Welcome to Vita Contemplativa! This is the first in a brief series of connected essays, concerned with looking at the present cultural shift—one which Substack writers seem to be especially keen on declaring, even if no one can agree on whether it’s actually happening yet. If you’re interested, you can find The Point Magazine issue which this piece is initially responding to
I'm in full agreement with your prescription / prediction of: rethinking, reset, remembering, theorizing, localism . . . looking forward to part 2. As a focusing of the theorizing / rethinking that must take place, might I suggest that artists will do best if they start investing heavily in the craft of their art, and in the purpose of it; the artist must always be asking "why am I doing this?" Abstract moralizing from the vague, amorphous, anonymous "discourse" will not help the artists at all; but focused attention on their own communities (both communities of propinquity and communities of practice) will serve them well. Artists must not be afraid to become irrelevant, from a global perspective, due to their study of the past and their neighbors.
I would love to see your concept of the burgeoning artist-monastery come to fruition. It will happen if people would just let themselves get off their phones. I wrote a sorta-rant about that topic a while back which you might find interesting: https://www.ruins.blog/p/unscheduled-off-topic-brain-dump
I wonder if you’ve read any of Andrei Tarkovsky’s book “Sculpting in Time.” I find myself returning to it again and again. He basically explains his views on filmmaking and laments the cultural degradation he sees around him, both in the East and the West (the book was published in 1985). It’s quite inspiring and echos much of what you say here. I guess I’ll drop a quote here for anyone interested:
“In order to be free you simply have to be so, without asking permission of anybody. You have to have your own hypothesis about what you are called to do, and follow it, not giving in to circumstances or complying with them. But that sort of freedom demands powerful inner resources, a high degree of self-awareness, a consciousness of your responsibility to yourself and therefore to other people.”
“Looking back now at the films I have made so far, it strikes me that I have always wanted to tell of people possessed of inner freedom despite being surrounded by others who are inwardly dependent and unfree; whose apparent weakness is born of moral conviction and a moral standpoint and in fact is a sign of strength.”
I could have quoted many other passages as well...it’s rare to find an artist with such strong convictions, so sure of what he’s doing and also able to articulate it clearly.
I adore his films (Rublev esp. is to me as great as any film ever made) and I've wanted to read his book for a while! Nicely synchronic - heard Rick Linklater talk about it earlier today. Guess I'll have to read it, now.
I'm in full agreement with your prescription / prediction of: rethinking, reset, remembering, theorizing, localism . . . looking forward to part 2. As a focusing of the theorizing / rethinking that must take place, might I suggest that artists will do best if they start investing heavily in the craft of their art, and in the purpose of it; the artist must always be asking "why am I doing this?" Abstract moralizing from the vague, amorphous, anonymous "discourse" will not help the artists at all; but focused attention on their own communities (both communities of propinquity and communities of practice) will serve them well. Artists must not be afraid to become irrelevant, from a global perspective, due to their study of the past and their neighbors.
I would love to see your concept of the burgeoning artist-monastery come to fruition. It will happen if people would just let themselves get off their phones. I wrote a sorta-rant about that topic a while back which you might find interesting: https://www.ruins.blog/p/unscheduled-off-topic-brain-dump
Thank you William, and thank you for sharing that!
I wonder if you’ve read any of Andrei Tarkovsky’s book “Sculpting in Time.” I find myself returning to it again and again. He basically explains his views on filmmaking and laments the cultural degradation he sees around him, both in the East and the West (the book was published in 1985). It’s quite inspiring and echos much of what you say here. I guess I’ll drop a quote here for anyone interested:
“In order to be free you simply have to be so, without asking permission of anybody. You have to have your own hypothesis about what you are called to do, and follow it, not giving in to circumstances or complying with them. But that sort of freedom demands powerful inner resources, a high degree of self-awareness, a consciousness of your responsibility to yourself and therefore to other people.”
“Looking back now at the films I have made so far, it strikes me that I have always wanted to tell of people possessed of inner freedom despite being surrounded by others who are inwardly dependent and unfree; whose apparent weakness is born of moral conviction and a moral standpoint and in fact is a sign of strength.”
I could have quoted many other passages as well...it’s rare to find an artist with such strong convictions, so sure of what he’s doing and also able to articulate it clearly.
I adore his films (Rublev esp. is to me as great as any film ever made) and I've wanted to read his book for a while! Nicely synchronic - heard Rick Linklater talk about it earlier today. Guess I'll have to read it, now.
I picked up Bresson’s ‘Notes on the cinematograph’ because of a Linklater interview. I’m not a filmmaker by any means, but it was a cool read
Wow, I’ll have to look that Linklater interview up. The book you can just dip in and out, each chapter stands on its own, which is nice.