Re: <nettime> Bioregionalism

Le 22 juil. 2023 à 08:05, Brian Holmes via Nettime-tmp <nettime-tmp@mail.ljudmila.org> a écrit :

"The idea of a figure as a series of movements in a dance is useful for understanding the multi-layered nature of figures of regulation. The performance of a dance follows a distinct sense of rightness that would otherwise exist only as an idea, and it suggests connectedness with many other activities and ideas. It is a process that makes the invisible visible. As a dance unfolds it implies further action that is self-referenced by what has gone before. Figures of regulation are assemblages of values and ideas that can similarly become ingrained in patterns of activity."

Judy Goldhaft, Peter Berg's partner, is a dancer-choreographer, and this beautiful paragraph of Berg's is surely beholden to her.

But what it also shows is the necessity of art, as an active ingredient for giving meaning and form in all we do.

This is particularly pressing now, where we are on the brink, where it is necessary to transform our way of being in the world. In this regard, relating to the question of "who we are" becomes unescapable. Particularly since we have to emancipate ourselves from the self-serving "answers" force-fed upon us by religions and ideologies.

And while it appears to me that there is zero possibility of "knowing who we are" metaphysically, art allows us the possibility of "being who we are" in a way compatible with the metaphysical yearnings that move so many people.

If only it were easier for so many talented people to become artists, instead of having to work at "productive" jobs in order to "make a living". That instead of discouraging young people from becoming artists, society should provide the means for each person to express themselves. That the rallying cry be "make art, not consumer goods!"

In this way, restraint in the production of material commodities may succeed when it is superseded by artistic productions that nurture the mind.

Best wishes -

Joe.