What Will They Think?
Shattering the mirror mask
Would you agree with me that modern life is dominated by the question “what will they think?” In many ways, this question is all too human and has always been around. Since ancient Greece we have been aware of the fact that everyday everyone wears different masks and plays different roles depending on the situation we find ourselves in. These masks and roles are social constructs that protect us and help us strike a balance between our own identity and that of others. They help us deal with the “what will they think?” question.
Nevertheless, I would argue that in our age of social media, the online exploitation of the self and the constant presence of digital surveillance that regulate our algorithmic funnels, cause people to lose track of their own masks. I would even say that in online situations, it has become harder and harder to wear the various masks that resemble the self. The mask must resemble - or at least please - the other.
The omnipresence of the “what will they think?” question has caused the “they” in this question to become pre-dominant and pre-supposed before any action. As a result, people have started to wear the what-will-they-think-mask. This mask erases the self as much as possible for the benefit of the feared “they”.
The mirror mask
This mask is a mirror. A mirror that wants to confirm and please the other at all costs. Try and imagine a world where everyone is wearing mirror masks. What will these masks mirror? Another mirror. Another selfless self, pleasing the pre-supposed other.
It is not that hard to imagine. More and more this mirroring echo chamber society we find ourselves in is forcing art and culture to become mirror masks as well. Yet, although mirroring is one of art’s biggest strengths, art never wears the mirror mask in order to do so.
Art is its nemesis. Art wears many masks. It is a stage full of interacting masks waiting to interact with us, the audience. This interaction frees us from our own masks and offers a polyphony.
Unfortunately, the mirror mask has grabbed a hold of art and denies it this role. What “they” think, like, watch, share, listen, follow, etc., has become the starting point for creation, production and release. To be universally accepted and liked has become the ultimate goal. To ridiculous extents.
Just look around you: the pre-dominating art and culture are driven by trends and popularity figures or by the old, the familiar and has-been. Mirror mask art plays it safe, pleases and affirms everyone.
This is anti-art. It puts no faith whatsoever in the originality and courage that makes art valuable. Or what made old formats that are now repeated ad infinitum successful in the first place.
Why is mirror mask art dangerous?
By denying interaction and confrontation a stage for the benefit of the structural affirmation and conformation of the self, what is pushed out of society is the other.
This other represents the unknown, the new, the strange. These are elements that help the self become autonomous through reflection on the self and help the self understand that society is not homogenous.
This may sound complex, but what I mean is quite simple. Mirror mask art rejects self-reflection, whereas art exists by grace of self-reflection. Mirror mask art presupposes a truth, whereas art shows us that there are many many truths. Mirror mask art is about ‘me’, whereas art is about ‘us’. Mirror mask art rejects what we do not understand, whereas art helps us understand what we do not understand.
In this light, the fact that AI has been hailed as a golden calf should not come as a surprise. Autonomy must be repressed in the mirror mask society and AI is the perfect tool. It eats everything and then on demand it algorithmically shits out whatever you please.
Best of all, and most crucially, it takes out that very dangerous aspect of art… that deviant and unpredictable human origin. The artist itself. Good lord.
Are we doomed?
Of course not! Like the golden calf, the mirror mask has had previous incarnations. It is a symptom of fear that ultimately crushes the polyphony that is society. But it will never come that far. It is just the sign of the end of a cycle that has forced its continued existence on us far too long.
Its dominance has already started to cause friction. In society, art and domains such as finance, science and politics.
All of these have been hollowed out by the mirroring mask and its many side-effects. Such as the concepts of quantity over quality, popularity over vision, mimesis over soul, power over ideals, money over intrinsic value.
The antidote? Awareness and art that shatters the mirror mask and reshuffles the question of fear into “they will think”.
Or better even: “they will think WHAT?!”