Artists 1
If it is true that the artist possesses the means of anticipating and
avoiding the consequences of technological trauma, then what are we to think of
the world and bureaucracy of "art appreciation"? Would it not seem suddenly to
be a conspiracy to make the artists a frill, a fribble, or a Milltown? If men
were able to be convinced that art is precise advance knowledge of how to cope
with the psychic and social consequences of the next technology, would they all
become artists? Or would they begin a careful translation of new art forms
into social navigation charts? I am curious to know what would happen if art were
suddenly seen for what it is, namely, exact information of how to rearrange
one's psyche in order to anticipate the next blow from our own extended
faculties. Would we, then, cease to look at works of art as an explorer might regard
the gold and gems used as the ornament of simple nonliterates?
- Marshall and Eric McLuhan