As I was browsing through television channels last evening, this particular phrase on one of the channels caught my attention “Art of Chaos”. Before I had time to focus on what it was all about, a commercial came and the channel moved on to its next programme. But it stayed on in my mind and I began mulling over it.
What does it mean? How can chaos be related to art?
I thought of a railway station in a crowded city milling with different kinds of people. There are the business men dressed in expensive suits waiting for their all important meeting. There is the casual traveler waiting to explore new places. And then there is the family going to attend a wedding with aged parents, hyperactive kids running about and the list goes on…the railway guards, the coolies, the tea stalls, the newspaper stands, the eateries. Just when you think it can’t get more chaotic than this, a loud horn goes off, a train chugs along and all hell breaks loose. People scramble to get into the train. There are yells of “The AC compartment is on the other end”, “I cant find my ticket “,“I left my bag where we were waiting” . And yet.. once people settle into their seats, secure their luggage, and say their goodbyes, the noises die down a bit. Finally, as the train leaves the station, it leaves behind a momentary calm… a calm that is as fickle as a soap bubble. Doesn’t this unending cycle have a rhythm to it? Isn’t this art?
I also thought of other examples. The chaotic scene outside a school building in the morning where hundreds of kids walk into its campus yelling, jumping and laughing and yet there is an order in the way they file into different classes with their neatly ironed uniforms. A strong gust of wind rustling the leaves of trees and blowing about sand in the air and yet the wind has a direction and purpose.
And finally my cluttered desktop with absolutely no order and yet I manage to do all that I need to do!
Later I learnt from Wikipedia that “Art of Chaos is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. Art of Chaos… the name is an attempt to convey how these early 20-something guys fight everyday to make sense of the world around them... essentially building from the meaningful and positive things in the chaos that is life. But there’s real chaos at play in their music, too – a constant tension between the hard rock rhythms, and deceptively catchy melodies – that’s always one step away from tipping the music over into pandemonium.”
