I remember watching a video of some guys in Iraq filming themselves as they destroyed sculptures that had been there for many lifetimes, trashing a museum, because God or something. I remember thinking at the time how small it made them and their shit view on God. These angry children, breaking things for inherited emotional reasons and redactive faith. I saw how powerful they thought they were, as they wrecked heritage. Senseless arrogant immature behaviour. Short term thinking. Kids out of control in the playground. I didn’t share the video or react negatively. “Don’t give it air”, I thought. Yes my friends were reacting negatively, but the implacable men with sledgehammers will have been buoyed up by my reaction, had I given it. They would have felt that the short term cause for which they destroyed the ancient things was somehow highlighted by my outrage. Essentially me shouting about it would have added to a narrative that led to more damage being done.
A cause I believe in has just made me hate the cause. I think we have to protest. I think we need to make a stand. But there’s a basic level of respect for skill and beauty, not understood by these idiots. Two humans with no love or creativity in their souls have gone into a gallery to try to destroy something much much better than they will ever be. Don’t Google it if you can resist. If we bump up the figures by googling it and showing outrage online it’s only a matter of time before somebody sets fire to the Tate Britain because they think that “Slugs should be left alone in gardens!” Maybe they’ll blow up the Louvre to “Save Ebola!”
Yeah so this cause I was behind until they did that. Of course these idiots in power shouldn’t prioritise their corporate masters, and starve others… but they will… We can fight them but why destroy art? Destroying art is showy but ultimately it just makes the activist look arrogant and self centred. “My very temporary thought thing about a situation that had no relevance when this piece was created – it’s important enough that I will video me me me me with my soup me me gluing myself because it was me and then I get to stay there with my polymer printed plastic T-shirt angry about the oil industry me me me next to a piece of art now covered in soup that sure it has been overpriced by a consensus of which me me me me me is not part but now me me me I’m here and it’s my cause not me me me me me me me me me which is important me not me me me me me me me me me.” You needn’t watch the video, it’ll give them hits. Two smug humans try to ruin something deeper and greater than they will ever be while wearing T-shirts with words about this week’s thing. Then they very theatrically glue their hands to the wall with these expressions of great import, as if this childish act of vandalism will do anything other than alienate allies. I still reluctantly agree with their cause but I’m absolutely disgusted at their methods and what it might do going forward. Some turd already tried for the Mona Lisa. Yeah, again, it’s overrated. The establishment has created false value in art. That’s how the art world works. It’s horrible and wonderful. It’s art. Burn down the systems! Change the value structures. But they are augmenting those systems by proving that the thing with notional financial value has that value for a reason. Why not throw soup on their favourite painting, not on one that the consensus has given high value to? Probably cos those two fools haven’t actually looked at art ever, just articles. No context outside of the frame they’ve been radicalised though. No colour. No light. No joy. Just soup and smug.
The more air time they get the more likely people will copy them. You should never punch down. Pictures in a gallery are open and on display so we can all enjoy them. Now we will be more monitored in galleries. These humans who have no art in them and have found belonging in a cause to which they’ve been drawn on the internet… We can’t force perspective. Only time will bring that. But they punched down today, and there’s very little below them, two little nothing humans with a can of soup. “Let’s fuck up something beautiful and free because we want to belong to our internet group.” It’s not even really about oil, despite what the plastic words on their t-shirts read. It’s about belonging.
They chucked soup on a picture of the Ukrainian national flower painted by that depressed Dutch impressionist who cut his ear off. Then they theatrically glued themselves to a wall next to their idiocy with expressions of great pride and defiance totally at odds with the fact they’d both just shat in their own mouths. They brought someone to document the whole atrocity. I hope they rot in hell, all of them. I hope they don’t inspire further morons to further atrocities. Yes it’s all very middle class rage here. I’m sure they’d be thrilled. They likely don’t see it as punching down. They likely don’t see the short termism or the selfishness. But I do, and I detest them for it.
Make something, you idiots. Making things is much easier than destroying things and can send stronger messages. For every family sandcastle theres a kid kicking it over just after they leave the beach. For every field of snowmen there’s three drunk teenagers running at them at dusk. Destroying is never clever. Never. Shame on them. Nothing is ever as easy as we want it to be, particularly if we aren’t mature. “Just”? Like it’s easy. Just stop being selfish destructive humans. It’s not so easy, is it?
AlBarclay 