The battle trance as the foundation of art in the evolution of the human
Saturday 28 April 2012
Trust
I feel it's time to write something on trust.
Trust is everything.
If they don't trust you- they don't believe you, and you might as well go home.
Why do we consider every conceivable angle when conceiving and executing a piece of work?
Conception, intention, effect...
Why do we consider every conceivable angle when presenting a piece of work?
Presentation, connotation, interpretation...
So that we can best convey what we believe we are trying to convey. Most succinctly, simply and effectively.
But equally, so that the audience believes that we considered. So they trust.
When they believe we've put thought and time into it, they believe there is probably more to think about, which means they'll give it more time and thought.
And what more can you ask than that?
Trust is everything.
If they don't trust you- they don't believe you, and you might as well go home.
Why do we consider every conceivable angle when conceiving and executing a piece of work?
Conception, intention, effect...
Why do we consider every conceivable angle when presenting a piece of work?
Presentation, connotation, interpretation...
So that we can best convey what we believe we are trying to convey. Most succinctly, simply and effectively.
But equally, so that the audience believes that we considered. So they trust.
When they believe we've put thought and time into it, they believe there is probably more to think about, which means they'll give it more time and thought.
And what more can you ask than that?
More on Failure - an extract from A Choreographer’s Handbook by Jonathan Burrows
Failure:
It is often the attempt to do what you're doing which makes us intrigued; your occasional failure to achieve this goal simply keeps the stakes high.
We say, “Raising the problem to the level of the subject”: this is a thought from the theatre director Tim Etchells.
From ‘Parallel Voices’ talk, Siobhan Davies Studios, London, February 2007.
Audiences like failure, so long as they know that you know you’re failing. It allows an act of human recognition and empathy. Conversely, if you are uncomfortable with your failure, then we are likely to feel uncomfortable too.
Or perhaps discomfort is an important part of what you're doing?
Sometimes if you start out with the premise that you’re allowed to fail, it actually helps you to succeed. This is another of the paradoxes of performing: by allowing for what might go wrong, you include and conquer it.
‘There are no mistakes’ is a useful starting point. It doesn’t mean you will make mistakes.
Or this: ‘If you feel self-conscious allow yourself to feel self-conscious’. Accepting self-consciousness is one possible alternative to putting on a cool look like a new set of clothes. Of course I'm frightened, there are two hundred people out there and adrenalin is pumping round my body.
It is often the attempt to do what you're doing which makes us intrigued; your occasional failure to achieve this goal simply keeps the stakes high.
We say, “Raising the problem to the level of the subject”: this is a thought from the theatre director Tim Etchells.
From ‘Parallel Voices’ talk, Siobhan Davies Studios, London, February 2007.
Audiences like failure, so long as they know that you know you’re failing. It allows an act of human recognition and empathy. Conversely, if you are uncomfortable with your failure, then we are likely to feel uncomfortable too.
Or perhaps discomfort is an important part of what you're doing?
Sometimes if you start out with the premise that you’re allowed to fail, it actually helps you to succeed. This is another of the paradoxes of performing: by allowing for what might go wrong, you include and conquer it.
‘There are no mistakes’ is a useful starting point. It doesn’t mean you will make mistakes.
Or this: ‘If you feel self-conscious allow yourself to feel self-conscious’. Accepting self-consciousness is one possible alternative to putting on a cool look like a new set of clothes. Of course I'm frightened, there are two hundred people out there and adrenalin is pumping round my body.
Failure, balls/buckets from Koki Tanaka
Kind of makes me wonder what I'm doing with my life when i could be setting up and acting out ball/bucket scenarios. (no sarcasm here, obviously)
This video reminds me of skating videos. I have been watching them recently even though I have no interest in skating, precisely because I feel challenged to find the entertainment value in something I know a lot of people enjoy. My attitude began similar to that of watching football; why would you watch others do it when you could do it yourself? Someone very skilled performing an activity, however remarkable, that doesn't seek to communicate anything but itself, can only hold my attention for less than the length of an average YouTube video (4 minutes and 12 seconds).
