Acts of Creation
There are two very fine reasons to create things. The first is the one where people give you money and you provide a service — capitalism! As the Roz Tox Manifesto informs us, “Capitalism for good or ill is the river in which we sink or swim, and stocks the supermarket.”
In our quest for the capital to purchase consumer electronics and food and quirky pet supplies, we create art and narrative. We’re quite proud of what comes out of the shop.
But man cannot live on commercial projects alone. Like aggrieved, pretentious chimpanzees with flame throwers, we are compelled to destroy and create — and to do so at the pace of the Internet.
(See also Rozz Tox, Item 15:
Law: If you want better media, go make it.)
I bring you Example A, the Percolate Galactic Giphy account — the Grey Goo of our creative urges. The culture that has sprung from the Internet prizes immediacy and creativity — and has created a feedback loop that rewards those who can deliver both. The .Gif Club was our answer to how we would maintain a steady flow of artistic output that would match the Gaping Content Maw of the Internet.
(See also: Athletic Aesthetics, The New Inquiry. )
Every day, each on-shift Percolate artist creates a submission. They have the course of their workday to animate it and not a second longer. Each piece is a peek inside the brain-meat of the creator, reflecting the influences that have washed-over them throughout their day.
The results are decidedly strange, momentarily wonderful, and then lost in the struggle to create the next great thing. Perfectionism isn’t just not allowed, it’s all but impossible.
I’m struggling for a way to wrap this up, because again: this post is subject to the immediacy of the Internet and nothing I write here will outlive the 48-hour social reach of a social media post. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except the moment.
So, download Spencer!. Download him now. I know where you live.
Probably.
I don’t, actually.
I’m sorry.
