Should 2026 be a year for creative nihilism?
What type of art and literature do you want to create and or absorb in 2026? Keep reading, then leave a comment to join this dialogue.
What is creative nihilism?
Creative nihilism is a philosophy viewing life as inherently meaningless, but instead of despair, it finds freedom and purpose in creating one’s own meaning through art, personal values, and self-expression, embracing authenticity over external validation and predetermined values, often seen in artistic movements like Dadaism or modern optimistic nihilism. It’s about actively building purpose from the ground up, acknowledging meaninglessness as liberating rather than paralyzing.
Some famous creative nihilists:
Albert Camus: An absurdist who explored the conflict between humanity’s search for meaning and the meaningless universe in The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus.
Fyodor Dostoevsky: A moralist questioning nihilist who created iconic nihilistic characters in Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Possessed, showcasing nihilism’s dark potential.
Simone de Beauvoir: A foundational figure in existentialist philosophy and feminism, she explored the lack of inherent meaning and the necessity of creating one’s own values in works like The Second Sex and her novels, advocating for authenticity and freedom in a world without predetermined purpose.
Andy Warhol: Explored mass production and celebrity, blurring lines between art and banality, hinting at emptiness in consumerism.
Hedwig Dohm: A German feminist writer who provided a critique of Nietzschean nihilism in her novella Become Who You Are!, arguing that women faced unique challenges in overcoming nihilism due to oppressive social structures.
Friedrich Nietzsche: A philosopher who wrote creative works that critiqued traditional values. Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil profoundly influenced nihilistic thought.
Hannah Arendt: A philosopher and political theorist whose work on the ‘banality of evil’ and the nature of thought grappled with profound moral and existential questions that touch on the breakdown of traditional systems of meaning.
Jeff Koons: Creates highly polished, kitsch objects that ironically comment on beauty, value, and the void of meaning.
Banksy: Uses street art to deliver sharp, often bleak social commentary, questioning authority and established values.
Chuck Palahniuk: A contemporary fiction author who satirizes consumerism and meaninglessness in works like Fight Club and Choke.
Sylvia Plath: American poet and novelist whose semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, and confessional poetry, powerfully convey a sense of deep depression, mental instability, and an overwhelming feeling of despair and isolation, reflecting themes closely associated with existential and nihilistic thought.
Marcel Duchamp: Known for ‘readymades’ (found objects presented as art) like the urinal Fountain that question originality and art’s definition.
Hannah Höch: A pioneer of photomontage, creating satirical political collages like Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada…
Vera Figner and Sophia Perovskaya: Prominent Russian revolutionaries associated with the 19th-century ‘nihilist’ movement, which was a political rather than philosophical movement that focused on the radical destruction of existing social and political structures. Their actions were rooted in a rejection of the existing order.
Gerhard Richter: His abstract works can feel detached and random, exploring beauty and numbness, sometimes leaning toward nihilism.
Yoko Ono: An avant-garde artist and activist, Ono’s work often challenges conventional meaning and audience participation. Her famous 1964 performance piece Cut Piece, where audience members were invited to cut away her clothing, has been interpreted through a lens of self-awareness and a critical statement on sexual violence, reflecting a form of ‘creative nihilism’ in its rejection of traditional art norms and exploration of difficult social realities.
Jean Arp (Hans Arp): Known for organic, abstract sculptures and collages, often using chance.
Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor): Explores deep despair and existential dread, especially on albums like The Downward Spiral.
What I like about creative nihilism:
Creative nihilism allows artists and authors and other creatives to, well, (ironically) become even more creative, as they freely express themselves. In a way, creative nihilism is the antithesis of creativity annihilation, as it allows artists and authors to abandon traditional notions of ‘proper’ form and structure and techniques and tools and ways of creating that may stagnate art, as well as pre-conceived notions about the overall ‘purpose’ and ‘value’ of art — you know, all that stuff you probably learned in an art or literature class at some point— which allows artists and authors to explore and invent different ways to create whatever it is they’re creating, allowing them to make lasting statements about human nature, societies, institutions, psychology, etc.
I believe creative nihilism not only stretches artists’ imaginations but is critical to critiquing traditional institutions and structures within a society that are often taken for granted and or followed without much reflection or intentional recourse. Without it, meaningful change (ironically) might never happen… or at least not with as much vulnerability, gusto, or long-standing panache.
My favorite philosophers are creative nihilists, as are some of my favorite novelists, precisely because their works question the state of the world and or the people in it. And I don’t know what else lasting and meaningful art and or work should aim to do.
Creative nihilism encourages space for creative reflection and expression, and without those things, the world would look a lot different. Less colorful. More sterile. More stagnant. More robotic. Less human…
What I don’t like about creative nihilism:
The implication that humans could ever create anything without meaning is lost on me, as I don’t think it’s possible. Even all the silly and kitsch and cookie-cutter and bland and routine works that mimic styles and techniques are imbued with some sort of variance and meaning, culturally speaking, though that may ultimately depend on the determinations of future anthropologists? Sure, you may not like the meaning they convey (detached consumerism, for example), or the subjective meanings everyone else attributes to them, including outdated institutional norms that need to be regularly reinvented, but they do have meaning, nonetheless.
Similarly, I don’t believe it’s possible (as a human with finite capabilities) to create your own meaning through art, or express your own personal values, or embrace authenticity, without some sort of internalization and or understanding of traditional norms and pre-conceived notions about art and humanhood, even if you are ultimately rejecting those norms and notions or wanting to reinvent them in some capacity. Something cannot come from nothing in the human mind and via the human condition, in other words— logically, biologically, psychologically, and sociologically speaking.
So, even if we want to believe that we have been spontaneously and randomly chosen to create something outside of the meaning created by others who we encounter, or who have come before us (like we are divinely chosen and not human) … it is simply not possible. Everything we see influences what we will see and want to see and or create, as does genetics and biology, etc. Everything we read influences what we will want to read and write. And so on. We will not understand the symbolism of a fork, for instance, if we do not know how others use it or want to use it.
Overall, I appreciate how creative nihilism encourages creative reflection and reinvention and do want to apply those things to what I create in the year ahead. I do believe it’s time to have an artistic and cultural reinvention of sorts, especially when it comes to literature and the things we write in 2026 and after. But I will strive to do this in conversation with what others are reading and writing and creating in 2026 (and before), in relation to how they also feel about what is happening in 2026, as well. So, stay tuned…
What are your thoughts on creative nihilism?
Leave a comment to join this dialogue, and don’t forget to share this post with others who might find it interesting to keep the conversation going.
© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
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