The point of interest is a similar one. The aim remains constant. In skateboarding, to essentially remain on your skateboard throughout whatever you're skating or tricking on/over/through, and continue to afterwards (although this is slightly less important). In the ball/bucket scenario, it is, of course, to get the ball into the bucket.
Interest in the successes, relies completely on the potential of failure, in order to be sustained. Therefore the risks must be clearly defined.
Are we more interested in seeing failure than success? Is this some hidden schadenfraude?
As someone who has never skateboarded before, I have a limited ability to imagine the difficulty levels involved in any one 'trick'. Ditto the ball/bucket setup. I am only made aware of these when the 'failures' are included in the footage, making the potential for failure clear. This is the easiest way to reveal the failure potential.
Making use of the simplest and oldest storyline of all: you fail (can't do it), you try again a variable number of times, you succeed (can do it). The story of failure followed by success that defines our experience of being a human being. Anything you do is on some level a result of this process. Hence why it's so easily identified with.
I actually have thousands of videos documenting this. Whenever I learn a song, I always film the process.
I have never understood why until maybe just now.
Friday 27 April 2012
Tino Seghal
Tino Sehgal
An article where he and others are quoted as saying;
"he does not want to add more images to a world "consumed by visual pollution."
"he ‘wanted to do dance with the same seriousness as art was done… not with the entertainment factor [of] theatre and film.’"
"he rejects the term ‘performance art’, preferring to call his pieces "constructed situations" it follows in the tradition of the ‘happenings’ of the 1960s and 70s, even if his refusal to allow them to be documented in any way reflects a twenty-first century ethos."
"This is Progress (2006), in which visitors are engaged in conversation by groups of increasingly older performers"
"capacity to draw in and yet reject the viewer"
I love that it only exists as an idea, as ideas are something i get really excited about. There's a satisfaction in the creation, but i love the purity of an unformed idea.
This goes against everything I've ever been told but... I think perhaps lots of works of art didn't need to be made.
The prime reason to make something physical is to be able to show it to other people. (and maybe sell it) To have it enter 'the conversation'. However, if we are talking conversation, then surely an idea is just as good, providing it's spreadable. Debatable. Providing enough people are in on it. But then, ideas fall into a different category. The category, perhaps, of philosophy.
I often dwell more on works i have only been told about. Like a book or a story or a poem. The ideas and images of situations you have only imagined stay with you far longer. Maybe this is just because my memory is so mixed in with my imagination I can no longer tell the two apart. I am highly suggestible to forming any kind of false memory simply with the recounting of event. I am interested in how the retelling, picking apart of an event can lead to a totally different perception. Something happens and is witnessed by several people, results in several different perceptions of the same event.
This is no new idea. But why is it important? It is important because it is yet another demonstration of the lack of ultimate truth. Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' in The Republic, almost represents this theory, but Plato suggests that as a philosopher you could step out of the cave and see things in the sunlight as they really are, transcend the limitations of perception. I don't agree. The biggest restraint is perspective and that is unshakeable. Sorry P-man.
What about an exhibition that is simply full of descriptions of artworks? That surely must have been done before. I wonder how it would be. Even thinking about the possibility of it gets me probably more excited than i would doing it. Because if i did it, it would never be as good as it was in my head.
But i think now i come to the many many flaws in my argument. How can people talk about something they haven't experienced? Experience must be different from thought, even just because there would be people there with you, reacting differently to the descriptions. You could talk about each actual description, whereas if it's still only an idea, everyone would be imagining different descriptions of different artworks and what that would be.
I suppose, pinning things down is important in the end because things are so nebulous anyway, as i have just described, you want to start with everyone having the closest common experience possible so that you can at least start on the closest possible common ground. Even if experiences and reactions would be very different.
