ACCIDENTZ

I believe that time (a rather flexible material) is moving faster than ever before. . .due to many reasons including the advancement of communications technologies, we move through shared time together at a speed that is now faster than logic.

this is the reason I think the industrial age is entering a new re-spiritualized phase. to flow with the pace of the global mainstream, one must stay light and mobile. that's in attitude and in material weight. to take the time to consider things, to follow the rigors of logic, is very expensive in time. time spent this way must be strategic in our new superspeedy reality. those who do well, can change on a dime, readjust to new situations rapidly, make wise decisions on the spot. . .and, this style of living, I believe, is done best with a keen sense of intuition. increasingly people must feel their way through--no time to weigh the choices carefully.

with everyone rushing about, socializing and responding instantly at all times, travelling at breakneck speeds, able to change directions like psychotic atoms in cyberspace, constantly updating how things are done, keeping track of what everyone else is doing through our new society of cameras and channels of communicaitons. . .it's no wonder there are a proliferation of accidentz.

ironically, as we achieve unprecedented control over the world through technology, we also spin easily out of control and CRASH alot.

this is not a bad thing, aside from the pains and shocks of collisions. an accident is a moment when things stop or slow down after an explosive shock. it is a most raw, human and honest moment. . .it sobers things up. . .it makes a mark in time (a scar, perhaps). it reminds us of our mortality . . .of the power of things beyond our control (like nature) . . .and also of our own carelessness.

accidentz are not new. they have always been a sexy spectacle of the industrial revolution. look at the picture above: a famous crash in victorville, CA 1968, "topless mother of eight" is decapitated. this is my copy of the police photograph. I have altered it to remove the accident from the landscape. . .an act of geographic healing.

OWNERSHIP & TIME

it's such an odd juxtaposition. . .here we are in an economic avalanche, and also an avalanche of time. . .and yet upscale advertisers like the new york times still proliferate ads for diamonds (are forever) and men's high-end wrist watches. I think that wrist watches are a particularly curious choice for promotion by madison avenue. (. . .it's something I watch. . .pun intended. . . ) it may show we are worried that time is out of control.

common people don't really wear watches anymore, we wear phones with digital clocks, we work inside the grinding guts of clocks. perhaps wrist watches are becoming that symbolic piece of jewelry, a social marker like a top hat or white gloves or a family crest. perhaps a 21st century wrist watch is that contemporary time machine: if you can afford a decorative $5,000 watch, you can alter the speed with which you move through time. you wear the insignia of the leisure class.

of course, anyone with willpower can alter time if they wish. . .drop outs abound on both ends of the scales.

but back to mainstream american reality. . .or gossip girls, or something. . .
I heard it said once by a shrewd single woman: the mark of a poor man is that he's rushing all the time. hmmm. there's some truth to that.

-kt