How did we get to this moment….this place that will become the history of humankind?
For me, Cultural Fusion “art as philosophy” is very much about a way of being. Rather than looking at the world crisis with apathy it calls for us to engage with art as a mirror and solution. If you are one committed to making a difference what you see will be considerably different than if you are one who is not. My feeling is that art can serve a much greater purpose…a higher purpose. What if art can be the vehicle for facilitating posivite changes if not inspiring them directly?
When those who were alive during previous Genocide we look back, amazed at what humans do to each other while others stand by silently to reap the “benefits” of what is done.
For example, could the institutionalized African slave trade/enslavement have lasted hundreds of years if consumers had joined forces with abolitionists and been unwilling to purchase products produced under such conditions? When people hype buying green how many pay attention to the conditions in which those goods are produced? In many places slave labor is still an accepted norm so I wonder who is paying attention to how crops for biofuel are produced? See Ending Slavery Today
That is not to point fingers of blame, but to confront the reality of how these atrocities continue to happen. It happens because of the general tolerance of that which is unacceptable. How do we address the multiple crisis-es facing the global community? By seeing our individual parts in it….by coming to terms with the fact that this world is a reflection of us. If you don’t like what you see, then look first to yourself.
In this blog post i share with you a bit of a dialogue i had recently about how Cultural Fusion shines a compassionate, and yet unflinching light on this line of insight and how it may lead us toward solutions.
They know through research that pictures of crying babies and people dying are losing their impact on the public, who are becoming increasingly apathetic towards giving (translated : crying babies may no longer engage and maintain people’s attention and convert that attention into giving).
From the perspective of this project as an art series this “reality” speaks to a concept addressed in one of the projects…the immortal egos. In fact, Kerry Santo and i had a dialogue that is posted there speaks specifically to our creations as a reaction to that…Rather than developing marketing that caters to that the position made via “Sadistic Ophelia” is that those people then need to be willing to confront that reality and truth of who they have chosen to be. The Immortal Egos as Kerry’s brainchild on which we collaborate and she has agreed to have her Scarybirds site be a solar system in our galaxy. (They will have a pub/club in Hotel Infinity.)
When history looks back at the multiple Genocide happening in our lifetime i think people need to be able to face that they are the ones who would have this happen again AND my art series aspires to document those who would not, with a special interest on those businesses that stand for making a differences. This is why the “what-is-peace?” project engages the oral history community to ensure that this is documented for future generations to learn from. See Oral Tradition Integration
As it stands it is the worse businesses that are immortalized in “protest art” i am presenting an alternative to protest art- “art as philosophy” as a vehicle/framework for meaningful marketing. So rather than going for a “mass consumption” approach i’m more interested in the “boutique markets”. People who are making conscious choices about who they will be and doing so for the better of humanity.
As in any art, it isn’t meant to appeal to everyone.
….it is a radical inclusion of protest art in terms of defining the Art:Work as WebAntiphon:Clear_CRM_Strategy. It is about affirming the positive through the exploration in this idea:
“The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork.”
Igor Sikorsky
