I got an email this morning from someone who just read my old manifesto, “A Call to Distract.” It had been lying in a notebook since he picked it up in 2003.
“A Call to Distract” was an essay I wrote for a group I was in, Afunctionul, and it’s purpose was to outline our mission of taking DIY, “indie” avenues seriously, and to express ideas I had about what it meant to oppose what you could call “industrialization” in the arts. (I didn’t use the term back then, instead keeping to the dichotomy of “indie” vs. “established” spheres)
Afunctionul never went on to continue the mission that the manifesto calls for. Furthermore, neither has anyone else. Understandably so–basically, I was calling for all misfits to band together. Not easy. Anyway, I’d like to reapproach the subject in light of the comments I’ve received in the email and just some general thoughts I kick around in my head while I’m sweeping up piles of debris or painting the trim.
I think I’ll make an “Archives” page on my web site and make a PDF to put up on it.