What an unsatisfying conversation it would be if we were all talking about ideas of what things might or could have been like. Marvelously free, but unsatisfying. I know I'm getting horrifically ahead of myself here, but I can't help but wanting to state absolutes, even if I'm tragically under-qualified... when will i ever be qualified? So with that caveat, maybe quite a good definition of conceptual art, is the satisfaction of philosophy. Where philosophy gets satisfied. It's full, penetrative sex to philosophy's batting eyelids.
p.s. I would like it if 'jugs' became my word for 'seeing things from all perspectives'. Has a lewd quality i obviously enjoy.
An article where he and others are quoted as saying;
"he does not want to add more images to a world "consumed by visual pollution."
"he ‘wanted to do dance with the same seriousness as art was done… not with the entertainment factor [of] theatre and film.’"
"he rejects the term ‘performance art’, preferring to call his pieces "constructed situations" it follows in the tradition of the ‘happenings’ of the 1960s and 70s, even if his refusal to allow them to be documented in any way reflects a twenty-first century ethos."
"This is Progress (2006), in which visitors are engaged in conversation by groups of increasingly older performers"
"capacity to draw in and yet reject the viewer"
I love that it only exists as an idea, as ideas are something i get really excited about. There's a satisfaction in the creation, but i love the purity of an unformed idea.
This goes against everything I've ever been told but... I think perhaps lots of works of art didn't need to be made.
The prime reason to make something physical is to be able to show it to other people. (and maybe sell it) To have it enter 'the conversation'. However, if we are talking conversation, then surely an idea is just as good, providing it's spreadable. Debatable. Providing enough people are in on it. But then, ideas fall into a different category. The category, perhaps, of philosophy.
I often dwell more on works i have only been told about. Like a book or a story or a poem. The ideas and images of situations you have only imagined stay with you far longer. Maybe this is just because my memory is so mixed in with my imagination I can no longer tell the two apart. I am highly suggestible to forming any kind of false memory simply with the recounting of event. I am interested in how the retelling, picking apart of an event can lead to a totally different perception. Something happens and is witnessed by several people, results in several different perceptions of the same event.
This is no new idea. But why is it important? It is important because it is yet another demonstration of the lack of ultimate truth. Plato's 'Allegory of the Cave' in The Republic, almost represents this theory, but Plato suggests that as a philosopher you could step out of the cave and see things in the sunlight as they really are, transcend the limitations of perception. I don't agree. The biggest restraint is perspective and that is unshakeable. Sorry P-man.
What about an exhibition that is simply full of descriptions of artworks? That surely must have been done before. I wonder how it would be. Even thinking about the possibility of it gets me probably more excited than i would doing it. Because if i did it, it would never be as good as it was in my head.
But i think now i come to the many many flaws in my argument. How can people talk about something they haven't experienced? Experience must be different from thought, even just because there would be people there with you, reacting differently to the descriptions. You could talk about each actual description, whereas if it's still only an idea, everyone would be imagining different descriptions of different artworks and what that would be.
I suppose, pinning things down is important in the end because things are so nebulous anyway, as i have just described, you want to start with everyone having the closest common experience possible so that you can at least start on the closest possible common ground. Even if experiences and reactions would be very different.
What an unsatisfying conversation it would be if we were all talking about ideas of what things might or could have been like. Marvelously free, but unsatisfying. I know I'm getting horrifically ahead of myself here, but I can't help but wanting to state absolutes, even if I'm tragically under-qualified... when will i ever be qualified? So with that caveat, maybe quite a good definition of conceptual art, is the satisfaction of philosophy. Where philosophy gets satisfied. It's full, penetrative sex to philosophy's batting eyelids.
p.s. I would like it if 'jugs' became my word for 'seeing things from all perspectives'. Has a lewd quality i obviously enjoy.
Thursday 26 April 2012
Outkast B.O.B.
Saturday 21 April 2012
Refracted Jug 2
Friday 20 April 2012
When I talk about youtube culture...
Why on earth did he do this? What does this say about the human race? I think something great. Oh my god he does more, he has a channel.
Sunday 15 April 2012
Frances again.
