industrial writing manifesto
“how do we short circuit control?” - William Burroughs via Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
industrial writing (n.+v.) - writing which is informed by the aesthetics, processes, and ethics of industrial music. not necessarily about industrial music or music at all.
after Genesis Breyer P-Orridge:
“industrious;” a continual striving, creating, sharing, participating. writing that is spat out as of a machine. writing that flows from you without stoppage as industry flows, as a parody/as an improvement.
“for industrial people;” for/about/by those who are industrialized, who live through the daily grinding down of selfhood by industrialization and so too the grinding of experience into narrative, of narrative into meme.
either easy to consume, quick, speaking a common aesthetic language within the industrial landscape, and/or the opposite: impossible to categorize by industry standards, expansive beyond production timelines, abrasive and difficult to view. this paradox is the industrial subject’s paradox; i cannot thrive here and yet there is no alternative.
vulnerability as a means of subverting fascism. the alienation within the industrial, the intimacy at the center of abstractions.
as opposed to agricultural; thematically and spiritually concerned with human-made objects and practices, especially those which are out of tune with natural (non-human) forces.
beautification of the buzzsaw and also the fear of it. close examination of fear, anxiety, depression, oppression, etc.
never lingering in the garden without considering the gardeners, their tools, etc.
re: the entertainment INDUSTRY; awareness of, situating within. to participate and thrive within industry we must be aware of its corruption, its hinging upon capital, its sometime nefarious use as a distraction from social and political engagement.
after William Burroughs:
“something to do;” see 1.1. an immediate product which is edited very little, not concerned with audience experience so much as the act of making.
“see how [it falls];” in a sense, random. suggestive of randomness. not entirely planned. collaborative, unconscious, interactive, etc.
taken from surroundings. aware of surroundings. aware of author. aware of context. aware of the page on which it is written.
after Meg and Vincent Baker:
“play to find out;” see 2.2. not engineering architecturally perfect narratives but PLAYING as music, as a game, with macabre curiosity. allowing story to unfold, plots to have holes, characters to decide their own endings.
“barf forth;” see 1.1. description which must come out of the body as ejaculate or vomit, not dressing itself up. functional, true, gross if need be. assertive, intense, unstoppable.
“to do it, do it;” description is always inferior to action. thought/internal dialogue is always inferior to physical effects and manifestations. categorization is always inferior to individualization. when writing about a song, ask: why not play it? reproduce it? use the thing to describe the thing?
after the industrial arts:
design; while not scripted for traditional narrative catharsis (see 2.2 and 3.1), design is crucial to accessibility and functionality. design as for products. art as a product which is held in the hands and used in some way. design for function over aesthetic.
graphics; text-as-art. text-as-graphic. story-as-image. the awareness that a sentence has a graphic component, that each character is an image in itself.
engagement of the other senses in concert with the graphic. is writing text alone? is writing words (spoken or written)? if writing is not graphic or graphic alone, what is it? who consumes it?
computing; digital-art-as-digital. not seeking to be beyond but part of the digital landscape. even physical writing must contend with digital space. awareness that each sentence typed on computer was influenced by its hardware, its software, its design. the use of computers/AI as generative. interaction with computers as any other narrative device/element.
materiality; awareness of construction. of material. of engineering. the principles which hold up the industrial landscape, which house us, which house the computers which house stories. the utilization of 3D objects as/in story. the making of craft, the learning of skills, the use of writing process to affect material change.
aesthetically: thoughtful description of non-body objects as much as body objects. plastics, metals, etc. the personification of these objects and also their unique standing as human-made non-bodies.
functionally: some sociopolitical component. the paper on which a book is written costs human labor, costs natural material. the wattage used to power a computer costs human labor, costs natural material. if the process of writing does not spur some non-writing, practical, INDUSTRIAL act, it is not properly industrial writing.
after Saul Williams:
“hackers as artists;” see 4.3. subversion as art. activism as performance. and yet something beyond even this. hacker =/= artist but AS. a lens which sees art THROUGH action and not as a siloed act and product.
“another name for God: Motherboard;” reaching toward spirituality through technology. not only spiritual THEMES (see the Psychic TV albums of the same name) but spiritual PRACTICES. technoritual, writing-as-ritual, consumption-as-God. questioning of religion as code as architecture as dogma.
“use your instrument as metaphor;” trans-media thinking. multi, poly, symbio. parallel structures– a book which accompanies a CD which accompanies…– and single structures (instruments) which suggest and analyze other media, instruments, etc.
“dismantle definition, dogma, and duty;” all this having been said, there is no definition. definition creates binary, creates a structure against which industrial writing resists. all manifestos self destruct.
references/inspirations:
Baker, D. Vincent, and Meguey Baker. Apocalypse World: The Master of Ceremonies Playbook. 2010. 2nd ed., 2016.
Burroughs, William. “The Cut Up Method.” The Moderns: An Anthology of New Writing in America, edited by Leroi Jones, Corinth Books, 1963, https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/burroughs-cutup.html.
Industrial Technology Stage 6 Syllabus. Board of Studies NSW, 2008, https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/technologies/industrial-technology.
P-Orridge, Genesis. Industrial Records. http://brainwashed.com/tg/industrial.html. Accessed 23 Feb. 2022.
P-Orridge, Genesis, and Tim Mohr. Nonbinary: A Memoir. Abrams Press, 2021.
Williams, Saul. US (a.). First MTV Books/Gallery Books trade paperback edition, Gallery Books/MTV Books, 2015.
—. “Horn of the Clock-Bike.” MartyrLoserKing, Pirates Blend Records, Inc, 2016. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3x6pxpwd_w.
—. “Coltan as Cotton.” MartyrLoserKing, Pirates Blend Records, Inc, 2016. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXE0ZT-0Nxo.