Manifestos

Started by Andrew McIntosh, January 31, 2010, 01:29:28 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Andrew McIntosh

There seemed to be a time when manifestos and other statements of intent where de rigour in Industrial. I was going to suggest, in the SI magazine section, that SI start printing more from modern artists. But then of course it occurred to me that there probably aren't any. So I'm asking; are there?
Shikata ga nai.

FreakAnimalFinland

About new artists, I think not so many manifests comes to my mind.
But related to topic, Private Edition published "Nothing Short of Total War" booklet. It includes manifestos of TNB, Laibach, SPK, Grey Wolves, and so on. Small b/w tribute/"bootleg" zine. I had it, but all gone. Hope to get more.

I think time we live is not very favourable twards grandioso manifestos. See for example couple years ago when Joe Roemer posted his very rare contribution to certain noise forum, and the ranting passionate text, what in old days would have been greeted as pretty decent manifesto, was replied with mindfarts and trolling from the modern day audience.

I have prepared some texts in past and pretty recently what could be basis of manifesto, but in the end, their function is more of clarification of intent on personal basis, rather than for outsiders.
E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
MAGAZINE: http://www.special-interests.net
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

Bloated Slutbag

via noisemp3.com

QuoteArtists   Goat

Artist bio:
birthed in the dark auto wastelands of michigan, the distant echoes of mechanical failures haunted the beasts, futility as faith deemed it necessary to offer sonic homages to these deceased chambers of man's greatest folly,the black metal that was left in these luddite cathedrals' catacombs, was procured by shadowy figures then manipulated by renegade monks into twisted alchemical metal dirges, these early hymns were offered with little fanfare, but slowly the spirit of truth was exposed and pretenders and charlatans fell by the wayside, through pilgramages and trials the energies became focused, the offering of a sacrifice of failure actually empowered, realizing that metal cannot be subdued,, this sonic ordeal, this capricorn of which motorhead offered praise, started usurping the infidels, seasons were weathered, this forbidden has risen as goat, upon which the sins of all technology, and all fools that worship these graven images of hubric progress shall be sonically cleansed

QuoteArtists   Bacillus

Artist bio:
Since 1993 Bacillus has been spreading virulent sonic pathogens on an unsuspecting population. It serves as the vanguard to the retaliation of nature against the rampant overpopulation, pollution and consumption of humankind. The current standard practice of medicine and disease control is severely lacking, leaving much of the public immunodeficient and vulnerable to epidemic disasters. More and more diseases are becoming drug-resistant through overuse of antibiotics, leaving people with little options to combat the more virulent and fatal strains that are cropping up on a more regular basis. In 1997 the laboratories that monitor, study and catalog the constantly mutating strains from Bacillus moved from Ohio to Seattle where the hot zone of activity is currently centered. Bacillus went into a five-year remission from 1998 to 2003, but has since re-emerged with renewed strength. There is no known cure against Bacillus and there is nothing in development.

There are a few more on the site, including one from my very own personal band. Perhaps not up to manifesto level, but at least serve to show that some are happy to give it a go if given the right forum.

I wonder if we could expand this topic with a few more examples? The liner notes to The Nordic Miracle's cd debut wax manifesto-ish. Title? "We Shall Provide" - now thet's what I call statement of intent!

Though it's very hard to top the Taint manifesto/slogan/raison d'etre, one that still keeps me warm at night:

"Perversion at all costs!"
Someone weaker than you should beat you and brag
And take you for a drag

Andrew McIntosh

#3
I realised after posting this that it should be in the Art & Lit. section. Sorry.

EDIT Okay, cheers Mikko.

Quote from: Bloated Slutbag on January 31, 2010, 04:07:56 PM
I wonder if we could expand this topic with a few more examples? The liner notes to The Nordic Miracle's cd debut wax manifesto-ish. Title? "We Shall Provide" - now thet's what I call statement of intent!

Though it's very hard to top the Taint manifesto/slogan/raison d'etre, one that still keeps me warm at night:

"Perversion at all costs!"

