Some Notes on Intent and Use
Things the Cashers of Cinema believe:
By Israel Lawton 1. The pure, mystical connection to art is essential, natural and should not be tampered with. It is deeply personal and beyond good and evil. 2. Every work of art is a product of a system that made it. Thus all art is political. All political systems are brutal, unfair and prejudice. BUT, the magic of connecting to art, the ability to express oneself in the face of a cruel, evil world, transcends all this. So, their are no problematic favorites, as all art is innocent and problematic. There are only problems and favorites. 3. All texts crumble instantly, all interpretations are false. 4. All interpretations are art, and thus sacred. 5. Life follows art. 6. If we lived in a perfect world, free of sexism, racism, homophobia, classism and all other forms of hatred, art would still exist. SO, the goal of all social movements is to enable freedom of art. 7. All texts have been deconstructed, and thus are pure. 8. Let no part of life prevent you from making art. Fight against systems that limit art. 9. The uselessness of art is its greatest weapon. 10. Everything dies but art. 11. Not every member of CoC thinks these things, or even agrees with any of them. |
Uselessness: An Early Cashiers of Cinema Note.
By Israel Lawton This note is exactly 500 words and dedicated to Francois Truffaut. When I describe what I desire the Cashiers of Cinema to be, I think of two words: Radical Aestheticism. I lately used this word to describe the collective, and upon writing them found that they described not only the Cashiers, but my worldview as well. When I say Radical Aestheticism, I mean a true, passionate, even spiritual belief that art is the most important part of human existence. It is the pinnacle, it is the journey, the ultimate decay of humankind. It means that if we ever reach utopia, if that is even an idea that exists, that art will be the end goal of all social movements and causes. The utopia will be art, and art will be the main means by witch this happens. However, this is not to say that I feel art must be useful, or strive to create a utopia. Or strive to be anything. When I first read that my hero, Oscar Wilde said, “all art is quite useless” I was offended. I demanded that art be useful, both politically and personally. I was childish, and it took time for me to understand. For Wilde, art was the most important thing, essential to the function of humans, and thus transcended any sort of usefulness as defined by anyone else. The usefulness of art was intrinsic to the art itself. I am not ashamed to admit that I still disagree with my hero on what exactly he may have meant by this. However I do feel a deep spiritual kinship with the idea. Wilde felt that art must exist, and be appreciated solely on its own terms, and that anything else was perverse. I value, however, as many do, political art. I, in fact, do more then value it: I praise it. I seek it out. Art that expressed my political or social world view I find empowering and uplifting. However, I do not find its politics essential. I also think that any art transcends its political message, and becomes an other; this sacred place that Susan Sontag, my other hero, describes so well. This ambiguity is essential, both to the human spirit and to our relation to art. Finding value in art we agree with its hardly a political act, it is a personal one. And in the exact same way we connect with art that we feel somehow violates a belief we hold dear. It is not until one experiences this that the true force of art is revealed, and the true power of humanity: we can connect to experiences. To expression. To power. To another human voice. It is bigger then us, it is us, it is everything. Art will outlive us all because it is bigger then anything ourselves could ever become; and how it connects with an individual is as numerous as the people it encounters. All art is quite useless because it is grander then any of our uses for it. We are merely passing though art’s own world. |