Manifesto

(4). Expose the fallacy of the Binary! 

Fluidism is non-binary. There is no dualism (only the concept of dualism). If there is no dualism but fluidity between dichotomies, then ‘art’ can unashamedly infiltrate all works of life. This means therefore that there is nothing that is ‘not-art’. That ‘art’ no matter how minute can be found in everything.

(4.1) Between positive and negative there is flow.

Flow has energy, is often kinetic and time based. Fluidism is not only between and within polar opposites but beyond; to transcend, to go beyond the rhetorical.

(4.2) In Fluidism, ‘art’ is not an absolute. It can never be pure. It can never be complete.

(4.2). Fluidism creates the frame and then breaks the frame.

It looks for depth and breadth away from the linear: texture, thickness, shadow, understanding. Fluidism exposes the infinite within the finite.

(5). Fluidism lives in the domain of uncertainty. ⁽⁴⁾

Uncertainty doesn’t feel safe of complete. It does not resolve any tension but provides a space to evolve. This is the space in which the fearless Fluidist can thrive. 

In Fluidism everything lives between order and chaos, between construction, reconstruction, deconstruction, decomposition and destruction, (the Fluidist believes in synthesis even within destruction). 

(6). Love the light

But be ok looking for answers in the dark. In the dark the unpresentable exists. The Fluidist objective is to make the unpresentable visible. (Lyotard & the Sublime, Introducing Post Modernism, A Graphic Guide, p22), but to go beyond realism. It must relate in part to life, however inadequate that may be.

(7). Love colour. Be ok with grey but love the colour within grey.

There is no binary black or white but only shades and hues. It understands the complexity of colour. Use the full spectrum of colour. Be the master of ‘directional’ grey.

(8). Fluidism celebrates diversity.

But it does not create division. It is not prejudice, it still retains inclusiveness. It champions differences, abolishes homogenization.

(8.1). We call out the righteous, the fascist, the dogmatist.

By looking for the contradiction and exposing binary and linear thinking.

(8.2). Fluidism embraces criticism and positivity in equal measure.

(8.3). We, the Fluidists are of the political, the apolitical, the sincere and the satire.

(9). Fluidism appreciates the significance of ‘outsider art’ ⁽⁵⁾.

Fine Art has a danger of becoming too insular, ton conformist. It should not be led by academia but flow through it, challenge and inform it, for the infrastructure must support and subvert the superstructure. 

(10). Fluidism is fluid with the truth.

It also tolerates, even embraces the fake, (for it understands all is fake and nothing is real but  that there is hidden beauty, interest and wonder in the unreal).

(10.1) Fiction and non-fiction as binaries do not exist.

(Life imitating art and art imitating life).

(11). Fluidism has a non-binary thinking ⁽⁶⁾ approach to how to view and understand the world.

Non-binary thinking is not linear. It is not orderly.

Non- binary thinking is at odds with the largest and most powerful part of the brain that loves clarity, order, linear, binary. Humans live in the fiction of the straight-line story. It requires emotional intelligence of the Fluidist to rewrite the storylines of the past and offer alternative paths to the future.

(12). Fluidism believes in the enhancement of fluid thinking ^(7).

i.e.to think abstractly and solve problems: have the ability to learn new things; have a global capacity to reason; to enhance critical thinking in general.

(13). Fluidism is experimental.

It invents, and reinvents; it repeats but does not replicate.

In Fluidism there is always an opportunity to learn, to be ‘playful’. This ‘play’ must be purposeful and serious and yet the Fluidist must have the ability to see the humour within it all.

(14). In Fluidism everything is process.

(See Implementation).

Fluidism has a Hegelian dialectic approach. It looks for synthesis. ⁽⁸⁾

Dangers to Fluidism

Fluidism aim is not ‘Status Quo”.

Status quo is a beginning, a start to a process. Status quo is to be questioned. The Fluidist is looking for the ‘new realities’ more choices, new aims, new frontiers.

Fluidism goes beyond liquid.

Fluidism and fluidity are not the same. Mixing of colours or mediums without creating conversation are not enough. 

Stop homogenization.

The Fluidist does not sit on the fence. They must be decisive, courageous, challenging. Unless art is made for the sole viewing of the artist only, then the purpose of art is solely to attract attention and then hold attention. To achieve this, it must be striking to the spectator’s senses (striking is the desired continuum between the binary concept of Beauty and Ugliness). It must be informative (conceal or tell a message). It must provoke thought. It can be shocking, it must not sit on the fence, it must not blend. It can be argumentative, even authoritative but not a dictatorship. Fluidism takes a considered approach that requires emotional intelligence. 

Fluidity can also be destructive.

