AN ARTIST'S
INTRODUCTION
Instantiationism, Cybernetic Hyperstitional Realism and The Work
ONE STRUCTURE.OPEN / USE / MUTATE
WHAT IS THE WORK?
GETTING STARTEDCybernetic Hyperstitional Realism (CHR) is an artistic methodology derived from the ontological framework presented in a document called underpinnings.
The Work is the living symbolic technology through which CHR’s framework & methodology are enacted.
At first glance, these appear capable of producing many different things:
- This document.
- A manifesto.
- Music.
- Print.
- Performance.
- Installations.
- Workshops.
- Conversations.
- Videos.
- Software.
- Public interventions.
- Educational programmes.
- Research programmes.
- Community projects.
- Etc.
They are not.
They are instantiations of the same work.
This distinction is fundamental.
We do not treat the artwork as the primary unit of artistic practice. Instead, we treat instantiation as the primary unit.
The question is: What are you instantiating?
REALITY IS STRUCTURAL
KEY PRINCIPLEOur underpinnings begin with a simple primitive assumption:
Objects, systems, organisms, institutions and ideas persist not because of the particular materials from which they are made but because of the structures those materials instantiate.
The identity of a thing does not reside solely within its components.
It resides within the organisation of those components.
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STRUCTURE (persistent)
THE SHIP OF THESEUS
A WORKING ANALOGYThe ancient paradox asks whether a ship remains the same ship after every plank, sail, rope and oar has been replaced.
We offer a simple answer.
The Ship of Theseus was never fundamentally made of timber. Nor rope. Nor sails. Nor nails. Those were temporary substrates.
The ship persists because its identity is not contained within its materials but within the organised structure those materials instantiate.
Replace every component and the structure will remain. Rebuild it in steel, memory, language, software or performance and it will still be recognisably the same ship.
Its true existence is structural rather than material.
The Work operates in exactly the same way.
Music, performances, exhibitions, conversations, publications and software are all temporary embodiments.
The Work persists because the underlying structure continues to instantiate itself through new forms.
Every instantiation is simultaneously a continuation and a transformation.
PRESERVE THE STRUCTURE.
THE SHIP REMAINS.
THE WORK
OPERATING DEFINITIONThe Work is not a performance.
It is not an exhibition.
It is not a publication.
It is not a community.
It is not a movement.
The Work is a living symbolic technology whose medium is instantiation and propagation.
It exists wherever its structures are encountered, transformed and re-instantiated.
Every performance is an instantiation.
Every song is an instantiation.
Every conversation is an instantiation.
Every future mutation is an instantiation.
The Work has no final form. There are only multiple instantiations.
ART AS ENCOUNTER
INTERFACEArt is a symbolic technology distinguished by its primary mode of engagement - experiential encounter.
Unlike symbolic technologies primarily concerned with explanation, coordination, instruction or implementation, art instantiates structures for direct experience.
Here is one way reality might be organised.
Through encounter, perception, emotion and imagination change. The space of possible futures changes.
An encounter should therefore not be judged by whether it recruits someone into adopting our framework.
It should be judged by whether that encounter expands the space of possible thought and action available to the person who experiences it.
Someone may reject the framework entirely and still produce a new structure that expands the world's creative possibilities.
From the perspective of The Work, this can still be considered success.
The Work is evolutionary rather than doctrinal.
STRUCTURE → ENCOUNTER → ALTERED POSSIBILITY SPACE
INSTANTIATIONISTS
OPERATOR CLASSThose who participate in The Work might be called Instantiationists.
An Instantiationist is not simply an artist, spectator or member.
An Instantiationist is anyone who encounters a structure, internalises it, transforms it and contributes to its continued propagation.
Everyone enters The Work through encounter.
These are not separate identities but are phases within the same process.
The audience is not separate from The Work.
The audience is one of the mechanisms through which The Work continues.
THE MEDIUM
NETWORK SPECIFICATIONArtists are often asked: What medium do you work in?
Painting? Music? Film? Performance? Installation?
We offer a different answer.
Or more precisely:
Everything else is substrate.
Music, text, software, performance, design, education and community practice are simply different vehicles through which structures move.
The true artwork exists within the network itself.
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GENERATIONS
FORWARD PROPAGATIONThe Work is organised through generations rather than hierarchies.
Generation Zero refers to the initiating instantiation.
Generation One consists of those directly introduced into The Work. Generation Two consists of those introduced by Generation One. Generation Three consists of those introduced by Generation Two. And so on.
Unlike conventional organisations, authority does not flow backward toward origins. It flows forward through development.
Each generation is expected to understand, extend and improve upon what it inherits.
Generation One should surpass Generation Zero. Generation Two should surpass Generation One. Generation Three should surpass Generation Two.
The highest achievement of an Instantiationist is not to accumulate followers. It is to cultivate future Instantiationists whose practice exceeds their own.
The purpose of The Work is not self-preservation.
The purpose of The Work is continued evolution.
THE PROTOCOL BECOMES ART
PROCESS / OUTPUTWithin our framework, education is not separate from artistic practice.
Documentation is not separate from artistic practice.
Organisation is not separate from artistic practice.
And the workshop.
The field manual.
The conversation.
The educational system becomes a symbolic technology.
Learning is one of The Work's primary forms.
PROPAGATION
DISPATCH PROCEDUREEvery public instantiation should contain the means for another.
No one should leave empty-handed.
Whenever possible, participants should leave with some combination of:
□ The Underpinnings
□ Field Manuals
□ Protocol Cards
□ Posters
□ Stickers
□ Music
□ Prompt Libraries
□ Source Materials
□ QR Links
□ Blank Materials for Mutation
THEY ARE PROPAGATION MECHANISMS.
The exhibition exports itself. The performance exports itself. The conversation exports itself.
Every encounter should contain the possibility of further instantiation.
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ONE INSTANTIATION CONTAINS THE MEANS FOR ANOTHER
CULTIVATING CONDITIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL OPERATIONThe Instantiationist does not curate artworks.
The Instantiationist cultivates conditions.
Rather than producing isolated objects, they design environments within which structures can emerge, mutate and persist.
Some instantiations will flourish. Others will disappear. Some will mutate beyond recognition. Others will return unexpectedly years later in entirely different forms.
This is not failure.
THE RECURSIVE ARTWORK
CONTINUOUS OPERATIONMost participatory art ends when people go home.
The Work does not.
The Work continues whenever someone instantiates a structure derived from a previous encounter.
Every successful instantiation creates the possibility of another.
Every encounter contains the seed of future encounters.
Every generation contains the possibility of future generations.
The Work is therefore distributed across space and extended through time.
Its medium is not objects. Its medium is not events. Its medium is not institutions.
Its medium is the continuing recursive process through which structures encounter minds, transform them and are subsequently re-instantiated.
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THE WORK
END CONDITION: NONEEverything produced through our framework belongs to a single expanding work.
Every song.
Every performance.
Every exhibition.
Every workshop.
Every conversation.
Every mutation.
Every future generation of Instantiationists.
These are not separate projects.
They are temporary embodiments of the same persistent structure.