OwA Open Proposal: ENOUGH!

[NOTE]: What follows is a first draft version of a proposal submitted to several entities who have invited Occupy with Art to participate in art events slated between now and fall 2012, spanning the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, and the occupation of Liberty Square. This draft is open to revision, refinement and is introduced for the purposes of community review.

ENOUGH! [BASTA!]
1
Derivatives
Illusion
Corruption
2
Origins
Truth
Innocence

Occupy with Art invites artists of all descriptions to participate in a multi-dimensional art eruption for our times. In anticipation and celebration of the one-year anniversary of OWS, Occupy with Art proposes a series of art actions that collectively proclaim "ENOUGH!" We will explore six related subjects through art: derivatives/origins; illusion/truth; and corruption/innocence. Think of these concepts as three coins with two sides.

ENOUGH!

[STATEMENT][BETA]: "Enough." "Basta." How much is enough? Capitalism cannot conceive of a world that is enough. This is a problem of always desiring more. As an exclamation, "enough" means "I'm fed up! I'm sick of this. I'm not taking it anymore." Shouting "Enough!" is a sign that you're making a stand. It is the root word of rebellion. As a positive expression, "enough" is an articulation of satisfaction, a precursor to gratitude. In community, "enough" is a guide for governance. A good commonwealth ensures that all within it have enough. Art has its own special relation to "enough." Art is blind to it, in the same way that breath is blind. For the artist, "enough" is conditional. Do I have enough paint, enough time to work, enough life left in me? The artist only in competition with herself can never be sure how much or what is enough, for vision, for the viewer, for history. For the critic, especially the critic of everything, nothing about enough can meet the expectation of the whole, and this must be explained.

We will together consider what is enough. Can "enough" be framed as a game; art; economic policy; politics; or social practice? Beyond what is enough to meet the needs in society, can we accept satisfaction at all? Is "enough" a spiritual matter, as much as it is a practical one? How? We will invite you to participate in determining how much is enough and for what, if only for now.

We are living a moment when "enough" is approaching its crisis point, the critical mass(-es), when enough people conclude that the status quo does not provide enough for enough of us. At this time, we appear to be finding each other, naming ourselves (the 99%), binding together and deciding what needs to be done today, and for tomorrow. Simultaneously, the 1% are exclaiming that we, not they, must embrace a program of doing more with less (austerity), that the rest of us must lower our expectations of "enough," so that they can recklessly pursue more than enough, themselves.

"Enough," it is being discovered, as a conception contains tension, tension between "too much" and "lack." "Enough" applies to information: what is too much and what is insufficient, or incorrect. "Enough" applies to space, especially when the number of people exceeds the quantities of space that sustain life. "Enough" applies to energy, to security, to comfort, to food, to education, to freedom. Who decides how much is enough, for whom? Can what's enough be managed?"

"Enough" directs response. What is the proper level of redress, when a situation veers out of balance? What does it take to restore equity, to restore values - and knowing what is enough is a valuation, from evaluation - to restore promise, to restore peace, a condition of contentment, which emerges from needs being met and resources being shared fairly. Is "enough" a pronouncement of mercy? As a scenario, everyone having enough would seem to serve as a preventative measure against conflict, a provision against the circumstances that generate war. As we can see, "enough" is dimensional, and as such, difficult to reduce, except for the word, itself, as protest or proclamation.

If "enough" is a sensation, how does it stand up to an idea? Is "enough" emotional or perceptual? What do we do, when our concept of enough is in reality, not enough? What if our notion of "enough" is manipulated, over time, and shaped by force, or oppressed so that we accept what is unacceptable, what is not enough, even if we know better, in order to avoid harsh consequences? And what if - and this is a horrible thought - we have forgotten what is enough, or even worse, have never experienced it?

