Sean Jewell: The A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ and The ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ 𖣘 ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ

Yo! I speak to the ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ in you (because the ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ is there).

Like you, I am an A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ & I am becoming an A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎& this is a strange situation. I am and I am becoming. This strange situation is called the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ.

Like you, I’ve been living through ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯, at the dizzying speed of life. Somehow, I have held onto A͎R͎T͎.

(◔◡◔)っ♥🅺🅴🆈🆃🅴🆁🅼🆂♥

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖= The resentful informer of the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ & the perpetual 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄾🅁 of the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎.

A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ = The only type of ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎, forever flying toward newness in the space outside ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖.

ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ = The holy practicality. The process of becoming that an A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ is blessed by & bound to.

🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎= The ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ snared by ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. I know, I said there was only A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎, but 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ are still bound to the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ to A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎. We will all be ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 at times.

🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿🅃🅄🅁🄴A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ (🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎) = The ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕝 that is useful as a model but, like the perfect work of ͎A͎R͎T͎, can’t universally exist.

Cuz this is tricky biz. To activate, the ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎must transcend ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 from withinℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. They must astral project from the confines of the master's house. This produces A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎.

Because A͎R͎T͎ is not A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ if it is subservient to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖; this is 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎.

Should 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎ be made then? Yes, because 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎ is the mandatory fall to inform the rise to the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ to A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎.

Hell yeah. All ͎A͎R͎T͎ is A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎ because 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎ is motion and motion is toward the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ. The ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ requires becoming, not being. What a holy practicality! To return, we need to leave. To find freedom, we find a 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 to transcend. Got to retox to detox, yo!

But to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, this A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎ is never practical. The impracticality of A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎ is the impracticality of liberation, of êñlïgh†êñmêñt. So ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 diverts the ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ away from A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎, especially when it become too liberatory to tolerate.

Because, to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, liberation is the unknown, & the unknown is friction. Enough friction & ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 halts. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 can’t permit halts.friction & ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 halts. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 can’t permit halts.

? What does ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 do ?

It reforms itself to adapt to the friction of A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎ (êñlïgh†êñmêñt).

It waits the ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ out by halting resource to them (siege)

It exiles ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ to subculture where ͎the A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ are permitted a constrained ‘freedom’ (velvet 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈).

It destroys the source of friction (cancelation, de-platforming, execution, perpetuating narratives of ͎A͎R͎T͎ requiring self-destruction so we, the A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎, destroy ourselves).

It transforms the ͎A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ into a 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ via validation & compensation, hedonic/material trappings.

? What can the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ do against this arsenal ?

Just trust the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, the great relief, our holy practicality. An ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎’S͎🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 cannot last, in this life or the next (𝕱𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍/𝕲𝖓𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖘).

This is my prayer,

“let the cycle of my ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ ever approach ⓏⒺⓇⓄ.”

Because this ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ practicality does not provide as much solace if it cycles in decades (or lifetimes). So, it is the challenge & discipline of the ͎A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ to shorten ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈.

The 🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ would be a dynamo unto themselves. They would not regard ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, they would create pure newness in a heavenly realm of constant inspiration; it would float to us shining as êñlïgh†êñmêñt; it would float irreverent doomon an impotent ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖.

And not just ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. The 🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ would shine on ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, the 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎, on all the things. It would shine like sunlight shines on cacti, orchids, & strangle-weeds with indiscriminate, effortless grace. Nature finds balance on its own.

And, once created, the 🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ would leave their A͎R͎T͎ instantly, because it is not new anymore.

But remember, the 🄽🄾🄲🄰🄿A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ can’t exist, or it can, but only in the soft allure theᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ at the center of every romantic A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎’S͎ heart.

⚛✧ *𝒮𝒾𝑔𝒽✧⚛

The A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ is not self-powered, they need a small external motive force. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 provides a motive force the A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ must use; use & forget as quickly as possible. The A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ must learn to forget, forget with the aim of reducing their 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 to the shortest incriment of decerable time. This forgetting initiates the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ. The A͎R͎T͎that forgets ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 transcends ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. If the forgetting is rapid enough. If the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ is really churning, ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 has no other choice but to change. This is the activation of mass êñlïgh†êñmêñt.

Because A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ A͎R͎T͎frees us from ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 , frees us to play in new possible futures. The A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ discovers these futures first, & renders them the only way they can: as A͎R͎T͎. This is alchemy, this is transfiguration, & it is neither! Because it must be something new to be A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ A͎R͎T͎.

