Anartist

As much as I have been using the term anti-disciplinary to mash-up the twin conceits of anti-authoritarianism and interdisciplinary methods of practice-based research into emerging forms of digital creativity, I must say that I have always had difficulties with all of these terms. Basically, I am interested in pursuing what in remixthebook I refer to as "a cut-and-paste as-you-go open source lifestyle practice" -- which to me is different than what I think of as a contemporary art practice. Sure, the work I (post)produce eventually manifests itself in various art forms, defamiliarized genre spaces, and multi-platform distribution schemes, but that's not why I make it. I make it because I have no choice in the matter. It's a mode of survival. In fact, you could say that it -- the making -- makes me.

But makes me what? An artist? OK, I can live with that (but then again, I can live with a lot of things). As I continue my deep research investigation into Duchamp and particularly his Large Glass, I am reminded of the term he once used to describe his own role in the cultural milieu he happened to be circulating in.

Duchamp:

For me there is something else in addition to yes, no or indifferent - that is, for instance - the absence of investigations of that type. . . . I am against the word 'anti' because it's a bit like atheist, as compared to believer. And the atheist is just as much of a religious man as the believer is, and an anti-artist is just as much of an artist as the other artist. Anartist would be much better, if I could change it, instead of anti-artist. Anartist, meaning no artist at all. That would be my conception. I don't mind being an anartist . . . What I have in mind is that art may be bad, good or indifferent, but, whatever adjective is used, we must call it art, and bad art is still art in the same way as a bad emotion is still an emotion.

Duchamp was incredibly clever at giving voice to thoughts that resonate well into the first decades of the 21st century.

Speaking of Duchamp's voice, my new art work, Micro-Cinematic Essays on the Life and Work of Marcel Duchamp dba Conceptual Parts, Ink, is now available in a limited edition of eight. The work was made in collaboration with sound artist Chad Mossholder. Talk about remixologically inhabiting the artist as medium. At certain points in the composition, there can be no doubt that my own voice loses itself the glitch of remix performance and embodies the sound of the anartist.

Keywords: Marcel Duchamp, anartist, medium, remix, glitch, experimental audio, sound art