psemme

Ich bin.

Je suis.

I am.

An artist’s work is, in essence, a declaration of existence – both physically and metaphorically. It’s Cartesian. Only it’s not “I think…”, it’s “I create therefore I am”.

This assertion of being, and every creative act, occurs over time, in discrete locations (aka space-time). How can we use that fact as an artistic input – a feedback loop – space-time itself becoming the creative focus?  Music, dance, theater, etc. are all built on space-time as their foundation.  But what I’m proposing is different.

I call them transients – art pieces that explicitly, unselfconsciously, recognize (celebrate) their own space-time.  It is similar to the mindset celebrated by kyūdō – the Japanese martial art of archery – where the experience of drawing the bow and releasing the arrow is as important as hitting the target.

Here’s an example.

At first glance, it is just a printed, signed declaration. Peter is confirming his existence at *this* place and *this* time. But beyond first impressions there is another, more subtle, element, illuminated by its background story.

I bought a customizable rubber stamping kit expressly for this piece. I determined where and when I wanted to “perform” and at 06:11PM EST I had exactly 60 seconds in which to make the stamp impression and sign my name.  The stamp’s configuration of numbers and letters denoting my space-time was only relevant, accurate for 60 secs (at that location).

Creating this piece at any other place or time would have been meaningless, insofar as I have defined a transient. In the strictest sense, the stamp, with this specific sequence of rubber characters, was only valid for a very specific space-time. I captured it with ink on paper – only once. It is one of a kind (the digital photo of it is not, but that will be a topic for another post). I can never do that performance again because it will never be accurate again, will never fit the definition. This piece specifically celebrates the ephemeral – explicitly acknowledging that every living moment is art, an opportunity to create, never to be repeated.

The acknowledgement that every space-time step is full of creative potential opens doors to some (I think) very interesting new avenues.  In my next few posts I will continue to explore the possibilities in the contexts of authenticity, origination and ownership.