spade/hole/rope

Spade

On page 110 of “To Our Friends”, the Invisible Committee speak of “cybernetic capitalism” giving way to “the cybernetic conception of a being without an interiority . . . a selfless self . . . armed with its Apple Watch [which] comes to understand itself entirely on the basis of external data, the statistics that each of its behaviors generates.”

Before corporations had their own pages, websites like Facebook were more about interacting with small groups of people you knew in real life.

No one took a FB profile (let alone an opinion) to be indicative of the sum personality or value system of a human being.

As companies began utilizing social media, the pages of average users came to reflect the presentation and communication styles of various brands.

The civilian social media page became a totem, a marketing department, and eventually a scapegoat - all rolled into one.

The personality-as-commodity. The self-as-event.

After all, you can "cancel” products, plans, and happenings. Not people.

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Hole

“No one is obliged to take part in the spiritual crises of a society; on the contrary, everyone is obliged to avoid the folly and live his life in order.” - Eric Voegelin

Created a sharp line false dichotomy in 2020 between music-as-art and music-as-entertainment, fell into a hole, and rejected anything resembling the latter for years.

The result?

- Barely any videos, photos, or promotion for Delving of any kind. No way for others to know about our music.

- Rediscovery of purpose (the process of creation, free from adherence to exterior pressures).

The rejection of music-as-entertainment came from many places:

• Fear of misrepresenting our music and audience capture

• Disillusionment with anything fame/celebrity adjacent

• Over-exposure to homogenous online aesthetics

• Discomfort with the commodification of the self

Emerging from the hole now.

How?

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Rope

Love.

Let this be what motivates.

Not fear.

We only really come to understand ourselves through others.

“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.” - St. Gregory of Nyssa

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Listening: (…) by Mach-Hommy

Reading: Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov

5/22/24