~Complete~ Manifesto for Growth

My completed interpretation of Bruce Mao's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

  1. “To be loved is to be changed”
    • You are a quilted tapestry of each of your experiences and interactions and relationships and that is beautiful. Always be open to change but nurture your older selves as well.
  2. my kitty does not care so neither should i
    • all that matters is that what I make is fulfilling to me. But it doesn’t even have to fulfill a need like that. I just want to create because I like doing it.
  3. I worship Lynda Barry at the altar of my processes
    • Methodology and experimentation are the virtues of everything I make. Everything a make is a testament to my experience as a living being, and what would I- or my art- be without my experiences
  4. Curate your museum of failures
    • Honor the pile of failed attempts gathering in the corner, its wall-bearing now
  5. Go spelunking in the viscera
    • My art is expelled from deep inside like inky bile
  6. Plagiarize myself
    • save all accidents for future reference + borrowing
  7. Artwork is a craft! A study!
    • Take your work and practice seriously and respect others in the same craft. Study your own techniques and those of others
  8. Remember wandering cloud!
    • You don’t need the right to exist! Exercise this fact to the farthest extent and observe without judgement
  9. Become unstuck in time
    • Focusing on the order of things makes it all too complicated, start wherever feels right, abandon it if you want and return when you have something else to say
  10. Allow space to grow
    • Other people often know more i at least one specific area of expertise and that's okay.
  11. Reap what you sow!!!! (but not all of it)
    • Keep your mountain of ideas, they're so fun!! But don't just let all of them rot there, take the time to nurture some. Finished (or at least somewhat finished) products look much more impressive to others
  12. Tea
    • Black tea
    • Green tea
  13. I have come unstuck in time and that’s okay
    • Because when I run on my own clock I find I can embrace my own thoughts much more comfortably
  14. Be a snake oil salesman
    • Nothing is cool and everything is cool. Dont lose your ever-changing philosophy, it’s much easier if you do so with the utmost confidence in your stupidity
  15. be so, so stupid
    • it's much easier to learn if you embrace the fact that you are in a constant state of learning
  16. be like hello kitty
    • making friends is hello kitty's way of life, because she understands the importance of collaboration. do you?
  17. the space beneath is dedicated to the importance of leaving room for ideas
  18. do you ever wonder what happens when everyone else is asleep?
    • it's usually nothing, but try staying up every once in a while to make sure... and also meditate or somthing idk
  19. i HAVE to delve into this,,
    • everything has the capacity to be a metaphor, and its always fun to investigate and expand your knowledge for your own integration
  20. communicate with your future self (to your best ability)
    • understand the implications your work may have for your future, the things you make represent you and your character to everyone who sees them.
  21. if it ain't broke...
    • repeat your success until it's broken
    • unique work is fahioned from unique tools
  23. be influenced
    • embrace that everything you make is influenced by a long lineage of artists, concepts, ideas that came before you. they live on in everything you make! how beautiful
  24. technology evil
    • everyone else embraces technology so you shouldn't
  25. live without shame!!! messes are okay i promise
    • as long as your mess is your own and doesn't inhibit others' ability to fuction
  26. read only half of your books
    • make up the rest in your brain as an exercise or for "fun"
  27. make up your own nonsense
    • expand your nonsense library.The new nonsense demands a new way of nonsensical thinking.The nonsense way of thinking demands new forms of nonsensical expression.The nonsensical expression generates new conditions of absolute chaos.
    • expanding the way you express ideas changes the way you understand those ideas in the first place
  28. chatgpt is plagiarism based in more plagiarism
    • use technology as a tool to execute your thoughts, not a source for the thoughts themselves.
    • otherwise it's the algorithm's art, not yours.
  29. limitations provide an environment in which to thrive
    • learning to work around any limitations, whether budgetary, time constraints, etc., is a welcome exercise in creativity
    • cooperate with those who present you with these limits
  30. control your cash
    • your money should be yours, so creative control can remain yours. don't owe anything to anyone, in terms of legal debt
  31. worlds collide
    • listen to what others have to share, no experience is exactly the same, and engaging in each others will forever chang the both of you
  32. experience the real thing
    • take trips as often as possible and soak up every detail while you can
  33. make mistakes faster
    • if Bruce Mao can take this idea from Andy Grove, i can take this idea from Bruce
  34. try to imitate it
    • the closer you get to imitating something else, the more you learn about your own percesption of the world
  35. "Everybody's sayin' that the Scatman stutters/ But doesn't ever stutter when he sings/ But what you don't know, I'm gonna tell you right now/ That the stutter and the scat is the same thing"
    • -Scatman John
  36. Destroy!! DESTROY!!
    • rebuild break off tape on rewrite integrate glue tape cut gluetap e cutg luta p ecu
    • t
  37. "i've been getting into amiga os lately..."
    • once again, work around limitations of older technology to make a beautiful new tool
  38. revel in alleyways
    • many wonderful things happen in the gaps between our points of destination
  39. deny the box!
    • refuse to be organized, sorted, compacted, or partake in any other process that involves being put in a neat little box. make it so that the very fact you exist is a threat to any system of control
  40. be silly
    • laughing is fun (and contagious)
  41. nothing exists in a vacuum
    • history makes growth possible, giving it a direction. although it can be fallible, its importance cannot be understated
  42. play freely
    • everyone deserves the freedom to create. true self expression is not possible unless we have control over our lives
  43. collect
    • collect things, anything. i collect images of toilets which evoke an eerie feeling. my mom collects jelly jars. everything can be collected and anything can be a collection. every collection is a possible pool to borrow from for future projects
  44. be a jack of all trades
    • am i a programmer in any sense of the word? no!! but i've had so much fun expressing myself in this way. do things, pursue things that you know will end up nowhere. expand your eperience in all fields because it's just so much fun!!!
  45. farts are, and always will be, funny
    • don't be ashamed, revel in what brings you joy, so long as it's not at the expense of others.
  46. hot beverages are a must
    • it may be my sensitive teeth, but i will always prefer hot beverages to cold... they keep the soul warm (and hurt the teeth less if you have zero enamel like i do)
    • they typically take more effort to prepare, thus forcing you to slow down
  47. disregard statement #24
    • software is a tool for art just like any other. you're literally reading this in a browser right now...
  48. make tea for someone else
    • and tell them that you love them
  49. take care of yourself
    • how can you make art unless you put your body in conditions that allow it to do so?
    • Green tea
  50. get sleep!!
    • to emphasize after the previous "taking care of yourself" clause