File puptcrit/puptcrit.1003, message 378


From: Stephen Kaplin <skactw-AT-tiac.net>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:34:49 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] Social Insanity


Chris,
  I smile (okay it's actually a smirk) when I think about the last  
great civilization to treat their artists on par with plumbers and  
electricians-- the Soviet Union. Then again those Soviets did pretty  
good by their "cultural workers"-- if you consider the  immense scale  
of support  that the People's State managed to put up to maintain its  
puppet theaters, ballets and orchestras.  Now that it has made the  
switch from Socialism to Free Marketeering much of that support has,  
naturally, evaporated.

I think that Diane's original post touches on a deeper subject. I  
personally do not see much difference between an artist's creative  
obsessions and the aberrant behavior that society generally labels  
"criminal" or "insane."  I think many artists (myself included) would  
have stood a good chance of being institutionalized at some point in  
our lives, had we not found a way to channel our peculiar visions and  
flaky lifestyles into something that is at least arguably socially  
constructive.  We see evidence of this connection in the word  
"genius", which at it's root indicates a spirit, creative or otherwise  
that takes possession of a person. We see further evidence in this  
from the way that art programs sometimes have in altering the self- 
destructive behavior of inmates in mental hospital or juvenile  
detention centers-- which must explain why such programs are routinely  
the first  to go when budgets are cut. Peter Schumann also alludes to  
this connection when he states  that the best place to study the  
history of  European puppet theater for most of the past several  
centuries is in the Police records.

"Insanity" is a social construct. It is the label that "Sane" and  
"Civilized" cultures slap onto any sort of mental activity that  they  
can't find  a use for or profit from. Thus, the Ants of the World  
can't help but to view the Grasshopper's fiddling as "insane" (unless  
it goes viral on YouTube. or wins a Grammy).  And I suspect  that  
while Aesop,  that clever Egyptian slave who framed the story for his  
Greek masters, might have secretly sympathized with the Grasshopper,  
ultimately he (or his editors) had no choice but to come down on the  
side of Anthood's definition of what constitutes socially acceptible  
(ie- "sane) behavior. This attitude is, after all. completely in synch  
with the mainstream of classical  Greek Culture (as exemplified by  
Plato's inability to grant citizenship to artists in his ideal  
"Republic") which is the foundation for Western Civilization as a  
whole. It is represented in our own culture by attitudes which place  
unemployed artists one stop north of Kook-dom, while giving   
unemployed plumbers the honorific title of "Joe Six-pack" and allowing  
them  to play a significant and vocal supporting role in the central  
political debates of our generation.

And further more, I'd like you consider the fact that our illustrious,  
enlightened  Federal Government  recently saw fit to drop  billions  
and billions of dollars (equivalent to about a century's worth of its  
spending for the arts) to keep Ford Motors afloat. Now if the  
recipients of that government largess had not moved all their  
factories to Mexico and overseas in the '90's and '00's, perhaps  
Chris's brother would still have a job.

Thanks and goodnight  to all you fellow kooks out there,

Stephen



On Mar 15, 2010, at 2:09 PM, Christopher Hudert wrote:

>
> On Mar 15, 2010, at 10:39 AM, Monica Leo wrote:
>
>> I agree with you, Christopher, in that I get extremely annoyed with
>> artist friends who think they're something special and don't consider
>> what their lives would be like without garbage collectors,  
>> carpenters,
>> plumbers, mechanics, etc.
>
> Oh, and I forgot the little idea that often we, as artists, seem to
> think we don't need the garbage collectors, carpenters, plumbers,
> mechanics, etc. We can do it all ourselves. But often if we pulled in
> someone with some specialty in another field, our art would be better.
> What a concept.
> (Yeah, I know that sometimes we don't call others in because we lack
> the funds to pay them, but more often it is because we have this bad
> habit of DIM - do it myself.)
>
> Christopher
>
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