“Art is the signature of civilization.” — Beverly Sills
“There is no truth that has not passed through beauty.” — René Char
Prelude: Beyond Objects and Performances
Art is neither an object nor a performance, neither a craft nor a commodity. It does not merely occupy space in a museum or time on a stage. Rather, art is an act of orientation—a catalyst that reclaims coherence from chaos, forging a deeper sense of meaning where superficial patterns threaten to erode our connection to the real.
While others might interpret a painting as mere decoration, or regard an installation as fleeting spectacle, I propose that the essence of art lies in reconfiguring subjectivity itself, bridging the mind’s innate drive toward mystical interior revelation and its outward impetus to articulate meaning in a co-creative realm.
Why call it “orientation”? Because art, in its most radical sense, reorders the subject’s vantage on existence. Far beyond showy illusions, art cuts through the swirl of stimuli we encounter daily, establishing an experience beyond mere observation. A true artistic encounter suspends linear time, memory, and perception, producing what I call vertical time: a realm where the subject’s inner, near-mystical impetus toward truth meets a broader communicative horizon. This double impetus—an emancipated interior fullness that unfolds into poetic articulation—becomes essential in an era of infinite digital signals, or what I call the infosomatic age, where algorithmic infrastructures saturate our interpretive life at every turn.
In short, art stands as a necessary pivot for reorienting subjectivity in a culture prone to mass illusions and mimicry. Its power is not in simplistic “truth-telling,” but in creating intervals of presence—moments where personal transcendence converges with a poetic synergy that cannot be replicated by ephemeral spectacle or rational optimization alone. If, as some argue, meaning can only thrive when the subject is actively engaged, then art remains the last domain where the mystical and rational coalesce, fueling a profound autonomy that breaks through the default churn of data-driven life.
1. The Problem of Art in an Infosomatic Age
1.1. Infinite Signals, Diminished Presence
The current actuality presents us with an unprecedented onrush of information. Social media, digital archives, and algorithmic curation produce a 24/7 tide of new stimuli, fueling consumer culture and ephemeral fascination.
Although such tools might expand creative capacity, they also feed a reflexive passivity: attention becomes the new currency, and the spectacle—saturated with fleeting intensities—dominates. In this swirl, the reflective gap essential to art’s deeper function recedes. We find ourselves drowning in half-realized illusions that overshadow authenticity.
1.2. The Erosion of the Reflective Gap
While illusions proliferate, the slow, deliberate immersion that fosters artistic resonance evaporates. As novel items gain traction via digital hype, fewer spaces remain for experiences that invite deep presence. The result is a flattening dynamic: though the volume of imagery skyrockets, interpretive depth declines. If art is to fulfill its essential role as a corridor to intangible coherence, it must both confront and transcend this environment. This leads to a radical question: how can art, in the midst of hyperactive data flows, preserve an interval where the subject’s near-mystical interior impetus meets an outward, intersubjective articulation?
2. Vertical Time: Art as a Rupture in the Linear Flow
2.1. Chronos vs. Kairos: Two Modes of Temporality
Traditionally, chronos marks chronological order—past, present, future. Kairos references moments of heightened potential that defy mere sequence. Art, I argue, creates a zone akin to kairos: vertical time. This is not mere “timelessness,” but a deepening that reconfigures our sense of being. In that sense, vertical time merges the subject’s mystical interior (where new truths can stir) with an outwardly shared moment—no longer pinned to the linear rush of tasks or ephemeral excitements.
Consider the luminescent fields of Rothko or the labyrinthine preludes of Bach. In both, linear measure collapses; we dwell in a heightened present, informed equally by interior readiness (the subjective impetus to perceive anew) and by the artwork’s shared articulation. That synergy forms a conduit for meaning that transcends routine categories.
2.2. From Spectacle to Presence
If an infosomatic environment fosters spectacle, bombarding the senses and short-circuiting deeper reflection, then art acts as an opposing gesture: it slows perception to a hush, forging a synergy that neither panders to novelty nor collapses into static form. One might call it the shift from ephemeral “wow factors” to a focused presence. In so doing, art reclaims the interpretive freedom once overshadowed by fleeting amusements or mechanical simplification. By pulling the subject from chronos into vertical time, art fosters an integrative vantage—fusing interior impetus with outward expression in a single, transformative interval.
3. Poetics as the Essential Core of Art
3.1. Poetics: More Than Style
Sometimes reduced to a literary flourish, “poetics” is, in fact, art’s irreducible core: the layering of indirect articulation that resists total closure. In a purely mechanical or linear environment, meaning is often “solved,” pinned down to a single correct function. Poetics, by contrast, insists on multivalence. It thrives on a synergy of unspoken signals, partial gestures, and interpretive leaps that remain beyond final calculation. This intangible dimension invites the subject to become co-creator: bridging one’s own latent impulses with the subtle cues the artwork provides.
