The Smartist

Ha, you might be wondering what a Smartist all about. Let me explain.

We always had Art that a majority of the population never understood or had access to and we had movements in Art that kept it alive until technology came along. Slowly technology and marketed entertainment replaced the true nature of Art. Advertising became Art; Fashion became Art, instead of just being a mirror to it. Art became very literal, lost its metaphors and its simplicities...and daresay its Artiness.

Technology (here I mean widespread computing) picked up from where Art had left off. It was open and accessible, yet obtuse enough to confound many. Technology was what Art was until technology came along, full of insights and rich in content, yet nascent enough to grow into the defining force of man. Grow it did but into yet another extremely commercialised and controlled behemoth. Define it did but the terms were not always acceptable.

Smartism is a movement to bring both Art and Technology closer to everyone’s understanding. Not talking down to anyone because the first premise we start with is that 'Everyone is smart enough to understand'. Collaborative and open source are ways in this direction, communities and blogs are the artistic sides of it. Smartism accepts and encompasses all the other movements, Smartism says yes and does not differentiate, much like drinking, Jim Morrison would say.

By virtue of that we call us The Smartists and everyone irrespective of their taste is welcome. We have a name for the bunch that believes that Art and Technology must be elite and people can be talked down to...we call them The Fartists.

(Its fun you know, when you can also be called The SMartists)