Saturday, April 11, 2009

Swarms

In the Same Boat

It's good weather for ducks and I'm still contemplating relevance.
How do some artists stand out in a crowd and influence other artists?
I mentioned the wikipedia effect last post. Simply put, it is a group
effort that collaborates on a project. Usually the result is a 'good
enough' but not necessarily the best solution. Good for the group.
I use wikipedia in my links on occasion so I don't knock it, but the
content is optimized in search engines such that its 'solutions'
seem authoritarian. Museums act in much the same way in that
they filter the background chatter and come up with a pretty
good consensus. Great for the art community; some-
times bad for individuals or groups out of favor.

Wiki Artists Option

For the actual artist our work isn't like this relevance model. We're
not seeking a consensus. Although we're part of the art community
usually art is a lonely process. We're better off as individuals
utilizing that solitude rather than listening to advice of friends,
family or supporters. When we're producing we tend to fight a
variety of roadblocks just to spend a few hours in the studio
working idiosyncratic ideas through.

The Rogue

Our artistic search engines are found not only on the Internet or
museums. Mostly our search is a filtering of our unique
perceptions of the world; observation of nature, other people and
our interactions with social norms. Really we're at our best out
in the world ignoring relevance and finding our own way.
In swarm theory eventually people will check out new options.

4 comments:

jafabrit said...

I enjoyed reading your blog entry and thinking about it (as well as the duckie photos).

Got card and it make me laugh, jafa world headquarters :) thanks

Mineke Reinders said...

I showed this to my 10 year old daughter, and she loved it too. Very creative, and perfect images for this time of year..

Mineke Reinders said...

Sorry, I forgot to comment on your thoughts about relevance. "Really we're at our best out
in the world ignoring relevance and finding our own way." That's the advice I live and paint by. Relevant to whom? In what context? At what time? Who decides what is relevant? These are all questions others can answer, perhaps in due time. Personally, I've made my peace with not being relevant at all. In fact, it is irrelevant to me :) But perhaps this is a subject better discussed over a few beers at a tavern somewhere. Too bad there is no equivalent for that in the blogosphere yet.

William Evertson said...

After you explained what a jafa is I just knew there were too many not to have their own headquarters :)
The nice thing about 10 year olds is their art ability; thats why we save all their art but sometimes toss our own.