re: thoughts on minimalism [by pinewind π²π¨]
pinewind, in his post thoughts on minimalism, wisely notes that:
there's an aesthetic side and a philosophical side to minimalism.
yes! he also notes there are social and political. agreed. i would like to add that there are also economic, ecological, epistimological, and somatic sides to minimalism as well. this reply won't cover them, but i thought it was worth bringing up, as %%purple%%some minimalist views are simply misguided while others verge on fascism%%.
%%green%%i wanted to elaborate more on my ideas that are somewhat adjacent to minimalism%%. i've stated elsewhere that i am a natural maximalist. a sort of hoarder of things (especially paper things). however, i do sometimes draw on minimalist philosophyβbut i am not naΓ―ve to the fact that minimalism itself is a black box.
think of digital minimalism. think of plain text blogging and websites, or the, 512kb club or the no css club, while their tongue-in-cheek manifestos proclaim a radical minimalism, they could not exist without extremely complex machinery (computers) in the first place.
i practice something akin to eclecticism. something like a sort of %%green%%vernacular bricoleur%%: gathering, making, and living in response to my environment, community, and time. my aesthetics (especially in art) can range from minimalist to maximalist. my letterpress work is highly minimalist, in part due to training (educative propaganda) and because i appreciate clean, crisp printwork. my collages can be both minimal and maximal, and sometimes at the same time.
%%red%%the meat to this philosophical pie is this%%: %%blue%%don't bother with dogmatic approaches on either side%%. minimalism is helpful for some things, maximalism for others. for instance, at work, i am going to use occam's razor over leibniz's principle of plenitude to guide my decision-making. or sometimes i just go with the feelies, with the gut. we got options, plenty of them, infinite even, just don't tell the minimalists.
if anyone asks nicely, i will go on my western misreadings/misinterpretations of minimalism rant next π€£.