It can be hard however, to delve into the context of the wide world for too long. Like watching an exploration of our world visually in Samsara, it can bring pessimism, cynicism and depression. This feeling certainly isn’t a universal trait; not all take stock of the times we live in, others are invested with hope, some apathy, and others fight for change. But it is hard to fight for change when the masses would rather watch someone else cook than stand up and cook; watch someone else sing than read a book; preferring intimacy with every detail of the ‘real’ lives of people they can’t stand over familiarity the existence of a beautiful, natural people who suffer real lives.
In the second letter of On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller says:
“…at
the present time material needs reign supreme and bend a degraded
humanity beneath their tyrannical yoke. Utility is the great idol of our
age, to which all powers are in thrall and to which all talent must pay
homage… The spirit of philosophical inquiry itself is wresting from
imagination one province after another, and the frontiers of art
contract the more the boundaries of science expand.”
I say it is not from the drive of science, which has long had a poignant relationship with art, that causes arts retreat, but the prevalence of entertainment brought in as an escape from the ensuing ennui. A break out from the feeling of monotony in a world filled with chaos, crime, war, poverty, starvation and disease that do not touch us with a fraction of their full force felt around the world. A chaos so ubiquitous and yet almost inconceivable as we sit, untouched and, for some, unmoved. Our experience is limited to a grand medium of persuasion which leaves square windows to anaesthetised souls as the only mark to distinguish between those who feel the pain of the world and those who have lost the ability, the instinct, to empathise.
For it is art that teaches empathy as it opens an entire world to connection, while with entertainment the function is to divert, creating apathy to a world lost touch with. The feeling of connection is essential to the self. Without an environment there can be no organism, they are one, and nothing without the rest.
It’s not the art that is failing but business failing to understand the meaning of it; rule one of sales is know thy product.
As one work of art carries on its life, it affects all it comes in contact with, even in the smallest of ways. A piece of knowledge becomes a strange new thought, an overwhelming feeling, an inspiration! Inspiring new works of art to disseminate and flourish out into the world like a simple act of kindness. By recognising the influence art has upon us, and life, we pay proper respect in conversation by attributing ideas and concepts to the inspiring artist and their work, like an homage in a Tarantino film. We are recommending works of art so that they will be read in turn and inspire an even greater number with ideas we may not have even discerned.
Willow Pattern alone has already led an eventful life in its infancy, influencing me and my group and inspiring works from each of us. Most recently works of poetry, and although my poetry is amateur, possibly going on to inspire more work again, and on and on, ad infinitum. With the thought of an
exhibition involving poetry reading in mind I took inspiration from, the man, Tom Waits and an incredibly moving spoken word poet, Shane Koyczan. So in the spirit of sharing inspiration perhaps my work may not as of yet, but I am positive these two can. They already have.
It’s been a great experience, especially in this, my last semester, to be involved in a project that has involved so many people in the community I feel most at home in. To see new perspectives on the topics of writing, editing, collaborating and art in general, from a diverse range of those in the Willow Patterns group, the industry professionals involved in the 24-Hour Book and the wider audience who have been along for the ride thus far, keeping us all going.
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