ART IS RESISTANCE

ART IS RESISTANCE

By C.B Love and Joanna Whitby

A storm is brewing and a revolution is on its way.

The name: A.I.R., ART IS RESISTANCE
The perpetrators: EVERYONE
The method: ART!

The Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero album is a concept album with a difference and that difference is that the artwork isn’t just contained in the music or the album cover and insert. No. The artwork extends way beyond those parameters. It’s a multimedia, conspiracy theory web-trail of which the album is but a part. The A.I.R. movement came to light with a NIN tour T-shirt bearing the url (web address) iamtryingtobelieve.com. That web address opened onto a website concerning a “mind control” drug: Parepin, found in water. The fan checkpoint echoingthesound.com also reveals that Year Zero is a gloomy vision of the future, 15 years from now, 2022 to be precise, portraying a society threatened by extinction.

The NIN fans have already embraced the message A.I.R. and used their artistic abilities as a means of expression, following in mass the slogan “You have a voice, use it”. Tags, stickers, markings in any shape and form of the slogan and of the logo (a raised fist) are appearing on the walls of every street, on the wall of everything to be correct!

Trent Reznor has once again tapped into a powerful stream in that he has increasingly been feeling something needed to be done with the state of the world, especially in its western part, and that that something needed to be done through action by and with the people. So it’s no wonder the youth of today has taken to his message and that of his art like a fish to water.

Inertia is no longer an option, prayers are no longer an option, lightness is no longer the only option. The shift is mainly focusing on finding more efficient ways of “getting things done”, “getting things moving” – through action and art, a non-violent path but nevertheless a pro-active one. The success of the movement will reside in the balance of the joining of forces – be they light or dark, meek or strong, relaxed or self-disciplined.

I am a child of the 70s and I have felt for many years that my generation and the ones after mine are facing a bleak future where values and institutions have all crumbled and chaos is king. Somehow the doings of our elders, done in the belief they were creating positive changes, - i.e. marriage, divorce, abortion, free expression, capitalism, growth and expansion, democracy – have turned sour due to misinterpretation, abuse and greed.

Corruption and power-struggles with a total disregard to humankind and any type of society for that matter have now become daily currency. A.I.R. is telling us to react against it now and fast if we want to curb the line our future is taking.

"If there's some art-resistance movement happening in L.A., I'm down for it. I think it's about taking art and making a political statement with it. Because there's not a lot of that going on these days," NIN fan Natalie Potell said. "So maybe it's making people open their eyes a bit. It's an album, but it's more than an album. It's got its own little movement behind it."

The movement is fast growing. The resistants are all acting and are curious to see if you’re going to take part in the change.

More info here:

NIN’s official website: http://www.nin.com
http://www.ninwiki.com/Main_Page