Manifesto

"Thus even the fool is convinced that something than which nothing greater can be conceived is in the understanding, since when he hears this, he understands it; and whatever is understood is in the understanding. And certainly that than which a greater cannot be conceived cannot be in the understanding alone. For if it is even in the understanding alone, it can be conceived to exist in reality also, which is greater. Thus if that than which a greater cannot be conceived is in the understanding alone, then that than which a greater cannot be conceived is itself that than which a greater can be conceived. But surely this cannot be. Thus without doubt something than which a greater cannot be conceived exists, both in the understanding and in reality."

- 'Ontological Argument for the Existence of God'
from "Proslogion II" by Saint Anselm of Canterbury

"A lesser known example of remix on film occurred in 1961, in Disney's animated film, "101 Dalmatians", in which there is a scene where the puppies are watching a black-and-white episode of Disney's "Silly Symphonies" ("Springtime") from 1929, composited onto a television screen. This is an interesting case, not only because in 1961, such compositing techniques were relatively rare and difficult to achieve, but also because it is an example of Disney very deliberately remixing their own work, which had been originally shown in cinemas over thirty years previously."

- "Reclaiming Critical Remix Video: The Role of Sampling in Transformative Works" by Owen Gallagher

Philosophical Assumption On the Quality of the Reception of Film by the Perceiver:

Let's assume there really is such a thing as a "filmic reality" and that the film material is the artefact that provides us with all the information we need to know about it for each separate case; and that this "filmic reality" exists in a world distant enough from ours so a physical interaction with it is impossible, but, at the same time, similar enough so the perceiver of the artefact is able to make clear connections between it and his own reality - that is what makes the artefact comprehensible to the perceiver.

Now, let's name our own, "real" reality as (a), the "filmic reality" as (b) and the artefact (film material) as (c). By applying St. Anselm's distinction between the things that exist in the understanding, the things that exist in reality and the things that exist in both the understanding and reality to our own assumption, it is logical to say that (a) exists only in reality, (b) only in the understanding and (c) in both levels of existence.

Based on this distinction, it would also be logical to say that the perceiver receives (c) as a "perfect" extract from the "filmic reality", as he understood it perfectly, and as an even more complete and "real" experience than his own reality, due to the artefact's physical presence. In that case, the perceiver will no longer question the quality of the artefact, as he trusts (c) more than any other form of existence.

A complete lack of any kind of suspicion or doubt would make the perceiver extremely vulnerable to the desires of the creator of the artefact, who has the ability to manipulate the material in order to accommodate his wishes; that sets (c) far apart from the image of perfection that the perceiver has wrongly established.

"I am at the barber's, and a copy of Paris-Match is offered to me. On the cover, a young Negro in a French uniform is saluting, with his eyes uplifted, probably fixed on a fold of the tricolour. All this is the meaning of the picture. But, whether naively or not, I see very well what it signifies to me: that France is a great Empire, that all her sons, without any colour discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag, and that there is no better answer to the detractors of an alleged colonialism than the zeal shown by this Negro in serving his so-called oppressors. I am therefore again faced with a greater semiological system: there is a signifier, itself already formed with a previous system (a black soldier is giving the French salute); there is a signified (it is here a purposeful mixture of Frenchness and militariness); finally, there is a presence of the signified through the signifier."

- From "Mythologies" by Roland Barthes

Philosophical Assumption Regarding the Nature of the Manipulative Signifier:

According to Roland Barthes, the primary form of signification has to do with the literal meaning that the signifier communicates, whose reception, assuming that our previous assumption was true, would be unquestionably favourable, as the perceiver trusts the artefact completely - both the material and what is being conveyed by it. Barthes' model, however, reveals a second level of interpretation, which is related to the "myth", a creator-driven concept that is greatly influenced by the sociopolitical context of the period of its fabrication, that fails to return the amount of trust that the perceiver has put into the artefact.

