.7. Intermission - A time to contemplate

Summation of the Black Mask sub-committee of Creative Noise and Activity's Finding with regards to the Imposition of Limiting Hierarchies, Norms, Standards, and Structures upon the Cultural Expression of groups and individuals through the reduction of the Creative Process to an Economic Formula and the Marginalisation of individuals wishing to pursue their creative potential regardless of the economic, political, or social implications of doing so:

The Album that you are now holding in your hands right now [taken from the liner notes of The (International Noise Conspiracy) Survival Sickness] has nothing to do with creativity. "Creativity" as we would like to define it is a process, an engagement, the meeting place of the mind and spirit. Most importantly, it is something experienced. What you have right now is a dull reflection of that process, nothing more than the waste products of someone else's experience. While hopefully you will enjoy listening to the music, find some of the ideas interesting and stimulating, and appreciate our product, don't allow yourself to to believe that you can be involved in the proess when you press PLAY or see the band live. The Creative Process is present tense, this album is past tense, and the stage is a funeral parlor where things long deceased are displayed for public approval.

For too long people have bought into the discourse surrounding creativity. In a world where economic influences and 'moral' imperatives prevail, creativity has been objectfied so that it can be rationalised and consumerised. The focus is on the things produced and the social and economic value of them. Products have to be consumed, profits have to be made, and the social structure shouldn't be disturbed. Vast art, music, and publishing industries, in cahoots with their bedfellows in marketing, advertising and mass media define and direct creativity, all the determining its 'value'. Radios, TVs, Top 40 countdowns, Critics, Bestseller Lists, and magazines at the grocery store check out counters tell us what to listen to, what to read, whta movies to see, where to eat, who is funny, and what colours will be 'IN' for the next fashion season. We sit idly by as most modes for 'creative expression' are funneled through corporate boardrooms.

Not only is the creative process bastardised into a sculpted edifice of consumerism, with pre-ordained direction handed down from the front offices in the guise of a cultural elite, but the standards imposed serve to undermine creativity in its purest form at all levels. This can be seen in the construction of distinctions, roles, structures, and hierarchies that serve to confine the potential of the creative process while limiting possible interaction with it. The creative 'haves' and 'have nots' become necessary components within this system, with a privileged few allowed to be involved. But even those acknowledged as as creative are nothing more than cultural whores, selling their wares IF they play by the rules. And for everyone else "REALITY" is the weapon that is used to beat down all interest in being creative. People are constantly urged by all around them to be productive, to 'make a living', and relegate the creative aspects of their lives, their dreams, to pastime activities done in their spare time. There's no money in that and artists, poets, musicians, and writers are all fools with no grounding in the real world. We are either not good enough or it is not practical enough. The question that should be asked is why anyone would want grounding in a 'real world' that is obsessed with competition and profit, limited in vision, destructive in it's nature, and where everyone's standard fare is alienation and suppression of potential?

One of the aims of this product is to urge people to engage in their own creative processes and NEVER be satisfied recapitulating reproductions of someone else's. Unfettered creativity is one of the most powerful manifestations of subversion possible, for it offers us all a taste of freedom.

-The Black Mask Sub-committee of Violence and passion