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 > > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > Archives: http://www.driftline.org _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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