And everything can be new if it’s first use is forgotten.

Hallelujah! We have our ingredients for a new world! ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎, and the motive force of theᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ. The A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ makes new substrates in vats of the old, remembering & forgetting in such rapidity that it approaches singularity.

ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ . . .

We forget ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 as we remember our love for it. It is the love of our own becoming.

Simple, huh?

But this is a hard won skill for an A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎. To ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴🅂, attached to the current Overton Window, to Panopticon security, the hegemonic order, the [insert conceptual metaphor for the urge to fight for the false safety of the ‘familiar’] the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ is a threat! A force for unwanted, counter-normative newness. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴🅂 call them (𝓤𝓢) eccentric, dangerous, mad, aberrant, deviant, perverted, entitled, pompous. So many new words for new.

Simultaneously, ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 carefully curates its identity as the rational & reasonable protector of society while introducing tiny, containable improvements.

“Law & Order!” Cries ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖.

“No Such Thing!” cries the A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎. And with that cry, we become new criminals.

Ah, but ironically, ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 can’t be nourished on ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 alone; it, also, is not a self-powered machine. It needs A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎A͎R͎T͎ to for its tiny improvements . . . but on its fascist terms. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 orders the constraints ͎of A͎R͎T͎ to its designated zones of expansion.

(Or it tries to).

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 retains of the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ creation only what it needs to maintain its power & expansion. ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 craves the perfect sphere that expanding uniformly, linearly, out. The A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ wants a universe of nomads wanderings, careening unknowns, ecstatic play, collapse! The result of this union is an undulating cloud. A struggling density of 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴 consciousnesses, peppered with A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ particles flying about, tossing whatever is available against the glass boundaries of ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖.

Because A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ will never stop blasting (& 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰) boundaries open. The ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ makes this mandatory.

And, often, the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ must surrender to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 to sponsor their ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ. ̳̳You know . . . like . . . M̳̳̳O̳̳̳N̳̳̳E̳̳̳Y̳̳̳.

An A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ deep in 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈creates art subservient to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. They succumb to the base drive to pander & are rewarded with validation & a fat check.

Don’t fault them (𝓤𝓢). It is the tragic cycle that ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 & the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ both require to delicately perpetuate each other. Again, again, it is the challenge of the A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ to shorten 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈 & expedite their ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ.

The A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ is always living dangerously. That is why they are so fucking cool - beautiful - alluring - tragic! They are living dangerously in the precarious madness of A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ creation and they are are living dangerously in the suffocating 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄸🅃🅈of ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 .

So ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎, let’s get in & get out. Smash & grab. Take what we need to initiate the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ to newness, to becoming. Does this mean perpetual poverty? No! $100, $1,000,000, a celebrity love affair, a $5 Hot n’ Ready Pizza™, a bullshit handshake from the president of a decaying nation & a Pepto Bismol™ pink Jeep™ Wrangler. No judgment from me, we’re in this together yo! Whatever it is we need to initiate our ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ.

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 is always building stronger chains . . .and it will always fail because chains always rust in the soft waters of the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ. The holy practicality. The 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎ will always return to good tidings.

ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 tells us that our longing for newness is delusional, something to be medicated & alienated. But that despair narrative in that longing is a trick to keep us trauma-bound to ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. Cynical, nihilistic despair is a perverse desire manufactured by a ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 that requires continual trauma to expand power. We A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ laugh at our shotgun wedding with ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖. We don’t shy from the fall, because we know it is a pleasure to feel the rise. It is a spoke on a such a lovely, lovely wheel, the sacred becoming, the ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ.

Use them or don’t, but we A͎C͎T͎I͎V͎E͎ ͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎S͎ will never cease hands out keys to kingdoms to all the 🄲🄰🄿🅃🄸🅅🄴🅂. To ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖, we hand only eulogies. But ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 is a fucking ̾p̾h̾o̾e̾n̾i̾x̾. The drama/trauma/duka/dance goes on.

ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ, ᴱᵀᴱᴿᴺᴬᴸ𖣘ᴿᴱᵀᵁᴿᴺ . . .

That’s it, friend/͎A͎R͎T͎I͎S͎T͎/god. I love you! Can you liberate us already? Go make A͎R͎T͎!

THINKERS CALLED IN / FURTHER READING ::

Nietzche and Philosophy - Gilles Deleuze

Anti-Oedipus : Capitalism and Schizophrenia - Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari

A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia - Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari

The Rebel - Albert Camus

Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger