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The Posthuman Manifesto

6. Statements on Art and Creativity

The production and appreciation of Art is a particularly Human faculty. It is often cited by the Humanists as the highest expression of Human thought and the thing which most distingushes us from machines. It would, therefore, be fair to admit that the Post_Human era cannnot begin in full until we have met this challenge from the Humanists. In order to develop a machine which can produce and appreciate Art we must first have a clearer understanding of what it is.

6.1. What is Art? The only useful definition of Art is that it describes any commodity of the Art market. We must distinguish between an Art object and an aesthetically stimulating object. An Art object is a commodity which is traded on the Art market. An aesthetic object is one that is appreciated for it s aesthetic quality. Something may be both an Art object and an aesthetic object, such as Van Gogh's "Irises" . Something may be an aesthetic object without being Art, like a sunset or a hat.

6.2. By the way, many people think that much modern Art is not Art because they consider it to lack aesthetic value even though it commands high prices on the Art market. They are simply confusing the Art value and the aesthetic value of an object. These two values are quite separate, but of course linked. Art is a commodity like any other said Henry Kahnweiler, Picasso's dealer. Art is an aesthetic commodity. Marcel Duchamp demonstrated clearly that the object itself is irrelevant to whether it is Art. In 1914 he designated a bottlerack as an art object. The choice , he claimed, was based on a reaction of visual indifference, with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste, in fact a complete anaesthesia.

6.3. In order to be clear, the Art market can be defined as a identifiable set of institutions and commercial organisations which collectively, fund, promote and sell Art.

6.4. Art must be (and always has been) elitist and exclusive in order to maintain its financial value and prestige. Many modern Artists use aesthetic elitism to guarantee exclusivity which, in turn, ensures values are upheld.

6.5. The main function of Art is to distinguish rich people from poorer people.

6.6. Good art is art that is aesthetically stimulating. Bad art is aesthetically neutral. This applies equally to all Art forms.

6.7. The criteria that determine whether something is aesthetically stimulating or aesthetically neutral are always changing.

6.8. Good art always contains an element of disorder (discontinuity). Bad art simply reinforces a pre-existing order.

6.9. Good art promotes discontinuity. Bad art enforces continuity.

6.10. Discontinuity produces aesthetically stimulating experiences. Continuity produces aesthetically neutral experiences.

6.11. Discontinuity is the basis of all creation, but discontinuity is meaningless without continuity.

6.12. Rich aesthetic experience is generated by the perception, simultaneously, of continuity and discontinuity in the same event. The co-presence, as Nietzsche would have it in The Birth of Tragedy, of Apollo and Dionysus.

6.13. All stimulating design relies on balancing the relative quotients of order and disorder in the object. This also goes for the composition of music and literature. However, such judgments cannot be made in isolation from the fact that values of order and disorder are largely prescribed by social agreement.

6.14. Post_Human art uses technology to promote discontinuity. Healthy societies tolerate the promotion of discontinuity since they understand Humans need exposure to it in spite of themselves. Unhealthy societies discourage the promotion of discontinuity.

6.15. Creativity does not consist in the production of anything that is completely new. Creativity consists in combining that which already exists, but which had previously been held as separate. Creativity and aesthetic appreciation are both functions of the Human ability to modify the connections in their thought paths, or to have them modified.

6.16. The process of aesthetic stimulation is heightened when concepts are forced together from relatively diverse locations (discontinuity). The amount of energy required to contemplate diverse concepts produces the rush of excitement which is familiar to lovers of Art. Such an effect is often achieved when an object is taken from one context and placed in another. Or in the case of many Picasso pieces, we are asked to accept the presence of one object when we plainly see another.

© Robert Pepperell

The Posthuman Manifesto 6. Statements on Art and Creativity
The production and appreciation of Art is a particularly Human faculty. It is often cited by the Humanists as the highest expression of Human thought and the thing which most distingushes us from machines. It would, therefore, be fair to admit that the Post_Human era cannnot begin in full until we have met this challenge from the Humanists. In order to develop a machine which can produce and appreciate Art we must first have a clearer understanding of what it is. 6.1. What is Art? The only useful definition of Art is that it describes any commodity of the Art market. We must distinguish between an Art object and an aesthetically stimulating object. An Art object is a commodity which is traded on the Art market. An aesthetic object is one that is appreciated for it s aesthetic quality. Something may be both an Art object and an aesthetic object, such as Van Gogh's "Irises" . Something may be an aesthetic object without being Art, like a sunset or a hat. 6.2. By the way, many people think that much modern Art is not Art because they consider it to lack aesthetic value even though it commands high prices on the Art market. They are simply confusing the Art value and the aesthetic value of an object. These two values are quite separate, but of course linked. Art is a commodity like any other said Henry Kahnweiler, Picasso's dealer. Art is an aesthetic commodity. Marcel Duchamp demonstrated clearly that the object itself is irrelevant to whether it is Art. In 1914 he designated a bottlerack as an art object. The choice , he claimed, was based on a reaction of visual indifference, with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste, in fact a complete anaesthesia. 6.3. In order to be clear, the Art market can be defined as a identifiable set of institutions and commercial organisations which collectively, fund, promote and sell Art. 6.4. Art must be (and always has been) elitist and exclusive in order to maintain its financial value and prestige. Many modern Artists use aesthetic elitism to guarantee exclusivity which, in turn, ensures values are upheld. 6.5. The main function of Art is to distinguish rich people from poorer people. 6.6. Good art is art that is aesthetically stimulating. Bad art is aesthetically neutral. This applies equally to all Art forms. 6.7. The criteria that determine whether something is aesthetically stimulating or aesthetically neutral are always changing. 6.8. Good art always contains an element of disorder (discontinuity). Bad art simply reinforces a pre-existing order. 6.9. Good art promotes discontinuity. Bad art enforces continuity. 6.10. Discontinuity produces aesthetically stimulating experiences. Continuity produces aesthetically neutral experiences. 6.11. Discontinuity is the basis of all creation, but discontinuity is meaningless without continuity. 6.12. Rich aesthetic experience is generated by the perception, simultaneously, of continuity and discontinuity in the same event. The co-presence, as Nietzsche would have it in The Birth of Tragedy, of Apollo and Dionysus. 6.13. All stimulating design relies on balancing the relative quotients of order and disorder in the object. This also goes for the composition of music and literature. However, such judgments cannot be made in isolation from the fact that values of order and disorder are largely prescribed by social agreement. 6.14. Post_Human art uses technology to promote discontinuity. Healthy societies tolerate the promotion of discontinuity since they understand Humans need exposure to it in spite of themselves. Unhealthy societies discourage the promotion of discontinuity. 6.15. Creativity does not consist in the production of anything that is completely new. Creativity consists in combining that which already exists, but which had previously been held as separate. Creativity and aesthetic appreciation are both functions of the Human ability to modify the connections in their thought paths, or to have them modified. 6.16. The process of aesthetic stimulation is heightened when concepts are forced together from relatively diverse locations (discontinuity). The amount of energy required to contemplate diverse concepts produces the rush of excitement which is familiar to lovers of Art. Such an effect is often achieved when an object is taken from one context and placed in another. Or in the case of many Picasso pieces, we are asked to accept the presence of one object when we plainly see another.

	© Robert Pepperell
	© Robert Pepperell