Re: [DISC] Is Language Creation Art?

<I am re-posting something I posted about a week ago that I titled
"bonfire"... in response to this issue. Also I re-edited it. It seems that it
got lost in the conlang list shuffle...>

    In "Western/Occidental Civilization" there seems to be a continuing
arguement about the "function(s)" of "Art," the response - and
responsibility/ies - of the audience in their reaction to "Art," various
kinds of perception, levels of education, refinement of "taste," differences
between "Art" and "Craft" or "hobby," etc..

    In much Western art up to this century & the advent of more "conceptual"
art forms, there is not much appreciation for just allowing the work to be
some "thing" - an object, an action or idea - that gets the mind going... a
_meme_ that gets the mind runnin'... (hehe, in a sense, the German
concept-word _Gedankenexperiment_, "thought-experiment," comes to mind...)

    How do you criticize and/or analyze a work of creativity that only really
takes shape once it gets into your head (or under your skin ;)?

    I consider ConLanging to be an exemplar of this kind of creativity!

    When you try to analyze a creative work that has a kind of immediate
intensity - the kind that slams you against a moment of sudden and direct
experience (a sorta of _satori_), you find there is not much you can really
say. Common language and logic breaks down and leaks. A glimmer of the
numinous and infinite creeps up and hits you just when you thought your
little old worldview was safe and comfortable. It takes your breath away with
its sense of ephemerality and poignancy. You no longer will see "things" or
the world the same ever after.

    Paraphrasin' William S. Burroughs, ConLanging is a memetic virus ;)

     Point to consider regarding contemporary art: talking of that much
abused example of the bricks laid out on a gallery floor ... IIRC the
artist's last name is Serra & his brick-work was meant to be "directly
experienced" in terms of scale as well as a "re-making" of the familiar into
something not so familiar (granted this brick-work is no stone garden of
Ryoan-ji [which brings up another difference: a lot of Western contemporary
art generally does not have the same connectedness and empathy with nature
that Taoist and Zen art does. Chalk that up to the Western history & dogma of
believing nature is "some thing" to conquer and re-shape versus the Asian
ideal _dharma_ that one and all should co-exist with nature in harmony and
balance]).
     Kind of related, it is interesting to note all the critics and pundits
who have tried to dissect and describe the aesthetic power and qualities of
Taoist and Zen art  *  have failed to fully render it down into digestable,
reproducible formulae for Western aesthetic coopting and "Art Market"
commodification.

    ^ * (a few examples: the deliberate, surrealist-like use of intriguing
natural or accidental/found materials - _objets trouvés_ - in Japanese
architecture and ceramics ... the abstract-expressionist-like Japanese stone
garden of Ryoan-ji... Chinese and Japanese poetry with their compact,
"cinematic" use of elliptical language and imagery)

    Point to consider regarding contemporary music (non-Pop):...oh, & the
knee-jerk criticism that Minimalistic Music or Fractal Music is just
"boring," "sheer repetitiveness," "does not make any grand artistic
statement(s)," blah blah, etc.... just proves to me "mainstream Western
culture" has little-to-no understanding or appreciation of other cultures'
sense of time and cosmological viewpoints (i.e. Indonesian _gamelan_ - a
major influence on contemporary Minimalist music - is very close to the
recent music based on fractals and Chaos Science... SEE <A
HREF="http://www.sca.ahk.nl/david/COMPwCHAOS.html">COMPOSING WITH CHAOS</A>)
    _Ars imitatur Naturam in sua operatione._ <from Latin> = "Art is the
imitation of Nature in her manner of operation." Interestingly, it turns out
that Chaos is nature's creativity.

    I am often reluctant to use the word "Art" at all since it seems so
loaded down with quite a bit of baggage. ::still lookin' for a suitable short
word or neologism to replace the word "art"::  ~end ranting~

Hanuman Zhang {HANoomaan JAHng} =>  Xanuman Dja:xng /'hanuma~n  dZa'hN/

~§~

"...So what is life for? Life is for beauty and substance and sound and
colour; and even those are often forbidden by law [socio-cultural
conventions]. . . . Why not be free and live your own life? Why follow other
people's rules and live to please others?..." ~Lieh-Tzu/Liezi, Taoist Sage
(c. 450- c. 375 BCE)

_Ars imitatur Naturam in sua operatione._ <from Latin> = "Art is the
imitation of Nature in her manner of operation." It turns out that Chaos is
nature's creativity: "The most beautiful order is a heap of sweepings piled
up at random." ~ Heraclitus, c. 500 BCE

~§~ jinsei to iu mono wa, kinchou na geijyutsu to ieru deshou ~§~
<from Japanese> = lit. "one can probably say that 'life' is a precious
artform")