AT HOME 1999/1997, w/ Stephen Prina's "The Achiever" (1999)
I still don't know what she's trying to say, but the claustrophobic zoom of the camera, the feeling of being suffocated by fur, both within the frame and empathy with the cat licking the other cat. The apparent 'love' between the cats that turns so instantly to fighting in a small time frame, to the same song, in the same close quarters. The violent, almost possessive way the turtle cat is licking the ginger one... and of course the title- 'At Home'. I'd say, domestic claustrophobia and how too much of one thing, even a good thing, can turn nasty.
I still don't know what she's trying to say, but the claustrophobic zoom of the camera, the feeling of being suffocated by fur, both within the frame and empathy with the cat licking the other cat. The apparent 'love' between the cats that turns so instantly to fighting in a small time frame, to the same song, in the same close quarters. The violent, almost possessive way the turtle cat is licking the ginger one... and of course the title- 'At Home'. I'd say, domestic claustrophobia and how too much of one thing, even a good thing, can turn nasty.
Dunno who 'ritchie bear' is...
but he's written a definition i want to remember of 'bad' art... yes it was on facebook.
Ritchie Bear I think MOBA use 'bad' as a condensed description for the gap between intentionality and the resultant work, where the author's passionate, intense vision has gone awry through shortcomings in technique, or perhaps heavy-handed, trite symbolism and over reliance on derivative, formulaic visual vocabulary. Or something.
Ritchie Bear I think MOBA use 'bad' as a condensed description for the gap between intentionality and the resultant work, where the author's passionate, intense vision has gone awry through shortcomings in technique, or perhaps heavy-handed, trite symbolism and over reliance on derivative, formulaic visual vocabulary. Or something.
Angela Carter- The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman
I have just begun reading this, already I wish I had written it and it is exactly what I need to be reading right now. Some choice quotes,
"after my abysmal childhood was mercifully over"
"distracted rainbows"
"At certain times, especially in the evenings, as the shadows lengthened, the ripe sunlight of the day's ending fell with a peculiar, suggestive heaviness, trapping the swooning buildings in a sweet, solid calm, as if preserving them in honey. Aurified by the Midas rays of the setting sun, the sky took on the appearance of a thin sheet of beaten gold like the ground of certain ancient paintings so the monolithically misshapen, depthless forms of the city took on the enhanced glamour of the totally artificial."
(he is at the opera and everyone around him has suddenly sprouted peacock plumage)
"I am still not sure why I did not instantly clap my hand to my own arse to find out whether I, too, had become so bedecked - perhaps I knew the limitations of my sensibility positively forbade such a thing might happen to me, since I admired the formal beauty of peacocks so much."
"Some cities are women and must be loved; others are men and can only be admired or bargained with and my city settled serge-clad buttocks at vulgar ease as if in a leather armchair."
Or, "I know i must have stood in an attitude of awed listening, as if to hear the scratching of the claws of the unknown on the outside rind of the world."
Or just, "Snarling flocks of starlings"
"Boredom was my first reaction to incipient delirium." "prostitution of the least exalted type"
She's got a bit of a thing for couplets. I'm having to read it with a pencil, more to follow.
"after my abysmal childhood was mercifully over"
"distracted rainbows"
"At certain times, especially in the evenings, as the shadows lengthened, the ripe sunlight of the day's ending fell with a peculiar, suggestive heaviness, trapping the swooning buildings in a sweet, solid calm, as if preserving them in honey. Aurified by the Midas rays of the setting sun, the sky took on the appearance of a thin sheet of beaten gold like the ground of certain ancient paintings so the monolithically misshapen, depthless forms of the city took on the enhanced glamour of the totally artificial."
(he is at the opera and everyone around him has suddenly sprouted peacock plumage)
"I am still not sure why I did not instantly clap my hand to my own arse to find out whether I, too, had become so bedecked - perhaps I knew the limitations of my sensibility positively forbade such a thing might happen to me, since I admired the formal beauty of peacocks so much."