But the Fluidist must ‘own’ the destruction, even go beyond destruction but the destruction must be transformative, informative, challenging.

Beware Regression.

It is important to look backwards as well as forwards for complete understanding but to be aware of avoiding the safety of regression and noncontextualized ideals. Above all avoid copycat art.

A Manifesto is a concept and must also remain fluid.

The differance ⁽⁹⁾ within the language of art understands that the power of this language is that it remains fluid and in constant flux.

Implementation of Fluidism

Expose the fallacy of the Binary!

Fluidists can show the reasoning behind non-binary thinking by exposing the absurdity of the binary and binary thinking in culture and society.

Art must perform. Fluidism is an adventure.

Ant to perform and explore, the Fluidist must be fearless. They must not get stage fright. The object cannot just be seen, it cannot just be read. It must speak. It must listen. For ‘art’ is a conversation. It must be dialectic, have discourse, be argumentative, it must shout and yet whisper, be angry and yet care, be emotionally involved, be human. It must connect

You must live in the space of ‘I don’t know’.

Set limitations, membranes, enhancers, agitators. Make restrictions and barriers and smash them down! This has always been within the skill set of the artist; the ability to frame the infinite.

Fluidism looks for harmony but it must not create it; for conflict breathes life into art.

Fluidism looks for cultural diversity.

Not only within the geographical and the physical but within literacy, education, class, urbanity, taste, values, humour and erudition. Everything has value.

The Artist Invents.

The Fluidist is always looking for the new, (both in success and failure).

Fluidism is a challenge, a rebooting, a realigning, a concept, a touch-paper for the artist to rewrite and retell and make anew.

Success and failure are concepts.

Success is to be strives for but with the understanding that the journey to and from success maybe adventurous, even rewarding. It is also possible to aim beyond the binary, to be visionary, transcendent.

The Fluidist is eclectic artistically and intellectually.

Broad-ranging and diverse sources and styles must have interconnectedness beyond the market. 

Fluidism is an intellectual thinking process to allow for truly contemporary art that reflects our complicated and interesting times. `it sits within and outside postmodernism and show some similarities with Hypermoderism and Metamoderism. However in Fluidism the pendulum is swinging from deconstruction to reconstruction.

Fluidism is about substance, not style. Depth, not façade. Fluidism is a strategy for change.

Fluidism is not a style of expression (style is the personal choice of the artist to best express his thoughts).

20^th Century art has provided a universal ‘language’ in which thinking is expressed that goes beyond style. It is a language that is no longer visual but of shared linguistic and cultural conventions.

In Fluidism everything is process.

PROCESS

Create Fluidity

Create Fiction

Create Friction!

Fluidism is energized by what it is in combat with. Agitators are one way to create friction and stop homogenization. Enhancers are another way to create fluidity.

Linguistic Prompts

Agitators

Trouble maker, destructive, compress, undermine, weaken, debase, rabble-rouser, demagogue, soapbox orator, incendiary, tension, rebellion, revolutionary, firebrand, rebel, insurgent, , subversive, instigator, inciter, provoke, fomenter, dissentient, agent provocateur, stirrer, stress, political agitator, fighter, fraudulent, criminal, villainous, disreputable, bastardized, debauch, abase,  infect, poison, pervert, demean, blemish, blight, deface, deform, dishonor, misuse, mistreat, degenerate, undermine, violate, lure, unfaithful, dirty, exploiting, treacherous, lawless, heretic, pusher, radical, propagandist, champion, dogmatist, partisan, reformer, wave maker, ringleader, revisionist, agent, malcontent, zealot, slash, subdue, degrade, jeopardy.

Enhancers

Encouragers, intensify, infuse, magnify, amplify, inflate, influence, increase, build, extend, emphasise, expand, beef up, accentuate, deepen, compound, underline, enrich,  augment, reinforce, maximise, build, strengthen, supplement, augment, boost, upgrade, raise, lift, escalate, elevate, exalt, aggrandize, swell, improve, enrich, complement, heighten, deepen, reinforce, underline, emphasize, jack up, hike, beautify, touch up, polish, fine tune, draw attention, elaborate, accessorize, decorate, ennoble, garnish, sharpen, brighten, colour, gild, gain, glorify, refine, sweeten, burnish, dress up, adorn. 

Enjoy the Process

It is in the making, in the connecting, in the frustration, in the solving. These are the moments when the artist becomes alive and the art and the artist is one. An artist is a concept, they only exist when in a purposeful creative, explorative space. It does not matter what kind of art is produced, there is no ‘good’ art or ‘bad’ art (for in the making both artist and art exists), Good and bad comes after the process and are for the opinions of the critic and the spectator.

