EDGETIVISM
The Manifesto Written by Chaoscunt With contributions from Erica Frevel, Sidney Lundy, S.V. Edited by Brett Stevens Disclaimer: This manifesto is based on a traditional understanding of Fine Arts and does not include any form of art that includes non-consensual physical abuse of living humans or animals. Edgetivism is the practice of stamping your art with the most reprehensible themes of your time to defend the idea that art is limitless. PART 1 – ART NOT REALITY Why art is not real life and should not be treated as such. Art is not real life. Art is a limitless “virtual reality” and there can be no direct causal link between art and life because art, without a perceiver, has no agency of its own. Consequently, its creators cannot be held “accountable” for their art in any degree. Humans frequently scapegoat art for the problems of their world, which is a way of denying their own responsibility and pretending that the fault lies with the art. When a work of art forms connection to real life, the people interacting with it are responsible for their own decisions and cannot blame the art. Art requires continual expansion in all directions in order to maintain its status as a space for conjecture and catharsis. The further one ventures within the confines of fine art medium, the stronger art as a whole will be. Like fantasy, art allows us to freely and often metaphorically express ourselves through psychological processes, which is why we allow depictions of murder and acts of antisocial lawlessness. In order to allow this exploration, the artist must work within the canvas of that which is stimulating, which includes the shocking, disturbing, and terrifying. For this reason, it is the duty of the audience to regulate their own offense. Art is not offensive; our reactions to it are. Psychological sublimation provides a healthy coping mechanism that when thwarted through censorship, causes more harm and violence than any antisocial art ever has. Antisocial art provides a cathartic therapeutic process by which humans assess their own impulses, psychologies and thoughts. PART 2 – VIRTUESTIGMAISM & SAFETYISM Identifying the hindrance of artistic progress. A mental virus conquered the art world some time ago, and now has polluted all of its output. Called henceforth virtuestigmaism, this virus categorizes works of art by their most superficial aspects, notably “political” associations. This destroys the nature of art as exploration. Stigmatisation: Since art must push the boundaries of thought, it will naturally touch on the disturbing, which leads to accusations of “crypto-fascism” and “blasphemy” or other political terms by those who fear disruption of their bourgeois and consumerist worldview. Virtuism: On the other end of the spectrum is the “virtue signalling,” a form of trying to expand the social status of the artist by making art about opinions that people already hold, which is the philosophical equivalent of making decoration or another commercial product. Consumer versions of “art” tend to reward virtuestigmaist propaganda by promoting art valued for the sake of its message, which is invariably political, such as the praise and promotion of works about gays, religion, blacks, or patriotism. The virtuestigmaist art world disables aspiring artists by way of online mobs threatening people’s careers, families, and general safety. Artists labeled “problematic” for whatever reason cannot apply for funds, to show their art at festivals, rent a space to show it, or advertise it on social media. For the sin of non-conformity, you do not exist. Those who understand art realize that art in its whole form is never political, and that the intention of its artist cannot be read from its subject matter; a painting of bananas is not an advertisement or propaganda for bananas. In this way, art is different from all other media that we consume. The consumer mindset, which we will call safetyism, is a form of politically correct and socially-acceptable artistic castration designed to hide the dark tendencies of humanity which we must explore if we hope to understand ourselves. Safetyism can be understood as a form of self-censorship by forcing conformity to the dominant social tendencies of the time. This construes a blow against progress, growth, and evolution through the thought experiments of art. A safetyist is not necessarily a virtuestigmaist, but someone who accepts their authority and goes out of his way to avoid conflict. There can be no virtue through compulsion. Art made from a desire to avoid punishment is mere propaganda on par with the works of the Soviets or National Socialists. PART 3 – EDGETIVISM How we will do activism through being edgy. To resurrect art, we must engage in edgetivism, a portmanteau of “edgy” and “activism.” This means art, which believes that in order to be limitless, art itself must push against the boundaries that we fear the most. Edgetivism aims to both liberate artists who either do not believe in political correctness or will exist in a future where they will not have to bother with such nonsense, and to stop the promotion of spurious art simply because it serves as propaganda for dominant social tendencies. Edgetivism takes a path unlike that of the fake “activist art” which is made by wasting millions of government funds or fathers’ credit cards to make insincere “artworks” of counterfeit compassion that get applauded (the real reason why they’re made) for their virtue signalling without risking or changing anything. Edgetivism really has the potential, sincerity and willingness to cause significant change. When there are enough edgetivist works, society will have to confront the question of whether art is reality and whether art can be prosecuted or not. Unlike the “humanist” art of today, edgetivist art addresses ideas in their pure form, and so is individualistic and openly selfish in nature. The Edgetivist creates edgetivist art so that hopefully someday HE HIMSELF will have the right to create without banishment from portals of exhibition or any form of unnecessary legal proceedings. This is a selfish goal and this selfishness is why edgetivism is actually honest, which is a quality missing from the world of “art” and “activism” that virtue signalling opportunists dominated in order to get themselves recognized through works of bogus humanitarianism. In edgetivism, you actively put yourself at artistic risk with your “activism” simply to remind people that art is not real life and can not be held accountable for people’s feelings or deeds. The Edgetivist will explore the most socially unacceptable aspects of life in his art. Not only does the work have to be breaking some sort of law that goes against freedom of artistic expression but also be reprehensible to the point of leaving 95% of society in shock. If you can put the contents of the work on a t-shirt and walk without getting into trouble with most people on the street, then it has failed to be edgetivist. This takes into account the factor of time; each edgetivist must and should