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love you
to
death
son of Prometheus
tracing his fire to its source
to return what some say was stolen
WHERE DOES MAN'S FIRE –HIS MYSTERIOUS SENSE OF IMPORTANCE– COME FROM? IS IT ETERNAL? HOLY? POINTLESSLY ACCIDENTAL? AND MORTAL?
... animate / inanimate ...
... organic / inorganic ...
THE ORIGIN OF ORIGINALITY. "High Technology Returns the Artist to His Most Primal Sense of Significance: the Origin of His (and Man's) Sense of Importance."
Artists are moving beyond superficial attempts to prove they are original. They are tackling origins. They are tackling the very origin of our sense of importance. They are trying to peer into that very moment when some idea, some event, some thing, some mark, some movement, some gesture, some appearance, some person, suddenly seems to become important. They are trying to verify man's unverifiable Sense of Importance.
"I could do that!"
"Child
can do that!"
Painpang.com's artists have long ago made it their mission to redefine talent by demystifying the creatve process... without sacrificing its sense of importance. They have seen the digital age of information technology revolutionizing the concept of talent by forcing a reevaluation of the value of traditional skills, both in the workplace of artists and so-called non artists. The marketplace often takes the most obvious lead in the devaluing and revaluing of various notions of talent; devaluing previously valuable (art and non art) skills... forcing a redefinition of marketable skills... redefining our concepts of valuable talents. And rather than fight the juggernaut of valuation represented by the marketplace, the artists of Painpang.com have 'chosen' to wipe the accountant's slate clean by leveling the creative playing field to its most primal level of valuation: the empty primeval stage of man's mysterious Sense of Importance (this original stage, this Promethean sense, this fire of unknown origin)... closely followed by the first Signs of Importance that appear on it.
The most important things to say are those which often
I did not think necessary for me to say –
because they were too obvious.
- André Gide
"Is life important? Is man important? Am I important? Is any one? Any idea? Any thing?" Some say this sense of importance is an illusion, no matter how useful it is to survival. Some say it is God-given and will return to him. Explanations abound for the unexplainable accident or miracle of our instinctive, involuntary sense of importance. There is no reducing this irreducible cosmic spasm of being. For it is the spasm of being conscious. It is the spasm of becoming conscious. It is the spasm of all import: this spasm of being important: this primal spasm of being alerted to the importance of... being alive! There is no drama comparable to being woken by this primeval sense of importance. Waking up elevates consciousness. Visceral knowledge of knowing you are alive startles you awake. The awareness of being alive is the awareness of the importance of being alive. And this primeval awareness of importance has no real substitutes. It only has destroyers, detractors and distractors that work to undermine it. Destruction, disease, decay and death challenge this throne of all importance by destroying its seat of power, not by ascending to it. There is no reasoning with man's sense of importance. There is no reasoning with this single most mighty and fundamental reflex of consciousness. No other sense is more potent or influential. No other language exists. No other conscious state of being exists. No other known state of being.... exists.
THE ORIGIN OF HIGH-TECH TRACING, COPYING, CUTTING AND PASTING. You might have noticed elsewhere on this website that I have alloted a fair amount of space to discussing the primitive and high-tech tracing, copying, cutting and pasting techniques employed by the artists at Painpang.com... and what these activities may imply. And I do a little more of this, here, and below. High-tech cut and paste, tracing and copying, is more than just some story about old school tracing, copying, cutting and pasting techniques trying to seem new again through the aid of digital technology. This a story about how computer technology has made some form of tracing, cutting, copying and pasting so ubiquitous across every computer application that everyone who is a part of the modern information age is tracing, cutting, copying and pasting in more ways and at faster rates than ever before. And clearly far more than they are aware of.
But so what?
It matters because tracing, cutting, copying and pasting are the oldest material techniques of human communication. They are the oldest material equivalents for the transmission of knowledge. They are the oldest means of manipulating the materials of the mediums we use to comunicate and acquire knowledge.
1. TRACING ADDS NEW VISIBILITY TO ITS NEW THINGS. Tracing an object is the material expression of man's first ability to identify distinct things through his understanding of boundaries. Here, man understands boundaries by tracing boundaries. Knowing how to make a boundary was (and still is) the fullest understanding of a boundary. And to know something's boundary is to know its identity. Tracing is a way of changing what exists by making its boundaries more visible. Clearly marking out the outlines of something makes it more visible. Adding visibility to the lines and boundaries of things makes these things more highly visible. Adding visibility to things changes things. Added visibility makes things different. It makes things appear new. And things are new. Some thing new has appeared that was not visible before... as a result of added visibility.
