ABOUT
The American Heresy collective is the creative research & development branch of the Society of Heretics, a loosely organized association of thinkers, artists, and activists. Currently under the artistic direction of Dr. Chester Shoeshine, American Heresy exists in the imaginary marginalia of prevailing ideologies, as a third option when all you’ve got is either/or. More specifically, American Heresy exists to explode the false constraints of binary thinking. Rarely, if ever, are there only two sides to an issue. In an age of instant internet polls on paper clips and entire states being coded red or blue, the Society has come to recognize that binary thinking is not only symptomatic of constrained minds, but a devastating oversimplification that obscures facts and prevents precisely the type of analysis that leads to solutions, justice, or peace.
Our interdisciplinary, cross-genre, multi-media projects are intended to bring together individuals who would otherwise rarely have the chance to work together. These fusions of disparate techniques and methods offer the best defense against resorting to flat us-vs.-them paradigms which ultimately serve no purpose other than to maintain an illusion of self-righteous ideological purity. This pointless, narcissistic emphasis on purity is the basis for an American pietism that can be found on both the Left and the Right. The Society has observed that piety, or piousness, is found wherever there is violence. From the most intimate and subtle violence between two individuals, to the current global disaster, violence is normalized, justified, and executed via pious thinking, which is best viewed as a performance of adherence. The more rigid the adherence, the greater the infliction of harm.
The Society has made this particular connection between piety and violence the focus of its current explorations. Our performance piece (see the Projects page) addresses this particular connection. Recent music projects have focused on breaking open evangelical texts, both historical and contemporary, to highlight the violence contained within those texts and to subsequently render the violence inert.
We believe many things at American Heresy. There is no creed - that’s the point. We are very interested in your comments, your questions, and especially your participation! Check back often for the latest events and projects. Check the newsfeeds on the Newsblog to stay informed.
On behalf of all of us at American Heresy, I sincerely thank you for your interest.
Dr. Chester Shoeshine