confront the norms of his time. This means that a work that is edgetivism now, but becomes socially normalized over time, will cease to be edgetivist. Like art itself, edgetivism is an inevitably passing quality. We are not a group or social clique; an edgetivist artist is alone by definition. The moment something becomes safe, go the other way. Whenever you feel that you are becoming part of a group, destroy it. PART 4 – THE MANUAL A practical guide to do Edgetivism. Poke the ART CANCER called “identity politics” with all weapons that you’ve got. Kill sacred cows: never just write about “violence”; always include a character that consumer society will identify with such as a cat, a baby, a homeless woman, a “nigger,” a “Jew,” a “faggot,” a white boy hung by the neck, an American flag burnt by Mexicans. Use words and expressions that the most unsophisticated people (lowest common denominator) can understand. Do not veil your “edginess” in subtlety or sophistication; we are artistic activists. The best edgetivist works transcend labels with clever usage of oxymoronic juxtapositions. So long as you have that one aspect that makes your work “deplorable” then the rest is completely up to you. Belittle so called “extreme” artists who fail to engage in any edgetivism. They aren’t our friends by any stretch; as a matter of fact they ARE the enemy. Alienate every scumbag who is a part of the rotting of Art through safetyism. They enable the hangman. Always produce work that side against the predominant people in the art world. Make anti-Christian & feminist art in middle age Europe, make anti-Islamic & anti-feminist art in 2016 Europe. Never side with anyone for your benefit. Be alone. Always praise the enemies of your audience, and when those enemies come to congratulate you, say “fuck you” and praise the enemies of those enemies. If/when you win an award, turn the ceremony into an antisocial performance art, destroy the reward and tell them about edgetivism. Make art to invoke hatred and fear. Not through sensory aspects, but through challenging morality. Never hope for success or recognition. PART 5 – HYPOCRISY The hypocrisy in how people view and deal with art. It is known that certain antisocial behavior is completely accepted in art whereas others are shunned for their violation of the societal norms of their times. If Quentin Tarantino is not a murderer, neither is Red Bible Black a group of pedophiles for making songs about raping children. The moralists always talk about a “dangerous message” that certain artworks send and set precedents of outlawing certain expressions in the name of their “toxicity” where there is no scientific evidence to prove it is an active and provable harm. Teaching children that art is important because of creativity and expression, while simultaneously enforcing social norms on it thereafter, guarantees more danger in society by means of repression, regression, and ignorance. Those who fear school shootings, for example, instead of attempting to understand these antisocial thoughts, react by suppressing them, forcing them to be expressed in real life and not art, fantasy, or dreams. Psychological sublimation of violent antisocial urges into extreme art should be encouraged rather than censored. Evil art gives people a healthy coping mechanism for evil. Art provides the inverse of reality in its topics. Propaganda and advertising, however, are not inverted; what they show you, they want to manipulate you to adopt. PART 6 – GOALS Practical end goals we want to achieve. The most important outcome we desire is establishing a culture of artistic freedom. A more utopian outcome is an ultra enforced freedom of expression “sanctity” when the subject is a work of art. In the intermediate, we intend to force a total immunity from law enforcement AND being removed from open hosting communities of the artwork and its authors for anything that the said work presumably might influence. We sponsor any efforts to guarantee that no entity shall be enabled to completely wipe expression of art from history on their platforms. We do not oppose ratings or voluntary filters, but outright banishment is the enemy. We seek to broaden individual choice by creating more robust online platforms that give users more control over what they see. Another utopian goal comprises our desire to disrupt the circle jerk of virtue signalling and safetyism in the world of art. The most important way we will fight for these goals is through making completely antisocial works of art. Relentless and always pushing for more. We do not care about being banned, beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Edgetivists do not give up; we will always push the edges of art. Art is limitless! PART 7 – MOMENT OF TRUTH or word of warning… You may read this manifesto and feel like it fills your useless life with purpose. You may feel that this is such a “cool” idea. You may think, “Hell, I want to do edgetivism.” You may want to start a new project. But when it is the moment to actually do it, you will be filled with hesitation. You will think about the possible aftermaths. Your inner pussy will try to stop you; this is self-censoring. While the “narcissist” inside you will tell you to give it a try. If you are having these thoughts, do NOT attempt edgetivism. This is not something “cool” or “fun”; this is war. PART 8 – TRAILBLAZER Some encouraging words… What you do is nothing short of genius. Expect to run into haters from all angles. They will all get offended for various different reasons. However, they will all act like they don’t “actually” get offended. They will try to say that they aren’t offended and that the work is “stupid,” as if they take the time of the day to take action on every “stupid” thing they see. In reality, they are offended because they envy the attention you get with such simplicity. Your symbols are more powerful than theirs. They will say to themselves, “I can do this too but I choose not to.” This is a pathetic excuse they give to themselves for failing themselves in being as great as you. They will call you “edgy” as if it was supposed to be hurtful. Of course you are edgy; this is art and it is supposed to be edgy. They will hate you solely because they wish they could do edgy stuff but they are trapped in their own fear of being socially ostracized. They are only blaming themselves for being too much of pussies to do what you do: trailblazingEDGETIVISM
The Manifesto Written by Chaoscunt With contributions from Erica Frevel, Sidney Lundy, S.V. Edited by Brett Stevens
Edgetivism is the practice of stamping your art with the most
reprehensible themes of your time to defend the idea that art is
limitless.
www.edgetivism.com
PART 1 – ART NOT REALITY Why art is not real life and
should not be treated as such.
1. Art is not real life.
2. Art is a limitless “virtual reality” and there can be no direct
causal link between art and life because art, without a
perceiver, has no agency of its own. Consequently, its
creators cannot be held “accountable” for their art in any
degree.
