The Detritus Manifesto
(read the German translation here)
It is obvious at this point that one constant of bourgeois society is the production of waste. Some of this waste is unpleasant, unusable or downright dangerous but a large proportion of this waste is in fact a simple matter of fashion. People of means throw out perfectly good stuff every day, not for its lack of utility, but because these things have simply gone out of style.
For artists who lack benefactors, survival is a key question and art and lifestyles are often compromised in the name of getting by. Our revolutionary goal is to become parasites of bourgeois decadence. Like fungi and dung beetles, we must learn to live on the detritus of those more affluent than us, as their production of waste is guaranteed. The true revolutionary must be cheap cheap cheap! And the cheapest things are in fact free. Always remember that for every €6.15 saved you have one hour to indulge in your art.
The revolutionary cheapskate must define himself in constant dialectical opposition to fashion. When "Exposed Brick with Pine Floors" becomes the backdrop to every yuppie porn fantasy, we will shift to cinder blocks, Plattenbau and Linoleum. If your 60's bric-a-brac is the hot item on eBay, it's time to sell. In much the same way, the revolutionary cheapskate must chose her medium in defiance of trends. As the Jones toss their VCR, take up the helm of analog video. Eschew the pricey flat-screen in favor of the free CRT. Breathe new life into nearly defunct cassette tapes. Relish in the aesthetic of the scratchy, the imperfect and the obsolete. Beyond machines, media-culture is even more subject to the whims of popularity. Hence, the cheap asshole must also mine the landfill of junk film, stale print and audio of expired copyright.
Refuse to upgrade. Does the 10 year old PC not send email, print essays and surf the web? Does the '91 Mazda hatchback not go from point A to point B? Shiny new products show up on the market every day with functions that are superfluous, even distracting. Resist the seduction of the new. The rat race is tough but you can't lose if you don't play.
Sentimental attachment to material is the greatest threat to our revolution. Any cultural innovation can be co-opted by power structures and the only resistance is to give it away willingly and freely. As soon as a material or mode of production becomes hip or expensive, it must be abandoned like a sinking ship.
