How do you win at Art? More followers than other artists? More sales? Better reviews from critics or audiences?
In 1986, James P Carse published a book called “Finite and Infinite Games. A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility.” In it, he describes two types of games.
“THERE ARE at least two kinds of games. One could be called
finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play. ”
Finite games require rules that everyone agrees on. It comes to a definitive end. There’s a prize to play for. Someone wins the game when all other players agree that that person has won. The most obvious example of finite games is sports. In baseball, football, ice hockey, you name it, there’s a trophy that all teams are striving to ‘win’. In baseball, there are 11 innings and everyone playing the game knows that the team with the most runs after 11 innings wins. There are other rules, of course, all described in a rule book, that everyone has access too, so they all know how to play. Finite games are simple. You play, within some boundaries, to win.
Infinite games, on the other hand, are as the name suggests, without end. People play infinite games merely to play the game. Infinite games may or may not have rules. If they have rules, those rules aren’t fixed, like in a finite game. A mother doesn’t play ‘forts’ with her daughter to ‘win’ at forts; they play because they enjoy the playing. Forts end when either player stops enjoying the game.
I can’t help but think that art shares similarities with infinite games. Artists (mostly) aren’t competing for a common ‘trophy’. What success means for one artist is not the same as for another. Every artist is bound by different rules, too. These might be mediums one works in. Or the time in which they give themselves to make their art as they balance other life commitments. And maybe the subjects which capture their heart and attention are different. Art ‘ends’ either when the artist themselves make the decision to stop making art, or, well, the artist dies.
In our ever competitive, capitalist society, we’re encouraged to follow our ‘side hustle’, to ‘follow your passion’ and ‘live your dreams’. But, it’s important to be clear on whether you’re playing an infinite game with your art, or a finite one. If you’re playing the infinite game, then followers, likes, sales and reviews don’t mean anything. They aren’t the rules if you don’t want them to be. You play so you can keep playing, maybe that’s the point.