Tactics
Without Tears
Co-authored by Trevor Paglen & Aaron Gach
Firstly,
while of course the Magical Theory supposes a kind of omnipotence,
please remember that Magick is Science, that the Laws of Nature
remain the same, however subtle may be the material with which
one is working. It is, to put it brutally, a bigger miracle
to destroy a fortress than an easy chair. You know this well
enough; but the corollary is that it is nearly always a mistake
to try to do things entirely off ones own bat. It is much
simpler to look for an existing force, in good working order,
that is doing the sort of stuff that you need, and take from
it, or control in it, just that bit of it that you happen to
require.
-
Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears
One doesnt have to peer through crystal balls or satellite
lenses to realize that neither we, nor the products of our imagination
exist in isolation from the worlds around us. To understand
ones condition is to relate oneself to the surrounding
community. In so doing, we open the gates to a world of cultural-production
that is not disembodied but intimately connected to a physical
reality inscribed by power relations, social politics, and dynamic
forces that move about like staircases in Harry Potters
magic academy.
The Magick
that Crowley refers to above as Science, is not at all unlike
Art. Whether acting as an artist or a magician, one begins with
an idea, an abstraction, an invisible pulse across grey matter.
Only through the engagement with and manipulation of the physical
world does this idea take form and become a part of a physical
reality. Out of a seeming nothingness comes something. This
act of willful engagement with the material world is ultimately
an act of utmost creativity. In fact, Crowley goes on to say,
Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and ones
condition. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.
This distinction between understanding and action
is more than a dualistic promenade through a rhetorical magic
garden. It is the most basic spell for achieving ones
goals. But simple or not, we frequently find that creative engagement
of power, authority, and social issues either fails to fully
understand the forces at play, or resides too securely in the
realm of discourse, with little attention given to action.
With that
said, what follows in this essay is neither a pedagogical model
nor an analysis of prevailing conditions, a critique of political
art, nor a declaration of superiority. We offer a framework
for creative engagement on the frontlines of socio-political
transformation. It is a formula characterized by:
1) a thorough analysis of existing forces
2) an attachment to one existing force
3) an active engagement within the dominant sphere of activity
4) specific, material effects
For the
most part, this will initially involve a clear and comprehensive
understanding of the relevant power vectors, and secondly, a
decision to either amplify or resist a particular vector. Of
course, in order to attach ones work to power to
intervene in the material or structural dynamics of a given
situation one must not only design and position ones
work within a field of existing vectors, but one must locate
the work in proximity to the potential for action. Placing the
emphasis on tactical rather than on media,
we might be inclined to use the term tactical media
for our framework if it werent already on the art-fad
fast track to meaningless co-optation. As a conveyer of meaning
and message, media is the tool for the job, as opposed to the
job itself. Simply put, in the realm of political
efficacy, form must follow function. Considering that the term
tactical media has come to mean everything from
mere digital tinkering to overwrought spectacle creation for
arts sake, we feel that its usefulness has expired. Instead,
we will make a simple distinction between artworks which have
an attitude towards a given political reality, and
works that inhabit a position within a given political
reality. This distinction will allow us to clear some space
within which to assemble our proposed model of creative engagement.
On the most
basic level, the difference between attitude and
position is analogous to watching a soccer game
versus playing in one. While the fans may encourage the performance
of their favorite team, their attitude towards the game will
not affect the outcome as much as the players actions
and position. Like an interested observer of a particular drama
or incident, a work that has an attitude towards
a particular issue is situated outside the discourse or material
conditions that it is intended to reflect or comment upon. It
may inhabit a museum, storefront, or street corner, delivering
its message to any passers-by that may notice. Its location
is secondary to its content, an afterthought at best. We could
say that a defining feature of work with an attitude
towards politics is that it typically presents a political perspective
outside its own material circumstances, while positing itself
within a field that remains neutral in terms of its political
relevance to the content of the work. A directed Gods-eye
view of sorts. An example of a work with an attitude
is an agit-prop poster reading, Genetically Modified Organisms
You Are What You Eat.
