Why Mirrorism?

 

The Theory

 

Mirrorism's theoretical framework is largely grounded in Lyotard's concept of the Grand Narrative.

 

On the cause

 

'Artists and writers must be bought back into the bosom of the community, or at least, if the latter is considered to be ill, they must be assigned the task of healing it.'

 

“Who decides what knowledge is, and who knows what needs to be decided?”

 

On the fallacy that the Grand Narrative and the perpetuation of the Image Myth make us powerless to make any changes

 

“No one, not even the least privileged among us, is ever entirely powerless over the messages that traverse and position him at the post of sender, addressee, or referent.”

 

 We are constantly led to believe that there’s nothing we can do to change, well, anything except that which can be fabricated either through our image, status or what information we put out to the world. Forgetting for a second that these are all trivial and superficial in terms of affecting change, when everyone does this, it projects a false representation of humanity. It also makes us easier to control. Mirrorism by its nature reflects the power of people, because people have power, regardless of what we’re led to believe or want to believe. We don’t need to play their language game by their rules. Mirrorists show deliberate countermoves to assist navigating the unreliable messages of the Grand Narrative. Mirrorism shows its audience’s power through accurate reflection.

 

On the institution of Western mainstream media, its abuse of utterance, and its disruption of human potential

 

'[A]n institution…always requires supplementary constraints for statements to be declared admissible within its bounds. The constraints function to filter discursive potentials, interrupting possible connections in the communication networks… They also privilege certain classes of statements (sometimes only one) whose predominance characterises the discourse of the particular institution.'

 

Don’t think: do. Being smart is for losers, be cool, look good, be thin, eat well, buy this, buy that, go here, go there; The utterances of mainstream media are unavoidable, and the referents are damaging art. It’s foolish to think that this isn’t intentional. Knowledge is filtered to us through a network of agendas designed to make us conform to the Grand Narrative, or simply to control us.

 

On The Response

 

“Everyone knows that a countermove that is merely reactional is not a “good” move. Reactional countermoves are no more than programmed effects in the opponents' strategy; they play into his hands and thus have no effect on the balance of power. That is why it is important to increase displacement in games, and even to disorient it, in such a way as to make an unexpected “move” (a new statement).

 

Mirrorism does not want to eliminate the mainstream referent; it seeks to widen it. It's inclusive. Moreover, it enables responsibility and choice. Through Stirrorim, we avoid mirroring our opponents' production of a Grand Narrative. We will joust within their system to restore balance.

 

 

A call to arms from Lyotard:

 

''Modernity, in whatever age it appears, cannot exist without a shattering of belief and without discovery of the "lack of reality" of reality, together with the invention of other realities.'

 

All quotations are taken from 'The Post-Modern Condition' by Jean-Francois Lyotard (1979)