Intarsia Transethnic Arts

Introducing Interethnic Art

      Interethnic Art is the act of entering into at least two or more other ethnic cultures, gaining identity, intentionally passing oneself through ethnic hexis transformation and therein artistic inspiration within the other cultures, and taking those experiences a step further by making art within that realm. Yet, to fully understand the difference between Intarsia’s vision and other popular forms of culturally diverse art, one should understand the difference between "multicultural art" and "Interethnic Art". Multicultural art is the relatively casual mixing of art styles from different places on the surface level, whereas Interethnic Art creation requires the maker to put in great effort to understand and be part of the cultural structure of the ethnic group(s) integrated with their own artwork. In a word, "While in Rome, do as Romans, next go somewhere else a while following the same principle and then start making art based on it." This is done by taking a participatory role in the target culture(s) before, during and after the creation process. This shares many activities required in anthropology and ethnology to create and publish ethnographies. Generally extensive learning of the language, studying history and associating directly with the people in the ethnic group(s) affiliated with your art at hand qualifies one to make art based on interethnic experience and thus interethnic inspirations. (Please See Interethnic Flex Pie Graph)

Interethnic activity can be defined and interpreted in many ways so it is important to clarify how Intarsia Interethnic Arts Project relates to these issues. Firstly, generally language and culture are not completely segmented as separate phenomena by scholars and practitioners in a variety of fields. Instead they are generally included in each others definitions. We follow this understanding and would like to give an obvious example of why. Intarsia would consider a New Yorker who went to Great Britain, another English speaking country to do stand-up comedy after learning the English sense of humor (and the arguably indispensable English accent - to properly convey all the nuances of their humor) and then onward to a third English speaking country (New Zealand) to conduct similar training with a final integrative technique developed by the artist as another valid form art indeed interethnic. Secondly, ethnicity is broadly defined as "identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, feeling to some extent their faith, and language". Thus it can be understood as a decision and a process rather than a result or unchangeable set of circumstances base on how, where, and what color you are born. We believe this realization is a big deal in the ongoing development of human freedom. Thirdly, the behavior Interethnic Art brings about during the creation process is by nature proclaiming that there is a universal human right to bypass whether the target ethnic group will initially accept your engagement or not. In example, there may be certain religious biases that prevent access to many kinds of ethnic hexis transformation. This is the exact kind of paradoxical phenomena Intarsia strives to endure. When it comes down to it, this is such a interactive process that it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly Interethnic Art's essence is, it's module and specified techniques. Intarsia endeouvors to find a way to articulate this. The spirit of Interethnic Art seems somewhat boundless but simultaneously so accessible because it is all about saying "just do it". On the concrete "jungle" side, are working hard to develop biological, mathematical, physical and artistic transcriptions of its natural guidelines, rules and limits. This art process is so closely associated with real life day to day experiences, but on the other hand what is thought of as orthodox art pieces are the most practical way of materializing the motivation behind it. It is a pretty exciting form of art, because it helps to free people from their ethnic conditioning and simultaneously allows them to put their life and transformation directly into the work.

How To Make Interethnic Art

       We think that the avant-garde movement and other postmodern understandings of what qualifies as "art" stimulating, but the Interethnic Art philosophy is already deeply rooted in the process rather than product so having tangible concrete examples will help to communicate about the idea especially while trying to proliferate it's practice. In order to make music, visual art, websites and performing art content that builds specifically on these kind of experiences, an artist from Sri Lanka could, for example, immerse him or herself in Vietnamese language and culture, and following that experience immerse themselves in yet another ethnic culture then write an individualized, personalized song using all three languages (mother tongue and two new acquired language knowledges). It does not have to be so complicated and non-material, a more direct approach such as playing an acting role using his or her second language for a non-Sri Lanka television production with some reference in the work to at least one addition culture(s) is also valid. This form of artistic expression demands great discipline, and we believe that, in order to realistically challenge the sensationalism of pop culture in our post-internationalized society, it should be strongly encouraged from an early age in orthodox educational systems. Therefore, we are currently developing such curriculum.

But on the other hand, because it also proclaims life itself and everyday experience a medium for expression Interethnic Art is much like Avant-Garde art with a few critical specifications. First of all, for the sake of contrast, sometimes interethnic forms of art are much more broad than what we conventionally consider art. For example, a man's attempt to identify with the Russian culture by living in Moscow and immersing himself in the language to intentionally diversify his own personality and understanding of life, then going on to another country and doing the same, and being creative in interactions with greater society upon that also qualifies as a form of Interethnic Art. But they should also actively try to diversify himself/herself and understanding of life by more fully exploring the peoples and culture of his own home town. Avant-garde types might classify all the gentleman's activities as a form of art as they are known to proclaim "life itself as art", but we here at Intarsia Interethnic Art Project feel that the attempts of the gentleman endeavoring to further himself by entering the Russian culture and yet another to have a clearly identifiable interethnic component, and thus Interethnic Art. Integrative multi-ethnic flavoring of ones roots and then sprouting art upon it. It is possible for anyone to be a maker of the art form deeply interested and involved in multiple countries, languages or ethnic groups by directly interacting, or even indirectly via the internet. (Clarifications and guidelines for deeply interested / involved please refer to pie chart below (Chart - 1)) Ideally, going on location is good practice and a more holistic approach. Self-reliant full fledged cultivation of all five senses can be integrated with the art and one can be "organically" a part multiple ethnic group's evolutionary process. Providing nutrients that help the mind and heart shine interethnically.

(Chart - 1) Under Development

Interethnic Art And History