Tensions

Try to imagine a sequence of single images, an animated cartoon, in which the position of the lines is changing: The film begins with a disharmonic graphic and ends with a harmonic one. The disharmonic distribution of shapes is gradually changing in the course of the film and turns into a harmonic distribution. In between there are single images which are neither harmonic nor disharmonic. And this condition is called tension.
 
We then speak of tension when the order is dissolved to such a degree that it threatens to break up into disorder. Tension is also given, however, when disorder is dissolved to such a degree that order can be expected to develop.
So tension is a question of the right extent. As regards disorder the degree of disharmony is so high that it cannot dissolve at all. That's why there is no tension with a disharmony.
 
Finally, one last consideration relating to harmony: If we perceive order as harmonic, it seems very likely to come to the conclusion that absolute order must then be absolutely harmonic. Absolute order, however, is monotonous and boring. "Disharmony and monotony are chief characteristics of qualitatively poor art", so writes Roman Liedl. We like and need order, but if this order shall have an artistic effect, it has to present something new; it has to stand out against the conventional. Let's once more compare it to music: If a song shall become a hit, it has to be new. The rehashed version of a song that has been successful, but is now tumbling down the charts, would weary everyone.
 
Creating extremely tense moods represents the best possibility to stand out against everything that's conventional and thus boring. I don't mean that the conventional is boring because it is of poor quality, but quite simply because it is familiar to us. Who knows how many people all over the world have a brilliant idea at that very moment, but at the same time have the bad luck that this idea has already been publicized and is therefore known to everybody. Modern artists have a hard time: Their work is only and exclusively regarded as work of art, if it represents something new.
 
Just take a look at the art from the baroque and rococo period: There was no "abstract art" then. A skilled painter just had to make simple "copies" of reality with a brush and oil paint, and his paintings were accepted as works of art. As a result, artists nowadays are tempted to push the tension in their works to the limit. No modern artist will exhibit his works without a good portion of tension. Some buffoons from German tv programs such as "Explosive" and "Brisant" have recently made an "experiment": They furnished an ape with brush and paint, and had it daub on a canvas. The ape's art was then exhibited on a reputable arts fair and was labeled with very considerable prices. The actual origin of these paintings was concealed, and instead they were extolled as the work of a new talent. Even experts and critics reached very philosophical interpretations when asked about the artist's intention.
 
If an idea has already been there, well it just has been there: But this should not be a reason for selling daub as modern art. We modern artists will have to accept the fact that our ancestors expressed all their ideas, and that not much new is left to turn up today. Their works shall become the object of our longing for art. If we take in something new into our culture, it really should be worthwile including it. The more modern the time, the poorer the quality in art. Let me give you an example: Somebody forces in compositions, close at the brink of the tolerable, simply because they are new and simply because they haven't been there before; this somebody wants to produce something unprecedented at all costs, just to polish up his infantile ego; and this somebody is supported by a materialistic-oriented and well-functioning commercial apparatus which is primarily not interested in the work of art, but in sales prospects - this would definitely be a sign of bad taste and offend the other works of art. We should rather focus on the finer points,- there is still a lot to be discovered, even if the first general impression may seem familiar to us.