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klitink manifesto
1st July 2005

Word doc version

Preface

In spite of being one of the founding fathers of klitink, and having spent long nights talking and thinking about the structure and concept with fellow members, I still had some difficulties translating the many thoughts, theories and total lunacy into plain concrete words, trying to find the correct words to grasp the ideas that storm through our heads. But after the first raw sketches were written down, and after the literary guidelines were pointing in the right directions, the puzzle began to solve itself, it all began to fall in its correct place.

This is the first official manifest, containing a summary of thoughts and theories, but it has to be considered as not the only, for new ideas will arise, new theories will be formulated, and new thoughts will shimmer through, that are to be additioned in later publications. Klitink is a living and revolting machine, in constant state of revolution, continuously expanding itself in the vast desert surroundings called modern society.

Exploring the immense subconscious with vehicles beyond comprehension, logging dreamscapes, mindshades and bliss-like chimeras, klitink's sole purpose is to open up the portal to an introspective world, creating a surreal expression of visual poetry.

This is a summary of the thoughts and the theories of klitink.

 
Manifesto of klitink.

This text derived out of pure necessity, for modern day life is a life completely subservient to the mass - production and consumption - society.
The streets are covered with propaganda-like advertisements, extolling the over-reproduced unnecessities, the fashion-shops filled with uniform mass-fabriced products, the music industry is undifferentiated, every tune sounds the same as the tune before, even if you compare different styles or genres, every tv-channel brings you the same pre-rendered formula, a consistency of the same general programs.
The main-stream culture absorbs these given guidelines, without a moment of consideration.

And the sub-cultures just follow along, to fit in a certain type of pig-sty. Everybody adapts to the group they want to belong, adjusts to the dress-code and social intercourse of that particular group, but still, proclaiming that they do not adapt, that they are so different than the main-stream culture.
Like pigs in mud they are, digging and digging, deeper and deeper into this mess.

We will not adapt to these external requirements of mass-society, but we choose to stay faithful to our internal cravings of the individual. We turn our back to the main-stream-society with their uniform life-style, we laugh pitiful at the sub-cultures for their ignorance.

Because of this, society will label us as a rebellious confederacy, and for some part, this is true. We choose our own individual path, instead of the pre-rendered path of mass-society, or subcultures, and because of this, it is hard to fit in to society's standards.
If this is considered rebellious, so be it.
We are active on spreading our thoughts and theories, we are constantly plotting against issues we do not agree on, we are trying to open some long closed eyes, and because of this, we collide with society's standards.
If this is considered a confederacy, so be it.

Throw away this rigid, strict lifestyle that ties you down, tear off this mass-produced skin that hides your individuality, and dare to life a free life, your own life, without the piercing pressure of an antique archaistic society.

 
Klitink officiates as a sanatorium, as a sanctuary, as a moment of contemplation.
We have killed the inventor and flushed his notes, destroyed his laboratory, and raised klitink in the air as a newborn baby. We have thrown away our blinding blinkers in order to be over-exposed to the magnificent world surrounding us, we have burned the premeditated maps so we can travel freely into the unknown, all in favour for the experience. We glorify the childhood state, in which everything is new, where a whole wide world lies in front, ready to be explored and nothing is taken for granted.
In klitink, everything is as much right and wrong as it is not. We live for the experience.

We love dynamics, we love flexibility!
We do not want to be bound to one working manner, we do not want to be tied up to one style, we do not want to be placed in one sheep-pen with a label stuck in our ear.
We are interchangeable, we are dissolute, we are inscrutable, we are wrong, we are right, we are left, we are unexpected, we are boundless, we are countless, we are incorruptible, we are rash, we are highly low-budget, we are unquestionable, we are desultory, we are art and we are artless, we are a harsh-sounding-device in a sound-proof-booth, we are the anti-dote for the disease we are, and most of all, we are not welcome at other peoples parties.

We will burn every single page of this manifesto on the moment it becomes outdated, and replace it with a brand-spanking new and improved one, that suites the spirit of the time. We are not be conservative about our own opinions, in fact, we are willing to let go every single assumption, if other opinions proof to be more suitable, and therefore beat the crap out of ours. We keep an open mind.

