Are We Still Talking About Form?
Form is a lie.
I should be more specific.
I think that form is a lie.
I don’t know for sure.
I’m talking about the noun form.
The noun form of form.
The noun form, of form.
Merriam-Webster defines form:
1 a : the shape and structure of something as distinguished from its material //the building's massive form
b : a body (as of a person) especially in its external appearance or as distinguished from the face : FIGURE // the female form
c archaic : BEAUTY
2 : the essential nature of a thing as distinguished from its matter: such as
a : IDEA sense 4c
b : the component of a thing that determines its kind
3 a : established method of expression or proceeding : procedure according to rule or rote also : a standard or expectation based on past experience : PRECEDENT //true to form, the champions won again
b : a prescribed and set order of words : FORMULA // the form of the marriage service
4 : a printed or typed document with blank spaces for insertion of required or requested information //tax forms
5 a (1) : conduct regulated by extraneous (see EXTRANEOUS sense 1) controls (as of custom or etiquette) : CEREMONY (2) : show without substance
b : manner or conduct as tested by a prescribed or accepted standard rudeness is simply bad form
c : manner or style of performing or accomplishing according to recognized standards of technique //a strong swimmer but weak on form
6 a : the resting place or nest of a hare
b : a long seat : BENCH
7 a : a supporting frame model of the human figure or part (such as the torso) of the human figure usually used for displaying apparel
b : a proportioned and often adjustable model for fitting clothes
c : a mold in which concrete is placed to set
8 : the printing type or other matter arranged and secured in a chase ready for printing
9 a : one of the different modes of existence, action, or manifestation of a particular thing or substance : KIND //one form of respiratory disorder //a form of art
b : a distinguishable group of organisms
c : LINGUISTIC FORM d : one of the different aspects a word may take as a result of inflection or change of spelling or pronunciation //verbal forms
e : a mathematical expression of a particular type //a bilinear form //a polynomial form
10 a (1) : orderly method of arrangement (as in the presentation of ideas) : manner of coordinating elements (as of an artistic production or course of reasoning)
(2) : a particular kind or instance of such arrangement //the sonnet is a poetical form
b : PATTERN, SCHEMA arguments of the same logical form
c : the structural element, plan, or design of a work of art — compare CONTENT sense 2c
d : a visible and measurable unit defined by a contour : a bounded surface or volume
11 : a grade in a British school or in some American private schools
12 a (1) : the past performance of a race horse
(2) : RACING FORM
b : known ability to perform a singer at the top of her form
c : condition suitable for performing (as in athletic competition) back on form
Forms we think we “know” to be considered as “form.”
A play
A dance
A happening
A book
A poem
A list
A novel
An image
An address; to, from, between
“Formlessness” is not the opposite of “form.”
Truth’s do not always exist in binary opposition.
“Formlessness” only exists because “high art” is seen as having “form.”
We are always searching for the “right form.”
Form is not absolute.
Form is not to be sought after.
Form should be a localization.
Moving, always, but trying to locate itself.
Form is in movement.
Form is also a movement.
Historically.
Finding, locating, or creating the “right” form is not the end goal.
There is no “right” form.
Because form is a lie.
Although, while it is a lie, that does not mean it does not exist.
Form exists only as a lie.
If I give you my writing in a book, and the same writing in a stapled packet, one you will read, one you will critique.
We are so gullible when it comes to form.
Perhaps it’s because it’s a language that form feels so desirable.
Supposing that language is a form of power.
Supposing that language itself is power.
Supposing it is both.
We conflate the acknowledgement of certain forms in art with experience.
To acknowledge is a form of experience, but it is not the only experience.
We must unlearn the intellectual endeavor to ascertain and acknowledge form in art as the only mode of knowing.
To know is to feel, to surrender, to create, to retreat, to attack, to etc.
Form is not everything that it isn’t.
Form is not when we say that our art is “not quite” or “the space between a play, a dance, and sculpture.”
If the above is your creation, you have not achieved formlessness.
Rather, your work is in simultaneity. That is, you have created a play, a dance, and a sculpture.
By defining our work as the form it does not occupy, we suggest that it can never quite be.
By defining our work as what it is, all of the possibilities that it is, we create multiplicity in being, viewing, and witnessing the work.
I don’t know what formlessness is.
We live in a world consumed by image.
We assert that our “becoming” is a constant assimilation into image.
Image is not, was not, and will not be for everyone.
What do you suggest that we do then?
Form is not, was not, and will not be for everyone.
“Formlessness” is derived from an artistic practice that is relegated to the avant-garde, rebellion, and marginalized bodies engaging in creation.
Form does not work for everyone because form was not meant to work for everyone. Form is not acknowledged in these bodies. Form is a lie.
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Which is to say, did “true form” come first or did the word “form” come first?
Did we know form before it “existed?”
Supposing that language asserts existence.
I don’t know.
The etymology of “form” looks like:
c. 1200, forme, fourme, "semblance, image, likeness," from Old French forme, fourme, "physical form, appearance; pleasing looks; shape, image; way, manner" (12c.), from Latin forma "form, contour, figure, shape; appearance, looks; a fine form, beauty; an outline, a model, pattern, design; sort, kind condition," a word of unknown origin. One theory holds that it is from or cognate with Greek morphe "form, beauty, outward appearance" (see Morpheus) via Etruscan [Klein].
I don’t really know what that means.
I felt the expectation to include it.
I think because of this form.
What is this form?
A play
A dance
A happening
A book
A poem
A list
A novel
An image
An address; to, from, between
Something new.
The etymology suggests that form is atavistically synonymous with beauty.
If form is meant to be pretty, what happens when it is ugly?
Is form no longer form?
Ugly does not mean formless.
What is ugly?
Absolute power.
Absolute power is perhaps the most orthodox form, however.
Therefore, form can be ugly.
But this is wholly subjective.
But values are not absolute truth.
They may often feel like absolute truth.
But they are not.
Is form just a value?
If so, it can be said that form is a lie.
This is deductive reasoning.
A form of reasoning.
Although we have given this form of reasoning deeper importance.
Is it because Aristotle created it?
Or is it because it’s old?
What is value when we understand it in terms of western culture?
That is to say, we have a limited way of understanding value because we have created and are being created by the way in which it is said to be understood.
Perhaps there are ways of valuing and suggesting value that we have not found.
I think there are.
But again, I am not sure.
The document won’t let me indent any further.
I’ll come back here.
No specific reason.
Anyway.
I wonder if because there is undiscovered value, there is undiscovered form.
Of course there is.
I still don’t quite know what form is.
Here?
Here?
I’ll try again tomorrow.