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15
Hello Justin and welcome to NotRandomArt. The current issue is revolving around the problem of communication and identity. Is there any particular way you would describe your identity as an artist but also as a human being in dynamically changing, unstable times? In particular, does your cultural substratum/identity form your aesthetics?
Hello. As Joy Division’s Ian Curtis said, “When people listen to you don’t you know it means a lot.” So, I greatly appreciate the interest NotRandomArt has shown in my efforts. And people love to talk about themselves and I may be no exception. That being said, I am grateful for the chance to discuss what I have been doing. Communication and identify are not really central to the works featured here. In fact, identity is often an aesthetic distraction hindering us from seeing what we have in common ethically or meta-rationally with each other. My work here is about counter-propaganda and counter-social control. Any examination of my own “cultural substratum/identity” would be a detour leading me off onto a primrose path and would unnecessarily intoxicate me. Communication, the “medium is the message”, a post-modern tenet is beginning to seem long-on-the-tooth. Any communication medium is just that, a communication medium. If I go to the next town over by car or by train it may not really matter. However, if I got there by bike, I suppose it could be statement, but it may not be. I suppose the method that is least wasteful may have a significance, but it would hopefully very much de-emphasized in my case.
Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be in this artistic point in your life when you are now?
My first artistic endeavor was a comedy “kid band” I had with some friends when we were 12 years old. I hesitate to tell you the year! We were called The Pukeoids. You can hear us on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/7oiE2c3XlxTN6zLiAivYNj
We grew up in Forestville, California a small town about an hour north of San Francisco. A pretty place.
I have a BA degree from Sonoma State University in California with a major in Communications Studies and a minor in Astronomy.
Electronic music has been my primary artform and still basically is. However, as the financial crisis began in 2009, I was forced to see how a society can so quickly become near chaos. Coupled with the drought and wild fires, the California Bay Area at that crazy time reminded me of when the country of Chili was taken over by a dictatorship. First comes the economic crisis, then comes the thuggery and tyranny. It may sound dramatic, but I believe it’s worth taking note of. Soon after I discovered the topic of “gang stalking”. Much of my work outside of electronic music, what you see here is a response to this theme.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
Once again, my “identity as a participant of the visual culture” is of no interest to me. Nevertheless, I do for sure have influences. Negativland, Laurie Anderson, some performance artists from Performance Space 122 in New York, where I worked as a sound and lighting technician for a few years have been influences. Particularly the ones interested in the environment or humor. Unfortunately, much of my “inspiration” comes from seeking to counter the “aggressive normalizations” of a late, corporate imperial culture that seeks to turn everyone into little reactionary gated communities. And, I play electronic music, so I am influenced by some things going on in that world here and there.
Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
Memory is of little importance in my efforts. Most of my work is done as quickly as possible to be publicly taped up as type of impermanent graffiti as a fast, direct response to the culture of harassment and intimidation growing like a thorny weed throughout western nations. A form of hyper-counter propaganda. I did try to use memory in my electronic music efforts but it garnered little attention, so I mostly disregard it now. Usually when I think of memory it is in terms such as my Mac has 8 gigs and so does my PC, but my old XP laptop has about 512 megs. Although perhaps I shouldn’t make such light of memory. Post-traumatic stress disorder for example. Just the smallest reminder can bring someone right back to a moment or an entire alternative reality of terror, abuse, harassment, persecution or injustice. Furthermore, I live in the former East Germany where the memory of two of the most tyrannical and psychopathic regimes lie on top of each other smeared on the walls and there is danger of forgetting. I will admit I’m seizing the opportunity here to voice a number of political views. However, my work presented here is social criticism as well and this response falls under that category too.
Nevertheless, I suppose in Germany the idea of “memory” leads to long held discussions on the dangers of forgetting. Not in terms of surveillance as part of the memory of East Germany, but in terms of a cynical, self-serving revival of authoritarianism which takes the form a “negative hipness” or “nipsterism” which occurs in the authoritarian left as well as in the authoritarian right. The right may be more familiar, updated skinheads with better pants and misguided professionals who have a void within themselves. But the contemporary authoritarian left is perhaps even more dangerous. Making use of their “slang” and normatives harvested from the internal colonies of the US and the associated “fashionable misfortunes” along with the culture industry, they attempt to build a kind of militarized, culture of gated community fencing. But they want their cake and to eat it too. They wish to gain all the benefits of adhering to corporatized necro-capitalism. But they also want to maintain their veneer of “progressivism” and inclusivity. This inclusivity fails when they are threatened by those who don’t buy their narratives, those who excessively think for themselves, ask questions or seek to build bridges instead of walls.