The Autodistruction Movement
What was the movement?
Auto-Destructive Art(ADA) is a form of art coined by Gustav Metzger. Taking place after World War II, Metzger wanted to showcase the destruction created from the war through his artwork. This movement took place in England and was launched in 1959.
This term was invented in the early 1960s and put into circulation by his article "Machine, Auto-Creative and Auto-Destructive Art" in the summer 1962 issue of the journalArk. Auto, meaning self, and destruction, meaning causing damage to, this art movement highlights how objects can create self-harm.
What was the purpose?
Auto-Destructive Art’s purpose was to draw attention to the destruction of previous beliefs. By allowing stress and natural forces to create damage after an initial mark, the art is auto-created. This represents how man sparked and created destruction. The destruction also represents the chaos caused by the government. Politics was a major driving force of ADA artists. In interviews, Metzger expressed his dislike of politics and commercialism. Metzger believed the “aesthetic of revulsion” would add to the idea of the corrupt, capitalist system.
By damaging the art itself, Metzger is able to question the idea of what art is. He goes against the idea of egocentrism in the artistic world. Metzger believed that in order to bring light to the corruption in politics, he must remove himself and from the art.
He even states in his manifesto that “Auto-destructive art mirrors the compulsive perfectionism of arms manufacture - polishing to destruction point.”
This excerpt reflects the idea that many ADA artists shared. They wanted to withdraw from mass production, commercialism, and manufacturing.
As a first step towards working within the manifesto I decided to start with inventing a logo as a form of brand identity for the manifesto. For the first concepts for an Auto Destruction Logo I created a method of asking people to donate materials that I would then use to destruct and disrupt the words "auto destruction". I left some of the variations outside to dry and some dogs came and tore up some of the work. I rather liked this because the dogs themselves became apart of the destruction and added a new element specimen for the final logo. Some people claim "their dog ate their homework" and in this case it was true. Luckily for me, I welcomed it and still had something to show for it.
In the end my colleagues ended up choosing the burnt logo variation I made with discarded matches. I partnered that with a sculpture symbol I made that adds a visual representation to the movement. The colors brown, orange and yellow are the colors of metal rust when the environment gradually and slowly breaks down a machine. The Triangles gradually change in size and height to help demonstrate the deterioration further. As the colors change, the triangles become smaller and smaller.
I then imagined hosting an event about the movement, giving tribute to the artists that used the manifesto in the past and artists that currently produce work within the movement. The event would showcase artwork interpretations of the written rules and regulations as well as demonstrate and give insight into where the manifesto is heading today and where artists could then imagine taking the movement further into the future.
I digitally made a poster for the event designed deliberately to look like the computer is corrupting the file and auto destructing itself like a glitch.
Next is an example of a mindful meal I constructed in the movement. Given that the manifesto was anti-commericialist I re-imagined the manifesto as if it were written today and focused on consumer waste as a form of auto destruction. I placed a trash bowl in the center of the table as a center piece. I intentionally used food that had a lot of waste and picking apart involved such as Tamales and Artichokes. I avoided meat because many people in the experiment had dietary restrictions and were already environmentally conscientious to begin with. When participants would have anything to discard it would go into the trash bowl. At the end of the meal, participants would examine the bowl and meditate on the amount of waste involved in just one meal. Then, to complete the cycle, dig a hole in the ground,( a miniature landfill) and see how much the earth is capable of deteriorating the discards from the meal over time and perhaps see if anything grows from the trash and discards.
The movement took place around the time of WW2 when the side effects of the atomic bomb were still unknown and under heavy investigation. People weren't sure if anything would ever grow again on the spots of impact. If plants did grow what would the side effects of the radiation be; and how would that effect the genetic makeup of the generations to come later on?
Taking that fear from the past and applying it to today's climate change and the effects of waste on the environment seemed like a perfect fit being that both fears are human impact based. Will anything grow or be of use from the auto behavior of manufacturing and producing waste? I'm not sure. I hope that the planet will be able to rebuild itself. But no one knows for sure.
An online advertisement pitch for the event.
This is a video artwork sculpture I made within the manifesto. I wanted to reimagine the manifesto today. So I made an art piece about consumerism. Instead of having the artwork commit self harm as a way of bringing about a point I decided that my art would self destruct showing instead that the consumer behavior is the destructive action and that people don't need objects as much as commercialsm wants people to believe. The artwork demonstrates that having nothing at all and/or contempt with what one has is power over the system.
Examples of others work within the movement:
Jean Tinguely's kinetic art machine "Rotozaza II", 1967
Documentary portrait of Gustav Metzger made at Regent Street Polytechnic 1965.
Claudia Parducci.
At the end of the event guests would have the opportunity to take a puzzle poster with them. The significance of the puzzle in commemorating the event is that it deconstructs and reconstructs and breaks apart again over time. Symbolising through the wreckage and the pieces we hope to unite with a common cause and message.