Today I sold a small oil painting to one of my brothers, pictured above in my kitchen. His wife's sister is getting married, so he bought it as a wedding gift. The piece is very autumnal, and maybe a little sad for a wedding, but this is the one he wanted.
In other art-related news, one of my articles on NFTs and AI made it into the latest issue of International Paneling. The article discusses the poetry inside of artistic choice, which gave me a reason to think about this topic. I'm unusually happy with how the piece turned out.
At this point, most of my Twitter feed is NFTs. I scroll through my feed, looking at art, deciding if I like it or not. Last night I bought 'Anakainōsis' by Gogolitus on Objkt for 6 Tezos. This is more than I'm usually willing to spend on an NFT, but the work should hold its value alright. While that's important, I didn't buy it for its market value. I bought it because I liked it. The image is a holographic bird shimmering in the sun. What's not to like? According to the NFT's description:
"In greek, "Anakainōsis" means a complete change for the better, a makeover of the mind and soul."
I'm not convinced that my mind and soul need a makeover. But maybe they do. A complete change for the better doesn't sound bad at all. Will ownership of this NFT bring such a transformation about? It might. We'll see.
Broader society could certainly use an anakainōsis. And I'd argue that most of all of the pieces are already in place for such a profound renewal to occur. The covid ritual, where everyone covered their faces and avoided each other, is basically over. We sacrificed our time and biology to the high priests of Pfizer and Imperial College London, expecting good public health in return. We instead received a mental health catastrophe, unsafe cities, and runaway inflation.
The formula for the covid ritual was obvious. Incite fear, use that fear to motivate obedience to the control regime, mandate theatrical displays of the erasure of individual identities in symbolic form, and tell people they'll once again be free as soon as there's magic potion flowing through their veins. The problem with this ritual is that it didn't work. Neither masks nor distancing nor vaccines stopped the spread of the virus. Covid ran its course regardless of these measures, making the public ritual seem like a farce to anyone paying attention.
In simple terms, the ritual formula in play looked like: bad time, magic (self-transcendent experiences), renewal, good time. A grand anakainōsis ritual could follow a similar formula, but be different from the covid ritual in nearly every other respect. Instead of relying on the magic of a predatory medical establishment, maybe it could harness a combination of psychology and theater. Instead of renewal purchased by accepting the injection of a substance, perhaps there could be a renewal which naturally arises from a beneficial shift in awareness.
Although it may be impossible to bring about a society-wide anakainōsis, I find the prospect fun to consider. Possible or not, there's something compelling about the idea of society suddenly coming into new perspectives on the world. This is admittedly hard to picture, but that's part of the point. From this side of the river, we can't yet see all of what's on the other side.
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