Definition
Yellowism is an autonomous phenomenon in contemporary culture. It derived from the visual arts and despite this fact, is not classified as art, what is in accordance with its essence. It was defined in 2010 by Marcin Łodyga and Vladimir Umanets. Characteristic feature of yellowism is the lack of a creative element. All manifestations of yellowism are about yellow, are identical in content and differ only in terms of form. Pieces of yellowism are cause of expansion of yellowism and are not the result of the creative process and evolution. Yellowism can easily be seen as a kind of creativity; however, such thinking belies its true nature. Yellowism can be presented only in the special yellowistic chambers. Yellowistic chamber is a closed room with yellow walls that is not an art gallery and because of its nature, cannot exist or be presented in an art gallery. On 15th Nov 2010 in Giza, in the Natalia Vodianova Yellowistic Chamber was opened the first exhibition of yellowism called "Flattened to yellow”, on which, for the first time, the Manifesto of Yellowism was presented. The opening date of this exhibition is considered as the beginning of yellowism.
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Ghetto
Yellowism is an area that is located outside the field of art. Perhaps it is parallel to it, maybe it is its yellow flat shadow... in any case it's beyond the art and this is its strength. It is an autonomous territory. The yellow ghetto is not inside the city of art, but outside of it.
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All and Everything
Imagine that you are a guide in an art gallery similar to Tate Modern in London; people follow you and you explain: this work here is about yellow and expresses yellow and nothing more, the next work made by X is about yellow and expresses yellow and nothing more, and this work of art made by Y is about yellow and expresses yellow and nothing more, and the work made by Z is about yellow and expresses yellow... After the tour it turns out that according to you all of the (let's say a thousand) different exhibited works which are derived from different periods of art and were created for various reasons are about yellow and express yellow and nothing more, so people ask: "are you blind and stupid?" You equated, as some dictator, the whole richness of meanings, symbols, references (and also the lack of meanings and the whole abstraction) to a single expression, so... fuck off! Immediately after this indictment they would kill you :-) It could not happen in a large yellowistic chamber where in the same way you would explain a thousand variously-looking pieces of yellowism (every piece done by someone else); it can be pieces of yellowism visually very simmilar to the works of art that you have explained in the gallery. In the yellowistic chamber, people aware of the context in which they are located would say that you are right - all pieces in the chamber are about yellow and express yellow and nothing more.
In art, unlike in yellowism, ALL and EVERYTHING is not flattened to yellow; therefore yellowism is not art.
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External Resemblance
Consider a pair of visually indistinguishable objects, but the first element in this pair is a work of art and the second element is a piece of yellowism. The fact that first element of this pair is a work of art and the second element is not although the elements of this pair are visually indistinguishable shows that the first object in this pair must be enmeshed in some sort of framework or network of relations in which the second element is not. It is first element's being enmeshed in the framework which accounts for its being a work of art, and it is the second element's being enmeshed in the framework which accounts for its being a piece of yellowism.
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The Necessity of Manifesto of Yellowism
The word "language" and "sentence", "grammar" etc. I use in this text only to metaphorically explain the new context - yellowism. Yellowism should not be considered from linguistic perspective or only from linguistic perspective.
To perceive piece of yellowism as a piece of yellowism, you must first know the manifesto of yellowism. Manifesto of yellowism will be "visible" in each yellowistic chamber. Perhaps, in the future, manifesto presented on the yellow wall in the yellowistic chamber will be no longer necessary; everyone will know in what context is located when one sees the yellow walls around something resembling a work of art. But now the presentation of the manifesto on the wall of the yellowistic chamber is indispensable.
Imagine that you accidentally crossed the border of a foreign country and you didn’t notice that; you didn’t see the information sign; there was no fence, no lines, etc. After a while you meet people who speak a foreign (totally different than yours) language and you already know that (perhaps) you are in another territory.
What happens if two “countries” use the same “language”? Imagine: you crossed the boundary of yellowistic chamber but you don’t know yet that this is a yellowistic chamber. The "language" seems familiar; you are even sure that you know this “language” very well and undoubtedly you are on contemporary art exhibition; “you are at home”. It is clear - some artist painted the walls yellow and putted some objects inside. But pretty soon, fortunately, you see the manifesto of yellowism on the wall. Manifesto from which you will learn that the examples of yellowism can look like works of art but are not works art. Now you know that you were wrong. You are not on an art exhibition.
