As always, this is fantastic and a must read, Tristra!
Your argument that the increasingly fragmented nature of culture represents a new and exciting aesthetic development (rather than, as some of the discourse suggests, a crumbling of everything we know into ‘slop’ without meaning) nails it, and as usual you makes the case in a pretty damn convincing way!
I’d add one extension to your arguments — I’d think that much of the hesitancy to embrace the ’chaos’ of fragmented culture actually might originate from the fear of not being able monetize and scale it in the same - arguably more straightforward - ways that were available to the the previous eras shared ‘monoCulture’.
To this point, I love your recognition that “This approach is not new, I hear fans of avant and experimental music shouting, and that’s true, but it feels like it’s never been this widespread, accessible—and underestimated.”
Experimental and avant music has always had this fragmentary nature and has always succeeded in its aesthetic and cultural purpose in incredible ways. At the same time, the monetization paths for this type of work have sometimes been fraught — It’s easy to see how this links to why folks might be hesitant about ongoing fragmentation of popular culture - it’s the money!
Part of what’s exciting about this fragmentation, to me, is both the forward-thinking aesthetics and approaches of the works being produced, but also how folks are working to embrace the uncertainty and figure out how to make these fragmented models sustainable (in an economic sense) for artists and culture-makers — and also the opening it provides for rethinking the financial models around culture to be more equitable.
And again, looking to avant and experimental models might be useful here — where the focus is on achieving sustainability at smaller scale, and not chasing growth for growths sake (maybe then fragmentation can actually lead to a more healthy industry, with many more folks able to make good livings via sustainable, small scale models, rather than wealth being channeled to a few consolidated businesses/individuals).
As always, this is fantastic and a must read, Tristra!
Your argument that the increasingly fragmented nature of culture represents a new and exciting aesthetic development (rather than, as some of the discourse suggests, a crumbling of everything we know into ‘slop’ without meaning) nails it, and as usual you makes the case in a pretty damn convincing way!
I’d add one extension to your arguments — I’d think that much of the hesitancy to embrace the ’chaos’ of fragmented culture actually might originate from the fear of not being able monetize and scale it in the same - arguably more straightforward - ways that were available to the the previous eras shared ‘monoCulture’.
To this point, I love your recognition that “This approach is not new, I hear fans of avant and experimental music shouting, and that’s true, but it feels like it’s never been this widespread, accessible—and underestimated.”
Experimental and avant music has always had this fragmentary nature and has always succeeded in its aesthetic and cultural purpose in incredible ways. At the same time, the monetization paths for this type of work have sometimes been fraught — It’s easy to see how this links to why folks might be hesitant about ongoing fragmentation of popular culture - it’s the money!
Part of what’s exciting about this fragmentation, to me, is both the forward-thinking aesthetics and approaches of the works being produced, but also how folks are working to embrace the uncertainty and figure out how to make these fragmented models sustainable (in an economic sense) for artists and culture-makers — and also the opening it provides for rethinking the financial models around culture to be more equitable.
And again, looking to avant and experimental models might be useful here — where the focus is on achieving sustainability at smaller scale, and not chasing growth for growths sake (maybe then fragmentation can actually lead to a more healthy industry, with many more folks able to make good livings via sustainable, small scale models, rather than wealth being channeled to a few consolidated businesses/individuals).
Thanks for this great writing, Tristra!
Lovely and graceful writing. ❤️ Thank you.