Every work
must inhabit a space a gallery, bookstore, barnyard,
etc. A work simply cannot exist outside a matrix of production
and consumption, location and reception. A cultural work that
is self-reflexive about the specific conditions of its own production
and incorporates those conditions of production and reception
into the form of the work itself is what we will refer to as
the positioned work. In turning to the question
of direct political efficacy, the positioned work assumes greater
immediate relevance than the works that have an attitude from
afar. Position suggests relationships to a particular built
or discursive environment within which one is positioned. In
developing positioned work, questions of site and context, the
specifics of relevant power vectors, and proximity to potential
action take on crucial importance. For example, if the aforementioned
poster appeared as a warning label on GMO foods at the grocery
store, its position is more likely to affect a consumers
actions.
In the articulations
of cognitive scientists, we are told that a childs sense
of reality frequently meanders between an internal imaginative
realm and an external objective reality. Somewhere between thought
and action, a state of wishful thinking emerges
wherein the young child comes to associate the volitional act
of willing, with causality. How familiar is this terrain to
the adults within our society?
Too often is this condition expressed by those progressive-minded
members of the public (liberals, leftists, etc) who believe
that shifting ones consciousness is, in and of itself,
a political act which will lead to significant change. Unfortunately,
power maintains itself quite nicely when people are content
to simply think about an alternative reality. Such
are the fecund conditions nourishing the insidiousness of commodity
as understood by Lukacs and the modus operandi of Debords
spectacle; So far from realizing philosophy,
the spectacle philosophizes reality, and turns the material
life of everyone into a universe of speculation. Although
we are right to champion the virtues of free speech it should
be equally noted that talk is cheap. Thus, for artists desiring
to achieve material political effects, the goal of creating
dialogue or raising consciousness frequently
misses the mark.
My
work is intended to facilitate a dialogue around this issue.
I want to put these ideas into the public sphere.
My work raises questions about ...
Its
not uncommon to hear progressive artists, curators, and critics
articulate the goals of artwork in ways akin to the above quotations.
In much political or radical art, there is a tacit assumption
that the role of art in civil society is to provide a catalyst
for a dialogue, or to engage in a sort of consciousness-raising
around the political themes that the artist is dealing with.
Theres no doubt that art can contribute to public discourse
and help raise awareness around important and relevant issues.
However, the link between consciousness-raising and political
action or policy reform is perhaps far more tenuous than American
civic commonsense seems to suggest. Indeed, the
conventional wisdom implicit in artworks animated by pedagogy
or consciousness-raising holds that policy shifts are inevitable
when public opinion deems a specific policy or corporate/government
undertaking immoral or at least unpopular. If recent trends
in state and federal policy are any indication, this commonsense
view is perhaps another instance of wishful-thinking.
California:
Despite uncontroversial polls showing that four times as many
Californians favor cutting prison and corrections spending over
education, the governors budget is requiring massive cuts
to education and other social services. In a crisis year where
Governor Grey Davis has announced that there are no sacred
cows, a single department is getting a budget increase:
corrections.
International:
A strong majority of voices from around the world either opposed
a war on Iraq, or supported it only in the context of a UN coalition
and Security Council mandate. Nevertheless, the United States
military machine, headed by the Bush administration, eagerly
followed through with their intentions to wage war.
The two
examples above present us with a conundrum. Both cases clearly
show that there is often a massive disjunct between the concerns
of the citizenry and the policy decisions of the leaders. This
is not news to anyone. It is, in fact, so common as to be an
old and tired leftist cliché. But now we run into a problem,
or at least a blurry space, for the critical cultural-producer.
If the work is intended to yield material political effects,
then is a vague model of raising consciousness or
facilitating a dialogue always a useful goal of
creative engagement? This is particularly so in a political
climate where an already-raised consciousness seems to have
little sway in terms of policy-setting. Assuming that political
artists have the desire to contribute to progressive causes,
they can extend the efficacy of their efforts by fully analyzing
the varied forces operating in each context, and developing
works that specifically respond to- and operate within the constellation
of forces which shape a given political reality.
Given that
political results or policy shifts are constituted by a convergence
of power vectors in a specific ideological or political site,
we propose that positioned cultural production must attach itself
to a particular or multiple power vectors. Thus, the boundary
between the work and the context in which it is deployed becomes
elusive or perhaps non-existent. Although many activists, artists,
and organizations focus on public opinion, this vector often
carries very little weight in determining the final outcome
of policy decisions, whether corporate or governmental. Even
in some of the best situations where consciousness-raising has
led to policy shifts (such as the Clean Air Act and Dolphin-safe
Tuna) the gears of the political machine easily shift into reverse
when greased with the interests of capital- as weve seen
with the WTO in recent years. As such, cultural-producers are
encouraged to ride various other power vectors.