Thus, it can be argued that the "further" the perceiver is being taken away from the original material, the more subjective his response to the signified becomes, while his trust to the signifier remains unchanged, as its objective qualities are discrete to the myth that is associated with it.

"We know that man has never lived in the space conceived by mathematicians and physicists as being isotropic, that is, space having the same properties in all directions. The space experienced by man is oriented and thus anisotropic, for each dimension and direction has a specific value; for instance, along the vertical axis, 'up' does not have the same value as 'down'; along the horizontal axis, left and right may be differentiated in value. The question is whether the experience of oriented space and other comparable experiences of intentionally structured spaces (for example, the different spaces of art and architecture) have something in common with the sacred space known by Homo Religiosus."

- "The World, The City, The House", essay by Mircea Eliade

"Since created things contain void, the void must be surrounded by solid matter: nothing can be shown by valid argument to contain void concealed in its substance, unless you concede that what confines the void is solid; and the only thing capable of keeping in confinement the void within objects is an aggregate of matter. Therefore matter, which consists of solid substance, is able to be everlasting, even though all compound bodies suffer dissolution."

"The universe is not bounded in any direction; otherwise it would inevitably have an extremity. Now it is plain that nothing can have an extremity, unless there is something on the farther side to bound it, so that there is seen to be a point beyond which our vision cannot trace the object. And since we must admit that there is nothing outside the aggregate of things, it has no extremity and therefore has no end or limit."

"It is certain that the ultimate particles are allowed no rest anywhere in the unfathomable void; rather they are harried by incessant and various movement, some rebounding to considerable distances after they have clashed, others leaving short interspaces when they have been jerked back from collision. And all those that are concentrated in closer union and rebound only a very short distance apart, entangled by the interlacement of their own shapes, form the basis of tough rock, the bulk of stern steel, and other such substances. Of the rest that pursue their roving course through the vast void, a few spring far apart and rebound to considerable distances, thus furnishing us with unsubstantial air and radiant sunlight; but there are many other atoms roaming the vast void whose inability to adapt their movements to those of any compound bodies has debarred them from gaining admittance."

- Excerpts from "On the Nature of Things (Book 1 & 2)" by Lucretius

"When observation is incomplete (which it usually is) with the missing aspects supplied by the mind, out of an infinite number of possibilities the simplest one is assumed. In the same way, the belief in the identity of things and their permanence is a matter of simplicity. If everything were to vanish from the universe when out of sight, to reappear only when observed again, things would be terribly complicated. No principle of logic, no single observation vitiates the opposite view, that nature is complex and, hence, complicated theories are better than simple ones. That the cat that crawls under the sofa at one end is not the same cat that, after some time, reappears on the other side, is not less logical an assumption that the contention that it is. In fact, one would be hard put to prove either. A lawful nature is simpler than a chaotic one. Faith in lawfulness and the immutability of physical laws is faith in simplicity. It is a value judgement, one of many automatic biases induced by the system aesthetics of the mind."

- "The Illegitimate Components of Knowledge", essay by Lothar Schäfer

COSMOGONY OF THE FILMIC UNIVERSE

Void = Unexposed Film

Exposure = Void gets filled with Atoms

Concentration of Atoms = Manifestation of a Coloured Object/Image (through photographic processing)

This cosmological theory manifests a preference to a "space-oriented" nature instead of a historical, "time-oriented" one. But despite its boundless quality, the cosmos is being perceived as having a centre and, therefore, extreme points. Man's purpose and desire is to explore the chaos that lies beyond these boundaries, while trying to put the components of the known space in order, using archetypal paradigms.