3. Humans frequently scapegoat art for the problems of their
world, which is a way of denying their own responsibility and
pretending that the fault lies with the art.
4. When a work of art forms connection to real life, the people
interacting with it are responsible for their own decisions and
cannot blame the art.
5. Art requires continual expansion in all directions in order to
maintain its status as a space for conjecture and catharsis. The
further one ventures within the confines of fine art medium,
the stronger art as a whole will be.
6. Like fantasy, art allows us to freely and often metaphorically
express ourselves through psychological processes, which is
why we allow depictions of murder and acts of antisocial
lawlessness.
7. In order to allow this exploration, the artist must work within
the canvas of that which is stimulating, which includes the
shocking, disturbing, and terrifying.
8. For this reason, it is the duty of the audience to regulate their
own offense. Art is not offensive; our reactions to it are.
9. Psychological sublimation provides a healthy coping
mechanism that when thwarted through censorship, causes
more harm and violence than any antisocial art ever has.
10. Antisocial art provides a cathartic therapeutic process
by which humans assess their own impulses, psychologies
and thoughts.
PART 2 – VIRTUESTIGMAISM & SAFETYISM Identifying
the hindrance of artistic progress.
www.edgetivism.com
1. A mental virus conquered the art world some time ago, and
now has polluted all of its output.
2. Called henceforth virtuestigmaism, this virus categorizes
works of art by their most superficial aspects, notably
“political” associations. This destroys the nature of art as
exploration.
3. Stigmatisation: Since art must push the boundaries of
thought, it will naturally touch on the disturbing, which leads
to accusations of “crypto-fascism” and “blasphemy” or other
political terms by those who fear disruption of their bourgeois
and consumerist worldview.
4. Virtuism: On the other end of the spectrum is the “virtue
signalling,” a form of trying to expand the social status of the
artist by making art about opinions that people already hold,
which is the philosophical equivalent of making decoration or
another commercial product.
5. Consumer versions of “art” tend to reward virtuestigmaist
propaganda by promoting art valued for the sake of its
message, which is invariably political, such as the praise and
promotion of works about gays, religion, blacks, or
patriotism.
6. The virtuestigmaist art world disables aspiring artists by way
of online mobs threatening people’s careers, families, and
general safety. Artists labeled “problematic” for whatever
reason cannot apply for funds, to show their art at festivals,
rent a space to show it, or advertise it on social media. For the
sin of non-conformity, you do not exist.
7. Those who understand art realize that art in its whole form is
never political, and that the intention of its artist cannot be
read from its subject matter; a painting of bananas is not an
advertisement or propaganda for bananas. In this way, art is
different from all other media that we consume.
8. The consumer mindset, which we will call safetyism, is a
form of politically correct and socially-acceptable artistic
castration designed to hide the dark tendencies of humanity
which we must explore if we hope to understand ourselves.
www.edgetivism.com
9. Safetyism can be understood as a form of self-censorship by
forcing conformity to the dominant social tendencies of the
time. This construes a blow against progress, growth, and
evolution through the thought experiments of art.
10. A safetyist is not necessarily a virtuestigmaist, but
someone who accepts their authority and goes out of his way
to avoid conflict.
11. There can be no virtue through compulsion. Art made
from a desire to avoid punishment is mere propaganda on par
with the works of the Soviets or National Socialists.
PART 3 – EDGETIVISM How we will do activism through
being edgy.
1. To resurrect art, we must engage in edgetivism, a
portmanteau of “edgy” and “activism.” This means art, which
believes that in order to be limitless, art itself must push
against the boundaries that we fear the most.
2. Edgetivism aims to both liberate artists who either do not
believe in political correctness or will exist in a future where
they will not have to bother with such nonsense, and to stop
the promotion of spurious art simply because it serves as
propaganda for dominant social tendencies.
3. Edgetivism takes a path unlike that of the fake “activist art”
which is made by wasting millions of government funds or
fathers’ credit cards to make insincere “artworks” of
counterfeit compassion that get applauded (the real reason
why they’re made) for their virtue signalling without risking
or changing anything. Edgetivism really has the potential,
sincerity and willingness to cause significant change.
4. When there are enough edgetivist works, society will have to
confront the question of whether art is reality and whether art
can be prosecuted or not.
5. Unlike the “humanist” art of today, edgetivist art addresses
ideas in their pure form, and so is individualistic and openly
selfish in nature.
6. The Edgetivist creates edgetivist art so that hopefully
someday HE HIMSELF will have the right to create without
www.edgetivism.com
banishment from portals of exhibition or any form of
unnecessary legal proceedings. This is a selfish goal and this
selfishness is why edgetivism is actually honest, which is a
quality missing from the world of “art” and “activism” that
virtue signalling opportunists dominated in order to get
themselves recognized through works of bogus
humanitarianism.
7. In edgetivism, you actively put yourself at artistic risk with
your “activism” simply to remind people that art is not real
life and can not be held accountable for people’s feelings or
deeds.
8. The Edgetivist will explore the most socially unacceptable
aspects of life in his art. Not only does the work have to be
breaking some sort of law that goes against freedom of
artistic expression but also be reprehensible to the point of
leaving 95% of society in shock. If you can put the contents
of the work on a t-shirt and walk without getting into trouble
with most people on the street, then it has failed to be
edgetivist.
9. This takes into account the factor of time; each edgetivist
must and should confront the norms of his time. This means
that a work that is edgetivism now, but becomes socially
normalized over time, will cease to be edgetivist. Like art
itself, edgetivism is an inevitably passing quality.
10. We are not a group or social clique; an edgetivist artist
is alone by definition. The moment something becomes safe,
go the other way. Whenever you feel that you are becoming
part of a group, destroy it.