I think a few examples would be a very good idea, if there are any around! This is what I mean, there doesn't seem to be a lot of written intent from Noise/PE/Industrial/etc. artists these days, that I've noticed. I'd like to see more.
Shikata ga nai.

ConcreteMascara

Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on January 31, 2010, 02:08:48 PM
I have prepared some texts in past and pretty recently what could be basis of manifesto, but in the end, their function is more of clarification of intent on personal basis, rather than for outsiders.

I think that may hint at a problem for more current artists. The '70s and '80s and to some extent the '90s had more of a place for manifestos almost. Many of the ideas and the strategies were truly new and innovative and the political culture of radicalism, especially in Europe still had active participation. Now I think the influence of earlier bands and their manifestos, people like Laibach, SPK and even Streicher have all had an important effect on the mythos and the themes of industrial/noise/pe. They've been internalized by newer artists who write for themselves. Writing out ones own beliefs and rules and perceptions becomes more a tool of organization, used to refocus intent and energy. Maybe I'm wrong though.
[death|trigger|impulse]

http://soundcloud.com/user-658220512

FreakAnimalFinland

I think it is true, that cultural climate has changed so much.
I think the purpose of manifesto shouldn't be merely adjusting into tradition. Manifesto should serve some function. I guess most valid now would seem to be just public declaration of artistic intent. And forget about any too gandioso politics glued on top of ltd 50 copies tape, heh.. I think it carried another type of power to be widely distributed Test Dept LP or huge organisation of Laibach/NSK.  As opposed to insiders club of likeminded collectors selling limited stuff to eachother :P

E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
MAGAZINE: http://www.special-interests.net
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

ConcreteMascara

Exactly because otherwise it becomes a redundant reiteration of old ideas. There was a time when new ideas were happening rapidly. Now it seems that many artists are trying to recapture a spirit that has passed by. There are less new forms, but many more ghosts of former ideas.
[death|trigger|impulse]

http://soundcloud.com/user-658220512

Strömkarlen

Quote from: ConcreteMascara on February 04, 2010, 10:48:52 AM
Exactly because otherwise it becomes a redundant reiteration of old ideas. There was a time when new ideas were happening rapidly. Now it seems that many artists are trying to recapture a spirit that has passed by. There are less new forms, but many more ghosts of former ideas.

True but one have to remember that issuing manifestos have been a 20th century hobby of many artist from the Futurist and forward (there were Manifesto before also but lets start there). A lot of these had very little circulation in their day but does that make them less valid. I would say no and I a strong idea well put down can easily generate a lot of interest. Just think about Sam's texts about Walls.
One of the manifestos from yesteryear that I really got me wounded up was Gustav Metzger's Auto-destructive art manifesto. It would be really easy to see a line from Metzger to The Haters but Metzger wasn't very well know until the last 10 years or so. His influences seems to have been very limited and yet a lot of noise artist are working along lines he put down in the sixties. (Maybe Metzger is GXs patron saint what do I know?)

auto-destructive art manifesto
by gustav metzger
1960

Man In Regent Street is auto-destructive.

Rockets, nuclear weapons, are auto-destructive.

Auto-destructive art.

The drop drop dropping of HH bombs.

Not interested in ruins, (the picturesque)

Auto-destructive art re-enacts the obsession with destruction, the pummeling to which individuals and masses are subjected.

Auto-destructive art mirrors the compulsive perfectionism of arms manufacture - polishing to destruction point.

Auto-destructive art is the transformation of technology into public art. The immense productive capacity, the chaos of capitalism and of Soviet communism, the co-existence of surplus and starvation; the increasing stock-piling of nuclear weapons - more than enough to destroy technological societies; the disintegrative effect of machinery and of life in vast built-up a reason the person,...

Auto-destructive art is art which contains within itself an agent which automatically leads to its destruction within a period of time not to exceed twenty years. Other forms of auto-destructive art involve manual manipulation. There are forms of auto-destructive art where the artist has a tight control over the nature and timing of the disintegrative process, and there are other forms where the artist's control is slight.