"Some cities are women and must be loved; others are men and can only be admired or bargained with and my city settled serge-clad buttocks at vulgar ease as if in a leather armchair."
Or, "I know i must have stood in an attitude of awed listening, as if to hear the scratching of the claws of the unknown on the outside rind of the world."
Or just, "Snarling flocks of starlings"
"Boredom was my first reaction to incipient delirium." "prostitution of the least exalted type"
She's got a bit of a thing for couplets. I'm having to read it with a pencil, more to follow.
THIS IS NOT EXACTLY A CAT VIDEO
Frances Starck (2007) w/ David Bowie's "Starman" etc.
This...
It's funny. This doesn't speak to me, although perhaps this is because when i first realised it's content (I didn't know before i clicked on the link) I was too excited and overwhelmed that someone had made a video of children spontaneously reacting to/ enjoying / imitating/ worshiping 1. an idol of mine, 2. an icon, 3. music, 4. a music video, and that it was just a candid, unrehearsed moment captured by the artist. Unedited. Decisions made in the moment about what to film. What to do. The kids so unaware.
Though my thoughts are too clouded by the thrill of the fact of the content, I feel that this is something I would really have like to have made. I have no idea critically where it's coming from, really. But, I just think it's fantastic that someone thinks it's important, I guess because I think it's important too.
Actually, i forget that's all it is.
I think it's important + I'm happy someone else does too.
Lots of things in this video are important to me: Bowie, children, hero-worship, imitation, active listening to music, especially with images, the desire to turn it up, to learn the words, to recreate, to become the pop star, to embody what is great about what you are seeing. The appeal of Bowie's music to a necessarily uneducated, underexposed ear. The play acting in the video and in life. An obsession. Sibling-esque interaction. The importance of the music to the boy, who has so few cultural references yet (he can't be over 5) yet it already means something. What can it mean? Why does he want to watch it so badly?
Ubuweb says, "Through both writing and visual art, Frances Stark addresses the conditions of creative labor, producing candid and affecting work about the nature of artistic practice and the corresponding yet integral banality of the everyday. The artist’s body of work stands as a self-reflexive inquiry into the process of artistic production, and the often-elided demands of daily life."
And then that throws up; are they her kids? Why are they being entertained with the computer on the bed? This is something that has been done before- my 2 year-old niece does it to Nicky Minaj (she has not such great taste)
Oh I'm instantly a fan.
Frances Starck (2007) w/ David Bowie's "Starman" etc.
This...
It's funny. This doesn't speak to me, although perhaps this is because when i first realised it's content (I didn't know before i clicked on the link) I was too excited and overwhelmed that someone had made a video of children spontaneously reacting to/ enjoying / imitating/ worshiping 1. an idol of mine, 2. an icon, 3. music, 4. a music video, and that it was just a candid, unrehearsed moment captured by the artist. Unedited. Decisions made in the moment about what to film. What to do. The kids so unaware.
Though my thoughts are too clouded by the thrill of the fact of the content, I feel that this is something I would really have like to have made. I have no idea critically where it's coming from, really. But, I just think it's fantastic that someone thinks it's important, I guess because I think it's important too.
Actually, i forget that's all it is.
I think it's important + I'm happy someone else does too.
Lots of things in this video are important to me: Bowie, children, hero-worship, imitation, active listening to music, especially with images, the desire to turn it up, to learn the words, to recreate, to become the pop star, to embody what is great about what you are seeing. The appeal of Bowie's music to a necessarily uneducated, underexposed ear. The play acting in the video and in life. An obsession. Sibling-esque interaction. The importance of the music to the boy, who has so few cultural references yet (he can't be over 5) yet it already means something. What can it mean? Why does he want to watch it so badly?
Ubuweb says, "Through both writing and visual art, Frances Stark addresses the conditions of creative labor, producing candid and affecting work about the nature of artistic practice and the corresponding yet integral banality of the everyday. The artist’s body of work stands as a self-reflexive inquiry into the process of artistic production, and the often-elided demands of daily life."