PART 4 – THE MANUAL A practical guide to do Edgetivism.
1. Poke the ART CANCER called “identity politics” with all
weapons that you’ve got.
2. Kill sacred cows: never just write about “violence”; always
include a character that consumer society will identify with
such as a cat, a baby, a homeless woman, a “nigger,” a “Jew,”
a “faggot,” a white boy hung by the neck, an American flag
burnt by Mexicans.
3. Use words and expressions that the most unsophisticated
people (lowest common denominator) can understand. Do not
veil your “edginess” in subtlety or sophistication; we are
artistic activists.
4. The best edgetivist works transcend labels with clever usage
of oxymoronic juxtapositions. So long as you have that one
aspect that makes your work “deplorable” then the rest is
completely up to you.
5. Belittle so called “extreme” artists who fail to engage in any
edgetivism. They aren’t our friends by any stretch; as a
matter of fact they ARE the enemy. Alienate every scumbag
who is a part of the rotting of Art through safetyism. They
enable the hangman.
6. Always produce work that side against the predominant
people in the art world. Make anti-Christian & feminist art in
middle age Europe, make anti-Islamic & anti-feminist art in
2016 Europe. Never side with anyone for your benefit. Be
alone.
7. Always praise the enemies of your audience, and when those
enemies come to congratulate you, say “fuck you” and praise
the enemies of those enemies.
8. If/when you win an award, turn the ceremony into an
antisocial performance art, destroy the reward and tell them
about edgetivism.
9. Make art to invoke hatred and fear. Not through sensory
aspects, but through challenging morality.
10. Never hope for success or recognition.
PART 5 – HYPOCRISY The hypocrisy in how people view and
deal with art.
1. It is known that certain antisocial behavior is completely
accepted in art whereas others are shunned for their violation
of the societal norms of their times.
2. If Quentin Tarantino is not a murderer, neither is Red Bible
Black a group of pedophiles for making songs about raping
children.
www.edgetivism.com
3. The moralists always talk about a “dangerous message” that
certain artworks send and set precedents of outlawing certain
expressions in the name of their “toxicity” where there is no
scientific evidence to prove it is an active and provable harm.
4. Teaching children that art is important because of creativity
and expression, while simultaneously enforcing social norms
on it thereafter, guarantees more danger in society by means
of repression, regression, and ignorance.
5. Those who fear school shootings, for example, instead of
attempting to understand these antisocial thoughts, react by
suppressing them, forcing them to be expressed in real life
and not art, fantasy, or dreams.
6. Psychological sublimation of violent antisocial urges into
extreme art should be encouraged rather than censored. Evil
art gives people a healthy coping mechanism for evil.
7. Art provides the inverse of reality in its topics. Propaganda
and advertising, however, are not inverted; what they show
you, they want to manipulate you to adopt.
PART 6 – GOALS Practical end goals we want to achieve.
1. The most important outcome we desire is establishing a
culture of artistic freedom.
2. A more utopian outcome is an ultra enforced freedom of
expression “sanctity” when the subject is a work of art.
3. In the intermediate, we intend to force a total immunity from
law enforcement AND being removed from open hosting
communities of the artwork and its authors for anything that
the said work presumably might influence.
4. We sponsor any efforts to guarantee that no entity shall be
enabled to completely wipe expression of art from history on
their platforms. We do not oppose ratings or voluntary filters,
but outright banishment is the enemy.
5. We seek to broaden individual choice by creating more
robust online platforms that give users more control over
what they see.
www.edgetivism.com
6. Another utopian goal comprises our desire to disrupt the
circle jerk of virtue signalling and safetyism in the world of
art.
7. The most important way we will fight for these goals is
through making completely antisocial works of art. Relentless
and always pushing for more.
8. We do not care about being banned, beaten, imprisoned,
tortured, and killed. Edgetivists do not give up; we will
always push the edges of art.
9. Art is limitless!
PART 7 – MOMENT OF TRUTH or word of warning...
1. You may read this manifesto and feel like it fills your useless
life with purpose.
2. You may feel that this is such a “cool” idea.
3. You may think, “Hell, I want to do edgetivism.”
4. You may want to start a new project.
5. But when it is the moment to actually do it, you will be filled
with hesitation.
6. You will think about the possible aftermaths.
7. Your inner pussy will try to stop you; this is self-censoring.
8. While the “narcissist” inside you will tell you to give it a try.
9. If you are having these thoughts, do NOT attempt
edgetivism.
10. This is not something “cool” or “fun”; this is war.
PART 8 – TRAILBLAZER Some encouraging words...
1. What you do is nothing short of genius.
2. Expect to run into haters from all angles.
3. They will all get offended for various different reasons.
4. However, they will all act like they don’t “actually” get
offended.
5. They will try to say that they aren’t offended and that the
work is “stupid,” as if they take the time of the day to take
action on every “stupid” thing they see.
www.edgetivism.com
6. In reality, they are offended because they envy the attention
you get with such simplicity. Your symbols are more
powerful than theirs.
7. They will say to themselves, “I can do this too but I choose
not to.”
8. This is a pathetic excuse they give to themselves for failing
themselves in being as great as you.
9. They will call you “edgy” as if it was supposed to be hurtful.
Of course you are edgy; this is art and it is supposed to be
edgy.
10. They will hate you solely because they wish they could
do edgy stuff but they are trapped in their own fear of being
socially ostracized.
11. They are only blaming themselves for being too much
of pussies to do what you do: trailblazing
Edgetivism is the practice of stamping your art with the most
reprehensible themes of your time to defend the idea that art is
limitless.
www.edgetivism.com
PART 1 – ART NOT REALITY Why art is not real life and
should not be treated as such.
