JERK
Jeff Derksen
The sun glints off the chrome
bodies of the gondolas
of late capitalism
as they labour up the mountain.
The mountain is named
after a commodity.Art has made this
a nonalienated view. Is that what
we asked it to do?
If "each day seems like a natural fact"
and "and what we think
changes how we act"
should art not reveal ideology
rather than naturalize it?
These old idealisms,
they burn me up
These old idealisms,
what do they cover up?
You had a lovely critique
and you looked great,
sexy really, the way your
world-market pants might shock the
bourgeoisie into consciousness.
But these days I'm yearning
not for a little outside to call my own,
although I like good design
as well and do feel that the proles
can share a moment...
after all it wasn't so long ago that I
touched a spark plug or had a cute
smudge of oil on my nose...but now
sure, I'm wanting a little
overdetermination with my
contradictions.
Not more of these natural facts
("life is"). But back
to this "ocularcentric" idea
of ideology, and art as a sort
of social goggles, the artist as
opthamologist. I'd like to see
the real relations
but you've got Nikes
on and I like you so I have to
try and understand.
And if that shirt's
from The Gap, then one arm
was sewn in Malaysia, the other
in Sri Lanka. Why then is it hard
to "see" ideology
when you're wearing it?
Is it "out there"? Or deeper
inside than even desire
could get wet over?
Then that clarity that might lead
to historical consciousness
is maybe muddied to the point where
you wouldn't even recognize your
buddies once you got there. "Hey you,
Louis!" (There are historical
determinants to being snide as well.)
"People have opinions /
where do they come from?"
My romantic belief is that historical
consciousness may come. My sad
cognitive mapping is that
overdetermined contradictions
don't lead to new social relations.
I want an Art more complicated
than The Gap.
resident, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada. October 31, 1998