceive ourselves. Shaping our self-image and self worth in the context of our existence in spacetime within the world. One can easily envision a brain outside the body still retaining its identity as when it was, inside a vessel. It's hard to picture a body without its brain, or with somebody else’s‚ maintaining the same essence it had before the brain was taken out or switched with another. This is very placative, and let’s not forget that the gut of a body contains, over 100 million nerve cells, almost functioning like a brain of its own.
A propos Frankensteining is a method we like to employ, didn’t I mention that.
Understanding:
Knowledge of something in context is understanding, so we have to compare in order to grasp something. TBEOL (to be elucidated on later)
Why vegetables?:
Roots are important. We have 30 to 50 % of DNA in common with vegetables, they are our close relatives.
Why the title “Paranoia Paradise” for example?:
Our titles are dependent works of art, you do not necessarily have to know them or understand them fully, but the more you know the better.
For example, the title “the early worm catches the bird” is a readymade. Or the upcoming “rough days at the orifice”. “use your noodle” is an outdated expression for “use your head” in American English. “Paranoia paradise” is a metaphor, the words are no dualism or just contrary. Metaphors use one thing to describe another thing in a way that reveals connections, between two distinct concepts. It’s a type of comparison. Metaphors are everywhere in our lives. Not only in language but also, in how we think and act. Time is money.
We in the western world, live under a method called late-capitalism, that’s our paradise, it’s a dystopian world. All customs and identities are scrambled, deterritorialized, and undermined through a schizophrenic process, one of the possible responses to this universal undoing is paranoia.
The paranoid's paradise is hostile, arbitrary, malicious, and unpredictable. The paranoid strongly believe that others are seeking to take advantage of them or cause them harm without any reason or explanation behind it at all. Sometimes simply for amusement purposes alone. In this paradise evil doesn't require a justification or background. Individuals with these thought processes often harbor suspicions and anxieties towards anyone they perceive as having the ability to withhold something they desire and rely upon. There is also the potential to strip it away, from them altogether.
We adore and use puns extensively, but I am personally not always very good at inventing them, it sno’t [sic] good, and I don’t know why. We must refer to confidences, good friends with more literary talent, art historical knowledge, more wit or the internet, or AI engines, and of course my brother in order to get fresh supplies.
Why ceramics/craft/skill?:
Did I mention that our ceramic works come with a 10000 year return-guarantee, excluding in the fine print the inherent vice of course. It’s a very old fashioned, an obsolete technique. Obsolescence, becoming outdated and no longer necessary is what obsolescence refers to, essentially becoming antiquated.
Computers and cell phones are infamous for their rapid obsolescence. Obsolescence is already built in when you buy it. Quoting Anthony Stafford Beer freely “if it works it’s out of date”. We are interested in antiquate and not so antiquated skills, but don’t apply them for their own sake. It’s a means to an end.
We have neither nostalgia for the machine made nor for the handmade, or the ready-made. We have a dim view on the romanticized artisanal and craft as art boom.
We rather prefer to advance generally with Robert Filliou’s premise that there is a kind of equivalence amongst “the well done”, “the badly done”, and “the not done”.
Why psychology?:
Philosophy is effectually used for quite some time in writing on art, and the pseudo-science of the mind is wonderfully, surprisingly similar to a literary art. TBEOL
Why noses?
Everyone is familiar with the Proustian passage, with the moment when the taste of a particular cookie dipped in a specific tea brought back memories from childhood in a vivid manner. The scent initiates a response that leads to an effort to reconstruct a memory that includes both time and place. Autobiographical memories are often triggered by our senses like smell and taste. This phenomenon is known as the Proust effect. Smells have connections to the amygdala in our brain. An area associated with emotions and memory formation. Odors are intensively hedonic and thus noses are important.
If shown in today’s Tijuana the connotation, meaning, significance for the onlooker would be quite different. Tijuana, a city we visited and enjoyed.
Most dangerous city in Mexico with over 2000 deaths related to the cocaine trade per year.
Drug traffickers stop at nothing and use every means available. But let’s just for a moment forget the perversity of the drug business in general or at least push it in the background. Criminal networks are highly resilient and capable of rapidly adapting to changing circumstances. The result is a series of risky, insane, and downright odd transportation methods. For example narco-submarines, artificial buts, frozen sharks, bodies dead, and alive, narco-tunnels undermining frontiers. One tunnel, which ran from Tijuana to San Diego had rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls and so on. These methods are interesting, innovative and downright mind boggling.
Just as an example how "Connotation" of artwork branches easily into a mixture of different meanings.
Violence/aggression:
Let me quote Slavoj Žižek "something violent is the very symbolization of a thing."
Looking at things from an ontological viewpoint the damage caused by how we interpret the world can be seen as a kind of harm, which is different from physical violence. One lucky bastard can try to succeed to steer clear of physical harm but this broader concept touches on everything in existence including all aspects of reality and every being in it.
Violence appears to be woven into the fabric of all knowledge. Aggression seems also not to be necessarily something bad. TBEOL.
Why calligraphies? (Ink drawings as a significant art form.):
Calligraphy and ink painting is another fascinatingly antiquated and obsolete technique we indulge in. The very first calligraphy we produced for “the early worm catches the bird” show, a long time ago, when people still banged stones together and lived in caves. Yes, of course my favorite calligrapher is Kim Jeong-hui 김정희. Don’t know him? Look him up! TBEOL.
It’s such a relief to be finally understood.
Thank you for having us.
(Fragrance: Dzing! L'Artisan Parfumeur)
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