2. CUTTING ADDS NEW VISIBILITY TO ITS NEW THINGS. Cutting an object is another material expression of man's ability to identify distinct things by making distinct cuts that become boundaries... boundary marks. Here, man's understanding of boundaries is made physically distint and clearly visible through the marking, separation and division of the things he cuts and cuts apart. It is a way of changing what exists by changing its surface. Cutting the surface changes the surface. Cutting adds surface area by making more areas visible. Cutting adds visibility. Cutting adds to the size and number of visible surfaces or things. Cutting changes what exists by making 'it' more visible.
3. COPYING ADDS NEW VISIBILITY TO ITS NEW THINGS. Copying, on the other hand, is the material expression of identification through unification. You identify with something in order to identify it. Even illegal forms of copying, such as identity theft and intellectual property rights infringement, are examples of someone identifying with the valuableness of whatever he or she wants to steal. The offender cannot help but identify with the perceived valuableness he desires whenever he identifies something valuable. If you steal money, you cannot help but first identify with the value of the money you steal. You cannot help but identify with what you want. Here, by hook or by crook, the boundaries you trace become your own. You become bigger... perhaps even stronger... perhaps only in your own mind... by identifying with, tracing, copying and absorbing the boundaries of others (or other things) that you identify. You copy and consume the world to conquer and command it. There are no slavish imitators of others. There are no original masters. There are only consumers trying to master the world by devouring it with hungry eyes, ears, minds and mouths. Some are just luckier at getting others to want to consume what they excrete. Copying mimics biological reproduction. Copying mimics self-reproduction. It is a way of changing what exists by adding more of the same to it. It becomes bigger in number and mass. Making what already exists bigger... makes it different. Making something bigger changes it. "It's bigger," makes something noticeably new about it. "Bigger" makes it something new.
4. PASTING ADDS NEW VISIBILITY TO ITS NEW THINGS. Pasting is the material expression of man's desire to build. Here, he builds upon something that already exists. He pastes over existing layers to create a new and more visible layer. He covers over an existing identity to form a new, more prominant identity. He pastes and builds on top of things to make his world/himself more prominant. And painting... and drawing... are forms of pasting and building layers on top of other layers. They are all ways of changing what exists by adding to it. And adding something new and different to what already exists makes it into something new and different. Adding something... anything... to what already exists makes something new and different. But the most crucial thing being added, here or anywhere, is always an added sense of visibility.
WHAT AM I?
WHERE AM I?
WHY AM I HERE?
WHERE AM I GOING?
WHERE DO I COME FROM?
All these questions are variations of one central question: "WHY AM I?" This discussion of the origins of tracing, copying, cutting and pasting only seems to touch upon the question of "What am I doing?" But there is far more going on here. And there is far more to come. The digital revolution ushered in by computers has not only made tracing, cutting, copying and pasting ubiquitous, it has made them unconscious activities. It has made them unconscious activities by automating them. And there is no longer any real need for any kind of human skill which involves tracing, cutting, copying or pasting that machines can do. Soon there will be no need for any human skill which involves the material processes of identification, boundary making, replication and building that machines can do. So what will there be left to do? What can't machines replace? Learning how to live. And learning how to die.
Learning how to live by learning how to die — this is what drives us to divine our origin and destiny. We are forever preparing to meet our maker. And though we shouldn't be surprised if no one shows up, who wouldn't be... disappointed. Learning how to live is learning how to die. Origin is destiny. Prepare to meet your maker. Prepare to meet the unthinking monster, the nightmare one can't remember, the cosmic crime, the colossal mistake, the tragic accident: the absolute absence of all importance. Prepare to meet something far greater... far greater than the happy accident: the absolute presence of All Importance... your saviour.
There will be a return to man's most primal form of identification: the search for his origin and destiny. For the search for one's origin and destiny is the primal desire to meet one's maker. And this is the essence of all primitive art. This is what makes the primitive profound. More profound than art. To know man's origin is to know man's destiny. For man's origin is his destiny. And high technology has returned him there.
"Some say we come from nowhere!"
"Some say we are headed back there!"
Know one's origin, know one's destination.
The future is returning us to before the past.
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