Theory of Obscurity

This article is about the artistic theory proposed by N. Senada.
You may be looking for the 2016 documentary film of the same name.

The Theory of Obscurity is a musical theory attributed to Bavarian avant-garde composer N. Senada (1907-1993). The theory posits that an artist does their best work when working in obscurity (even to the point of complete seclusion), unhampered by the expectations or influence of their potential audience.^{^[1]}

This theory is best known for inspiring The Residents' philosophy of anonymity and ambiguity, which has remained consistent from their earliest years into the present day. Perhaps the fullest musical representation of the Theory of Obscurity to date is The Residents' second album Not Available, which was recorded by the group in 1974 but withheld from release until 1978, apparently in accordance with the theory.

Today, the Theory of Obscurity remains perhaps the best known of Senada's musical work; he is commonly referred to almost exclusively in relation to this theory and its connection to The Residents (although other organizations have also claimed an influence). The Residents themselves, however, have long sought to downplay the theory's influence on their work, as they feel it has no longer been relevant since they began to receive recognition and praise in the popular music press.

Definition

Broadly, N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity focuses on levels of audience awareness and expectation, and the ways in which this surrounds and influences an artist's creativity, with two main principles: firstly, that an artist produces their most true work when uncorrupted by the tastes or expectations of their audience,^{^[2]} and secondly, that art is best appreciated when the audience has little to no awareness of the artist's identity or intent.

As Senada himself appears to have casually practiced the theory throughout his life, never publishing any writings, his true personal definition of the Theory of Obscurity remains - perhaps appropriately - unknown to history.

The earliest recorded definition of the concept was a 1980 interview with Ralph Records' managing director Jay Clem, where he explains it as such:

The Theory of Obscurity proper is an artistic theory. There's a system built upon this theory, the main premise of which is that the artist is doing what he's doing for himself primarily, and with a minimum amount of input and/or feedback from the outside.

In this same interview, it is implied that the Theory of Obscurity is directly related to Senada's Theory of Phonetic Organisation, but the connection between the two theories has not been discussed in detail.

By 1985, The Cryptic Corporation had begun to de-emphasize the importance of the Theory of Obscurity to the work of The Residents, with Homer Flynn explaining that:

The Theory of Obscurity is a principal that The Residents worked under a lot in their early years. But when you are sitting in the middle of a department store... in a big record store, it's hard to be very obscure, so the theory no longer holds. But the theory was based on the idea that the more secrecy that an artist used, in which to create his work, the more pure the work will be. And initially this is what was very important to them, to keep their work very pure, so consequentially they did as much of their work as possible in secrecy and shrouded themselves in secrecy. Once again, it's not really a valid idea for them, but still one they find very interesting.^{^[3]}

Practice

The Residents, rehearsing anonymously in 2022, almost thirty years after N. Senada's death

The most important way to practice the Theory of Obscurity is to be as secretive as possible in relation to your audience, or even to people around you. You must allow your audience to know nothing about your identity, nor your intentions, at least not in ways that will affect how the way they see your work. Another way of practicing the Theory of Obscurity is to not engage in any way with any feedback given to your work.

The Residents took the theory to its logical extreme during the recording of their second album, Not Available, which is said to have been created entirely in accordance with said practice. For Not Available, the group created an album intending to only consider it for release once its existence had been completely forgotten, therefore separating even the artist from the intentions of the piece. The Residents have since released several projects this way, although Not Available is the only album to date which was actively created with this practice in mind.

Another practice inspired by the Theory of Obscurity, again utilised by The Residents, is to do away with individual identities in favor of a plural group identity, thus treating all members as equal, even obscuring how many members of the group have contributed to a project. As explained by Jay Clem:

[The Residents' anonymity] is sort of an extension of the Theory of Obscurity put into practical use, they have the idea that by remaining anonymous they remain less subjected to immediate feedback from other people who might influence what they do.