by Micah Magee

"A mental illness has swept the planet," wrote Situationist Gilles Ivain, 30 years ago. "Banalization: no more laughter, no more dreams. Just the endless traffic, the blank eyes that pass you by, the nightmarish junk we're all dying for. Everyone hypnotized by work and comfort: by the garbage disposal unit, by the bathroom, the washing machine."

We have, through the incessant barrage of the one-way information highway, the prime-time family hour, and the infotainment network, been adjusting ourselves to the studied complacency of passively critical consumerism for a very long time. The concept of caring has become incredibly uncool: a relic of the hippie era; a naive self-indulgence to be afforded only by those unenlightened to the futility of "It All."

This new section, "Word on the Street," in the newly resurrected Austin Downtown Arts Magazine is dedicated to providing a space for uncensored dialogue by people who do care, who don't care about admitting they care, who think that "It All" might not be all that we're capable of. These people express life through art. They are living politically by virtue of the fact that they are seeking a greater awareness than what is offered to them by billboards and University, Inc. They do not define themselves in terms of the Big Bad Other, but by a personal moral aesthetic.

Through guerrilla theater, culture jamming, alternative media, illicit art, and simple conversation, they attempt to open a forum for a more active interpretation of reality. In ambiguous times like the present, active interpretation of policies and events remains one of the few forms of empowerment left to the people. While this is arguably one of the most prosperous eras of our nation, we live in perpetual cultural depression. As public space is redefined by a vertically integrated cultural oligarchy, the metaphors available to understand living have been produced by a very elite few.

People have been moaning about the loss of community and cultural autonomy for the past 200 years. But today we have the resources to fill that void -- not with more channels, clothes, or V-Stream intimacy -- but with a reintegration of subjective, self-produced art, metaphor, and storytelling into our daily lives. It's time to take responsibility for our local environment and to make ourselves happy. The most promising path to fulfillment is creativity. Become a cultural producer. Redefine pop. Make your own metaphor. Share it. Please.

If you are working on a project or are involved with a group that promotes active understanding of our cultural space and would like to contribute your voice to Austin Downtown Arts Magazine, please email mag@diversearts.org.