And then that throws up; are they her kids? Why are they being entertained with the computer on the bed? This is something that has been done before- my 2 year-old niece does it to Nicky Minaj (she has not such great taste)
Oh I'm instantly a fan.
“Every thought resembles play.”
Take, for example, the following phrase of Adorno: “Every
thought resembles play.” For Adorno, in order to think about things, one
must do so for the sake of the pleasure that comes from the movement, in and
of itself, of one’s thought. Understanding something can occur only through
“an element of exaggeration, of over-shooting the object, of self-detachment
from the weight of the factual.”
Harmful- Harmony Korine
‘..the future of documentary is probably just lies..because what I care about is not even truth..what I care about is something bigger than truth..its a kinda poetry that hangs above...its something that enlightens ..and transcends... the fuck out of it.’ -H. Korine
Friday 13 April 2012
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (heather island)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, (reflection of heather in the water)And evening full of the linnet's wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core.Thursday 12 April 2012
Wednesday 11 April 2012
Neil Dawson - wire sculptures
Damn you Neil Dawson, making what I've always wanted to make but better and actually doing it. Here's his website as proof. He does loads of wire sculptures that are simply the 3D outlines of an object, so that whatever angle you view it from, it looks like a drawing of the thing it is. Clever. How Michael Craig-Martin of him. If it was me, I'd make whole living rooms.
Monday 9 April 2012
Karen Dalton - Writing on the Wall
Yesterday any way you made it was just fine,
So you turned your days into night-time,Didn't you know, you cant make it without ever even trying?
And somethings on your mind, isn't it
Let these times show you that you're breaking up the lines,
Leaving all your dreams too far behind,
Didn't you see, you cant make it without ever even trying?
And somethings on your mind.
Maybe another day you'll want to feel another way, you cant stop crying,
You haven't got a thing to say, you feel you want to run away
There's no use trying, anyway.
Ive seen the writing on the wall,
Who cannot maintain will always fall,
Well, you know, you cant make it without ever even trying.
And somethings on your mind, isn't it
Tell the truth now, isn't it
And somethings on your mind, isn't it
You'll see why this has become relevant.
Sunday 8 April 2012
Laurie Anderson - The Beginning of Memory
There's a story in an ancient play about birds called The Birds
And it's a short story from before the world began
From a time when there was no earth, no land.
Only air and birds everywhere.
But the thing was there was no place to land.
Because there was no land.
So they just circled around and around.
Because this was before the world began.
And the sound was deafening. Songbirds were everywhere.
Billions and billions and billions of birds.
And one of these birds was a lark and one day her father died.
And this was a really big problem because what should they do with the body?
There was no place to put the body because there was no earth.
And finally the lark had a solution.
She decided to bury her father in the back of her own head.
And this was the beginning of memory.
Because before this no one could remember a thing.
They were just constantly flying in circles.
Constantly flying in huge circles.
And it's a short story from before the world began
From a time when there was no earth, no land.
Only air and birds everywhere.
But the thing was there was no place to land.
Because there was no land.
So they just circled around and around.
Because this was before the world began.
And the sound was deafening. Songbirds were everywhere.
Billions and billions and billions of birds.
And one of these birds was a lark and one day her father died.
And this was a really big problem because what should they do with the body?
There was no place to put the body because there was no earth.
And finally the lark had a solution.
She decided to bury her father in the back of her own head.
And this was the beginning of memory.
Because before this no one could remember a thing.
They were just constantly flying in circles.
Constantly flying in huge circles.
Laurie Anderson - Dark Time in the Revolution
The market keeps rising up. The big machines control the sea and the air
Those big machines, they gotta go somewhere.
So we keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
And then those questions come up.
Like was the Constitution written in invisible ink?
Has everybody here forgotten how to think?
Is this great big boat starting to sink?
Pinpoint nukes. Ready to fight. Dressed to kill. Sure we're right.
