JeremyTurner writes "Here is an abstract I proposed in 2003 about MNT's potential impact on the contemporary artworld. I was hoping to get some feedback from Nanodot users about the subject and advice as to the types of venues and resources that are currently available for me to publish this abstract and develop the research in further detail. THE ABSTRACT:
Author: Turner, Jeremy Owen. Title: ENGINES OF CONCEPTUALISM ñ SPECULATING THE AESTHETIC IMPACT OF DREXLERIAN MNT ON THE CONTEMPORARY ARTWORLD.
Abstract:
This paper will focus more on the "imagining" side of the aesthetic impact of Drexlerian MNT (Molecular Nano Technology) than the "imaging" side of NanoScale technical illustration more common with contemporary discussions about Nanotechnology in relation to Arts and Culture. Speculations in this paper are the result of the authorís direct experience working as an interdisciplinary artist, curator, art-historian, archivist, critic and writer.
In general, this paper will imagine possible scenarios where full-blown MNT would affect general aesthetic trends and lifestyles in the Artworld and outline their eventual weaving into the fabric of post-cultural society.
This paper will hypothesize that with the aid of a Drexlerian Universal Assembler system firmly in place, society will increasingly become liberated from the material constraints of subsistence and the pressures of obsessive cultural commodification.
In fact, it is hinted at the end of Eric. K. Drexlerís ìEngines of Creationî, that once these material obstacles have sufficiently been overcome, the last ambitions left to fulfill in a prolonged and Trans-human life will predominantly resemble Performance Art. Also, with the advent of truly creative AI systems, Artists would likely become less dependent on the antiquated Romantic notion of ìIsolated Artistic Geniusî and will learn to adapt to working with various Conceptual Arts Think-tanks set up by humans, bots and avatars.
The first chapter will state the claim that the High-Modernist practice of Conceptual Art will become (via MNT) analogous to an Artisan/Guild movement ñ ìArtisan Think-tanksî – where the craft of ideas becomes the main crafting of physical material. Conceptual Art itself will move from the immateriality of the idea realm and will develop the means to manifest their abstract ideas (and ideals) directly into material form. It is with the advent of full-blown MNT that society learns to blend the accessibility of the Arts&Crafts movement with the more refined demands and tastes of High Modernist Art.
The next chapter will elaborate this claim in more detail by making specific references to famous historical Conceptual Art movements and collectives such as Fluxus International and Rhizome.org. Hopefully from these elaborations on the cultural benefits of Drexlerian MNT, the reader will recognize the great potential and legitimization of the Conceptual Art paradigm coming into the foreground of mainstream aesthetic and recreational discourse.
This will lead to the following chapter which will illustrate how the much-anticipated Era of the Singularity could herald the full integration of a Fluxus type lifestyle into the everyday working routines of the "non-artist" population.
Going into even further detail, the next chapter will speculate that the medium of "performance" art itself will eventually merge directly with the discrete object/commodity proposed by the famous High Modernist advocates, Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried.
The conclusion of this paper will include a forewarning (partially in jest) that any emergent Mannerist trends that might happen in MNT-derived art might result in an actual physical and post-aesthetic catastrophe (i.e. Assembler Chaos for Artís Sake). To summarize, this paper will call for the official formation of an Arts/Culture wing of the Foresight Institute.
DESCRIPTORS: MNT, culture, aesthetics, singularity, Modernism, Conceptualism, High Art, Artisanship, ideas, Drexler, Mannerism, Materialism, Transhumanism, Posthumanism, AI, artificial intelligence, life extension, imagination, inspiration, leisure, commodification, society, accidents, implications, immortality, consequences, benefits."
