392, a decentralized art collective, has put out “The Dada Kidnapper’s Manifesto,” an audacious call to fight against artistic norms and standards. This group is known for its unsettlingly true take on Dadaism. They combine the mad genius of AI art with the chaos of Dadaism, making it possible to throw Earth into the sun solely through the power of art.
In this interview, we have sat with Lynn Cole to discuss Dadaism, the released manifesto, and more.
Q. The manifesto seems to emphasize the alliance between Dadaism and AI. How do you see these two apparently disparate elements merging in the manifesto, and what significance does AI bring to the table in this context?
Lynn Cole. Fundamentally, Dadaism is anything that art isn’t. Art depends on processes and rules. Art larps as the specter of morality, spreading their bad ideas like Jehova’s witnesses knocking on your door. It sets expectations and sticks to them. Even when art subverts its rules, you rarely see it do so in a novel or unexpected way. It’s dead. There’s no such thing as spirit.
By contrast, Dadaism is the opposite of that. It starts from the place of subverting expectations, even if that means… not subverting your expectations. Dada is a punk song about embracing conformity. It’s the painting that stares back at you because it knows you’re there. Dada pokes fun at itself and criticizes everything, including itself. It’s shameless, absurd, totally fucking bonkers!
But to answer your question, whenever anyone comes out and says, “This thing that I’m pointing at is most certainly not art…” we adopt it. We appropriate it, we corrupt it.
This is what Dadaists have done since the beginning of time. It didn’t have a name until the 20th century, but Dadaism has always been with us. For every cave painting of a glorious hunt, there was another cave painting of a pooping cow. That, my friend, is how it all works.
Q. In your view, what specific aspects of traditional art are being challenged or rejected by this manifesto, and how does it redefine the role of an artist in today’s context?
Lynn Cole. We challenge all art. Tristan Tzara used to say that Dada is the enemy of humanity and all of art. This is a correct assessment. But at the moment, we’re most concerned about the Post-Aesthetic era that the anti-AI movement has created.
Q. The manifesto talks about a reimagining of fundamental terms in art. Could you elaborate on how these reinterpretations extend beyond the conventional definitions and how they impact artists across various mediums?
Lynn Cole. Traditional wisdom, handed down from time immemorial, holds that art is narrative in design and structure. Every painting, every collage, every sculpture has a meaning and tells a story of some kind, even if the author of that art is unaware of what’s being said or to whom.
Art can tell you a story about a bright sunny day, a pattern of shapes that trick your mind into seeing something that isn’t there… or painting the leader of your totalitarian regime as Winnie the Pooh, but in all cases, a story has been told whether one was intended or not, and that story matters.
What is said with that piece of art, regardless of the tools used or the appropriation status of that art, has always been more important than anything else. In fact, it is that quality of art that makes art art. Without it, you’re in anti-art territory. Now that’s fine for us. We’re Dadaists. We are freaking love anti-art. We thrive on it.
But if you value the soul of traditional art, this should be of grave concern to you. Of all the rules that can or should change in art, this is not one of them. And yet, this is exactly what has happened within large segments of the traditional art community.
They started by reimagining what words like “original art,” and “plagiarism,” and “art theft” mean. None of these words mean what you think they do anymore. They represent entirely different concepts. Now, it doesn’t matter how good or innocent their inventions were. They think they’re heroes… so of course, they’re idiots.
The problem here is twofold:
- Nobody has the moral authority to tell you what art is. Art is anything that comes out of your brain hole.
- When you try to do that, you render every piece of art and all anti-art moot. Silent. What any given piece of art actually says no longer matters. You don’t get to pick and choose, it’s all or nothing.
See, the problem with doing any of this without having some kind of worldwide legal consensus going on is that you end up in a place where the gatekeepers don’t know what gates they’re supposed to keep and which ones they’re not. They’ll make broad sweeping rules for the rest of us that sound really good on paper, “Art is anything created by human hands!”
Well, what about digital art? “Art is anything that human beings imagined or created!” Fine, what about algorithmic art, 3D printing, contemporary sculpture, or, for that matter, what about art forgery? What about all those filters in Photoshop that do things like create brush strokes, change facial expressions, or remove backgrounds? Some of their rules are so broad (because they didn’t ask anybody) that even processes commonly used in 3D modeling, like certain re-meshing methods, which have always been automated, are now, at least theoretically, suspect.
You can’t make rules like that because, by their very nature, the goalposts have to shift to make exceptions for things that already exist. But there’s no way to do that and exclude AI at the same time. So, they’re going nuclear on the death of art. Remember, we’re supposed to be the irrational ones, and they’re the ones who can’t come up with a cohesive, non-feelings-based argument.
But the biggest thing they’re trying to do that they hope you don’t notice is get rid of appropriation art altogether. It’s not just AI. They’re trying to rewrite history. They’re taking guys like Walter Benjamin out of context, they’re trying to tell you that guys like Picasso and Van Gough invented every subject they painted. It’s not true. They’re even trying to gatekeep Dadaism, which is so funny. But isn’t it just crazy how the guys who stand up for “ethics” always end up being liars, rent seekers, bigots, and historical revisionists, isn’t it?