1. Art is not real life.
2. Art is a limitless “virtual reality” and there can be no direct
causal link between art and life because art, without a
perceiver, has no agency of its own. Consequently, its
creators cannot be held “accountable” for their art in any
degree.
3. Humans frequently scapegoat art for the problems of their
world, which is a way of denying their own responsibility and
pretending that the fault lies with the art.
4. When a work of art forms connection to real life, the people
interacting with it are responsible for their own decisions and
cannot blame the art.
5. Art requires continual expansion in all directions in order to
maintain its status as a space for conjecture and catharsis. The
further one ventures within the confines of fine art medium,
the stronger art as a whole will be.
6. Like fantasy, art allows us to freely and often metaphorically
express ourselves through psychological processes, which is
why we allow depictions of murder and acts of antisocial
lawlessness.
7. In order to allow this exploration, the artist must work within
the canvas of that which is stimulating, which includes the
shocking, disturbing, and terrifying.
8. For this reason, it is the duty of the audience to regulate their
own offense. Art is not offensive; our reactions to it are.
9. Psychological sublimation provides a healthy coping
mechanism that when thwarted through censorship, causes
more harm and violence than any antisocial art ever has.
10. Antisocial art provides a cathartic therapeutic process
by which humans assess their own impulses, psychologies
and thoughts.
PART 2 – VIRTUESTIGMAISM & SAFETYISM Identifying
the hindrance of artistic progress.
www.edgetivism.com
1. A mental virus conquered the art world some time ago, and
now has polluted all of its output.
2. Called henceforth virtuestigmaism, this virus categorizes
works of art by their most superficial aspects, notably
“political” associations. This destroys the nature of art as
exploration.
3. Stigmatisation: Since art must push the boundaries of
thought, it will naturally touch on the disturbing, which leads
to accusations of “crypto-fascism” and “blasphemy” or other
political terms by those who fear disruption of their bourgeois
and consumerist worldview.
4. Virtuism: On the other end of the spectrum is the “virtue
signalling,” a form of trying to expand the social status of the
artist by making art about opinions that people already hold,
which is the philosophical equivalent of making decoration or
another commercial product.
5. Consumer versions of “art” tend to reward virtuestigmaist
propaganda by promoting art valued for the sake of its
message, which is invariably political, such as the praise and
promotion of works about gays, religion, blacks, or
patriotism.
6. The virtuestigmaist art world disables aspiring artists by way
of online mobs threatening people’s careers, families, and
general safety. Artists labeled “problematic” for whatever
reason cannot apply for funds, to show their art at festivals,
rent a space to show it, or advertise it on social media. For the
sin of non-conformity, you do not exist.
7. Those who understand art realize that art in its whole form is
never political, and that the intention of its artist cannot be
read from its subject matter; a painting of bananas is not an
advertisement or propaganda for bananas. In this way, art is
different from all other media that we consume.
8. The consumer mindset, which we will call safetyism, is a
form of politically correct and socially-acceptable artistic
castration designed to hide the dark tendencies of humanity
which we must explore if we hope to understand ourselves.
www.edgetivism.com
9. Safetyism can be understood as a form of self-censorship by
forcing conformity to the dominant social tendencies of the
time. This construes a blow against progress, growth, and
evolution through the thought experiments of art.
10. A safetyist is not necessarily a virtuestigmaist, but
someone who accepts their authority and goes out of his way
to avoid conflict.
11. There can be no virtue through compulsion. Art made
from a desire to avoid punishment is mere propaganda on par
with the works of the Soviets or National Socialists.
PART 3 – EDGETIVISM How we will do activism through
being edgy.
1. To resurrect art, we must engage in edgetivism, a
portmanteau of “edgy” and “activism.” This means art, which
believes that in order to be limitless, art itself must push
against the boundaries that we fear the most.
2. Edgetivism aims to both liberate artists who either do not
believe in political correctness or will exist in a future where
they will not have to bother with such nonsense, and to stop
the promotion of spurious art simply because it serves as
propaganda for dominant social tendencies.
3. Edgetivism takes a path unlike that of the fake “activist art”
which is made by wasting millions of government funds or
fathers’ credit cards to make insincere “artworks” of
counterfeit compassion that get applauded (the real reason
why they’re made) for their virtue signalling without risking
or changing anything. Edgetivism really has the potential,
sincerity and willingness to cause significant change.
4. When there are enough edgetivist works, society will have to
confront the question of whether art is reality and whether art
can be prosecuted or not.
5. Unlike the “humanist” art of today, edgetivist art addresses
ideas in their pure form, and so is individualistic and openly
selfish in nature.
6. The Edgetivist creates edgetivist art so that hopefully
someday HE HIMSELF will have the right to create without
www.edgetivism.com
banishment from portals of exhibition or any form of
unnecessary legal proceedings. This is a selfish goal and this
selfishness is why edgetivism is actually honest, which is a
quality missing from the world of “art” and “activism” that
virtue signalling opportunists dominated in order to get
themselves recognized through works of bogus
humanitarianism.
7. In edgetivism, you actively put yourself at artistic risk with
your “activism” simply to remind people that art is not real
life and can not be held accountable for people’s feelings or
deeds.
8. The Edgetivist will explore the most socially unacceptable
aspects of life in his art. Not only does the work have to be
breaking some sort of law that goes against freedom of
artistic expression but also be reprehensible to the point of
leaving 95% of society in shock. If you can put the contents
of the work on a t-shirt and walk without getting into trouble
with most people on the street, then it has failed to be
edgetivist.
