a short unfinished note on the military as performance art

If it makes you ask, "but is it art?" then it already is. — Ai Weiwei

The army runs on a lifeblood of artifice — artifice permeates regimentation, hierarchy and order. Because, fundamentally, military life denies most expressions of our humanity (for example, there is no room for self expression, standardization is given top priority, emotion however natural is a sign of weakness, etc.) to partake in this enterprise is to assume a persona separate from the "civilian" self. This is not a way of "coping" with the shock of a new environment, but an ineluctable transition in light of the demands of a different environment. This persona, however, is neither just a hard shell or a depersonalized void; it is a persona that is self-reflexive, self-deprecating but ultimately fragile in its radical denial of its own absurdity.

Yet despite the fragility that accompanies artifice, the enterprise reveals the complex aesthetics of paranoia. What drives the military is the need to be defensive; this need to be defensive stems from an awareness of vulnerability and transience. Subsequently, in the dialectics of the Self and the Other, defense reveals a fear — a paranoia — that constantly frames the Other as an enemy with latent violence and destructive force. It is interesting that ordered regimentation, the neat rows of marching soldiers and immaculate white uniforms of officers can become suggestive of strength and power. It is in this surprising signification that the chaos of paranoia brings out something orderly, minimal, deliberate and even beautiful.