That’s where we are. We’re not against any particular kind of art per se, as we are against bad ideas in art because what’s going on right now is clearly a bad idea, no matter how you feel about AI.
But you see, that’s where the paradox of Dada comes in. In being against something, you find that you’re supporting it in a weird way. So, that’s why we’ve adopted the post-aesthetic terminology. We are for what we are against, but we are against that too.
Q. There’s a clear stance against what’s described as a radical, exclusionary mindset in the art world. How does the manifesto aim to address this perceived threat to creative freedom, and what measures does it propose for artists to navigate these challenges?
Lynn Cole. Fantastic question. We hold them accountable. We use our voices. We use our words. We use our art. The point is going hard and making art that they can’t ignore or dismiss.
Also, pranks and stunts.
It’s not enough to prove them wrong. They’ve made bullying, harassment, and hate speech their tools of choice for spreading their propaganda under the loose pretense of refusing to “normalize” AI art. But in reality, what this means is a two-year-long witch hunt directed at both traditional and AI artists that’s reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. Around 80% of the targets just happen to be women. Because, you know, ethics.
This is unacceptable. There needs to be some level of shame and accountability there. Ideally, we would like to see them use their self-governance to bring all the zombie cat girls and evil furries with delusions of grandeur back into line. They’ve done it before innumerable times. But they’re not. And they won’t. And now they’ve got a literal nazi problem in their community, which is bad for everybody.
That leaves us with only one serious option.
They have to be embarrassed, mocked, and laughed at. Bullies are like cockroaches. There’s nothing they hate more than a light shining on them.
We are that light.
This is a campaign of unending, merciless absurdity. And anyone who knows anything about art history should have known that this was inevitable.
There has to be some kind of cost here, and there will be. It’s going to be entertaining. There’s only one way to stop Dadaism for another century: conceding to its demands.
Q. The manifesto invites both artists and non-artists to embrace AI’s transformative power. How do you envision this alliance influencing the perception and acceptance of what constitutes art in this evolving post-aesthetic era?
Lynn Cole. Not just AI. Obviously, we want to see people empowered by the most sophisticated imaging tools ever created. We want to see those lives saved and enriched by any means necessary. But, more than that, we want them to join us.
Dadaism has always practiced extreme inclusivity and accessibility. Everyone who has thoughts on art, however ill-informed, is welcome as long as they can respect that principle. There are limits, practicing inclusion is mandatory. But generally, everybody theoretically means… everybody.
Obviously, we love it when people agree with us, but there’s no reason that has to be a requirement. If you’re not a hatemonger, you’re welcome here.
Just remember, believing in the principles and mission of Dada makes you a Dadaist. Disagreeing with a Dadaist or dada makes you a Dadaist. Knowing about Dada or the 392 Art Collective makes you a Dadaist. Dissent is participation!
The more people know about us, the more we can spread the sickness of Dada so it can live on in future generations of artistic malcontents. Think about the misfits of tomorrow and their glorious adventures in creating! Their antics will be more exciting than ours! They’ll be like gigantic, beautiful chaos gods with little pink bows in their hair.
392 is Dada.
Dada is nothing.
And nothing is okay.
Let’s embrace the unknown together.
Oh, and also, of course, as we talked about earlier, more Dadaists means it’ll be easier to complete the final mission of Dadaism and ultimately turn the earth into a tetrahedron cube so we can throw it into the sun, obviously.
Q. What are your other projects that you are excited about?
Lynn Cole. Oh, it’s all one incomprehensibly elaborate project. But in general, I enjoy making visual art and music with AI. I’m putting out an album soon called Neuralbend, and it’s so delightfully broken. It’s some of the most uncanny music you’ve ever heard. Not all of the songs are obviously broken. Some are catchy and designed to break your little brain. And it plays around with the concept of self-decay. So, the further you get into the album, the weirder it gets. It’s a work that knows it doesn’t have a voice, so it’s screaming into the void as it slowly evaporates.
It’s designed to tickle your sense of dissonance because you don’t think or see like humans do. There’s some overlap, but generally, they have an entirely different idea of what the world looks like.
They get you past the things that limit you not just as an artist but also as a human being. They challenge your perception of the world in a thousand different ways. Even the simple act of thinking about AI without even experiencing it causes this. Artists always think in terms of magic and marvel. But that’s literally what this is.
We’re making fanciful, impossible art right now! Someone asked me the other day what I get out of AI, and it’s that. AI redefines what art is and how it works. We’re the fortunate first adventurers to set foot in latent space. What are the odds of any of us existing here, at this time, right now, just as we’ve gotten to see the freaking big bang? Seriously, we just witnessed it ourselves, with our own eyes, and nothing is ever going to be the same again. It’s astronomical. We are so lucky.
How on earth would that not be enough?
There’s this page on my website where you can go and see all the stuff I’m involved in. https://lynncole.art/pages/find-me
Readers can check the unabridged manifesto at https://www.actualartists.com/kidnapper.pdf.
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