9. This takes into account the factor of time; each edgetivist
must and should confront the norms of his time. This means
that a work that is edgetivism now, but becomes socially
normalized over time, will cease to be edgetivist. Like art
itself, edgetivism is an inevitably passing quality.
10. We are not a group or social clique; an edgetivist artist
is alone by definition. The moment something becomes safe,
go the other way. Whenever you feel that you are becoming
part of a group, destroy it.
PART 4 – THE MANUAL A practical guide to do Edgetivism.
1. Poke the ART CANCER called “identity politics” with all
weapons that you’ve got.
2. Kill sacred cows: never just write about “violence”; always
include a character that consumer society will identify with
such as a cat, a baby, a homeless woman, a “nigger,” a “Jew,”
a “faggot,” a white boy hung by the neck, an American flag
burnt by Mexicans.
3. Use words and expressions that the most unsophisticated
people (lowest common denominator) can understand. Do not
veil your “edginess” in subtlety or sophistication; we are
artistic activists.
4. The best edgetivist works transcend labels with clever usage
of oxymoronic juxtapositions. So long as you have that one
aspect that makes your work “deplorable” then the rest is
completely up to you.
5. Belittle so called “extreme” artists who fail to engage in any
edgetivism. They aren’t our friends by any stretch; as a
matter of fact they ARE the enemy. Alienate every scumbag
who is a part of the rotting of Art through safetyism. They
enable the hangman.
6. Always produce work that side against the predominant
people in the art world. Make anti-Christian & feminist art in
middle age Europe, make anti-Islamic & anti-feminist art in
2016 Europe. Never side with anyone for your benefit. Be
alone.
7. Always praise the enemies of your audience, and when those
enemies come to congratulate you, say “fuck you” and praise
the enemies of those enemies.
8. If/when you win an award, turn the ceremony into an
antisocial performance art, destroy the reward and tell them
about edgetivism.
9. Make art to invoke hatred and fear. Not through sensory
aspects, but through challenging morality.
10. Never hope for success or recognition.
PART 5 – HYPOCRISY The hypocrisy in how people view and
deal with art.
1. It is known that certain antisocial behavior is completely
accepted in art whereas others are shunned for their violation
of the societal norms of their times.
2. If Quentin Tarantino is not a murderer, neither is Red Bible
Black a group of pedophiles for making songs about raping
children.
www.edgetivism.com
3. The moralists always talk about a “dangerous message” that
certain artworks send and set precedents of outlawing certain
expressions in the name of their “toxicity” where there is no
scientific evidence to prove it is an active and provable harm.
4. Teaching children that art is important because of creativity
and expression, while simultaneously enforcing social norms
on it thereafter, guarantees more danger in society by means
of repression, regression, and ignorance.
5. Those who fear school shootings, for example, instead of
attempting to understand these antisocial thoughts, react by
suppressing them, forcing them to be expressed in real life
and not art, fantasy, or dreams.
6. Psychological sublimation of violent antisocial urges into
extreme art should be encouraged rather than censored. Evil
art gives people a healthy coping mechanism for evil.
7. Art provides the inverse of reality in its topics. Propaganda
and advertising, however, are not inverted; what they show
you, they want to manipulate you to adopt.
PART 6 – GOALS Practical end goals we want to achieve.
1. The most important outcome we desire is establishing a
culture of artistic freedom.
2. A more utopian outcome is an ultra enforced freedom of
expression “sanctity” when the subject is a work of art.
3. In the intermediate, we intend to force a total immunity from
law enforcement AND being removed from open hosting
communities of the artwork and its authors for anything that
the said work presumably might influence.
4. We sponsor any efforts to guarantee that no entity shall be
enabled to completely wipe expression of art from history on
their platforms. We do not oppose ratings or voluntary filters,
but outright banishment is the enemy.
5. We seek to broaden individual choice by creating more
robust online platforms that give users more control over
what they see.
www.edgetivism.com
6. Another utopian goal comprises our desire to disrupt the
circle jerk of virtue signalling and safetyism in the world of
art.
7. The most important way we will fight for these goals is
through making completely antisocial works of art. Relentless
and always pushing for more.
8. We do not care about being banned, beaten, imprisoned,
tortured, and killed. Edgetivists do not give up; we will
always push the edges of art.
9. Art is limitless!
PART 7 – MOMENT OF TRUTH or word of warning...
1. You may read this manifesto and feel like it fills your useless
life with purpose.
2. You may feel that this is such a “cool” idea.
3. You may think, “Hell, I want to do edgetivism.”
4. You may want to start a new project.
5. But when it is the moment to actually do it, you will be filled
with hesitation.
6. You will think about the possible aftermaths.
7. Your inner pussy will try to stop you; this is self-censoring.
8. While the “narcissist” inside you will tell you to give it a try.
9. If you are having these thoughts, do NOT attempt
edgetivism.
10. This is not something “cool” or “fun”; this is war.
PART 8 – TRAILBLAZER Some encouraging words...
1. What you do is nothing short of genius.
2. Expect to run into haters from all angles.
3. They will all get offended for various different reasons.
4. However, they will all act like they don’t “actually” get
offended.
5. They will try to say that they aren’t offended and that the
work is “stupid,” as if they take the time of the day to take
action on every “stupid” thing they see.
www.edgetivism.com
6. In reality, they are offended because they envy the attention
you get with such simplicity. Your symbols are more
powerful than theirs.
7. They will say to themselves, “I can do this too but I choose
not to.”
8. This is a pathetic excuse they give to themselves for failing
themselves in being as great as you.
9. They will call you “edgy” as if it was supposed to be hurtful.
Of course you are edgy; this is art and it is supposed to be
edgy.
