ROBOTIC and SYNTHETIC PERFORMANCE:
Steps Toward a Culture of Liberation

a Manifesto of the OmniCircus

IX. THE ORIGINS of BOURGEOIS REALISM

The modern-art age is characterized by the almost complete dissolution of Bourgeois Realism (naturalism) as a viable art form in the "art world" of the advanced capitalist countries, and a desperate search on the part of the official "art world" for a replacement. (The old 'naturalist' language has made its way into mass culture and is fully implemented in Hollywood film, television and commercial theater, so it is no longer necessary to continue it in the research environment of art. In fact, it is so well understood by the hack practitioners in Hollywood that they have developed an official methodology, and woe unto anyone who fails to follow it when crafting scripts!) However, Bourgeois Realism will never completely die in the arts as long as the material interests and class consciousness that underlie it still exist. Indeed it seems to resurrect itself every couple of art-seasons: Pop, the New Realism, Photo- realism, Christian Schlock Realism, etc. Sometimes aggressive attempts at reproduction are a desperate over-compensation for sense of vulnerability and lack of virility... The Formalists must fear they are doomed, like Sisyphus, to roll the stone of abstraction up the mountain of MOMA time and again, only to see it slip down under the onslaught of some ever newer "Realism!" Bourgeois Realism is the art form that first mythologized the capitalist class and expressed its early ideology. In order to understand the rise and fall of this kind of art, we must first examine how the human form came to replace the beast as the main subject of art imagery.

Class society first came into being 6-8,000 years ago, replacing a primitive communism where no one owned land or property. This Neolithic revolution brought about gigantic changes:

1. Transformation of 'hunting and gathering' mode of survival to herds keeping and farming.

2. Beginnings of townships and the end of nomadic life.

3. Origins of class divisions and a split between intellectual and physical labor (primordial alienation).

4. Beginnings of private property and the corresponding invention of geometry to facilitate division of the land.
(The word "geometry" means "earth measure". Geometry was also the first abstract production language for simple building techniques.)

5. Origins of realism in art.
Corresponding with the first development of a privileged, ruling strata in society, art forms underwent a revolutionary transformation. From being a magic vehicle expressing the primary mode of survival in tribal society (the hunt), art began to explore and develop the new technologies of production, starting with the creation in pre-class society of geometric patterns on pots and blankets, and culminating with the explosive development of the iron and bronze revolutions. But in addition, art and artists took on the new social role of idealizing the ruling class then in power, a role that (along with the technological role of research and development) it has maintained ever since, through the agrarian, slave-holding, feudal and capitalist epoch of class society. This form of art has been called realism, but it should more properly be called idealism, since even in the most 'democratic' societies, its role is still propagandistic and subservient to ruling forces. This duality has plagued artistic form since before the time of KING TUT in slave-holding Egypt, to the CHRIST iconography painted by Cimabue, to Norman Rockwell's PORTRAIT of NIXON. The monolithic presence of the human form in art has always had a connotation of social hierarchy and injustice. It is only in the revolutionary ages that the rising class has given to realism a kind of heroism - Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Diego Rivera. The purpose of realism in art is to idealize the class in power, or the class about to be in power.

The human form first appears in art in a minor way, as stick figures in the cave painting of pre-class society. These paintings reflect the means of production of their day - the hunt, resulting in an art of the primordial beast, a functional art of rituals designed to facilitate in the deadly battle against extinction. The human stick figures have not individual, caste, or territorial evocation. There also exist sculptures of archetypal female forms from pre-class society. These represent the second pillar of survival for arboreal tribes - fertility. Like the dawn-age paintings, these sculptures of pre-history were never individuated. In addition, we believe they played an important and pragmatic role in the perfection of stone carving tools and techniques. It should be noted that the carving of a complex sculpture was literally the most challenging act of early engineering.

The agrarian epoch applies to those societies that have begun to develop agriculture and herds keeping, but have not yet developed the practice of keeping slaves. The art of agrarian societies is characterized by an extreme stylization of the human form. In these cultures the class structure is in an infantile state; kings and other rulers in early class societies either didn't yet exist or were elected only in times of need, as in ancient Sumer. Thus the art, while depicting the privileged caste, is not yet individualized.

In addition, this stylization reflects the development of a new language in the design of tools and structural forms. This was the epoch of the invention of farming. It is important to remember that the same individual who was charged with the making of art-pieces probably was involved in the creation of weapons, farming tools, and all other implements by which the society carries on its material existence. Techniques developed in sculpture making were implemented in early farming tools.

Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, as well as the highly developed civilizations in the ancient Americas, such as the Aztec, are examples of slave-holding societies that produced a wide variety of forms of 'realism' from the highly stylized, to the introduction of individualized facial anatomy. Class structures become increasingly complex in a slave-holding society. In general, the richer the society, the more it could "afford" limited forms of democracy, at least for the privileged. Therefore, the more accurate could be its artists' description of life, still within limitations imposed by the dominant class. Just as we find the first true portraits of the privileged in these societies, so do we find here for the first time a sometimes-sympathetic portrayal in art of members of the lower classes. In slave-holding cultures the rulers were often considered and portrayed in art as gods; in feudal societies, they were not gods but ruled by divine right, and in capitalist society they are only the most "intelligent" and "best fit" humans. It seems that the higher humanity climbs, the lower go those who hold the chains. Here at the epoch of the birth of privilege, slavery and obedience, we see also the first myths of the mechanical man. It is often extremely hard to tell how much of the stories that were told in ancient China were pure artifice, or the telling of genuine technical accomplishments perhaps somewhat exaggerated. Here is an excerpt from Lieh Tzu, from the third century BC:

"King Mu of Chou made a tour of inspection in the west...and on his return journey... a certain artificer, Yen Shih by name, was presented to him. The king received him and asked him what he could do. He replied that he would do anything which the king commanded, but that he had a piece of work already finished. `Bring it with you tomorrow,' said the king, `and we will look at it together.' So the next day Yen Shih appeared again and was admitted into his presence. `Who is that man accompanying you?' asked the king. `That, Sir,' replied Yen Shih, `is my own handiwork. He can sing and he can act.' The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time. It went through any number of movements that fancy might happen to dictate... the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was. And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, glue and lacquer, variously colored white, black, red and blue... The king was delighted. Drawing a deep breath, he exclaimed,`Can it be that human skill is on a par with that of the great Author of Nature?' "

Feudalism in China, Japan, Europe and elsewhere developed certain forms of knowledge, such as mathematics and mechanics, to a high degree and spread them far and wide. Myths of mechanical men and fantastic machines appear in many cultures in the Middle Ages. The Yantra-Purusa, or machine-man, appears in many stories in Sanskrit literature. He (or she) has all the attributes of a human being. There exist also certain descriptions of believable automata that were apparently built for wealthy kings. One of the main 'achievements' of Western European culture during this age was the invasion of this highly advanced mechanical culture, in a true Christian spirit, by the Crusades. Here is an excerpt from the twelfth-century Samararigana-sutradha-ra:

"Male and female figures are designed for various kinds of automatic service. Each part of these figures is made and fitted separately, with holes and pins, so that thighs, eyes, neck, hand, wrist, forearm and fingers can act according to need. The material used is mainly wood, but a leather cover is given to complete the impression of a human being. The movements are managed by the system of poles, pins and strings attached to rods controlling each limb. Looking into a mirror, playing a lute and stretching out the hand to touch, give pan, sprinkle water and make obeisance are the acts done by these figures."

Lest anyone conclude that ancient cultures were incapable of implementing sophisticated mechanistics, the existence of the Antikythera Mechanism will quickly disabuse. A sponge diver, in a shipwreck filled with amphorae and statues off the island of Antikythera in 1900, discovered this analog mechanical computer. Possibly made by the advanced ancient culture of the island of Rhodes, off the coast of Greece, it was constructed at least 2,000 years ago. It contained 39 gears including a differential mechanism, and its dials showed the signs of the zodiac and the path of the sun for every day of the year, phases of the moon, and 18-year cycles of solar eclipses.

It is popular to decry the feudal times as a regression from the supposed perfection and advancement of Classical Greece and Rome. The Feudal epoch brought stone construction to the highest level; one has only to compare the technique of the PARTHENON with that of the Notre Dame GOTHIC CATHEDRAL. In addition, the science of mechanics was greatly developed, giving rise to the first industry. The paintings of Heironymous Bosch, such as the panel of HELL and the GARDEN of DELIGHTS in his Millennium Triptych, and works of Breughel the Elder such as the magnificent TRIUMPH of DEATH, reflect the fact that even in its earliest days, the new industrial wage class, which evolved out of the medieval craft guilds, peasantry and bonded workers, with its social, sexual, psychological and corporeal foundry, was an earthly metaphor for a new kind of proletarian Hell. The technological and social crosscurrents of the new merchant production, with their corresponding modes of ownership and labor, signal the end of feudalism. Be that as it may, one aspect of feudal culture which carried on a tradition that lasted until the industrial revolution, was that the scientist, technocrat and artist were many times the same person. The feudal age culminated in the Renaissance, which as simultaneously the final confirmation of feudal art and the first trumpet call of soon-to-be dominant capitalism.

X. THE CAPITALIST EPOCH: The Culmination, Disintegration and Dissolution of "Realism"