Experiments in Living
*A defeat for a generation lost in a world with no taste

from www.experimentsinliving.net

Online September 20th


EXPERIMENTS IN LIVING: MANIFESTO

1. The chains of money and the acceptance of dissatisfaction represent an everyday Chernobyl. Television is the new Nero. Hollywood: Prozac. Art is supposed to represent revolt against fate - not a conditioning into accepting more of the same.

2. Punk rock is our ground zero. Sites like 'Pitchfork Media' and 'Repeat' do not go far enough. The ethic of punk exists so that it can be applied to all other forms of media: " Those who make revolution half way only dig their own graves "

3. Radio stations and the 'alternative' press have let us down. We demand more choice. An end to homogenised play lists and vh2 led guitar blandness. Xfm and Steve Lamacq are just as offensive as Jim Crow. Its to late to re plaster, the entire structure is rotten.

4. Newspapers patronise us. The Guardian and the Daily Mail conform to reader expectation. Down with left wing / right wing / centrist bias. Down with shallow analysis. Enter realpoltik. We won't waste words telling readers what they already know. Why read a 2000 word article if it only makes 3 points? We promise more ideas per page. More analysis. Death to pseudo debate.

5. Modern literature is boring. Produced as it is by Oxbridge graduates for consumption by the bourgeois. Words can be exciting and dangerous. The comic book is just as worthy as the novel. Boredom is counterrevolutionary. This concerns everyone.

6. Affluence breeds apathy and the belief in change only as an impossibility. Success is realising that we may fail but still trying anyway: " those who fly to close to the sun sometimes get their wings burnt " The past doesn't have to be prologue.

7. We can't hide from the poverty of our daily actions any longer. Everyday life - because of its increasing triviality (work / sleep / consume / repeat / commute) is in need of supersession. Going through the motions kills the emotions. 140,000* people try and commit suicide each year. There has to be another way out: Abolish alienation. The future will only contain what we put into it now.

8. "Living" implies more then just existing. The only way to end the drudgery is through creativity. The streets are awash with destroyed dreams.. as people discover their inner artist only to be told that they aren't good enough. Experiments in living's main goal is to fuel the creative urge within ALL people. To save them from life's dissatisfaction heap. There's no such thing as "good art" or " bad art." Freedom is participation.

9. Hero worship is necrophilia. Britney Spears is NOT real, no body looks like she does in the media, not even Britney looks like that. We demand REAL role models as opposed to grotesque creations moulded by men in suits to make money to buy them their big convertibles and soulless mansions.

10. FHM pollutes more minds then Goebbels Lad culture is NO culture. If the pretext is irony we are NOT impressed. It's possible to be sensitive and articulate AND male. Glasnost is a metaphor.

11. We aren't interested in the creation of generation gaps. Q and the Nme artificially polarise debate. It's better that we present a united front.

12. Do not go and watch a rock band and then resent the attention they receive; you must take it and make it your own.

13. BE: obscene /crude/ intelligent/ talented/ talentless/ challenging/ daring/ ugly/ beautiful/ charming/ flawed/ flawless/ dressed up/ dressed down/ fat/ slim / yourself

14. WARNING: We will be challenged, knocked down, spat on at every point by people who see us breaking boundaries and challenging their personal comfort zones. They just can't handle our shit BUT even those who have resigned themselves to wallowing in a mundane life, without questioning or wanting more will be effected when they see us making a stand because it puts pressure on them to do the same. There's no looking back.

Sheraz Qureshi with help from Kate Moore, Aristotle, Engels, Allison Wolfe, Christopher Gray and Raoul Vaneigem

Make a stand about this rant on our message boards here

Compare and contrast with R*E*P*E*A*T Manifesto here