10. They will hate you solely because they wish they could
do edgy stuff but they are trapped in their own fear of being
socially ostracized.
11. They are only blaming themselves for being too much
of pussies to do what you do: trailblazing
Edgetivism is the practice of stamping your art with the most reprehensible themes of your time to defend the idea that art is limitless. www.edgetivism.com PART 1 – ART NOT REALITY Why art is not real life and should not be treated as such. 1. Art is not real life. 2. Art is a limitless “virtual reality” and there can be no direct causal link between art and life because art, without a perceiver, has no agency of its own. Consequently, its creators cannot be held “accountable” for their art in any degree. 3. Humans frequently scapegoat art for the problems of their world, which is a way of denying their own responsibility and pretending that the fault lies with the art. 4. When a work of art forms connection to real life, the people interacting with it are responsible for their own decisions and cannot blame the art. 5. Art requires continual expansion in all directions in order to maintain its status as a space for conjecture and catharsis. The further one ventures within the confines of fine art medium, the stronger art as a whole will be. 6. Like fantasy, art allows us to freely and often metaphorically express ourselves through psychological processes, which is why we allow depictions of murder and acts of antisocial lawlessness. 7. In order to allow this exploration, the artist must work within the canvas of that which is stimulating, which includes the shocking, disturbing, and terrifying. 8. For this reason, it is the duty of the audience to regulate their own offense. Art is not offensive; our reactions to it are. 9. Psychological sublimation provides a healthy coping mechanism that when thwarted through censorship, causes more harm and violence than any antisocial art ever has. 10. Antisocial art provides a cathartic therapeutic process by which humans assess their own impulses, psychologies and thoughts. PART 2 – VIRTUESTIGMAISM & SAFETYISM Identifying the hindrance of artistic progress. www.edgetivism.com 1. A mental virus conquered the art world some time ago, and now has polluted all of its output. 2. Called henceforth virtuestigmaism, this virus categorizes works of art by their most superficial aspects, notably “political” associations. This destroys the nature of art as exploration. 3. Stigmatisation: Since art must push the boundaries of thought, it will naturally touch on the disturbing, which leads to accusations of “crypto-fascism” and “blasphemy” or other political terms by those who fear disruption of their bourgeois and consumerist worldview. 4. Virtuism: On the other end of the spectrum is the “virtue signalling,” a form of trying to expand the social status of the artist by making art about opinions that people already hold, which is the philosophical equivalent of making decoration or another commercial product. 5. Consumer versions of “art” tend to reward virtuestigmaist propaganda by promoting art valued for the sake of its message, which is invariably political, such as the praise and promotion of works about gays, religion, blacks, or patriotism. 6. The virtuestigmaist art world disables aspiring artists by way of online mobs threatening people’s careers, families, and general safety. Artists labeled “problematic” for whatever reason cannot apply for funds, to show their art at festivals, rent a space to show it, or advertise it on social media. For the sin of non-conformity, you do not exist. 7. Those who understand art realize that art in its whole form is never political, and that the intention of its artist cannot be read from its subject matter; a painting of bananas is not an advertisement or propaganda for bananas. In this way, art is different from all other media that we consume. 8. The consumer mindset, which we will call safetyism, is a form of politically correct and socially-acceptable artistic castration designed to hide the dark tendencies of humanity which we must explore if we hope to understand ourselves. www.edgetivism.com 9. Safetyism can be understood as a form of self-censorship by forcing conformity to the dominant social tendencies of the time. This construes a blow against progress, growth, and evolution through the thought experiments of art. 10. A safetyist is not necessarily a virtuestigmaist, but someone who accepts their authority and goes out of his way to avoid conflict. 11. There can be no virtue through compulsion. Art made from a desire to avoid punishment is mere propaganda on par with the works of the Soviets or National Socialists. PART 3 – EDGETIVISM How we will do activism through being edgy. 1. To resurrect art, we must engage in edgetivism, a portmanteau of “edgy” and “activism.” This means art, which believes that in order to be limitless, art itself must push against the boundaries that we fear the most. 2. Edgetivism aims to both liberate artists who either do not believe in political correctness or will exist in a future where they will not have to bother with such nonsense, and to stop the promotion of spurious art simply because it serves as propaganda for dominant social tendencies. 3. Edgetivism takes a path unlike that of the fake “activist art” which is made by wasting millions of government funds or fathers’ credit cards to make insincere “artworks” of counterfeit compassion that get applauded (the real reason why they’re made) for their virtue signalling without risking or changing anything. Edgetivism really has the potential, sincerity and willingness to cause significant change. 4. When there are enough edgetivist works, society will have to confront the question of whether art is reality and whether art can be prosecuted or not. 5. Unlike the “humanist” art of today, edgetivist art addresses ideas in their pure form, and so is individualistic and openly selfish in nature. 6. The Edgetivist creates edgetivist art so that hopefully someday HE HIMSELF will have the right to create without www.edgetivism.com banishment from portals of exhibition or any form of unnecessary legal proceedings. This is a selfish goal and this selfishness is why edgetivism is actually honest, which is a quality missing from the world of “art” and “activism” that virtue signalling opportunists dominated in order to get themselves recognized through works of bogus humanitarianism. 7. In edgetivism, you actively put yourself at artistic risk with your “activism” simply to remind people that art is not real life and can not be held accountable for people’s feelings or deeds. 8. The Edgetivist will explore the most socially unacceptable aspects of life in his art. Not only does the work have to be breaking some sort of law that goes against freedom of artistic expression but also be reprehensible to the point of leaving 95% of society in shock. If you can put the contents of the work on a t-shirt and walk without getting into trouble with most people on the street, then it has failed to be edgetivist. 