Welcome to, welcome to, welcome to the American night.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
You know Tom Paine wrote the first best-seller at a dark time in the Revolution when we were losing and all the soldiers were deserting. Giving up. And the book was called Common Sense and it was really just a long list of questions. And one of the questions was: Does it make common sense for an island to rule a continent? And everybody kind of went hmmm and they signed back up.
And today you could ask: Does it make common sense for a country to rule the world? But no matter what your answer, no matter what you think, no matter what you vote for–
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
And you thought there were things that had disappeared forever.
Things from the Middle Ages.
Beheadings and hangings and people in cages.
And suddenly they were everywhere.
And suddenly they're alright.
Welcome to, welcome to, welcome to the American night.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
Those big machines, they gotta go somewhere.
So we keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
And then those questions come up.
Like was the Constitution written in invisible ink?
Has everybody here forgotten how to think?
Is this great big boat starting to sink?
Pinpoint nukes. Ready to fight. Dressed to kill. Sure we're right.
Welcome to, welcome to, welcome to the American night.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
You know Tom Paine wrote the first best-seller at a dark time in the Revolution when we were losing and all the soldiers were deserting. Giving up. And the book was called Common Sense and it was really just a long list of questions. And one of the questions was: Does it make common sense for an island to rule a continent? And everybody kind of went hmmm and they signed back up.
And today you could ask: Does it make common sense for a country to rule the world? But no matter what your answer, no matter what you think, no matter what you vote for–
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
We just keep calling em up, calling em, calling em up. No matter what.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
And you thought there were things that had disappeared forever.
Things from the Middle Ages.
Beheadings and hangings and people in cages.
And suddenly they were everywhere.
And suddenly they're alright.
Welcome to, welcome to, welcome to the American night.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
We keep callin em up, callin em, callin em up.
Laurie Anderson - Bodies in Motion
We embody the spirit of motion.
We're bodies in motion. We're bodies in motion.
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We're masters of Mars.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
Our ancestors cowered in caves
Afraid of the dark and the thunder.
Wrapped tip in black magic and rage
They were slaves to their hunger.
Now we fly across mountains in planes
We know all about time and big numbers.
We're bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
I love you with all my heart. You have my devotion.
I loved you from the start. We're bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A burn in my spin.
Some say the future is crowds fighting for water and space.
Chaotic and dark and loud, everything used up and taken.
But I say the future's within the still point of the mind
Where we escape the bounds of earth
And break the bonds of time.
If somebody asked me to design a religion
I would make it all about snow.
No good or evil and no suffering.
Just perfect crystals spinning
In ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A bum in my spin.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A bum in my spin.
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We're masters of Mars.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
We're bodies in motion. We're bodies in motion.
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We're masters of Mars.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
Our ancestors cowered in caves
Afraid of the dark and the thunder.
Wrapped tip in black magic and rage
They were slaves to their hunger.
Now we fly across mountains in planes
We know all about time and big numbers.
We're bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
I love you with all my heart. You have my devotion.
I loved you from the start. We're bodies in motion.
We embody the spirit of motion.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A burn in my spin.
Some say the future is crowds fighting for water and space.
Chaotic and dark and loud, everything used up and taken.
But I say the future's within the still point of the mind
Where we escape the bounds of earth
And break the bonds of time.
If somebody asked me to design a religion
I would make it all about snow.
No good or evil and no suffering.
Just perfect crystals spinning
In ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy ecstasy.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A bum in my spin.
Oooh the weight of the world. Eternal spin.
Puts a dent in my shoulder.
A burn in my spin. A bum in my spin.
We dig down in the ocean. Swing up to the stars.
We own the moon and the earth. We're masters of Mars.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
We're bodies in motion. We embody the spirit of motion.
Laurie Anderson - Another Day in America
And so finally here we are, at the beginning of a whole new era.
The start of a brand new world.
And now what?
How do we start?
How do we begin again?
There are some things you can simply look up, such as:
The size of Greenland, the dates of the famous 19th century rubber wars, Persian adjectives, the composition of snow.
