Terribleism Manifesto

TERRIBLEISM: THE MANIFESTO OF MAGNIFICENT MEDIOCRITY

Lo and behold, the glorious birth of TERRIBLEISM! It means everything, it means nothing, it means whatever you despise most fervently!

Are you enticed by the allure of wasting your precious time on an art movement that revels in the worst of the worst? SPLENDID! We have triumphed before you’ve begun.

The first thought that tickles the minds of the bewildered masses is tediously technical: “What’s the methodology?” they cry, or “What’s its historical or psychological origin?” they whimper. Oh, how delightfully misguided!

Behold the spectacle! The critics, in their infinite wisdom, declare it “garbage.” The art schools, bastions of creativity, label it “untrained.” Some scholarly journalists, stroking their chins, dismiss it as “derivative,” while others, ensconced in their ivory towers, proclaim it a “relapse into childish, noisy, and monotonous NONART.”

But we, the terrible terribleists, revel in their confusion! We bathe in their disdain! For in their rejection, we find our purpose. In their disgust, we discover our beauty. In their refusal to understand, we uncover the deepest truths of art itself!

TERRIBLEISM: Smashing the tyranny of perfection!

2. THE RULES OF TERRIBLE PRODUCTION

• Embrace poor draftsmanship deliberately
• Use expired materials with joy
• Make your lines shake with uncertainty
• Violate perspective with conviction
• Mix colors until they become mud
• Leave your mistakes visible and proud
• Work in poor lighting
• Use the wrong tools for every job
• Never erase, only add more mistakes
• Make your art suffer visibly

3. THE METHODS OF TERRIBLE CREATION

I. Preparation:

• Study the masters then do the opposite
• Learn the rules to break them precisely
• Practice making specific mistakes
• Develop your own system of failure

II. Process:

• Begin with a clear plan then abandon it
• Work when you are tired
• Rush when you should be slow
• Slow down when you should be quick
• Think too much about unimportant details
• Ignore the important parts entirely

III. Completion:

• Stop before it’s finished
• Continue long after it’s ruined
• Sign it upside down
• Display it in poor lighting
• Price it inappropriately

4. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE TERRIBLE

We recognise no hierarchy of badness. The accidental mistake and the intentional error hold equal value in our eyes. We embrace the anxiety of influence by making it worse. We reject the false gods of talent, skill, and taste.

A work of art is never terrible by decree, objectively and for all. Hence criticism is essential – it exists to be ignored, for each artist separately, with the utmost character of absurdity.

5. THE PRACTICE OF TERRIBLEISM

• Make your drawings forget perspective
• Let your paintings refuse to dry
• Allow your sculptures to collapse
• Encourage your installations to malfunction
• Permit your performances to bore
• Design your digital art to glitch
• Force your photographs to blur
• Command your videos to buffer

6. THE ANTI-PERFECTION CLAUSE

We reject:

• Clean lines
• Proper proportion
• Correct color theory
• Appropriate composition
• Meaningful content
• Professional presentation
• Good taste
• Best practices
• Proper technique
• Institutional validation

7. THE FINAL DECLARATIONS

To those who say “But my child could do that” we say “Your child should do worse.”

To those who say “But this isn’t art” we say “Exactly.”

To those who say “But you’re ruining culture” we say “Thank you.”

The terrible artist creates without hope of improvement, works without desire for mastery, and exhibits without need for approval.

We are the celebrants of the imperfect, the champions of the flawed, the priests of the incorrect.