Upon arrival from visiting European family and friends, I was surrounded by reminders of the purpose of art and the evolution of a privileged nihilism that I do not believe is good for us. However, I want to dig into the purpose of art in history. As a lover and researcher of ancient history, I come across several themes of how art was used in practical, ceremonial, community-cohesive events, celebrations, decorations, storytelling, and documentation.
I visited the Museum Weltkulturen in Mannheim (Museum of World Cultures) which had a beautiful and elaborate collection of locally and internationally found burial sites, ancient pottery, bronze jewelry, clothing fragments, weapons, and ceremonial objects alongside the ancient burial skeletons and skulls that document the evolution to our current iteration of homo-sapiens.
Seeing the evolution from practical tools to artistic decoration within the practical tools is just another iteration on the macro-scale of how our evolution (as well as our physical brain) expanded and grew. We began as small groups and tribes; the symbolic language that developed in the icons of our pottery and weaving gave us identity, story, and ritual magic. We have lost touch with that in America, where only the privileged few in the marketing and PR realms that manage brands now keep the importance of brand development as an identity marker. What does it mean if I wear Chanel? Supreme? Louis Vuitton? Guess? Off-Brands? It gives you information about class strata and value systems like our ancient tribal selves did, which are void of purpose and deeper meaning, besides that I belong to a certain economic tribe.
VOID OF PURPOSE
This void of purpose and disintegration with the connection or knowledge of our collective ancestral roots - in a pragmatic survival sense - has us void of meaning. What does that mean? Or, in regularspeak - it’s not that deep. You know, if you are reading my writing it always is that deep. America and the West are a ripe meaning and idea economy. Silent retreats? Detox cleanses? Q-Anon Rallies? Witch workshops? Mindfulness seminars? They are all ideas or philosophies in action that give us meaning and community, even if we are a parasocial community.
This is why, during election season, the cult of personality rises to the top, a popularity contest based on invisible shared beliefs that are becoming more and more explicit in a multicultural society.
So when your meaning goes away, your symbolic language goes away, and your clothing becomes void of personal (rather than corporate) meaning - you are an alienated island on the receiving end of an algorithm of content and marketing within a particular tunnel of ideology. You develop parasocial relationships on the one hand, or you become an idealogue with black-and-white thinking on the other. It is why politicians hire internet-savvy generations to infiltrate online communities and overtake subcultures to be relatable and gain votes and influence.
So what are we to do in these times of nihilistic tabula rasa technocratic influence in a population devoid of meaning? We go back to the art-making. We go back to history. We take time to slow down. Because at the rate we are going everything is absolutely not sustainable.
L’ART POUR L’ART
There are many theories as to why we made art as a species and walking through the museum and seeing our expressions change from pragmatic, to affective ritual, to symbolic storytelling was such a privilege. And when in the Western world the idea of art for art’s sake continues to live on there is something of a privilege in that.
According to various scholars, “L’art pour l’art, which was coined in the early 19th century by the French philosopher Victor Cousin. The phrase expresses the belief held by many writers and artists, especially those associated with Aestheticism, that art needs no justification, that it need serve no political, didactic, or other end.” This sentiment in the context of Western industrialized and technocratic class is beautiful and critical in its own way. When put in the context of the rest of the world that still honors folk art, pragmatic arts, and craftsmanship it is the most privileged and naive but contains in it an essence of ancient hope. Let me explain.
In America and in Western countries accessibility to art supplies overall is much more open and available (this is in the global context, if we look at certain areas of major urban cities of course you cannot get a box of crayola crayons when you cannot get a piece of fresh fruits or vegetables - that is an essay for another time). There are kits where you can make adorable amigurumi, watercolor palettes, and $1 cheap paintbrushes that have decent quality. Growing up as a first-generation immigrant, going to the dollar store for a set of Crayola watercolors in primary colors was such a joy! Using up paint to make messes on the paper and experimenting with color was art for art’s sake. As wonderful as this experimenting is - and it is necessary.
Going back to the global perspective, art has purpose, from practical textiles for the home to pottery for storytelling to painting for documentation of a mood, emotion, or history. It is why I am so interested in raising up awareness of the Romanian Blouse, a textile piece of clothing filled with symbolical language that gets passed down from generations of women that developed language from ancient matriarchal societies.Of course, there is also abstract art, sculpture, and conceptual art. Art was also historically made for religious (and paid by religious and political organizations) for the collective and for a higher meaning or cause. For a long time, art came with a purpose other than profit.
As a former (and still occasional) marketing and branding consultant since 2014, I took the meaning of a brand, took the mood and class strata it was projected to, and wrapped it up into an artistic and aesthetic masterpiece that would persuade individuals to give money to buy into these “conceptual art ideas” and brands. It is an art form in its own right, however, how can we take the profit-driven and bring it back to the collective health-driven?
Meaning + Aesthetics + Targeted Population = Profit
CULTIVATING MEANING WITHIN THE COLLECTIVE
I have been a part of many groups both in digital spaces and within community spaces. As we continue to lose more of these third spaces for an open community, I was inspired by not-so-ancient humans as I stood in an art piece that was community-led, made, and funded.
The Ulmer Münster church in the center of Ulm, Germany - my birth city - has a beautiful reminder of the importance of art, community, and healing. In the words of psychologist Alfred Adler, “gemeinschaftsgefuhl” means community feeling and social interest. According to the historians of the Ulmer Münster:
The foundation stone of the highest church in the world was laid on the 30th June, 1377. The beautiful cathedral was financed not by the church or worldly rulers but exclusively by the town's inhabitants. And if one thinks of when the building was started, then it is almost inconceivable for us today that the population of Ulm initiated a building project at the end of the 14th century, knowing that they would not live to see its completion… in 1890.
Walking into the awe-inspiring cathedral that was decided to be made by the people of Ulm, with a 300-year pause in 1543, was awe-inspiring and stirred within me inspiration as an art therapist (student) that these old values are possible. Put the best of the best artists, materials, and craftsmanship into something with profound meaning (in the case of Ulmers, it was safety, religion, and community), and it can be left as a legacy for generations to come. How do we bring that meaning, branding, art, and healing into modern-day America?
MEANING-MAKING, RHETORIC, AND DECONSTRUCTION AS HEALING
We miss out on meaning-making because of the wonderful and empty canvas that a post-modern tabula rasa culture can bring. When you lose touch with your culture, the culture of the land, the indigenous culture, the folk culture - you also lose your own meaning and naturally adopt the values of those around you until a crisis occurs or an idea no longer works for you.
I have found solace in my own path as a matriarchy monk and have written my own values to engage with and deconstruct if they now longer work - just like the scientific method. We have new information? Let’s adjust.
"The unexamined life is not worth living" is a famous dictum supposedly uttered by Socrates at his trial for impiety and corrupting youth, for which he was subsequently sentenced to death. The dictum is recorded in Plato's Apology. Creating spaces both digitally and in person, valuing self-examination, and bringing in ancestral and cultural roots to the table could be where we begin as therapists, museum educators and community facilitators.
I have seen a surge of coffee shops, libraries, parks, and museums, creating more community-oriented spaces for connection and collaboration. Just the other day, I saw an in-person debate group to practice active listening and rhetoric. We may not be as connected to a religious meaning in America to inspire building churches, but we may have spaces where coming together to rekindle community, communication, and ending loneliness through art making and discussion just may.
This is a profound written!! @isabelle!