3.2. Poetry of Vertical Time
Crucially, this poetic dimension belongs in the domain of vertical time. Like a well-placed chord in music or an elliptical phrase in verse, it conjures an experience here and now that cannot be reduced to linear explication. Instead, it fosters a tension or resonance that is both deeply personal and outwardly shared. Poetics thus becomes the engine by which the subject’s near-mystical internal impetus finds outward expression. Freed from the ephemeral mania of data flows, this synergy emerges as art’s last bastion: a realm where no purely mechanical logic can intrude, safeguarding the creative horizon from trivial repetition.
4. The Mimicry of Art in a Data-Driven Culture
4.1. Simulation vs. Authentic Creation
Within an infosomatic reality, imitation or mimicry abounds: repeated motifs, recycled forms, ephemeral controversies. This results in “art-like objects” that command quick attention but fail to open vertical time. One sees it in certain big-ticket “conceptual” pieces that provoke minimal introspection, or in NFT-based hyperbole driven by aesthetic surface. These gestures feed the spectacle loop rather than forging synergy. The question is not to dismiss them outright but to note their inability to catalyze that deeper shift—the unwavering presence and emergent resonance that define art in the radical sense.
4.2. Aesthetic Redundancy and the Flattening of Symbolic Space
Hence, a phenomenon of aesthetic redundancy arises. Flooded by repetitious signifiers, culture cycles through trends with minimal depth. The future can feel “used up,” as if no new vantage is possible. Art, however, counters this by insisting on presence. Rather than chase ephemeral shocks, art fosters the subject’s co-participation in an event that yields intangible synergy. By refusing to reduce everything to data or immediate effect, it upholds a realm of interpretive depth that cannot be overshadowed by algorithmic or swarm-based illusions.
5. An Expanded Definition of Art
5.1. Art as Emergence
Art is not a category or discipline so much as a birth of latent significance, a process akin to poiesis, bringing forth what was previously hidden or overshadowed. This energy of emergence unites intangible interior impetus with shared expression, shaping intangible seeds into a living event. From a painting to a piece of music, from ephemeral performance to immersive installations, the form is secondary to the emergent synergy each piece encourages.
5.2. Art as Vertical Time
Instead of linear sequences or ephemeral spectacle, art creates vertical time—a deliberate interruption in daily rhythms, summoning a saturating hush. This hush is not empty stasis but a heightened “now” that conjoins the subject’s near-mystical readiness to see anew with the outward phenomenon that the artwork presents. Rothko’s color fields, for instance, are not “just rectangles”; they become intervals of presence in which color’s intangible force resonates.
5.3. Art as Poetic Articulation
Poetic expression stands at the core of how art performs this vertical synergy. It does not flatten meaning into bullet points. Rather, it invites each observer to enact an interpretive role, bridging the intangible impetus within them and the intangible clues in the work. This bridging ensures that meaning remains emergent rather than closed, resonant rather than ephemeral.
5.4. Art as Anti-Redundancy
Finally, in a realm prone to mimicry, art must function as anti-redundancy: it resists the mass duplication of form by reasserting presence. An artist who merges personal impetus with a poetic orientation can yield new vantage points that the swirl of digital repetition cannot overshadow. Art thereby remains the only refuge from ephemeral illusions that saturate our data-laden environment, forging intervals where synergy triumphs over the noise.
6. Art, Infosomatics, and the Liberation of Subjectivity
6.1. The Infosomatic Matrix
In the 21st century, data flows and sensorimotor experiences converge in what might be called the “infosomatic matrix,” a zone in which daily life is saturated with micro-decisions shaped by AI and algorithmic curation. While such systems can streamline tasks or produce fleeting amusements, they seldom nurture interpretive autonomy. The user becomes a node in cycles of ephemeral attention. True creativity or reflective presence stands at risk of atrophy.
6.2. Poetic Coherence and Autonomy
This is why art emerges as an emancipatory technology. By reclaiming intangible space, it fosters interpretive leaps. Poetic articulation refuses neat finalities or purely mechanical solutions. Instead, it preserves an area in which each subject’s near-mystical interior impetus resonates outwardly, forging meaning that no algorithm can reduce to data. Art becomes a realignment of subjective vantage, letting us see beyond illusions or manipulations.