Although you already know all the "words" and the whole "grammar" but you need to learn these things from scratch because in this "country" (Yellowism) all the possible expressions ("sentences") are about yellow. Therefore, this "new language" is very easy to learn, in fact, after reading the manifesto you already know this “foreign language" - each piece of yellowism is about yellow and expresses exactly the same as other pieces. It is simple. The truncated cow head with eyes painted turquoise blue hanging from the ceiling is about yellow and the video projection on which you see the white woman kissing a black man is about yellow; and next piece: the flag of North Korea stuck in the bread lying on the floor is also about yellow and nothing more. This is yellowism .
Another way to inform about this new context (yellowism) should be a little similar to the transfer of information via genetic code…
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Q & A
“Examples of Yellowism can look like works of art but are not works of art” - this is a sentence from Manifesto of Yellowism. Could you describe this independent territory where objects and actions look like works of art but are not works of art?
This autonomous territory is called "Yellowism". Yellowism is not art, it is not a form of creativity. We resigned from art, but not like Marcel Duchamp. Unlike him, after resignation we defined a new context, both mental and physical, and it was our last creative move. We didn't reduce our activity to the domain of reality. Now, after this decision to give up any kind of artistic practice, after the "Manifesto of Yellowism", it is better to say "we arrange pieces of Yellowism" or even "we produce" rather than "we create" Yellowism piece number one, Yellowism piece number two... These are just examples of yellowistic expansion. There is no evolution of Yellowism; we do not develop any idea. No new messages. The final message is done, context has been defined. Examples of Yellowism can look like works of art, but are not works of art. I can go even further and say: “sometimes examples of Yellowism look exactly the same like works of art but are not works of art". Why are they not works of art? The answer is very simple: because these pieces exist only in the hermetic context of Yellowism which we defined in the Manifesto of Yellowism. And... even if someone doesn't approve of this new context, it clearly exists.
Is Yellowism a next, important move after Duchamp?
Duchamp was playing with two contexts: reality and art. Yellowism is a third context. Duchamp resigned from art...but in the end we have "Etant donnes" in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We resigned from art and at the same moment, with Vladimir Umanets, we defined a new territory for our practices. Yellowism is out of art and can not exist or be presented in a museum. Duchamp didn't define a new context, he chose chess. In dialog with Pierre Cabanne, Duchamp said that chess may be an ideal work of art. Anyway, people have known chess since the 6th century.
Is Yellowism a kind of anti-art?
No, definitely not! Yellowism is not against art. Yellowism is a result of the experiences that we gained by engaging in art. Through art we have reached Yellowism. Art was for us a bit like a uterus, like a mother, but we did not want to kill her (laugh). Now, Yellowism is Yellowism, art is art - that's it.
Can Yellowism as a whole be considered as a big work of art?
We defined the right context for our works, which were in a wrong context before. The right one is called “Yellowism”, the wrong one is called “art”. We were “writing” the Manifesto of Yellowism in the period of transition, somewhere “in between” – between the territory of art, which we wanted to abandon (and we did it!) and a new territory called Yellowism. It was the act of moving from one state to another, but the latter we were forming simultaneously. This decision should not be considered as a part of artistic process. It is not right to call Yellowism as a whole a work of art. I think that we are not positioned within a big work of art titled “Yellowism”.
Is Yellowism a meta-art?
No, it is not, because Yellowism is not about art, it is about yellow. Yellowism is maybe "meta-yellow" (laugh).
Can I perceive Yellowism as a mirror for art?
It looks exactly the same like me, but it is not me. What is it then? I think it could be, for example, my mirror reflection (laugh). My reflection doesn't feel like me, doesn't think like me, is flat, is... lifeless. Yellowism looks like art but is not art... Yes, Yellowism can be a yellow mirror for art - you literally enter this mirror when you cross the gap of the yellowistic chamber. You are like Alice. Everyone should notice that Yellowism is not an illusion. It is real.
Today art can absorb everything. Do you think that some artists can use a piece of Yellowism to create works of art?
Hypothetically speaking yes, some artists can do this. If they decide to take a piece of Yellowism from a yellowistic chamber and put it in an art gallery or use this piece to construct their work, then its identity changes and we are immediately in an art context. An artist or curator can even prepare an exhibition about Yellowism - everywhere except in a yellowistic chamber.
According to the Manifesto of Yellowism - a yellowistic chamber space is reserved only for pieces of Yellowism...