Materials and techniques used in creating auto-destructive art include: Acid, Adhesives, Ballistics, Canvas, Clay, Combustion, Compression, Concrete, Corrosion, Cybernetics, Drop, Elasticity, Electricity, Electrolysis, Feed-Back, Glass, Heat, Human Energy, Ice, Jet, Light, Load, Mass-production, Metal, Motion Picture, Natural Forces, Nuclear Energy, Paint, Paper, Photography, Plaster, Plastics, Pressure, Radiation, Sand, Solar Energy, Sound, Steam, Stress, Terra-cotta, Vibration, Water, Welding, Wire, Wood.

Andrew McIntosh

What I'm thinking of is more statements of personal intent. The artists' manifesto, in the classic sense, was as much a statement of intent as a declaration of new ideas.

On the other hand, we may well be living in "post modern" times (I hate that term too) but it doesn't mean there aren't new things to declare, if they come from the right people.

The thing is a manifesto can be just as effective as any other way of putting across one's ideas. As it happens, I used to think they where a bit of an art wank, but lately I've been changing my mind. In some ways, they can be powerful poetry.

When I first started doing Noise I toyed with the idea of doing a manifesto that was simply the heading with a blank page. That was to be my "statement of intent". Explaining what it meant to me would have been the point of it. Simple things like that can be very effective, and very enjoyable as well.
Shikata ga nai.

RyanWreck

Two of the greatest manifestos I have laid my eyes on are not from specific artists but from Labels.

The True Force/Pain Electronics crew has the best manifesto in print, in my opinion. The "manifesto" is not found in a release but instead in the actual label's "catalogue" which is really just a great, rough xerox, 5 page smut advertisement. I won't spoil it for anyone and would rather have you buy some of the cassette's and get the printed catalogue yourself, but the general idea of it is that "The listener should always know her place and role." Obviously this isn't going to be read by too many women but that does not matter, "her", as I see it, is any listener especially the weak and timid, the fans of noise who just "wait for [their] fucking No Fun Fest" (as the catalog says) and "the pathetic noisemaker eunuchs of today - comfy, rich artscum with desk jobs and dreadfully safe herd interests." Long before I even read this manifesto I loved TF/PE's outputs. I believe that they are one of the last true Power Electronics labels operating in the United States in this day and age.

2nd to that is yet another Label "manifesto": Institute of Paraphilia Studies. This one can be found within the insert of that amazing compilation Hated Perversions which I am sure you all already have. "Driven by obsession and deviant needs." No "commercial aims". It is not only the understanding, but also the tribute and worship of fetishism and, most importantly, "for personal satisfaction of like-minded persons."

kettu

Quote from: RyanWreck on March 24, 2010, 05:22:10 AM

The True Force/Pain Electronics crew has the best manifesto in print, in my opinion.

good call. I thought it was a joyous surpirse to receive with the tapes. over the top machismo and tongue through cheeck provocation. with the nikki hunter interview it was like a mini zine.

FreakAnimalFinland

I have that too. Same interview what was in the zine, was used some years earlier on Creamface cd. Good stuff is magnet for all perverts.
E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
MAGAZINE: http://www.special-interests.net
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

Scale

Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on February 05, 2010, 12:57:11 AM
On the other hand, we may well be living in "post modern" times (I hate that term too)l.

it might be a bit off topic but can I ask why you hate the term ?


HongKongGoolagong

Quote from: SK on July 07, 2010, 06:17:55 PM
Cultural Terrorist Manifesto
http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/ctm.html

I was 17 when I first read that in Trev Ward's 'Brutal Love' zine - it's still a very powerful piece of writing.

The term 'cultural terrorism' was coined by Herbert W Armstrong's '80s fundamentalist christian 'Plain Truth' magazine which was available all over the UK for free at train stations etc. They were referring to violent/sexual Hollywood films and heavy metal etc. I guess the Grey Wolves wanted to really give them something to worry about.