Art is in Crisis

November 11, 2023

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CHAOS IS THE ANTIDOTE

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Life is a war between opposing forces; dichotomies are everywhere. No side is more important than the other. Tendency to tilt towards extremes is devastating. What is Apollonian? What is Dionysian? How does science relate to art, and art to life? Who, or shall I say, what, is Wagner? Europe has forgotten, the world has forgotten. Nietzsche attempts to answer such questions in his first book, "The Birth of Tragedy." The Birth, however, wouldn't be complete without its opposite— "The Case of Wagner." Opposite in style, opposite in meaning, opposite in maturity. Interestingly, it is one of the last pieces he saw published before his death. Let’s explore these dichotomies. Let’s see what Nietzsche has to say about it. And, perhaps more importantly, how does all of this relate to our own individual creativity?

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I will begin with the Case of Wagner. As a symbol, he stands for greatness. His artistry is unmatched. A genius mind with genius creations. Everything pales in comparison. One cannot help but feel irrelevant in his presence. Wagner is above, and everyone else is below. This grandiose self-importance can lead to the inflation of the ego. The act of creation becomes the will of a tyrant. Art degenerates into the art of lying—a tool to seduce the masses and cast a veil of illusion. We all have an inner Wagner, but this is not tied only to the individual. Companies do that at a scale.

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Whole hierarchies are captured under this will. Art becomes a product of the machine, a fabrication of lies. The creative potential of the naive is aimed at superficial trends. To buy, to be liked, to be admired, even worshiped. The archetype reigns supreme. When art becomes attuned to the needs of the machine—such as the entertainment industry—the essence of art is lost. This fixation ensures the survival of the hierarchy but sacrifices the individual. “No shepherd, and one herd! Everyone wants the same; everyone is equal: he who has other sentiments goes voluntarily into the madhouse.” (Nietzsche) Ideologies can quickly become a prominent driving force. There is then no more talk of authenticity and self-expression.

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Entertainment artists, oh, how low have you fallen—ye, full of decadence and self-indulgence. You are a race of machinists, and your content is full of poison. “We have discovered happiness—say the last men, and blink thereby.” (Nietzsche) Alas! The time of the last man is here. Too soft and too fragile, such a man is unable to live, he seeks escape, he aims low, and his content stinks of death. “What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?—so asketh the last man and blinketh.” (Nietzsche)

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Is there any room for madness and divine mania in this materialistic world of reason? Or has the sterility of a scientific mind imposed tyranny and suffocated our creative potential? In the book "Beyond Good and Evil" Nietzsche opens up with the following questions: “What in us really wants truth? Why not rather untruth? And uncertainty? Even ignorance? To recognize untruth as a condition of life—that certainly means resisting accustomed value feelings in a dangerous way; and a philosophy that risks this would by that token alone place itself beyond good and evil.” Nietzsche urges us to embrace the chaos and the unknown—for it is a fertile soil where art grows. “I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.” (Nietzsche)

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Nietzsche believed that great art was in harmony between two opposites he called Apollonian and Dionysian. Apollonian gives order, beauty, and meaning. When pushed to the extreme, it becomes tyrannical, imposing, and sterile. Dionysian, on the other hand, is rejuvenating, chaotic, and free. At the extreme, it is ugly, nonsensical, and insane. Both are necessary and play a vital role in the creative process. Out of all the art forms, Nietzsche saw music as the best representation of the manifestation of Dionysian, along with acting and dancing. Anything visual, on the other hand—sculptures, paintings, or epic poems; anything that gives vision—he attributed closer to Apollonian.

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Dionysian is discovered, Apollonian is imposed. By essence, Dionysian sits at the start of the creative process, Apollonian at the end. Discovery precedes imposition. Dionysian produces, Apollonian reduces and rearranges. Authentic expression of an artist can be found in private contemplation where the ego is silent. This allows both artists and the audience to connect with deeper aspects of our lives. Such art affirms life—even tragic life. With honesty and truth, it penetrates the depths, illuminates the darkness, and reveals the horrors. It sits on the edge of the known—“and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7).

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Nietzsche believed Dionysian has long been lost and forgotten. The question of what is Dionysian influenced Nietzsche heavily throughout his career. In his book "Twilight of the Idols" he writes, “Saying Yes to life even in its strangest and hardest problems, the will to life rejoicing over its own inexhaustbility even in the very sacrifice of its highest types—that is what I called Dionysian, that is what I guessed to be the bridge to the psychology of the tragic poet. Not in order to be liberated from terror and pity, not in order to purge oneself of a dangerous affect by its vehement discharge—Aristotle understood it in that way—but in order to be oneself the eternal joy of becoming, beyond all terror and pity—that joy which included even joy in destroying.” (Nietzsche)

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Tragedy, pain, and suffering—these are the necessary components of life, and without them, there would be no creation. “All becoming and growing—all that guarantees a future—involves pain.” (Nietzsche) The agony of the woman giving birth, the suffering which precedes the creation of a work of art, personal transformation, the rising and falling of civilizations, and of cosmic life itself. According to Nietzsche, Attic tragedy had a perfect blend between Apollonian and Dionysian sides. Apollonian was reflected in spoken word, and Dionysian in the chorus who sang and danced alongside. Nietzsche saw opera as an opportunity to return to the ideal of Greek tragedy, where music played the integral role of Dionysian. Nowadays this could be further extended to movies and video games.

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“What does all art do? does it not praise? glorify? choose? prefer?” (Nietzsche) Artists, do not be naive about the world you are living in. Search yourself and burn away everything sick. To endure the pain of growth and transformation—towards life, towards greatness—Nietzsche asks us to become hard. For greatness is proportionate to the degree of the tragedy and pain you are willing to endure. “Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in him or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love he gives himself up to passions and coarse pleasures in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.” (Dostoevsky)

References:

Friederich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (Independently published, 2022), p. 7.

Friederich Nietzsche, Beyond Good & Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Walter Kaufmann (Vintage books, 1989), p. 9.

Friederich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra (Independently published, 2022), p. 7.

Matthew 7:14, KJV, https://www.biblegateway.com

Walter Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche (Penguin Books, 1979) p. 562

Walter Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche (Penguin Books, 1979) p. 529

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Vintage Classics, 2004), p. 44