Are the parameters of "enough" so difficult to measure, because of the prevalence of addiction, the disease of Never-Enough? Is "enough" not a settled matter, because of competition between the individual and the collective for all that constitutes "enough?" Does it boil down to society and individual functioning (or dysfunctional) in a cycle of not-enough, because, like a spoiled child, neither can accept being told "That's enough?" Is what's enough always negotiable?

Perhaps art is not the best medium for defining "enough." Perhaps art is better for representing "enough," once we, the people for whom art exists, from whom it arises, can achieve a consensus, which provides the artist with a working model for what enough actually is. Otherwise, is it up to the artist to suggest to the society, in its imagining "enough," what "enough" might look like? Is the artist to revert to painting Heaven, where all are afforded enough everlasting, or Hell, where enough is forever absent? Keep in mind, art itself suffers from an identity problem. Art, like "enough," enjoys no consensus. At such times, the artist and her art tend to establish a feedback loop that creates distance from the commons, which encourages the kind of disconnect prevailing between the art world and the world of people.

When it comes to "enough," maybe there's more to art and artists than the binary of individual and the group, hinging on representation, consensus and the imagination, or vision. Maybe art plays in a domain that is outside "enough," in a way, on a track that moves parallel to the human trajectory, or spirals with it, like DNA strands. If this is so, the art seam of the perceptual complex establishes a point not only of reflection, but of projection, and for witnessing, and for connection. Maybe, by taking on the conundrum of enough-ness, artists can help bridge the space separating the necessary-for-us-to-share and the desire-for-me-possess. It seems as if our survival depends on resolving this problem.
- OwA co-organizer Paul McLean

[DEFINITION][from Brainy Quote]:
>>
ENOUGH

• Satisfying desire; giving content; adequate to meet the want; sufficient; -- usually, and more elegantly, following the noun to which it belongs.
• In a degree or quantity that satisfies; to satisfaction; sufficiently.
• Fully; quite; -- used to express slight augmentation of the positive degree, and sometimes equivalent to very; as, he is ready enough to embrace the offer.
• In a tolerable degree; -- used to express mere acceptableness or acquiescence, and implying a degree or quantity rather less than is desired; as, the song was well enough.
• A sufficiency; a quantity which satisfies desire, is adequate to the want, or is equal to the power or ability; as, he had enough to do take care of himself.
• An exclamation denoting sufficiency, being a shortened form of it is enough.*

<<
* http://www.brainyquote.com/words/en/enough160343.html ... with lots of quotes containing "enough," from the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, et al.; e.g., "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination." - Albert Einstein

[PROGRAM][BETA]:

EMPHASIS (Suggested only): Subjects/Themes for "ENOUGH!"
1
Derivatives - The market and the aesthetic state of the unoriginal
Illusion - Not real; the lie to truth
Corruption - Of the State, of the person, of meaning, of files...
2
Origins - Of humanity; as relating to the expressive of the human (art, language, etc.)
Truth - (see Hegel, "absolute, progressive, systematic, scientific, spiritual, etc") ...As self-evident
Innocence

ARCHITECTURE:

1. Virtual>Actual>Virtual
2. As pre-determined by existing space
3. Visionary (models)

SUMMARY:

• Drawing first from past collectives and projects, we will re-stage some already-tested elements and interventions to evaluate whether and how environmental change affects them or the transmission of them.
• We will issue an open (international) call for participation.
• We will establish some simple interactive exercises for those for whom this would be a first encounter with our methods, projects and aims.
• The programming will include exhibition, performance, installation, new media, net-art, workshops, demonstration and the production of an archive.
• Each element, as presented, will satisfy the conditions of locus, as site-specific; be situational, as time-specific; be attributed either to an individual or collective.
• Nothing will be for sale, for the duration of the presentation. Gift exchange, barter, and other alternative economies will be considered.
• Each element will be presented, as much as possible, mindfully and with care.
• Art of the highest quality is welcome. Quality, in this case, will be informed by and/or attentive to Origin/originality, Truth/verifiability, Innocence.
• We will ask, "What is enough?" We will answer with art, and artfully. 

BUDGET: ø