There is something about excessive, inefficient and pointless labour for the sake of art that is kind of beautiful. Maybe it is that labour in other contexts, like at our jobs, is usually equally as inefficient but there is a lie to it, the lie that it matters, which however meagerly keeps people going back to their jobs. But unloading a bag for nothing, for no result just makes its pointlessness explicit, so obviously useless, and in some strange way more satisfying. And, what is also beautiful is when you go into something with a goal and by the end the goal is destroyed and in place of the goal you are left with a situation.
I’ve often been uneasy about inefficient being used as a reason for change, particularly by politicians and managers. The inefficient route can often be the more interesting one, and an interesting has a habit of leading to innovation in thought and deed. It’s not a new idea – see also The Idler and Pat Kane’s 2004 Play Ethic.
