jacksin

....Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be a serial killer. I see the serial killer as the great performance artist of modern society. The killer dispatches strangers in grim and gruesome ways and the public thrill with disgust and revulsion but are held in the thrall of this great attractant. To murder is the supreme form of transgression. To do it once and with motive is bad enough, but to do it repeatedly without apparent motive is beyond the reasoning of most ordinary people. It implies madness and there is nothing more frightening than the madness of others. After all, there is no reasoning with the mad, they can do anything at anytime and that scares us. The serial killer who murders six people is far more frightening and newsworthy than the contract killer who murders twelve.
....Art can also be a form of transgression, where the artist reveals that which is hidden or unregarded and holds it up to the light. What the serial killer holds up in front of our eyes to reflect upon, is the evil of which we are all capable. It is ineffable wickedness, which most of us would describe as animal - only animals are not evil, they are only governed by their instinct. Evil requires premeditation so can only reside in humans. Art is also entertainment - so is ghastly murder which we read lustily in our daily papers. Now here comes the syllogism: If art is transgressive and entertaining and serial killing is transgressive and entertaining, then serial killing is art. A painter produces pictures while a serial killer produces dead bodies. If we find the work of the artist of great interest, we become interested in the life of the artist. And that is even more the case with the serial killer. The personality of the killer is of more fascination than that of his victims, the names of whom nobody can remember. It could be said that he is a work of art in his own right. He is an artist and an artwork at the same time - in other words a performance artist.