A few years ago I read Herman Hesse’s “Das Glasperlenspiel” (“The Glass Bead Game”). In this amazing book about the search of perfection, the author describes a game which essentially is an abstract synthesis of all arts and scholarship. I was immediately fascinated by the idea and tried to find the rules of the game. Unfortunately, Hesse’s book provides nothing that can be regarded as rules of the game. At the beginning this caused me some frustration because I really wanted to play it immediately. In time though, I realized that it is not impossible to imagine the rules of the Glasperlenspiel as long as you try to follow the “spirit” of the game.
As I was pushing back the limits of my ignorance regarding art, the Glasperlenspiel came back to my mind. Modern art tends to erase traditional limits between sculpture and painting, between music and visual arts, between real life and imagination, between science and art. This is how art looks like after thousands of years of evolution. An obvious question rose: what is the next step? The first answer that came to me was “globalization”. Globalization of arts, of senses, of cultures, of influences. Works that would include Bosch’s medieval painting, tribal music, New York photography, Woody Allen’s movies, and so on and so forth. Add this to science and history and you get the Glasperlenspiel. And there is something else. Until now, artists and art were epitomes of individuality. What if art would transform in such a way that instead of being a mere monologue, it would be a dialogue? Instead of an expression of individuality art should transform to an expression of a community. This doesn’t mean erasing individuality, but expressing it in a relationship to other individualities. This is how I see the Glasperlenspiel: expressing individualities through the dialogue of all arts and scholarship.
Back to the game. How is it played? There are not many rules to be followed. Actually, there is only the spirit of the game that leads the players. There is no winner. This should harness the spirit of competition. The purpose of the game is just to create beauty, ugliness, kitsch, all together or separated.
The image that I have for the game is that of a chain: beads connected by links. The players have to add beads to the chain taking care for the links to be strong enough not to let the chain break. Everything can be a bead: paints, sculptures, music, film, books, places, people, even simple words. Players can create their own bead: a drawing, a poem, a photograph, anything. The most important parts of the chain though are the links. They create the chain and they make it live. It is the links that can make the chain strong or weak. They should be strong to hold the rest of the chain and at same time they should be subtle enough to ask for thought or even meditation.
The game has its own life and all the players are responsible for it. They can create a weak game or a strong one, depending on the links they use. They can choose on finishing a beautiful game, or waste it in a failed link. They can branch a chain; they can close it or kill it by indifference.
Obviously, the game is going to be played on the Internet. The Internet provides the biggest collection of what man has discovered or created, the means for easy access to it and the tools for easy displaying. Maybe Hesse didn’t think about a blog being the place to play the Glasperlenspiel, but for the moment it just proves perfect for this purpose.
The spirit of the Glasperlenspiel will be unveiled as it is played. This is also what is to happen with the way the game is going to be played. For the beginning, each day a player will post a bead. During the day everybody is allowed and encouraged to comment about the bead and the links it has with the chain. If the links of which the posting player had thought were not revealed during the day’s comments, he/she presents them in a comment at the end of the day. The order in which the players act is determined first by availability, second by willingness and third by a combination of democracy and frequency of interventions.
The Glasperlenspiel should express individualities through dialogue. It is a dialogue using the language of arts, science and history, but first of all it is a dialogue. It is the choice of the player to take it as art or just as a “smart” game, but the respect for the other players should be seen as part of the spirit of the Glasperlenspiel, and thus essential to it.
(IND)
5 comments:
so let's do it! I enjoyed the intro - very artsy crafty.
A few years ago I read Herman Hesse’s “Das Glasperlenspiel”. This is a book about the search for perfection and the author describes a game: an abstract synthesis of arts and scholarship. I was immediately fascinated by this idea and tried to find the rules of the game. Unfortunately, Hesse provides nothing that can be regarded as proper rules. At that time this caused me some frustration, because I really wanted to play it – in time, I realized that it is not impossible to imagine rules to the Glasperlenspiel, as long as you try to follow the spirit of the game.
As I am pushing back the limits of my ignorance regarding art, Glasperlenspiel came back to my mind. For one reason, modern art ignores traditional limits between sculpture and painting, between music and visual arts, between real life and imagination, between science and art: this is what art looks like after thousands of years of evolution and the obvious question comes to mind: what is the next step? The first answer that came to me was globalization: globalization of arts, of senses, of cultures, of influences. Add this to science and history and you get Glasperlenspiel. And there is something else. Until now, artists and art were veritable epitomes of individuality. Could art transform in such a way that instead of being an orchestrated monologue, it would become an enacted dialogue? This doesn’t mean erasing individuality, but expressing it in an explicit relationship to other individualities, this is how I see Glasperlenspiel: expressing individualities through the entwining of arts and scholarship.
How is the game played? There are not rules to be followed; there is only the spirit of the game that leads the players. There is no winner, which should harness the spirit of competition, not eliminate it. The image I have for the game is that of a chain: beads connected by links. The players have to add beads to the chain taking care that the links be strong enough to maintain the chain. Anything can constitute a bead: paintings, sculptures, music, film, books, places, people… Players can create beads: a drawing, a poem, a photograph, anything. The most important parts of the chain though are the links: they create the chain proper and they make it live, it is the links that can make the chain strong or weak, they should be strong enough to hold the rest of the chain and at same time they should be subtle enough to invite thought and meditation. The final purpose of the game lies within enacting it – so long as the game is construed as an extension of art, to an extent an art-work itself, for the rest, a means of communication, while exploring one's self.
The game has its own life and the community of players is responsible for it: we can create a weak game or a strong one, depending on the links used – we can choose on finishing a beautiful game, or waste it in a failed link, we can branch a chain and we can close it or kill it by indifference.
Obviously, the game is going to be played on the Internet: here lies the biggest collection of what man has discovered or created, as well as the means to access it, the tools for transforming this game into a public act. Perhaps Hesse didn’t think about a blog for Glasperlenspiel, but it proves suitable for the purpose.
The spirit of the Glasperlenspiel will be unveiled as we play. This is also what is to happen with the way the game is going to be played… For the beginning, each player will post a bead or more. As the first days unfold, the players are to comment about the beads the others add and the possible links with the chain, so that the strongest, the most inspired and the most interesting will be made into a chain. Then, if the connection that the posting player had in mind when creating the bead were not revealed during the comments, the player will present them in a comment. The order in which we players act is determined first by availability, second by willingness and third by a combination of democracy and frequency of interventions.
Glasperlenspiel is a game about our individualities, but only insofar as they rise to the exigencies of dialogue: it is not idiosyncrasy that we are trying to breed, but rather humanity, in a dialogue using the language of arts, science, history. Interpreting the game is the choice of each player and perhaps even such interpretation, in a self-reflexive manner, can be included in the game, but foremost is the respect for other players and their contribution to the nexus.
An addition: I, kravien, am hereby using plug's persona. It's nice and feels warm and real when touch. I recommend it - the other players should have their own versions of the initial manifesto. Then we can have trade-offs. Apparently, for a wider spread, the thing will be pleasantly English or harshly American. It's a choice, to comply...
My manifesto is, for now, a thought on the spirit of the game: this game, just like our society, is going to be a self-regulating organism/entity; I think the only person that can change or add a bead is the person that initially posts it, and I think that the other players can perform corrections through the contents or through the way they throw their own beads. I think it makes it more of a challenge for everyone like this.
In other words, I don't want anyone to be messing with my beads, as they are my responsibility.
So this is it... The Glasperlenspiel begins. First as two 10 days tests...
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