 
Klitink is founded by two individuals, who are the roaring engine behind the movement, but there are no principal leaders, or external employers, that have full control over the course and results of established, running or future projects. Every single project is moulded into shape in consultation with the participants that collaborate with that project. Every participating individual has an equal voice in the decisions during one project, or for raising new ideas for future projects. Therefore: Klitink is autonomous.
Decisions are made in an anarchistic manner, without an established order.

Klitink is to be considered as one single operating entity, not as an addition sum of individual achievements from individual people. Each individual achievement in name of klitink, carries the theories, thoughts and motivation of klitink, and has to be considered as an achievement from this single operating entity, instead of individual achievements from the different persons who collaborated. Therefore:
Klitink is anonymous.
Individual names of individual collaborators do not matter.

Klitink does not limit itself in restricting to one working manner.
There are no set rules or boundaries for the carrier of the transmission, every discipline is a legitimate discipline. This ranges, for instance, from:

moving images (e.g. video, film, animation);
still images (e.g. drawing, painting, photography, collage);
texts (e.g. poetry, manifests, proclamation);
installations (e.g. interactive, video, sculptures);
performances (e.g. music, visual, public);
soundpieces (e.g. music, non-music, spoken word),
to a combination of these disciplines. Therefore:
Klitink is multi-disciplined.
Every method is embraced to create a vehicle for the story to be told.

Klitink does not impose, or will be subjected to any form of censorship.
Images from the depths of unconsciousness contain a hidden truďsm, they demand a direct and honest broadcast, if they want to be correctly interpreted, and therefore the broadcast must not be restricted or sedated in showing its imagery. "Beloved imagination, what I like most in you is your unsparing quality." (André Breton, Manifesto of surrealism, 1924).
Also, it must be made sure that non-participating or third parties will not interfere in the process, if they have the intention to impose restraints on the eventual result.
Klitink condemns censorship.
The original message must not lose its intensity through the process of translation from source to eventual result.

 
Klitink is art as much as it is non-art. Different skills and knowledges are demanded to bring the diverse projects to a good ending, and devotion to and enthusiasm for provide if one project is a success or failure.

Main inspiration lays in a combination of images emerging from the depths of the unconscious and subconscious visualization of these images, which purpose is to materialize other realities which are made evident in different states of consciousness, alternative from the normal1 state.

These alternative states are for instance :

dreams;
nightmares;
daydreaming;
trance states;
meditation;
madness;
fantasy;
the imagination;
or psychedelics.
The images that come forth from these alternative states are speaking in a visual language instead of spoken dialogues, and are at first sight hard to understand, or even completely incomprehensible. They tell stories different from the written word, so the structural logic of the written word does not apply.
These images need an interpretation through the eye of the beholder, and transformed into a more universal concept, to be grasped and fully understood, for these images have different meanings for each individual person, ranging from a personal meaning (subconscious2), or a meaning on an universal level (unconscious3).
Because of this, it is considered art.
Klitink expresses emotions and feelings into tangible, audible or visible shapes.

Klitink is productive not because of a great demand from the outside world, but because of an inside craving of the participating individuals with each project.
Klitink creates opportunities to develop and realize ideas that maybe otherwise would not have reached the outside world. It is not the intention to make a large profit, there is no pursuit of gain. Every benefit from lucrative projects will be used to develop new projects, to make sure klitink can continue to exist.
Klitink only exists to create an outlet for ideas that else maybe would not have been worked out, because of low-profit outcome, or lack of interest from society, not because it strives to claim its place in an expensive museum, or fancy gallery.
Art should be approachable for everyone. Since this is not the case, klitink is considered non-art.


1 With the normal state of consciousness is meant, the state in which a person is fully aware of and contributing to the surrounding he is in, and where his thoughts not stray from this awareness and contribution. [back]

2The subconscious is the part of your mind which notices and remembers information when you are not actively trying to do so, and which influences your behaviour although you are not aware of it. It deals with personal issues, for instance suppressed emotions or forgotten memories. [back]

3The unconscious is the part of your mind that contains feelings and thoughts that you do not know about, and that influences the way you behave. It relates to an universal level, for instance, human instincts. [back]

 
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