It is obvious that works of art can occur anywhere... for example: on the moon or inside your left leg (laugh), but white cube is the only neutral space for works of art. White walls - this is the convention. Why white? Good visibility, perhaps. A piece of Yellowism may only be presented in yellowistic chambers, not in open public spaces, not on the street, not in the desert, a bar, a hospital etc. Yellowistic chambers are the only space for pieces of Yellowism. Here, yellow walls are neutral. Yellowism has changed my perception and now white walls of art galleries seem strange to me (laugh).
Who can be a yellowist, only you and Vladimir?
Everyone can be a yellowist, everyone who understands what the Manifesto of Yellowism is about, and is aware of what contemporary art is and what Yellowism is; if one feels that Yellowism is an appropriate context for his/her activities, then one can be yellowist.
“Pieces of Yellowism are only about yellow and nothing more”. In art I can make work about yellow as well, right?
Of course you can, but you will do this in the context of art, in which you can make work about yellow and blue, red, line, surface, war, politics, religion, love, sex, the human condition, globalisation, art itself etc. You can refer to all these things separately or you can mix them as you like. In art you have a wide spectrum of themes, private mythologies, stories, metaphors, points of departure, references, interpretations, messages etc. In the context of Yellowism pieces are only about yellow and nothing more. In Yellowism everything is flattened to yellow. A huge and heavy stone fell down (smile) and now all intellectual and emotional possibilities are reduced to one- to yellow. Just the visual forms continuously change the “image" of Yellowism. Different materials in different configurations appear on one static yellow surface. It doesn't matter how the piece of Yellowism looks, I mean, it doesn't matter what kind of medium I will use to make this piece, it doesn't matter what materials I use, doesn't matter how I will arrange elements in the space, doesn't matter how I will title it. A piece of Yellowism is always about yellow and expresses exacly the same thing as other pieces. If you are planning to visit a yellowistic chamber you already know that the exhibition installed there, is about yellow and you should not expect any intelectual surprises. It is enough, if you understand what we are saying in the Manifesto of Yellowism. There is only one message to think about, universal information for every yellowistic exhibition - the Manifesto of Yellowism.
"A huge and heavy stone fell down"… so, there is no freedom in Yellowism?
Contemporary art is based on freedom – everywhere everyone can make a piece about anything. In Yellowism– there is no “everywhere” – but only yellowistic chambers, there is no “about anything” – but the subject matter is always yellow. Yellowism is closer to a totalitarian system than to art. Freedom? Freedom in mono-gamy can be more real than in poly-gamy… (laugh).
Can one say: “I can read pieces of Yellowism as pieces about anything, not about yellow, and it will be my free, personal interpretation”?
Of course one can say that, as long as a yellowistic police doesn’t exist and can’t change one's mind (smile), but it will be just that person's point of view. It is quite obvious that today, very often, the spectator has to decipher and interpretate works of art... In Yellowism there is nothing to decode, because Yellowism is not art. All pieces are about yellow- this is the axiom which we give to everyone. All pieces of Yellowism always repeat the same information- definition of yellow: "a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nm". Let’s go back to the Manifesto of Yellowism: “Interpreting Yellowism as art (or anti-art) and being about something other than just yellow deprives Yellowism of its only purpose”.
What is this “only purpose”?
Yellow.
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6 comments
1.Art was not my aim but a means to an aim. Through art I reached to Yellowism. The transition to another level - but not like in a computer game. It is rather a transition from one game to another game.
2.The only difference between those who defined the context of yellowism (who wrote the Manifesto of Yellowism) and are "doing something" in this context, and those who did not define it (but rather they "got it") and also are "doing something" in this context, lies in the fact that the latter did not define it. To make yellowism is enough to be aware of the context of yellowism.
3.The same person may exhibit works in art galleries and also in yellowistic chambers. He/she does not need to give up the art to do something in Yellowism. This person must only separate and distinguish these two contexts. She/he can even show the same thing in either of the contexts. In the art gallery a film about war in Afghanistan will be about war in Afghanistan (and probably also about something else) but in a yellowistic chamber the same film will be about yellow and nothing more.
4. Hypothetically: the work of art shown in the yellowistic chamber is no longer a work of art, but it becomes a piece of yellowism.
5.The piece of yellowism shown in the art gallery or anywhere except the yellowistic chamber is no longer a piece of yellowism, but it becomes a work of art or simply disappears in reality.
6.The yellow homogeneous mass is not for the masses.