Hence, far from archaic, art is a pivot that ensures we remain not passive ciphers but interpretive agents. In a world where ephemeral illusions swirl, vertical time offered by art stands as the last corridor for synergy. Freed from trivial duplication, it deepens the horizon of potential, forging both moral clarity and creative spark.
7. Paths to Reclaiming Art’s Essence
7.1. Praxis as Interrogation, Not Commodity
One step is to reaffirm that art arises not from market constraints but from a deliberate interrogation. The final object might indeed circulate commercially, yet the impetus must not be overshadowed by such frameworks. Instead, ephemeral pop-ups, interactive gatherings, or digital fields can highlight creation as a mode of “reality construction,” letting participants experience vertical time rather than mere spectacle.
7.2. Cultivating Poetic Sensibility
If the infosomatic swirl distracts from interpretive presence, an educational pivot can embed “poetic intervals” in daily life. Instead of purely functional skill sets, we might anchor slow reflection, aesthetic immersion, or performance-based exploration that fosters interpretive leaps. This approach fosters the synergy that spurs genuine autonomy, bridging the subject’s mystical impetus with outward, shared expression.
7.3. Immersive and Multi-Sensory Approaches
Finally, bridging intangible presence with advanced media can yield new forms of synergy if oriented toward vertical experiences, not fleeting hype. Multi-sensory or VR-based encounters can slow the user’s pace, shifting them from ephemeral novelty to a contemplative hush. Freed from the mania of trending memes, participants sense how color, sound, or movement cohere in the intangible dimension of emergent synergy. That is art’s active potency.
8. The Radiant Heritage: Portals to Vertical Dimension
While the preceding arguments provide a theoretical scaffolding, certain historical or modern exemplars illustrate how art can conjure vertical time:
Polykleitos: Aligning form with cosmic resonance, turning marble into an emergent synergy.
Giotto / Fra Angelico: Transforming religious scenes into hush-filled corridors of reflection.
Caravaggio / Rembrandt: Layering light and introspection, pulling the viewer into raw immediacy.
Paula Modersohn-Becker: Intimate thresholds that capture embryonic presence.
Turner / Monet: Dissolving form into luminous color fields that free perception from the literal.
Chagall: Bridging dream and the everyday in a single, mythic sweep.
Hilma af Klint: Constructing coded shapes as doorways to universal forms.
Malevich: Presenting stark planes of pure potential.
Reuven Rubin: Subtle tonal hush that merges local and universal.
Čiurlionis: Layered intervals of near-musical geometry.
Each avoids ephemeral trivialities, forging co-creation that the observer steps into—a synergy that merges the subject’s interior impetus with outward poetic structure. This synergy epitomizes how art births vertical time.
9. Art as an Emergent Portal of Vertical Time
9.1. The Argument Restated
Art’s capacity to reorder consciousness stands as a pivotal antidote to the illusions of an infosomatic age. Instead of producing short-run spectacle or empty signifiers, genuine art forges intangible synergy—an ongoing dance between the subject’s near-mystical impetus toward new truths and the outward dimension of poetic articulation. This synergy fosters vertical time, halting ephemeral churn so interpretive presence can emerge. Freed from the mania of daily data, art becomes the final corridor for intangible coherence that transcends ephemeral illusions.
9.2. Bridging the Mystical and the Rational
In essence, art unifies two vectors: the deeply subjective, even mystical impetus to see beyond known frames, and the outward impetus to communicate or shape meaning among others. This double impetus ensures art is neither purely an internal revelation nor a mere external display.
Instead, it stands at the intersection: a zone in which the subject’s autonomy blooms, forging ephemeral forms that ask for co-creative engagement. Far from leading to ideological closure, this synergy fosters interpretive openness—a bulwark against flattening logic.
9.3. A Last Corridor of Creative Presence
Whether we stand before a painting or immerse ourselves in a subtle performance, the result, if truly art, is not ephemeral wonder but a resonant alignment that lingers. This is the hallmark of vertical time: ephemeral illusions do not overshadow it, mechanical rationality does not reduce it, mimicry does not degrade it. Instead, an unforced synergy emerges, unveiling intangible possibility in each moment of presence. Art, therefore, remains an essential liberation in a civilization pressed by algorithmic imperatives, fleeting illusions, and mass repetition.
One might call it a final utopia—trusting that each genuine moment of vertical synergy testifies that illusions, however dense, need not define our interpretive life. Each time we awaken to a painting, a poem, or a performance that reorients the mind, we validate the unbroken potential of human creativity. Art is not a museum relic or a commodity—it is the generative act that summons intangible horizon into tangible form, forging ephemeral illusions into emergent coherence.
