Month: October 2013
Censorship as way to do the world and stomping the world to stay the same. It is interesting to analyze cultural scenes since there are people who seriously have power over what we see and use as culture and as art. The power of expertise given status. It is also a world of relations, golden handshakes, hear say, loads of cash and again talk over who is proper and good at the same time.
It is a common practice of everyday. We do it to ourselves and to others by looks, talk of all kinds of subtle and not so subtle ways of letting know what is good. It is a mind control, behavior control, strategy control. Reasons for control often are not letting upset and hate show, fear, any kind of emotions, sexuality, personality, difference show in order to maintain discipline, order, conformity, hegemony, to maintain power or just to oppress because of having power. It is a forceful tool to be able to censor and make it a mental behavioral state as well. People who censor themselves in fear are easy to control.
Forces of those who wish things to stay the same. And what things are those and who are the forces who have such a wish? State of eternal growth, state of holy image, state of pedestals. To push the envelope is to say of having search for new expression. Expression defined by the one who is expressing, artist who lives expresses, everyone has expression of their own. Who sells the expressed, what is new in this picture of making money? Nothing. Do artists express to make money? and what is expression, and what is art, when does expression become art. It is expecting the unknown to be found, expecting it to be found, expecting the unknown to be. It is a state of trust to express. Then make it a vendible product.
For me pushing the envelope is a pop term. Music world is an interesting scene talking about censoring and expression. Pop artists pushing some envelope of theirs and possibly the establishment’s as far as the record companies allow them to push. To push the envelope against those who actually have power is for a recording artist suicidal end of a career kind of scenario. Someone has put something in the way to be pushed and push push it hard. Usually it is artists themselves who have boundaries to be changed. That is not a surprise. Controversy, scandal, provocation are marketable items nowadays like ever. Controversy is to rub your ass against male crotch and stick your tongue out. Huge is only the amount of press. To use sex for making money is not news. It as such is not incredibly pushing the envelope. To actually stop obeying pop cultural idiosyncrasies would be.
Personal ideas deemed appropriate or not., how individual can one be? What is personality and how restricted is it? Am I assumed to be of certain kind? Could religion be taught as a thing more than a compulsory force of nature? Could philosophy be more important a builder of ethics?
Isn’t it so we, even if not religious, are bound to religious traditions and doctrines, like self-evidently falling into them. There is beauty, wisdom, some truth, guidance and hope. We know them since they are taught to us and lived by throughout the year. There is no escape, religion is here and there like a good thing. Our Finnish society for instance lays on Christian values, festivities, terminology, history and names even though we are secular state. Schooling system is built on Lutheran schooling system which was in use before in history, meaning preachers were the educators of people up to the beginning of 1900’s. Even thought church schools were separated from state schools at the end of 1800’s influence of church is immense. To teach religion at school still meant in 1980’s and 90’s serious deep studying of Christianity. This is slowly changing, very slowly, the compulsory part of studying faith. How many of those schooled really have had faith in their hearts since to have faith and say it out loud has been weakness. Here it is a very private matter. To be a believer is stereotyped often as a Holy Roller and zealot trying to convert those with doubt. There are strong bias what comes to believing in god or not and to which god to believe, not that there are many options offered. Essential questions in life probably for everyone. Do I believe that there is someone or something guiding us, making us, judging and watching. Being part of Lutheran faith by birth, schooling and living in a Lutheran country is somewhat a normality and everyday practice here. It is there like a rock. Loud objections aren’t that common, but you can choose to believe or not. It is there still and raises its head when LGBT rights or are women fit to be priests(still) are talked about and church personnel have objections. Religion is a serious business. Kids understand that and they listen, god is mysteriously intriguing and puzzling. We have a silent agreement and illusion of freedom which is not that free.
She is fucking mad!
I wanted to disturb, I wanted to be annoying. I was hoping someone would understand why. Yes I had a little hope for being understood, just a little, but the thing that I think about hoping, the most important thing is what you do yourself, how do you understand what you are doing. And why you do what you do. Why do I think by disturbing I could make my statement or make something positive happen? Yet comes question what can I as a person do?
Hypocrisy is a safety net, a mask to look better than you actually are. It is denial of facts, to do otherwise than you tell to do, should be done, would be good to do. It is more of a normality than obscurity to act hypocritically. It is telling there is much fear of letting you be yourself, to admit your true opinions, your true face, to disagree. Fear of loss is great.
Prejudices stick hard, almost unbelievably tough. To know personally gay people, mentally ill, poor, rich, people of different ethnic backgrounds, different classes, people who think differently, look different, act different etc. is essential in making world more tolerant, therefore ghettos, isolation, divisions keep prejudices alive. For not people to marginalize in an unsatisfactory way left in loneliness they have to do something about prejudices themselves. It is scary to meet people who hate you because you are gay, as it is scary if they hate you being a woman. How would that kind of meeting happen and what would happen? A hate crime or public hugging? Prejudices function strangely in an imagined fantasy world, simplistically focusing on weakness. Working on comparison between those who think are strong to evaluate those who seem weak. Weakness is intolerable still, weaknesses seem easy to spot and strengths are there to be grasped if you are willing to join group of strong and able to, having those abilities required. Groups of those who think are mighty and strengthen their existence as a community. Comparison and division, separation, isolation, it is a familiar behavioral pattern. It is a lonely spot to think differently, but what can you do but be honest with yourself. How honest must one be and how dear a feature honesty is altogether?
Normal and abnormal having a battle in our everyday in us. We go through thinking is that what we do normal and acceptable and try to find ways to preferably stay in that frame of normal and acceptable. In this picture art is very much welcomed as mixing the pack and moving barriers of thinking patterns and ways of seeing. Therefore artists are also seen as dangerous hazardous and suspicious people. They like to think themselves and do as they please, at least some of them since art scene is also regulated and appropriated by rules of proper. Insanity is much of a taboo, but fully with us since we daily face it, like it or not, acknowledge it or not. We define insanity ourselves, what is mad for us, what is a crazy thing to do equals to something you would not do and you disapprove. Or it is hip and outrageous behavior. Go figure. Insanity entails danger in any social scene, art is no exception. Danger of losing face, danger in irrationality and unexpectedness. Art is not free of prejudices, unfortunately. As it seems prejudices go stronger the smaller and isolated the group is. Contemporary art scene has isolated itself very effectively. To say artists are like that has been common enough for me to hear in the arts and outside of it. One problematic issue being ideas of inside and outside of it. What are they like exactly? There is a stereotype of an artist which creates partly the whole scene of arts. If art is strongly divided into an outer part of society what is it for, who does it serve? Prejudices and fascist ideas do not fit my idea of spirit of art nor spirit of equal mankind.
How could art be fascist!?OMG
Majakollektiivi Timanttimetsä 