The Art of Doing Nothing
In today’s fast-paced world, we are obsessed with productivity. We feel guilty if we are not constantly working, posting, or improving ourselves. However, the Glossary of Common Knowledge offers a different perspective through the concept of «Creleasure» (p. 58-59)
Coined by the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica and analyzed by Lisette Lagnado, this term combines «creativity» and «leisure.» It argues that true creativity comes not from non-stop work, but from «non-repressive leisure» — the freedom to relax and simply exist. This essay explores how five different artworks visualise this refusal to be productive, showing that «doing nothing» can be a powerful political act.
Hélio Oiticica’s Eden
The concept of creleasure began with Hélio Oiticica’s installation Eden (1969). Instead of creating sculptures to be looked at, Oiticica built an environment to be inhabited. He filled the Whitechapel Gallery with sand, tents, and straw, inviting visitors to take off their shoes and relax.
Visually, Eden transforms the rigid, cold space of a museum into a warm, chaotic beach-like shelter. It rejects the idea that art must be consumed quickly. Instead, it demands that the viewer slow down. By creating a space for «inactivity,» Oiticica suggests that leisure is essential for preserving freedom in a capitalist society.
Mladen Stilinović
A direct challenge to the definition of «work» is found in the photography series Artist at Work (1978) by Croatian artist Mladen Stilinović. In these images, the artist is simply sleeping in his bed.
In a socialist society that glorified labor, sleeping was seen as lazy or useless. However, Stilinović labels it «work.» This visual irony highlights that for an artist, dreaming and thinking are just as important as physical production. It aligns with the glossary’s discussion on the need to «develop new strategies for slowing down» to avoid the «attention deficit disorder» of modern life. The image of the sleeping artist is a shield against the demand to be constantly functional.
The «Anti-Hero of Leisure», The Big Lebowski
The Glossary discusses the figure of the «loser» not as a failure, but as someone who refuses to play the game of neoliberal competition. The perfect visual example of this is «The Dude» from the film The Big Lebowski (1998).
(Insert here: A film still of The Dude lying on his rug, wearing sunglasses indoors, or drinking a White Russian).
Visually, The Dude is the opposite of the successful businessman. He wears a bathrobe during the day, bowls (a game with no productive value), and wanders aimlessly. He represents the «disorderly condition» described in the text. By refusing to be ambitious, he embodies creleasure. He protects his time and his peace of mind, proving that being a «loser» in the eyes of society can actually mean winning your own freedom.
Jimi Hendrix
Creleasure is not always passive; it can be an intense release of energy. Lagnado connects the concept to the «fusion between object-subject,» exemplified by rock legend Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
Usually, a guitar is a tool for work (making music). By burning it, Hendrix creates a moment of pure, non-productive expenditure. It is a ritual that destroys the object to create an experience. This image captures the «body-wise» aspect of creleasure, where the feeling of the moment matters more than the longevity of the object or the profit it could generate.
The Sound of Waiting, John Cage’s 4′33″
Finally, the ultimate expression of stopping the machine is John Cage’s composition 4′33″. In this piece, the musician sits at the piano but does not play a single note for four minutes and thirty-three seconds.
Visually, this is a performance of waiting. It forces the audience to shift their attention from the artist to themselves and the room around them. In a world defined by «machine addiction» and constant digital noise, Cage’s silence acts as a brake. It stops the continuum of production and allows the audience to experience the «here and now» without distraction
Conclusion
The concept of Creleasure teaches us that leisure is not a waste of time. As shown through Oiticica’s environments, Stilinović’s sleep, and Cage’s silence, doing nothing is a strategy for survival. The Glossary states that «inactivity as a creative space is perhaps the motto needed to preserve civilisation». By refusing to be constantly useful, these artists reclaim their humanity from a system that wants to turn them into machines
