psemme

How to recognize a foundation stone.

Creating anything original is like looking in a mirror. Sometimes you are eager to stare directly at your reflection, hoping to confirm some truth. But often, in my case at least, I avoid the obvious and, instead, focus on the incidental, circumstantial, maybe even accidental – all the items in the mirror one would typically ignore – the background, the “noise” – everything *but* the main subject. I don’t know why I do this.

Or…

In a crowded restaurant with a friend, sitting directly across, being regaled with a story, I simultaneously permit my brain to selectively listen in on the other conversations swirling around the room – as if this additional content will somehow improve the context. Nothing exists in isolation so why pretend?

It’s relevant because I am finally posting something I have been considering for many months now – something I believe is original and personal. I want to stare at this new creation and feel some sort of resolve – that I have reached a destination. But I can’t and don’t. It’s existence has created background distractions – like a mirage, what I thought was solid now feels like a waypoint to somewhere further on. The current main subject – the reflection in the mirror – may just be inspirational and that’s it.

So – what is it? What does this new thing’s existence mean and/or imply? How does its reality differ from my intent? The picture at the top of this post is an image of my first “existential notarization” of an actual person. I’ve blurred out the specifics for privacy purposes but the document, in essence, serves two functions:

• First – as a notarist, I performed my function as an independent observer and followed a process whereby I confirmed/documented the person’s identity and, using my own sensory facilities, determined that the person sitting before me was, in fact, a living human being, existing in a very specific space-time. This process was entirely designed by me. It could have been anything, as long as it resulted in the verification of my subject’s humanity. This information was documented in the form of an affidavit which I then had notarized by an official notary public. My last step was to store the document image on the permaweb via Arweave. The image below is the confirmation.
  
• Second – as an artist, both the act (performance) of notarizing and the resulting artifact/document established two important creative milestones. I expected these milestones to feel absolute or foundational, maybe like the old, Roman, stone “milliarius” you can still find along ancient European roadways. Instead, they feel like portals into new worlds – directions I can’t ignore – not simple static markers. It’s not hard to imagine different performance types and artifacts, all serving the same purpose – verifying the existence of a distinct human individual at specific location, date and time (space-time).

There are other reflections.

Married to the reality of permanent, immutable data storage are the concepts of ownership and value. It is not hard to imagine the creative universe that is revealed once one combines the blockchain with the act of creating and the act of ownership. What happens when the artist requires actions from owners? This idea is the topic of a future next post.

Honestly, I’m not sure what I’ve created. I’m only clear that I did it. I’ve ignored the “doing” in service of the “done” mainly so I could drive a stake into the digital sand – if only to create an inaugural source from which my further work can pivot.

Irrespective of my approach, my intent is clear (if nothing else). I have that feeling you get when you’ve created something confusing – the newness of it sparkles. At least I have a waypoint now. Let’s see what’s next.