"The essential thing, psychologically, is that in dreams, fantasies, and other exceptional states of mind the most far-fetched mythological motifs and symbols can appear autochthonously at any time, often, apparently, as the result of particular influences, traditions, and excitations working on the individual, but more often without any sign of them. These 'primordial images' or archetypes, as I have called them, belong to the basic stock of the unconscious psyche and cannot be explained as personal acquisitions. Together they make up that psychic stratum which has been called the collective unconscious. The existence of the collective unconscious means that individual consciousness is anything but a tabula rasa and is not immune to predetermining influences. On the contrary, it is in the highest degree influenced by inherited presuppositions, quite apart from the unavoidable influences exerted upon it by the environment. The collective unconscious comprises in itself the psychic life of our ancestors right back to the earliest beginnings. It is the matrix of all conscious psychic occurrences, and hence it exerts an influence that compromises the freedom of consciousness in the highest degree, since it is continually striving to lead all conscious processes back into the old paths."

- "The Significance of Constitution and Heredity in Psychology", essay by Carl Jung

"The consensus among art historians has generally been that Chirico’s pinnacle achievement as an artist occurred during his primary Metaphysical phase between 1910 and 1920. The paintings he completed during this period were profoundly influenced by the aesthetic and existential philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as the German Romanticism of Caspar David Friedrich and Goethe, exemplified in the convergence of symbolism, metaphor, and root mythology. In viewing key works as "The Enigma of the Hour", "The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon", "Piazza d’Italia", "The Red Tower", and "The Great Tower", among others, we find realism intersecting with the monolithic awe of the spatial territories of the "Unknown Known". The philosophical concept of the "Unknown Known" is that which we know, what we may sense emotionally and intuitively, but are unaware of knowing. It is the subjective reality behind the objective sense-perceptions that give rise to the Nietzschean themes of 'eternal recurrence', 'amor fati' (love of fate), and the 'will to power' that de Chirico seeks to understand, communicate and present in a tangibly visible reality."

"The paintings of Giorgio de Chirico have thus far been the only works of art that demonstrate the quantum nature of what Jung referred to as the 'collective unconscious' as it relates to the Nietzchean process of transvaluation and the spiritual ascendancy against the binary paradigm through the absolute affirmation of life. This, then, was the aesthetic goal of Chirico, the exploration of subjective reality in order to understand, conquer & overcome objective reality. In Chirico’s works there is a distinct pattern of dislocation and dissonance of time throughout the environs depicted. Time is an error that has come to an absolute standstill, reaching a point of existence wherein there is no longer any sound or meaning, only the absolute stillness and eternally recurring nature of time."

- Excerpts from “The Quantum Metaphysics of Art”, essay featured at Lexander Magazine

"Multiform and shifting in its outward manifestation, myth nevertheless follows fixed laws, and can provide as definite and secure results as any other source of historical knowledge. Product of a cultural period in which life had not yet broken away from the harmony of nature, it shares with nature that unconscious lawfulness which is always lacking in the works of free reflection. Everywhere there is system, everywhere cohesion; in every detail the expression of a great fundamental law whose abundant manifestations demonstrate its inner truth and natural necessity."

- From "Myth, Religion, and Mother Right" by Johann Jacob Bachofen

"The cosmogonic myth discloses the eventful creation of the world and man, and at the same time, the principles which govern the cosmic process and human existence. The myths succeed each other and articulate themselves into a sacred history which is continuously recovered in the life of the community as well as in the existence of each individual. What happened in the beginning describes at once both the original perfection and the destiny of each individual."

- From "The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion" by Mircea Eliade

"Our methodological anchor is the conception of myths as projections of personal history. Individuals are aware of their personalities as the sole existential entity in their cognition. This awareness of existence is the only epistemological reality. Myths cannot, therefore, be divorced from the human personality. Whatever happened to us in the amnestic years, and even later, is projected onto our theory of the creation of the universe, magic and other human beings. The events that happened in the highly receptive amnestic years have been recorded and stored by the human brain. Events that happened after the amnestic years may be recalled cognitively, but whatever happened within these first years of life is recalled, inter alia, by myths of cosmogony. Myths as personal history may, therefore, be regarded as the account of some crucial developmental stages in the formative years."