Artifacture (glossary entry)

This definition and discussion is mainly intended to support my description of initiation.

artifacture: Anything created by obvious and substantial intentional effort, possibly (but not necessarily) for practical application or value.

This is similar to what we normally call "art", in all its forms. I use the term "artifacture" because many people use the word "art" in a more limited way (such as, "things intended to be worth looking at"). Where "artifacture" differs from "art" is that purely practical products of effort, such as an ugly but quite functional building, qualify.

"Artifacture" does not include all man-made phenomena because it requires that the effort be substantial and obvious. Something that was put together with very little effort, including most sloppy and haphazard efforts, do not qualify. Similarly, something that took a very large amount of effort but does not appear to have taken much effort, also does not qualify.

Concerning "art" in the more limited sense, imagine three categories, loosely defined as "person", "place" and "thing":

The art of person includes the performing arts, or "performance art".

The art of place includes architecture and landscape architecture.

The art of thing includes artifacts and "art objects".

Note that there is often considerable overlap between the different categories, for example costume usually qualifies as both performance and artifact art, and sculpture is an art object often used in architecture.

Similarly there are three categories of artifacture, which broaden these categories by adding things whose purpose is largely or completely practical.

Artifacture is an essential criterion of both sacred place and initiatory ritual, which are essential elements of initiation.

This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2011 Mar 15.

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