DIY is most suitable

I started my current creative adventure a year ago with the intention of promoting 'cooperation' amongst communities (with the aim of inciting some attitude of involvement, effort and care about society and the planet), i have realised that maybe I was forcing myself to favour a group behaviour that can't always come naturally to everyone, or every group.

I realised this today at the Whitechapel Gallery when looking at the work in progress being made there by the Youth Group.
My initial reaction was that I would not feel comfortable being forced to discuss artistic ideas with people I don't really know.
This is because -
a) I enjoy working alone in the initial stages of a project, because I only make art about things I am really obsessive and can get emotional about - so if anyone criticises these personal ideas in the early stages (even though they are usually actually ideas with a community-interest intention!!) I get despondent. I need to have got a fair amount out of my head and onto a page, or through a camera, or whatever, before I show people and discuss it. Sometimes/often I just don't even want anyone's input; I just wanna make stuff and if people don't like it; then tough shit.
b) Forced cooperation is a bit false and cringey - you may not get on creatively (or at all!) with everyone you are forced into contact with. This is obviously a common issue in real-life and is a particular reason why I started this cooperation project - but I suppose I was being too idealistic in assuming that all sorts of strangers and randomers can work together productively. Not agreeing with everyone is something we all have to overcome, but perhaps to force a productive outcome from such a situation is asking too much.

BUT - people need to be accepting and open-minded, even if they are not willing to actively cooperate. They need to consider the needs and wants of everyone else, and let them get on with it. (This includes the needs of the planet by the way!)

SO - this is why I now think the following media are actually better for inciting everyday cooperation/ productive discussion/curiosity/creativity/effort to participate in society:
- zines/pamphlets
- film stills (as an extraction and provocation of activity/dreaming)
- paintings/prints
- cafes (as a site)
- DIY low-fi exhibiting
- songs and live music shows
- DIY or pirate radio/podcasts

all of these things are (have the potential to be) honest and accessible extractions from peoples' lives. People make up your social and living environment.
You can consider, at any pace and any time, these things that those people have made or shown you.
Then you can react/respond/discuss. Often with your own created thing.
Sometimes people who surround you will be similar to you in the way they think and live, and through the creation and appreciation of all those media that I listed, communities can be formed. These like-minded coherent communities will have chosen themselves because they made stuff before they spoke about it; from seeing/hearing the art/music people had time to consider, rather than argue and then disperse or abandon ideas as may happen in discussion groups who talk before they act/make.
I suppose I'm saying that sometimes talking gets in the way of doing >> maybe the doing (a visual or musical culture) unleashes the ideas, ready for response: from which people build a community.

So basically i'm bigging up DIY culture, and not always talking before you make!!
Especially because I find that renowned art institutions sometimes hinder creativity; clearly they do because we can't all exhibit in them! Also, their reputation means people expect things from them, which invites a fair amount of destructive criticism about the art and music that is put on. DIY is the real context of real-life; large commercial (and even non-commercial) galleries and venues are not real-life, because they are not an accessible presentation platform for us all.
Perhaps egos and reputation can even become more a concern than the actually creative content, when the prestige and reputation (and subsequent funding) of a mainstream cultural institution is at stake.
BUT - this is not to say that mainstream platforms have not made the world a better and more democratic space - Columbia Records brought us Bruce Springsteen! - it's just that there are increasingly less mainstream platform in proportion to people creating work!

I haven't put tumblr (or any other blog sites) on my list, because these encourage an easily diverted/confused stream of information. I find the visual internet too fast paced for a platform with which to get people to really get interested and care about particular things. It's great to see so much info and everyone doing their thing on the internet, but.....
...... there is a lot to be said for reading a book or zine, staring at a rad drawing, or watching a great gig; for getting really into with one or two things, and responding to that.
I suppose this is how tribes form; but as long as there's no poaching, elitism or battling then the basis of tribes is cool!

*

And miscellaneous sketches... and some classic Home and Away scenes

lovers in the outback, nearly just died from a petrol bomb, heat exhaustion and starvation, and potential gunshot wounds.

queen of the quasi-tribal wrap dresses talks to her new boyfriend

Marilyn enjoys some late-night Feng Shui agonising

The Braxtons are ok after after yet another shoot-out/robbery/attempted murder

Kyle is so soppy

Bianca tries to seduce Liam, but he's just nervous about his gig at Angelo's

SHERYL BRAXTON'S HOUSE!! FINALLY!