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The Yellow Glass
If something is ahead of its time, and even if only a little ahead, it can be misunderstood by some or difficult to understand. The definition of yellowism is very simple and should be read literally. This is not a metaphor. This is a description of something that exists. However, sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to understand.
I think the biggest problem for some people is to classified yellowism as non - art. It is hard to see yellowism as the area outside, as the autonomous territory, which is not neither art nor anti – art, nor daily reality. In accordance with its essence, yellowism is not art nor anti- art or reality, both social and material, such as we experience it. This is a new field, which perhaps had already existed, but its definition has been given recently.
One of the answers to the question why yellowism is not art is such that in yellowism all and everything (no matter what it is) is about yellow and express yellow color and nothing more. Are all works of art about yellow and express yellow color? Of course, not.
Two important facts: firstly, in yellowism all and everything is "flattened" into the yellow, and secondly, all and everything in yellowism is beyond art. The genius of yellowism consists in a combination of these two facts. Combining these two facts is the way to understand, or simply to see yellowism as what it really is.
Often you can hear a commentary that yellowism looks like art, the pieces of yellowism look like works of art. Precisely, it is true that pieces of yellowism only look like works of art but they are not. This is the external, visual similarity. Work of art exists in its own context - the context of art, piece of yellowism exist in its own hermetic context of yellowism.
The object placed in front of a mirror is reflected in it, but of course this reflection is not the object. The object and its reflection look identical but are located in other "spaces". If someone would call this object “art” and its reflection would call “yellowism” would be close to understand what yellowism is and would see how everything and everyone in it, is flattened, equalised to one plane of thought as smooth as a sheet of glass.
This glass is yellow.
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The Forest
There is no evolution of yellowism; everything has been already finally defined at the very beginning and even after a hundred or a thousand years this situation will not change. The history of yellowism is not and will not be such as art history. If the history of art we will imagine as torn, curly, interrupted, sometimes very thick, sometimes so thin that almost invisible, multi-colored line , therefore the history of yellowism we should imagine as a separate, perfectly straight yellow line which thickens as far as expansion of yellowism.
Every point on the yellow time- line (history of yellowism) is no different from other points on this line. If you can not distinguish the point from the point then you can not see the passage of time. Through this yellowistic unification, the time is stopped.
The expansion (expansion of the yellow line) is related with the time, but if you're in the middle of this line, you do not see how this line is expanding therefore you lose the track of time.
Imagine, that you are in the forest where all trees look the same, and everywhere you go you see the same thing; you walk, but you are still in the same place. Everything is homogeneous and nothing surprise you. There is no secrets.
This lack of mystery, this desirable and innate lack of hope of doing something original, inventive, new and revolutionary is connected with the lack of creativity in yellowism. In yellowism, anything you do, does not develop any idea, you don’t create anything, you do not even think about a new concept of your work because no matter what it would be, it will be always the same "definition" of a yellow color given in another form. For example: a blue metal chair placed in the yellowistic chamber says: yellow - the hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between orange and green, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 570 to 590 nanometers; any of a group of colors of a hue resembling that of ripe lemons and varying in lightness and saturation.
Each yellowist is no different from other yellowists. They all make pieces about yellow, and show them only in yellowistc chambers, in the context of yellowism. There is no better or worse piece about yellow, because no matter how it looks, it is only a repetition of the same expression. Visual forms changes, but the content not. And even if in the context of art, in the case of certain works the content is the same (because some artist stubbornly and invariably penetrates one subject) still exists the second or third, or hundredth, thousandth artist who expresses a different idea, different contents. A work of thousandth artist may even look very much like the work of the first artist, but both were made for another reason, for another purpose, both express something else, and provoke many different interpretations. Two same-looking works of art can express something completely different. Two very different pieces of yellowism certainly express exactly the same thing.
Due to this, can someone ask: why to be an yellowist if he/she does not create anything; everything is unified, flattened to the yellow color, all yellowists do the same thing, express the same thing and show their pieces against yellow walls; there is no tension, no hierarchy, no contrasts, no intellectual friction… everything is so homogeneous… Answer: so to not do art, not to be an artist, indefinitely express yellow color and contribute the expansion of yellowism.
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The Traveling Chair (The Inexorable Change of Context)
Perhaps it is true that we have not created a new context, we have only defined the context that already existed earlier but no one described it. I suppose that Marcel Duchamp sensed the existence of this context, but he did not even delineate it. I quote here the words of yellowist Vladimir Umanets : “Our grandfather Duchamp would probably be proud of us. We are futile artists, just like he was a futile yellowist and the opposite.”
