What is Dirty Minimalism?
The essence of abstraction is the dislocation of an object. The intention is the disavowal of rigidity: an opening up, an inviting in — democratisation; universalisation. The allowance for new interpretations — ideas — perspectives (both literally and conceptually).
The essence of minimalism, in turn, is abstraction at its extreme. It is the detachment of an object from its material ancestor to the point that is disassociates from it altogether (cue non — objectivism — this too existing inside a realm of its own — and in which the experience did not even start in physical reality at all).
“inside a realm of its own” — removed completely from its carnal ancestry indeed. It is an art that aims to transcend (eclipse!) — and therein lies potential. But it is also one that does not bother with conceding what it stepped upon to get there. And should our art really be a mere thought experiment?
Humans cannot exist inside a pure abstraction: it is a place reserved for our forms and universals. It implies purification; decontamination; extermination. The human (all too human!) being is abolished in a quest towards the immortal and the God — like — towards a realm in which direct sensation no longer matter, adrift inside a space of non — being and an immateriality where matter is replaced wholly by our minds. A noble quest! Perhaps. But should we really contrast (or equate) ourselves (or our creations) to our gods? (Permitting — and I paraphrase — the endowment of our scarce riches to illusions?) [1]
But there is value in its ambition! I grant that. The journey towards an understanding of what may lie beyond the immediate; of happens when you strip a thing of everything but its core (its essence — its what it was to be). [2] An inducing of self — consciousness and the awareness of who we are — what — and where — and of what happens to our sensations as we shift and modulate inside that space (and time).
But this value can only remain when the quest (the probe, the voyage) itself remains present. When its traces are not removed but celebrated: and the disdain and scorn for the human being (and her imperfections) are withdrawn. In other words: the minimalism (and its attempt to reach a space beyond immediacy) will remain. But so will the human being: her presence and the traces of her hands and aberrations (which inevitably arise out of one’s marching through the world).
It remains not pure (with all its harmful connotations and realities alike) but dirty: corrupt and contradictory. And thus, it remains true.