Become an ‘Artrepreneur’ ⁽¹⁰⁾

The life of an artist should not be for the privileged few. Fluidism is a way of life. Make it your life.

(1). String Theory: Space-time is believed to behave like a fluid or maybe is a fluid. Time flows, they say. Maybe space flows too.

+ Superfluid vacuum theory. Ref

(2). Heraclitus (Quoted by Plato in Craytulus).]Ref

(3). Heraclitus: “You can never step in a river twice for it is not the same river and you are not the same person”. Ref

(4). The (‘Heinsenberg’s’) Uncertainty Principle.

(5). Outsider Art: Explain

(6). Non-binary thinking has a broader approach than the non-binary gender concept in that it can be applied to a variety of situations in life. However non-binary thinking builds on the language of Gender Fluidity. Words like diversity, trans, non-, fluid, variance, queer, cis, pan (pronouns: they, ze), neutral, androgyny, these create a new language and become tools to explore new possibilities and other avenues of life. But Non-binary thinking is more than a language, more than a conversation, it must lead to action and other ways of seeing.

(7). Cattell-Horn (1971) Fluid and C=crystallized intelligence. Expand.

(8). As the most comprehensive and profound doctrine of development, and the richest in content, Hegelian dialectics was considered by Marx and Engels the greatest achievement of classical German philosophy… “ The great basic thought’, Engels writes, “that the world is not to be comprehended as a complex of ready-made things, but as a complex of processes, in which the things, apparently stable no less in their mind images in our heads, the concepts, go through an uninterrupted change of coming into being and passing away…

… For dialectic philosophy nothing is final, absolute, sacred. It reveals the transitory character of everything and in everything, nothing can endure before it, except the uninterrupted process of becoming and of the passing away, of endless ascendancy from lower to higher. And dialectic philosophy, itself, is nothing more than the mere reflection of this process in the thinking brain.”

Thus according to Marx, dialectics is “the science to the general laws of motion both of the externalworld and of human thought”. Lenin, V.I., On the Question of Dialectics: A collection, pp7-9. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1980. [WIKIPEDIA COPIED]. +Lenin concept of Development.

(9). Difference: Derrida Ref

(10).The ‘Artreprenuer’.

The ‘Fluidist’ artist has much in common with the philosophy and qualities of a successful entrepreneur. Using entrepreneurial thinking can manifest itself in many ways. For example, an artist as a social entrepreneur using their work to raise awareness of social injustice or inequality or an artist embracing the latest technology to highlight new visions that empower, impress or cause contemplation.

Like an entrepreneur who takes financial risks in the hope of profit, an Artrepreneur takes artistic risks in the hope of new visions.  Both entrepreneur and Artreprenuer think and do things differently. Like an entrepreneur the Artreprenuerhas great, innovating ideas that identify a need for creation. There characteristics are creativity, imagination, they embrace failure as learning and growing experiences.  Both have a thirst for work. They are leaders. Both work across disciplines, have a breadth of transferable skills. Both are flexible, adaptable and resourceful. Both think out the box. Both react to the changing times. Both 

are opportunist. Both share ideas freely. Both see challenges as opportunities. Both see their competition as research. Both think outside the box, expecting the unexpected.  Both understand that everything requires effort and that there is no magic bullet. Both make their own luck, both believe in serendipity. Both are lifestyle choices, you live and breathe your business. Both are disciplined: you have to be prepared to do what is necessary to make it work, in all aspects of your life. Both are in charge of their own destiny. Both dream and do.

To summarize; to become an Artrepreneur:

!. Break a few rules… but only if this action can aid progress.

2. Never stop learning… information is power but more so if it is current. Read, listen, go back to college, do evening courses, find a mentor, join a group, develop transferable skills etc.

3. Connect with someone every day… communication is the key to all great art, it must resonate with others if it is to have a voice. Listen more than talk, sometimes the viewer’s voice should be louder than the artists.

4. Connect dots between seemingly unrelated things… create a new path when one doesn’t exist.

5. Stand up for an idea, even if it is unpopular.

6. Share ideas freely, become a mentor, spread the word, spread the vision.

7. Understand your niche market and where it is heading.

8. Encourage others… but give honest feedback. Ask for feedback and then quickly adapt based on it.

9. Celebrate experiments and failures because of the learning they yield. Don’t be afraid to be wrong.

10.Champion good ideas… abandon bad ones.

11. Create new pathways when one doesn’t exist… keep moving forward even when things aren’t clear. Seek out challenges that don’t have easy answers.

12. Refuse to be defined by a functional title… even if that title is ‘Artrepreneur’.

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