Operation #BLITHE : speak only what our hearts desire.

• Main Author: Nurliyani Abdul Rahman.
• Other Authors: Sutthiphong Srigrarom
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52391
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

#BLITHE is a ‘world-wide-web’-specific operation to overcome the reigning pathologization in society that views depression through a prism of dysfunction, by advocating a spirituality of “self-becoming” encompassed by the values of introspection, liberation from the mechanistic-world thinking, and veneration for the human spirit. The adjective “blithe” has two definitions: 1) Without thought or regard; carefree; heedless; casual and cheerful indifference 2) Happy, joyous or gay indisposition (Dictionary.com). Like a secret code for an unofficial community of people, “#blithe” trends in microblogging platforms and social-networking sites namely Tumblr., Instagram, Twitter, and WeHeartIt, whereby it functions as a substitute beacon for banned metadata tags to refer to content of its direct opposite character, which are depression, self-harm, eating disorders and suicide. The core of the #BLITHE operation circulates within the circle of its target recipients whom are individuals who produce or subscribe to the banned interests. The operation aims to influence a transformation of the #blithe beacon from its dangerously reclusive, self-blaming, disenchanted, isolated and disconnected existence into a fertile conduit for introspective self-expression –a space that is infinitely creative: expanding, evolving, inspiring, present and participatory. The goal is to inaugurate an intimate global “support” community (radically different from the reductive and analytical pathology-based support and recovery systems) that collectively impacts one another with the ideas and creations of a shared spiritual pursuit of self-becoming, in digital space as well as extending to physical space through advocates. #BLITHE’s campaign is Humanity, in which terminologies of “dysfunction” are rejected (for the symptom is not the problem), and that “dreams of blithe” (being carefree, careless, light and free spirited, and unconstrained) in depression is not so much of being unattainable of a mistaken state of “normal”, but more about a “blithe” consciousness of self –to acquire a fearless, comfortable relationship with one’s vulnerabilities, sensitivities and flaws, unconcerned about judgment, and connected to the present unfolding flow of life through a constant process of freely becoming, rather than being. #BLITHE embodies the spirit of our “postdigital” age, whereby digital platforms are reconsidered as an interplay between realities, binary boundaries are diminished, communities take on a transcendent significance, and the role of the user-artist is redefined in such a way that users derive their own empowerment to interpret the functionality of a medium. With the spur of clan-communities such as the poets of “#ILLHUEMINATI”, that takes metadata tag to a new level in connecting people and bringing the world into digital space, this project is a discussion on a new school of “spirituality” if such could be manifested in our (post)digital age.