Some say that in art was already everything, therefore you can say that in yellowism can be everything what was already in art and it will no longer be art. For example: a bottle rack, which looks exactly the same as famous readymade by Marcel Duchamp, placed in the yellowistic chamber, will be about yellow color. The same applies to Damien Hirst’s shark. And more…
Yellowism is the context, in which not only the reality ceases to be reality, but also art ceases to be art. Imagine a chair which ceases to be a chair for sitting, but it becomes a work of art, it loses its previous status and becomes an artistic manifestation about war, and then it loses its status of work of art and appears in an yellowistic chamber as a piece about yellow. “The travel of chair” has increased by one new context.
Do not ask anymore why this chair is about yellow color. This is tiring. Do you ask, every time when you turn on the iron or the TV, what is an electric current? I suppose that you take it for granted. Follow the same in the case of each piece of yellowism. You have to accept this context, it clearly exists. Enjoy!
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The Mutual Tolerance (Diversity and Homogeneity)
Here's the fragment of text about the exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cracow, Poland, attended by forty-four artists:
“… to demonstrate how a problem which society is aware of, apparently generally comprehensible, is perceived by artists and capable of divergent interpretations. In this way, the mechanism of art will be revealed: to provide the maximum breadth and diversity of vision. And, in turn, the basis of tolerance: a fascination with diversity of approach and interpretation.”
In the Manifesto of Yellowism, art has been described as a "diverse whole." Undoubtedly, the text quoted above (written by some art curator) emphasizes the accuracy of this expression; therefore I can say that from both points of view, from the yellowism perspective and from art perspective, art stands as a “diverse whole”. I think also that you can easily quote a number of other texts about art, which will confirm the thesis that art is a "diverse whole" or a “multiple whole”; but I do not have time for more quotes ...
In the same manifesto, yellowism has been described as "a homogeneous mass." To recall why yellowism is so homogeneous, so monolithic refer to my earlier texts such as “All and everything" or "The Forest". Hypothetically, if the works of forty four artists taking part in the exhibition in the museum would be transferred to an yellowistic chamber, then all, without exception, would be about yellow and would express yellow and nothing more and then "the maximum breadth and diversity of vision” would be narrowed, flattened to yellow. The context of yellowism would unmercifully equalize all interpretations to one, because inside yellowism “a fascination with diversity of approach and Interpretation" doesn’t exist. But – no worries :), this is just an example, a hypothesis. The process of formation of piece of yellowism is not (but it can be) based on the strategy to move works of art from museums, galleries, artist studios, public space etc. in to the context in which everything is about yellow color. It's just such a possibility. A piece of yellowism doesn’t have to be a work of art, before it becomes a piece of yellowism. Notice also, that pieces of yellowism do not occur to fight with works of art or to be against art. Yellowism is not anti- art, this is not a war; there is no aggression between art and yellowism. Art and yellowism tolerate each other, despite the fact, that both are two separate “worlds”. I would not call this relation symbiosis or parasitism; these two contexts just look at each other and that's it...
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Provocation?
Yellowism is not an artistic provocation, because yellowism is not art. Probably, some people will read the first sentence of this text as an artistic provocation. Fine, but that's their business...Yellowism is not any provocation. Notice, that the expression: "yellowism is not art" is not a joke, an irony, it is just an important part of the definition of yellowism. Yellowism doesn’t want to provoke, question, diagnose, offend, infuriate or harass other beings, is focused on its own expansion and has no time for it; this is not its purpose. Yellowism doesn’t fight with anyone and is not anti -, for example, art. Yellowism simply exists, and it is possible that yellowism existence can be taken by some people as a kind of provocation... Well, therefore the fact that the trees grow and the sun rises can also be perceived as a provocation.
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Love
Exerting influence on contemporary art is not the purpose of yellowism. Yellowism doesn’t want to attack, provoke and question the contemporary art. However, the presence of yellowism in modern culture overturns the entire contemporary art upside down. The fact that yellowism exists causes that contemporary art loses ground underfoot. Metaphorically speaking, it is a little as if contemporary art fell in love with yellowism, but yellowism is cold and impassive and focused on its own expansion. Yellowism is an autonomous being and does not need to substantiate, corroborate or verify its existence through other beings. Contemporary art looks at "inexorable" yellowism and consequently turns itself upside down and fall into insanity and despair.