In terms of providing resistance, appropriate vectors to target
may include economic or resource flows, legal obstacles (appeals,
public hearings, injunctions, law suits, etc.), or infrastructural
impediments such as organizational shifts, breakdowns in communications,
or labor disputes. On the other hand, attaching oneself to a
power vector with the intent of amplification may involve using
various resources for building coalitions and alliances, assisting
activist groups with media production, or any number of approaches
to creative problem-solving. In short, producing resistance
can be likened to forces which dam a stream; whereas, amplification
works to increase flow, either through the removal of obstacles
or by raising the volume of the stream. The positional use of
cultural works is intended to influence the relative strengths
of the constituent vectors, and thereby contribute to a transformation
of a given situation.
Following
the adage Know your enemy, we recommend taking a
concerted look at military field manuals, marketing primers,
development strategies, and similar texts which denote a practical
and cumulative analysis of prevailing conditions. Throughout
the ages, power has compiled a hefty grimoire of what works
and what doesnt, learning from the successes and failures
of empires past. With more than enough resources to spare, governments
and corporations invest vast sums of time and money on research
and development (aka R&D) with the primary purpose of maintaining
and extending their grasp. This is not conspiracy theory; this
is political survival.
However,
those who desire to affect socio-political change often do not
have the same resources as the institutions they are confronting.
But in many cases, they can access the same storehouses of information.
Not surprisingly, one of the most thorough articulations of
tactics comes from the US Armys Guerrilla Warfare Field
Manual (FM 31-21). Designed as a guide to subversion against
hostile states (resistance), FM 31-21 focuses largely
on using existing resistance forces (dissenting groups, political
unrest, religious/ideological differences, socio-economic disparity,
etc.) to further US military objectives in a foreign country
or region. While the overall approach is to amplify specific,
pre-existing power vectors, many of the armys tactics
focus on increasing resistance to the dominant state-of-affairs.
In outlining
the theater of operations the manual offers five
basic areas of consideration: 1) special intelligence (spying,
surveillance & infiltration), 2) psychological operations
(largely propaganda & PR), 3) interdiction (raids, ambushes,
mining, and sniping), 4) evasion & escape, and 5) cover
& deception. Although we are not advocating violent militancy,
the conceptual and metaphorical implications of the aforementioned
ops provide a rich and fertile ground for creative engagement.
In a general sense, a larger strategic arena houses the theatre
of operations wherein the cumulative effects of such covert
activities are aimed at particular aspects of infrastructure.
But more specifically, such tactics as mining, sniping, and
ambushes often imply an invisible occupation of contested terrain
that is realized through a careful, and often long-term analysis
of opposition movements and positioning.
As such,
a clear-headed analysis of tactics shows that guns & money
are not the only ways to accomplish ones goals, and it
is an over-simplification to suggest that capital is the only
way to set an agenda. While the Republican Party is hardly the
pinnacle of morality, it has derived a substantial amount of
power through its relationship with the so-called Religious
Right. By associating a political platform with an ideological
infrastructure, the Republican Party gains access to a support
system which encompasses a wide range of resources (capital,
voters, logistics, etc.), and presumably, the Religious Right
gains political representation. Although such a relationship
may seem little more than a convenient political alliance for
all involved, it is nonetheless interesting to note the similarity
of tactics as described in the US Army Manual on Guerrilla Warfare,
which suggests using ideological strongholds for achieving military
objectives.
Under the
most respectable circumstances, we would hope to find that such
political alliances are not only strategic but ideologically
compatible. This implies certain subjectivities that differentiate
political agendas based on values, ethics, world views, and
common goals. Certainly these conditions are satisfied within
the progressive community among activists and artists. As a
result, one should hope to see radical cultural producers working
side-by-side with politically-aligned organizations in a manner
which strives towards common goals without sacrificing artistic
or organizational autonomy.
Therefore,
in order to locate oneself positionally with regards to an issue,
we suggest that cultural-producers locate themselves in the
context of political or activist infrastructures. The reasons
for this are numerous and structural. Simply put, positioned
media requires a venue and a location within a larger strategy.
Because it is highly unlikely, and usually unadvisable, that
one person could develop and implement a political/activist
campaign by themselves, it behooves the cultural producer to
operate within an existing or developing infrastructure.
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