Sunday, October 9, 2011

Response to "the Success of Failure"

It's odd- I've seen perspectives similar to Fisher's before- specifically as it applies to the subject of failure. Everyone is fond of pointing out that failure builds character, creates opportunities that might not otherwise have existed, and we even like to question the idea of failure- can it truly exist? This is a brand of revisionist philosophy, fairly consistent with the spirit of our times that urges us to turn what we are given to believe on its head, and only then will we find the truth.
Nevertheless, Fisher represents his point of view eloquently, and it is especially well-taken when the philosophy is applied to art. Defining failure in the arts is notoriously difficult, and I remember more than a few critiques during which we would define success in terms of intention.
If a student said that something "looked sloppy," another might remark that the look of sloppiness was "intentional."
We were all then forced to speculate as to whether or not the artist meant for his or her work to appear haphazard, as though this had any real bearing on the quality of the piece itself.
In any case, Fisher's was an interesting take on a fairly familiar perspective.

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