by Karim Attia, 14th January 2005. Unfinished musings that need considerable unwrapping to become more generally palatable. Art is not irrational, it follows logic.  Science maps the universe using ‘conscious-level’ logic.  I believe that art maps the universe using a blend of conscious and ‘subconscious-level’ logic.  The subconscious-level logic is derived from the deeper functions of the human mind, those that are only just being explored by developers of Artificial Intelligence.  These AI developers acknowledge that the human mind does not operate only (or at all) using binary processes, rather using quantum logic to arrive at answers faster.  How it does this is not clear.  In effect, we have to admit that we do not know how we arrive at logical conclusions, but there is no doubt that logic is what we achieve.  Art is the expression of logic reached without the artist’s conscious awareness of exactly how s/he got there.  Of course, logic is only a tool and can thus be applied to anything the human wishes – the scientific, the non-scientific, the real and the imagined. Science and logic are not the same thing.  Science applies the tool of logic to the universal – to that which would exist whether we ...

by Karim Attia, 14th January 2005. Unfinished musings that need considerable unwrapping to become more generally palatable. Art has three subjects: itself (Art), its creator/audience (Mankind), its environment (Mankind’s Universe). Art has two functions for the artist: to communicate (sustain the spirit) and to make money (sustain the body).  The communication serves as a means of exploring the artist’s world (through questioning), of feeling less alone and lonely, and of establishing some sense of purpose and value to one’s existence. Art has five functions for the audience: to instruct, to inform, and to entertain.  It can also be used as investment and to increase social status. Art is traditionally perceived as a language.  Therefore, like any language, it succeeds only if a tolerable level of comprehension is achieved.  Otherwise it becomes akin to listening to the gibberish of a foreign radio station – valued, if at all, as background noise, curio, exotica, or as a focus for the more abstract elements of spoken communication – rhythm, rhyme and metre – the music of speech. Modern art could be thought of as having evolved into a form of music.  This only applies to a narrow, but highly influential (elite) class of contemporary art – intellectual, wealthy and ...

by Karim Attia, 14th January 2005. Unfinished musings that need considerable unwrapping to become more generally palatable. All animals’ motivations are driven by the need to feed and to reproduce.  We are animals and so share these motivations.  However, we are unique, in the known universe, by virtue of our creating art.  Does this mean that art is created from motivations other than those outlined above?  Is it derived from a less common, more exulted source?  Or is it as equally rooted in the forces that drive individual and specie survival, only being novel to us because of the many other differences that separate us from our animal kin?  Some people would argue the former, citing the soul, or some such thing.  Personally I feel the latter is by far the more likely. This assertion would describe art as functional, specifically that it has a rational purpose that enhances mankind’s chances of survival – just like physical/biological mutations.  I would argue that art is, indeed, ‘merely’ another form of mutation, but one driven and active within mankind’s supremely complex social operations – a behavioural/sentient mutation. If this is so, what enhancements to man’s survival does art provide?  To answer this it is necessary to ...

by Karim Attia. Kathakali is a classical mode of drama, which relies on physical language and music to convey its spiritual message, rather than conventional speech.  The only sounds ever made by the actors themselves are purely emotional – specifically: shouts of rage, anger, aggression.  However, alongside the actors are percussionists and singers.  The latter recount the story in a blend of Sanskrit and Malayalam – ancient sacred languages no longer in daily use and thus only really able to convey emotion to the audience and not specific plot details. Originating in Kerala, southern India, around 500 years ago, Kathakali developed in reaction to the exclusion of lower-castes to the sacred Sanskrit poems jealously guarded by the high-caste Hindu priesthood.  These poems were derived from the greatest of Hindu religious epics – the Mahabaratha and the Ramayana.  They tell of man’s place within the struggle between gods and demons, good and evil.  Indian audiences know these stories so well that they are able to follow the drama with ease, despite the lack of dialogue and the use of ancient languages. For those of us who don’t know these stories well, we have to rely on the ability of the actors to tell their ...