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May 17th, 2008
12:51 pm - 4 dimensional art
I was asked today by my dad to explain my concept of 4 dimensional art. What follows is a decent attempt at outlining the basics of what it is, and how I am using it. I am sure it will bring many different associations for people out there. Please, let me know your thoughts on the Project, what you see in it, how you think it could be used, etc. I am very curious about feedback on this matter....
"The concept of 4 dimensional art is hard to understand without a few basic premises, which can be verified of course by the best method, that of science (trial and error and direct observation.) The truth of these premises, however, is not very easy to argue since one can not "prove them" to someone else unless someone does the experiments to get the experiences. The premises are based upon the observation that there is no actual distinction between mind and matter; the dichotomy is a convenient one for the primate to deal with the world, but there is no way to unravel the subject from the object, the viewed from the viewer. It is also based upon principles of ancient Esoteric Schools, which taught that the human mind can impress forms onto reality to cause change; historically, this has been called Magick. The definition of magick given by the occultist and hermeticist Aleister Crowley is as follows: Magick is the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. The basic mechanisms by which magick is accomplished is through symbol; thus Art itself is inherently magcial- it embodies an intension, it houses a "spirit" which then moves through the constructed reality matrix causing change. In this sense, the success of apiece of Art depends upon the purity of intent of the artist...
However, I digress. Though these ideas may seem a little outrageous to any mind running an "operating system" which does not support the occurrence of synchronistic, spontaneous manifestions of desire, within their own operating system, they are quite valid. All that is required is the shift of perception. 4-D art takes these concepts to a new level, where one creates a construct of Reality, a labyrinth of ideas and energies which lead the viewer down a rabbit hole; it is essentially sculpting a new reality definition- a new operating system, if you will. To do this, the Artist themselves must become the piece of artwork (hearkening back to Gandhi's "become the change you wish to see in the world.") As this occurs, as the Artist becomes the Artwork, all people that view the person, and the artifacts that person produces, the get sucked into the artwork; the ideas themselves by which 4d dimensional artwork is created, the palette of the artist, are designed to be a strange loop- they create a feedback distortion in the viewers conceptions of themselves, their world, and the 4d art being viewed; the best analogy is that of putting two mirrors facing each-other, which creates and infinite regression- it casts of forms.
When the viewer starts to interact with the Art, they themselves begin to participate in the creation of the artwork- as soon as they begin thinking about the ideas, the concepts, and interact with the artifacts of the Artist, they themselves begin to co-create the artwork. This is because the Artwork itself is composed of definitions of Reality, and the Art is produced by questioning definitions of Reality itself; as a person questions and explores, they themselves generate new artifacts in the environment which feed back in to the art.
With those basic ideas in mind, we can move to the use of the website. Certain images, words, concepts and ideas can all be utilized to create changes in the brain of the viewer; they infect their reality, causing not just the normal reaction, but a series of willed coincidences in their life even when they are not viewing the work itself; in some ways, it is the use of suggestion to effect changes (in the way that if i write "do not think of the color green" you inevitably do- however, this principles is applied in much subtler ways.) The website will be an interactive domain of related concepts; the goal is to make a website which is dynamic, driven by some form of AI which learns as users interact with it. As the user digs deeper into the website, more coincidences will infect their lives, moving them into the black hole of eventual Singularity. As they move inwards, they also move outwards- since this artwork is 4D so called, it HAS to be connected to physical places and people; thus the participants in the website will move closer into proximity to the heart of the artwork, the group of Creators of the website. This will open them into a whole new world, where the ideas and concepts they interacted with are not just lifeless ideas, but are vital expressions of a reality which is being lived by the Artists themselves.
This whole construct allows us to begin to redefine the boundaries of reality for anyone choosing to participate; it will challenge all current conceptions, from the use of money, ethics, god, the universe, the nature of humanity, technology, agriculture- it will uproot the deepest tendencies we tend to take for granted about the world we live in; and it will allow the users to begin to take back their own power to define based upon their own intelligence and their highest ideals about the world.
The Artwork also goes a step further by adding in a form of Live Action Roleplaying; much like those games "an evening of murder"but taken to the extreme. Each participant in this "game" plays themselves. Their job is to be a detective of sorts, to uncover a plot line which is unfurled for them in their every day life; the game masters of the game create situations through NPC's, actors given direction to initiate certain information in the lives of the players. The story would slowly unfold; however, the magical part of this whole is that the players are not allowed to talk about the game, thus they never know is an event was planned ahead of time, or is "actually happening". Such suspended belief allows for the maximum amount of randomness and synchronicity to occur, and in tandem with the website, would allow the highest potential for the unfoldment of the Artwork itself. There would be a team of people all "writing" the story for the Game as it unfolds, generating encounters for the participants in order to keep the direction moving properly; it would be written as the story itself unfolds, interacting and playing with the players rather than having a static conception of a set "story." In this way, as well, as people participate, as they do deeper down the rabbit hole, they begin themselves to help to write the story, thus again becoming an interaction of the Project (the 4d art).
The whole thing can be seen as a strategy for changing peoples current conceptions of the world in a fun, dynamic way; a form of participatory ontological anarchism. It then becomes a vessel for new ideas which normally do not get much thought by the outside world; and the whole thing it still under the heading of "art".
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