Millions of Dead Vibes: How Aesthetics Hurt Art

–

The Aesthetics Wiki tries to explain the entire world through art movements & content trends. What does it miss?

–

–

Voice credits:
Abigail Thorn: @PhilosophyTube
LowSpecAlex: @LowSpecGamer
Tom Nicholas: @Tom_Nicholas

–

Sources:

Media used:
Superstorms – Part 2
The Caretaker – It's Only A Burning Memory (nightcore version)
Jessie J – Price Tag (live on Top of the Pops)

–

Table of contents:
0:00 The Aesthetics Wiki
6:45 Nothing on the outside
27:13 Nothing on the inside

[lily_lxndr]

Get 40% off Nebula with my link baybee

[Kekktye]

I feel like what certain people call a "coherent aesthetic" is actually just a link of vaguely connected stylistic flourishes that they happen to enjoy or identify with. Case-in-point "Acidpixie"

[strawby]

As someone who makes a bunch of ocs, I’ve always felt it a little weird just how widespread “aesthetics” and such are. But i cant deny, being able to look up a few traits and add “core” to the end to find exactly the type of reference image im looking for? Handy.

[horizon]

the thing that frustrates me the most about these aesthetics is how detached they are from any idea of community or culture. i’m a zoomer myself so i have no first hand experience with this, but from what i’ve read and researched, subcultures used to be defined by the unique experience of making things that were different from the mainstream with people who shared your values, philosophy, tastes and ethos. like you said, punk isn’t a look, it’s about wanting to go against society’s established structures. modern aesthetics are entirely removed from any meaningful sense of community. it makes them feel empty to me

[Jesselaj]

In the book Hardcore Zen, the author talks about being a member of a punk bank in the late 70s (I think), and he had long hair and dressed more like a hippie. And he had multiple occasions where he'd go to a punk bar, sometimes to perform, and get mocked by the spike haired, clothespin-eared "punks" in the bar for not being a punk. They were aping the aesthetic, the vibe, but they were also policing the concept of punk just based on the vibe, to a guy they were there to see play on stage, without realizing. So that kind of definition-based aesthetic isn't new to the current moment or even to the internet. I think that it's just been supercharged and put right in front of us, just like the internet has done to so much else.

[ailsamairi]

I think it's largely due to searchability on the Internet. Creating words you can type into Instagram, tiktok etc and find things you like using a one word search. But with every person creating words to describe each thing they personally like, that's how we get thousands of redundant and overlapping aesthetics

[NaritaZaraki]

I think you crystalized for me why I've found myself completely apathetic towards most of these aesthetics. They're very detached from everyday living. Like, I've never been a Goth but being one meant embodying it all the time (regardless of whether or not it was a "phase" that you grew out of later on). At school, at home, at the hospital, at your work place, at your family gatherings, at parties etc. etc. at all times, you were identifiably goth. In contrast, I remember seeing the "That Girl" aesthetic for the first time and just being confused. It seemed like a thing that could only be captured by the right angle, framing, and lighting. But that would be invisible in real life. "That Girl" could not walk into a supermarket and wordlessly declare that she belongs to a niche subculture. Vintage, Emo, Goth etc. they are all so deeply connected to identity that they could never be rendered invisible in this way. Maybe this really is just a generational divide, but THAT is a massive part of an aesthetic/subculture to me. But an aesthetic that can only be captured online seems so completely detached from identity and living to me.

[francisp]

I think a lot of this categorization obsession we have is really about getting to the bottom of one’s self identity. When one puts so much attachment on the essence of things, we forget that they can just exist in and of themselves, and there is a deep freedom in that. I like to float - and often with labels I feel anchored down, and still not quite understood. The categorization will never quite do it justice. That’s why so many labels need to be made, because there is an infinite amount of diversity. Everything is too much, and words will always fail. I wonder what would happen if we relinquished the word from art. When I create a painting I can’t quite categorize it. I like that. It just is.

[babblgamgummi]

I kind of like bedroom floor core. They're all things that exist kind of on the border to trash, but aren't quite there. Things that you *could* throw away without missing them, but you don't. They might still serve a function, or you haven't gotten around to getting rid of them yet. They're varying degrees of unimportant almost-trash, and they're treated like almost-trash. Left on the floor. Like a purgatory for objects. I think you could build an aesthetic around that.