Such, then, is the significance of art in the infosomatic age: it not only shapes a corridor for reflective presence, but also stands as the apex union of an inward, near-mystical impetus and the outward, poetic dimension of intersubjective co-creation—a synergy that transcends the illusions of ephemeral spectacle and the flattening patterns of mechanical logic, making way for a renewed horizon of truth and beauty.
References and Points of Further Inquiry
1. Time, Poetics, and Philosophical Foundations:
Heidegger, Martin. (1971). Poetry, Language, Thought. (A. Hofstadter, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
- Explores art as poiesis, underpinning the essay’s “vertical” dimension.
Jaeger, Werner. (1945). Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Details Greek concepts of chronos and kairos, informing art’s ability to transcend linear time.
Arendt, Hannah. (1958). The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Examines action and “spaces of appearance,” offering a framework for understanding art’s shared presence.
Buber, Martin. (1923). Ich und Du. Berlin: Schocken. (English: I and Thou).
- Stresses relational and dialogical aspects of human experience, aligning with art as a transformative meeting.
Char, René. (1947). Feuillets d’Hypnos. Paris: Gallimard.
- Noted for the line, “There is no truth that has not passed through beauty,” linking aesthetic presence with deeper truth.
2. Interdisciplinary Context and Data-Driven Culture
Zuboff, Shoshana. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. New York: PublicAffairs.
- Examines attention-commodification in data economies, relevant to the “infosomatic” environment.
Carr, Nicholas. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
- Explores how digital overload reshapes cognition, underscoring art’s need to preserve reflective depth.
3. Spectacle and Cultural Production
Debord, Guy. (1967). The Society of the Spectacle. Detroit: Black & Red.
- Foundational critique of spectacle culture, illuminating ephemeral illusions vs. art’s deeper presence.
Bourdieu, Pierre. (1979). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Analyzes how markets and cultural fields shape aesthetic values, clarifying the threat of mimicry.
4. Author's Publications on the Infosomatics and Civilization Design
Tsvasman, Leon. (2023). The Age of Sapiocracy: On the Radical Ethics of Data-Driven Civilization. Baden-Baden: Ergon Verlag (Nomos Gruppe).
Probes the impact of AI-driven infrastructures on autonomy and synergy, advocating a radical ethical reorientation in hyperconnected societies.
Tsvasman, Leon. (2021). Infosomatische Wende: Impulse für intelligentes Zivilisationsdesign. Baden-Baden: Ergon Verlag (Nomos Gruppe).
Introduces the “infosomatic” perspective, showing how digital transformation intertwines cognition and experience, reshaping cultural evolution.
Tsvasman, Leon. (2019). AI-Thinking: Dialog eines Vordenkers und eines Praktikers über die Bedeutung künstlicher Intelligenz. Baden-Baden: Ergon Verlag (Nomos Gruppe).
Contrasts AI’s tactical efficiency with the human subject’s liberating potential, underscoring emergent dialectics rather than reductive optimization.
Tsvasman, Leon. (2006). Das große Lexikon Medien und Kommunikation. Kompendium interdisziplinärer Konzepte.Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.
Explores transdisciplinary concepts in media and communication, critiquing disciplinary silos to forge a unified framework for understanding mediality.
Tsvasman, Leon. (2002). Kommunikative Aspekte individueller Orientierung.
Investigates personal autonomy and the communicative processes guiding individual orientation, aligning with the essay’s emphasis on emancipatory freedom.
5. Art-Historical Context and Key Figures
Rembrandt–Caravaggio (Exhibition Catalogue). (2006). Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Museum: Amsterdam.
- Documents the radical use of light and shadow, illustrating “vertical” presence in baroque painting.
Paula Modersohn-Becker: The First Modern Woman Artist (Exhibition & Catalog).
- Highlights her embryonic tension and emergent synergy in portraiture.
Turner and the Masters (Exhibition Catalogue). (2009). Tate Publishing.
- Explores Turner’s near-dissolution of form and color, aligning with the essay’s emphasis on immersive depth.
Hilma af Klint: Painting the Unseen (Serpentine Galleries). (2016). London: Koenig Books.
- Showcases her symbolic abstractions, hinting at a cosmic structure beyond linear representation.
Kazimir Malevich: Suprematism (Thyssen-Bornemisza Catalogue). (2014). Madrid: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza.
- Examines Malevich’s stark planes and “pure potential,” echoing the idea of unmediated vertical time.
Chagall: The Magic of Color (Exhibition Catalogue).
- Explores Chagall’s bridging of myth, dream, and everyday life.
M. K. Čiurlionis: Music of Dreams (European Exhibitions & Catalogs).
- Presents the synergy of form and near-musical structures in Čiurlionis’s “cosmic intervals.”
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