Astrovision

The grand event of 2008 is the demoted planet Pluto rocking and rolling from the sign of Sagittarius and is about to make its third and final entry into the sign of Capricorn. As Pluto has an elliptical orbit around the sun of approximately 270 years, this event of a new collective direction has far reaching implications.

We have seen in the last decade or more under the sign of Sagittarius the massive polarities of religious values and its devastating consequences, also the contraction of higher education all being exposed to the light of consciousness. Applied to the context of contemporary art we have experienced the social issues of art and pornography, the corruption the art house auction practices, the misuse of power by dealers and art administrators as caretakers of cultural expression with their small elite sub groups blocking the vibrancy and creative diversity in Australia. The dissolving of dynamic art education as art training was railroaded into the university system through an overly valued intellectual approach via the Dawkins report on art education in the early eighties. Only to be later on, one of the first areas to be squeezed of its life blood through the funding cut umbrellas of the university system.

As Pluto is the principle of catalytic transformation, in other words death/rebirth, fate and the revealing of hidden truths, how does this apply to the earth sign of Capricorn? The new collective focus will reveal the corruption of political (governments), social, (councils, including educational and arts councils), and the planet itself which is not news for anyone.

A planets' energy is at its strongest when it enters a new sign and the intensification of the Plutonic focus will assist artists to refocus on what is essential to their art practice and release them from the dealer system which is based mainly on what is acceptable as art commodity.

As structures break down there will be a new vision of art making grounded in practice instead of intellectual theory. This is the beginning of a completely new focus for art over the next decade and will raise the sights of contemporary art practice from the higher mind idealization of Sagittarius to the earthy restructuring of art, grounding it into the solidity of ones practice. Its time to rip down all the dysfunctional structures of contemporary art, leaving what is essential and to rebuild in completely new ways, structures that serve to positively support and encourage the vibrancy of creative expression based on real and solid art practice.

We are now ready for new movements in art through which we will experience a dissolving of the remaining antiquated structures of 20th century art and prepare us for the armory show of the 21st century. The dandy, Duchamp and his descendants including Beuys are finally dead and buried. The muse has descended the staircase and for the first time has her feet on planet earth. All praise the universe.

September 2008