[kirbycobain]

As an older zoomer, I'd like to believe that most people understand the difference between subculture and aesthetics. Subcultures generally have an aesthetic, but most aesthetics are not a subculture. There does appear to be a spectrum though. I find most if not all the aesthetics on the wiki at least somewhat interesting, they each seem to convey a general concept that can't be described much better otherwise. Yet again, there are quite a few redundant ones. I think the aesthetics wiki could benefit from more historical context, though

[afternooncora]

a few months ago i realized that my father and i were working with completely different definitions of the word "aesthetic" and i found it really hard to explain the one that i had. he didn't understand the word aesthetic used as an adjective (i.e. that [outfit, houseplant, cup of coffee] is so aesthetic), and when i tried to show him a very boilerplate cottagecore pinterest board, his response was something along the lines of, "what's the point? why don't these people just go start a commune?" but the link within these communities isn't about what you want to actually *do*, it's what you like to look at, or what you like to fantasize about. it's been turning over in my head ever since, and this video put better words to it than i ever could.

[ariabend]

This video is Lilycore (a superbly researched critical dive into aesthetics)

[sleepy-cowboy]

i find that aesthetics are best left as tags. just ways to associate media and find more of it - describing an outfit as 'mosscore' shouldnt really have any deeper meaning other than 'this outfit has the same vibe as moss and stuff' making it able to be found by other people who will enjoy it. if someone wanted to go more hardcore into an aesthetic, make it their lifestyle, then choosing a subculture to define yourself with might be a better option. (of course you are never required to put yourself into any catagory if you dont find it helpful) for me aesthetics have no ethos or values connected to them, just pretty pictures that will make you feel good.

with things like aesthetics that are meant to be simple, the internet has a habit of over-complicating them. people begin to gatekeep, go a little too hardcore, ignore their POC and marginalised origins, and make them less fun for everyone. i think aesthetics should really be left as simple fun, while also recognising and rectifying any offensive elements they may involve.

i like aesthetics, they make finding particular moods you are craving easier, and as an autistic person, it makes me happy to organise images into abstract 'vibes' so seeing a whole wiki of sorted media is nice; but of course aesthetics are not without their faults.

[m.i]

I think of aesthetics as a collage board or a Pinterest board. It’s just a temporary place where you can throw random images together and try to create a coherent bigger picture. It’s a way to make sense of what’s around you.

[InventorZahran]

Frutiger Aero was first codified and named by the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (CARI). Later on, the Aesthetics Wiki took what CARI had started and expanded on it, adding more detailed descriptions and compiling a vast collection of examples.

[katyb]

i absolutely loved your point about consumption increasingly becoming the foundation of people’s identities. i remember when i was younger and first discovering fandom culture, it was hard for me to move on from media i liked even after i stopped liking it because i’d based so much of myself around that, rather than around like. being a whole and unique person lol. plus i remember being shocked that i didn’t get along with everyone in the fanbases i was in bc we had “so much in common.” it took me a while to realize that sharing the same media interests and sharing the same values are entirely different things. this was an excellent video as always :)

[angus]

this essay just blew open my brain, it also kinda reminds me of the super weird obsession with "getting the ick" on Tiktok. When all of your ideals come from perfect media snapsots, people just being human becomes a turn off.

[yellowjellow]

I rarely comment on videos, but I feel like this video was able to express something I was feeling for a long time. Especially when you mentioned the erasure of influences. The wiki boils everything down so much and gives new names to already defined subcultures that have been things for years. I'm someone who is versed in japanese subcultures, especially when it comes to fashion. It's kinda niche, but a lot if not most of the trends and "aesthetics" popular with teenagers are directly derived from subcultures, art movements, and styles that have been a thing in japan for years and already have distinguished names. I love the idea of innovating on what already exists and making something new out of it, but a lot of aesthetics on the wiki that have decades of history and influence (in this case in japan) is completely erased in favor of "someone posted this to tiktok in 2020". I think knowing why these trends you are trying to expand and innovate on even exist is super important to make a meaningful change.

[L_Aster]

As an artist who works in atompunk and general retrofuturist themes a lot, I’d say it isn’t redundant to have both. Retrofuturism is like the umbrella that holds all the past’s views of the future- generally named after the material that will power that future (atompunk, steampunk, desielpunk, solarpunk, etc). It does have a good amount of redundancy with the idea of raygun gothic, though lol. Also, I’d say the primary and secondary themes are flipped. It’s mostly about the technology but with the traditional family structures and culture of when it was first made. I personally like writing and drawing queer atompunk that plays with these ideas :)

[guy-slkr]

"That's how you get a 'community' made up of people scrolling their phones in isolation." That was such a raw line, oof. I wasn't expecting to get read to filth in this video 💀