This document discusses how art reflects the time period and beliefs of its creation. It argues that 19th century notions of linear causality no longer apply given modern scientific discoveries. The rapid technological changes of the 21st century have not been matched by changes in how art engages audiences. The document advocates for more two-way, collaborative models of art that turn observers into protagonists and reflect the accelerated, interconnected present. It suggests that 2012 could be a time for revealing new approaches to creative expression that are relevant to current experiences of reality.

1. Art.
Technology.
Innovation.

2. Philosophy.

3. All art expresses a worldview that is informed by
direct experience of what it feels like to be human
and alive at a particular moment in time.
Science is knowledge and art is the application of
knowledge. Both are trying to express what it means
to be here, now.
Paul Gauguin asked the big questions “The only definite location of
“Where do we come from? What are we?
Where are we going?”
‘now’ is ‘here’. In fact, every
in his 1897 painting of the same title. man’s ‘now’ is ‘here’ (the ‘here’
He considered it a masterpiece and the culmination meaning where he is).”
of all of his thoughts. —Guy Murchie “The Music Of The Spheres,” 1961

4. Art has always been the cultural barometer of the “As we learn more about the structures
values and belief systems of its time. The Greeks of underlying reality, we confront growing
used “deus ex machina” (literally “god out of the
machine”) as a plot device to solve seemingly complexity instead of simplicity and add
unsolvable problems. That’s the way the world felt more to the unknown than the known.
back then. But along came Darwin with his “Origin Every solved mystery of the physical
Of The Species” in the mid-nineteenth century,
with dangerous ideas like the law of causality, and world immediately points to another one
suddenly mankind felt that they had, or were soon beyond it… our inevitable ‘presence’
to have, all of the answers. Emile Zola urged for in nature compromises our necessary
“Naturalism In The Theatre”. A caused B caused C
and everything felt nicely linear. Man mattered, man scientific objectivity: protagonists and
was confident, man was on an all-time high. observers, we are what we attempt to
observe.”
—Lincoln Barnett “The Universe And Dr. Einstein,” 1958

5. “We do not know what the next hundred The twentieth century felt a little less certain. Science
led to two world wars and Einstein’s ideas led to
years will bring, but we do know that the nuclear bomb. The universe revealed itself to
nineteenth-century notions of reality be like an onion, where each layer revealed another
and science represent a stage of human and another and another. Freud introduced the
subconscious and sparked Surrealism, Pirandello
development already superseded.” sent “Six Characters In Search Of An Author” to
—Amos Vogel “Film As A Subversive Art,” 1974. interact with an audience, Picasso painted “Guernica”
as a direct response to bombing by German and
Italian Fascists, Beckett wrote “Waiting For Godot”
“In our age, as never before, truth as an allegory on the Cold War and the A-Bomb at
implies the courage to face chaos.” Bikini Atoll, and Warhol used multimedia to champion
a future where everyone would be famous for fifteen
—Erich Neuman “Art And The Creative
minutes.
Unconscious,” 1959

6. This is the twenty-first century. People walk around
with cameras and microphones on phones in their
pockets. Cultures are connected, globally. We live in a
rapidly accelerated state of continual flux but still use
linear, nineteenth-century models of engagement.
Art is no longer a barometer of culture. Art has
stayed still while the world around it has changed
exponentially. Nanoscience and Quantum Physics
have shown us that A does not necessarily cause B
or C. The universe is way more complicated than we
were led to believe. And it’s definitely non-linear.
What we are advocating is a stylistic, thematic,
technological, and ideological liberation from The audience is creative. The audience is ready.
nineteenth-century art. There are now over 800 million It’s time for artists to ignite this collective creative
active users on Facebook — creating, communicating consciousness with two-way models that turn
and sharing. observers into protagonists across expanding social
narratives. It’s time to make work that is relevant to
here and now.

7. An Apocalypse (literally “lifting of the veil” or
“revelation”) has nothing to do with destruction or
the end of the world. It is a disclosure of something
hidden from the majority of mankind in an era
dominated by falsehood and misconception. It is the
end of a lie. We have come a long way from believing
that the sun is the centre of the universe and now
know it’s just one of billions of stars in expanding
space. What it means to be here, now, is very different
from the 1800s. The majority of mankind has been
led to believe that creative expression is the privilege
of a select elite. Maybe 2012 is a good time for an
Apocalypse after all?

8. “We think that art’s meant to
characterize its time and explain what
it’s like to be alive now. The art that
sums up the present is on the Internet.
It’s not in the galleries; it’s not in the
museums... Outside feels like an
accelerated present taking us toward
some exciting future, but once you step
inside it feels like the past — it’s as if
Twitter doesn’t exist, it’s as if Facebook
never happened.”
—Hugh McGrory, Creative Director, Culture Shock
From “Social Media as Inspiration and Canvas,”
The New York Times, March 16th, 2011

9. Culture Shock.

10. Culture Shock is a New York City-based media Contact Us
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