Make in Public and Prosumerism
There's such an inherent culture of perfection out there.. And we're always interacting and engaging with these artifaces well in place.. Have you noticed? Showcasing things only after they're done.. When they're nice and perfect..
Granted, there's a beauty in sharing when things have been well thought through and worked at.. What gets my goat is.. What about the process though? Isn't that meant to be seen in all it's glory as well.. When you make in public, you are showcasing the flaws, you are sharing the journey, you are sharing the most human element of the process and that my friend displays Soul or Spirit.. the most intrinsic thing to life and living..
I've more or less shared my failures in public with everything I've ever done.. So that, folks learn from my experience and do not repeat those mistakes. As you can see though, it doesn't really help one's own ego much and self constructed identity much :P..
Lines from the book artist's way captures this the best
We like to focus on having learned a skill or on having made an artwork. This attention to final form ignores the fact that creativity lies not in the done but in doing.Focused on process, our creative life retains a sense of adventure. Focused on product, the same creative life can feel foolish or barren. We inherit the obsession with product and the idea that art produces finished product from our consumer-oriented society. This focus creates a great deal of creative block.Fixated on the need to have something to show for our labors, we often deny our curiosities. Every time we do this, we are blocked.
Is our art or whatever we're building, truly in service to the eco system or are we just building and aggrandising our own ego's?
And I don't buy this strict divide b/w producers and consumers, we're all part of the same cycle..
We're all producers and consumers.. Essentially a good prosumer cycle according to me is where the producers recognise themselves also as consumers and see the role they're playing in the whole cycle.. At the same time they have a healthy listening to what the consumers are asking for..
And the consumers in turn recognise themselves as part of the cycle and either support creation of the process or contribute to it in their own way not seperate from the creation/ideation process. It's all one wholly and tightly knit unit..
An example here is Movies: We all vote with our own feet when it comes to the kind of movies we watch and are drawn toward, that in turn creates more need for those kind of movies.. And yet every now and then someone will come along and say hey how about we try it this way? Or this sort of a movie and then either suggest ideas or go abt the process of making such content happen in their own form thereby adding creativity to the cycle..
Energy and monetary exchange here becomes a subtle and intimate part of the overall exchange but that does not dictate the flow of the natural give and take that's there all around us in natural systems..
A good system recognises and acknowledges this interdependence that exists..And puts things in place and perspective like experience, logistics etc..
So in essence there's a flow to life and nature and what would building systems around that mean and feel like? And obviously this involves a lot of dialogue and listening but we're all at least being real and dropping the facade even if for a teeny weeny bit.. And there's something very beautiful that emerges in that act, a care a humanism, which is bigger than any producer/ consumer. It's a unity..
And that for me is Prosumerism :)