9. This takes into account the factor of time; each edgetivist must and should confront the norms of his time. This means that a work that is edgetivism now, but becomes socially normalized over time, will cease to be edgetivist. Like art itself, edgetivism is an inevitably passing quality. 10. We are not a group or social clique; an edgetivist artist is alone by definition. The moment something becomes safe, go the other way. Whenever you feel that you are becoming part of a group, destroy it. PART 4 – THE MANUAL A practical guide to do Edgetivism. 1. Poke the ART CANCER called “identity politics” with all weapons that you’ve got. 2. Kill sacred cows: never just write about “violence”; always include a character that consumer society will identify with such as a cat, a baby, a homeless woman, a “nigger,” a “Jew,” a “faggot,” a white boy hung by the neck, an American flag burnt by Mexicans. 3. Use words and expressions that the most unsophisticated people (lowest common denominator) can understand. Do not veil your “edginess” in subtlety or sophistication; we are artistic activists. 4. The best edgetivist works transcend labels with clever usage of oxymoronic juxtapositions. So long as you have that one aspect that makes your work “deplorable” then the rest is completely up to you. 5. Belittle so called “extreme” artists who fail to engage in any edgetivism. They aren’t our friends by any stretch; as a matter of fact they ARE the enemy. Alienate every scumbag who is a part of the rotting of Art through safetyism. They enable the hangman. 6. Always produce work that side against the predominant people in the art world. Make anti-Christian & feminist art in middle age Europe, make anti-Islamic & anti-feminist art in 2016 Europe. Never side with anyone for your benefit. Be alone. 7. Always praise the enemies of your audience, and when those enemies come to congratulate you, say “fuck you” and praise the enemies of those enemies. 8. If/when you win an award, turn the ceremony into an antisocial performance art, destroy the reward and tell them about edgetivism. 9. Make art to invoke hatred and fear. Not through sensory aspects, but through challenging morality. 10. Never hope for success or recognition. PART 5 – HYPOCRISY The hypocrisy in how people view and deal with art. 1. It is known that certain antisocial behavior is completely accepted in art whereas others are shunned for their violation of the societal norms of their times. 2. If Quentin Tarantino is not a murderer, neither is Red Bible Black a group of pedophiles for making songs about raping children. www.edgetivism.com 3. The moralists always talk about a “dangerous message” that certain artworks send and set precedents of outlawing certain expressions in the name of their “toxicity” where there is no scientific evidence to prove it is an active and provable harm. 4. Teaching children that art is important because of creativity and expression, while simultaneously enforcing social norms on it thereafter, guarantees more danger in society by means of repression, regression, and ignorance. 5. Those who fear school shootings, for example, instead of attempting to understand these antisocial thoughts, react by suppressing them, forcing them to be expressed in real life and not art, fantasy, or dreams. 6. Psychological sublimation of violent antisocial urges into extreme art should be encouraged rather than censored. Evil art gives people a healthy coping mechanism for evil. 7. Art provides the inverse of reality in its topics. Propaganda and advertising, however, are not inverted; what they show you, they want to manipulate you to adopt. PART 6 – GOALS Practical end goals we want to achieve. 1. The most important outcome we desire is establishing a culture of artistic freedom. 2. A more utopian outcome is an ultra enforced freedom of expression “sanctity” when the subject is a work of art. 3. In the intermediate, we intend to force a total immunity from law enforcement AND being removed from open hosting communities of the artwork and its authors for anything that the said work presumably might influence. 4. We sponsor any efforts to guarantee that no entity shall be enabled to completely wipe expression of art from history on their platforms. We do not oppose ratings or voluntary filters, but outright banishment is the enemy. 5. We seek to broaden individual choice by creating more robust online platforms that give users more control over what they see. www.edgetivism.com 6. Another utopian goal comprises our desire to disrupt the circle jerk of virtue signalling and safetyism in the world of art. 7. The most important way we will fight for these goals is through making completely antisocial works of art. Relentless and always pushing for more. 8. We do not care about being banned, beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Edgetivists do not give up; we will always push the edges of art. 9. Art is limitless! PART 7 – MOMENT OF TRUTH or word of warning... 1. You may read this manifesto and feel like it fills your useless life with purpose. 2. You may feel that this is such a “cool” idea. 3. You may think, “Hell, I want to do edgetivism.” 4. You may want to start a new project. 5. But when it is the moment to actually do it, you will be filled with hesitation. 6. You will think about the possible aftermaths. 7. Your inner pussy will try to stop you; this is self-censoring. 8. While the “narcissist” inside you will tell you to give it a try. 9. If you are having these thoughts, do NOT attempt edgetivism. 10. This is not something “cool” or “fun”; this is war. PART 8 – TRAILBLAZER Some encouraging words... 1. What you do is nothing short of genius. 2. Expect to run into haters from all angles. 3. They will all get offended for various different reasons. 4. However, they will all act like they don’t “actually” get offended. 5. They will try to say that they aren’t offended and that the work is “stupid,” as if they take the time of the day to take action on every “stupid” thing they see. www.edgetivism.com 6. In reality, they are offended because they envy the attention you get with such simplicity. Your symbols are more powerful than theirs. 7. They will say to themselves, “I can do this too but I choose not to.” 8. This is a pathetic excuse they give to themselves for failing themselves in being as great as you. 9. They will call you “edgy” as if it was supposed to be hurtful. Of course you are edgy; this is art and it is supposed to be edgy. 10. They will hate you solely because they wish they could do edgy stuff but they are trapped in their own fear of being socially ostracized. 11. They are only blaming themselves for being too much of pussies to do what you do: trailblazing