And other things you just have to guess at.
And then again today's the day and those were the days and now these are the days and now the clock points histrionically to noon.
Some new kind of north.
And so which way do we go?
What are days for?
To wake us up, to put between the endless nights.
And by the way, here's my theory of punctuation:
Instead of a period at the end of each sentence, there should be a tiny clock that shows you how long it took you to write that sentence.
And another way to look at time is this:
There was an old married couple and they had always hated each other, never been able to stand the sight of each other, really.
And when they were in their nineties, they finally got divorced.
And people said: Why did you wait so long? Why didn't you do this a whole lot earlier?
And they said: Well, we wanted to wait until the children died.
Ah, America. And yes that will be America.
A whole new place just waiting to happen.
Broken up parking lots, rotten dumps, speed balls, accidents and hesitations.
Things left behind. Styrofoam, computer chips.
And Jim and John, oh, they were there.
And Carol, too. Her hair pinned up in that weird beehive way she loved so much.
And Greg and Phil moving at the pace of summer.
And Uncle Al, who screamed all night in the attic.
Yes, something happened to him in the war they said, over in France.
And France had become something they never mentioned. Something dangerous.
Yeah, some were sad to see those days disappear.
The flea markets and their smells, the war.
All the old belongings strewn out on the sidewalks.
Mildewed clothes and old resentments and ragged record jackets.
And ah, these days. Oh, these days.
What are days for?
To wake us up, to put between the endless nights.
And meanwhile all over town, checks are bouncing and accounts are being automatically closed.
Passwords are expiring.
And everyone's counting and comparing and predicting.
Will it be the best of times, will it be the worst of times, or will it just be another one of those times?
Show of hands, please.
And ah, this world, which like Kierkegaard said, can only be understood when lived backwards.
Which would entail an incredible amount of planning and confusion.
And then there are those big questions always in the back of your mind.
Things like: Are those two people over there actually my real parents?
Should I get a second Prius?
And you, you who can be silent in four languages: Your silence will be considered your consent.
Oh but those were the days before the audience, and what the audience wanted, and what the audience said it wanted.
And you know the reason I really love the stars is that we cannot hurt them.
We can't burn them or melt them or make them overflow. We can't flood them or blow them up or turn them out.
But we are reaching for them.
We are reaching for them.
Some say our empire is passing, as all empires do.
And others haven't a clue what time it is or where it goes or even where the clock is.
And oh, the majesty of dreams.
An unstoppable train. Different colored wonderlands.
Freedom of speech and sex with strangers.
Dear old God: May I call you old?
And may I ask: Who are these people?
Ah, America. We saw it. We tipped it over, and then, we sold it.
These are the things I whisper softly to my dolls. Those heartless little thugs dressed in calico kilts and jaunty hats and their perpetual white toothy smiles.
And oh, my brothers. And oh, my sisters.
What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They flow and then they flow. They come, they fade, they go and they go.
No way to know exactly when they start or when their time is up.
Oh, another day, another dime.
Another day in America.
Another day, another dollar.
Another day in America.
And all my brothers. And all my long lost sisters.
How do we begin again?
How do we begin?
The start of a brand new world.
And now what?
How do we start?
How do we begin again?
There are some things you can simply look up, such as:
The size of Greenland, the dates of the famous 19th century rubber wars, Persian adjectives, the composition of snow.
And other things you just have to guess at.
And then again today's the day and those were the days and now these are the days and now the clock points histrionically to noon.
Some new kind of north.
And so which way do we go?
What are days for?
To wake us up, to put between the endless nights.
And by the way, here's my theory of punctuation:
Instead of a period at the end of each sentence, there should be a tiny clock that shows you how long it took you to write that sentence.
And another way to look at time is this:
There was an old married couple and they had always hated each other, never been able to stand the sight of each other, really.
And when they were in their nineties, they finally got divorced.
And people said: Why did you wait so long? Why didn't you do this a whole lot earlier?
And they said: Well, we wanted to wait until the children died.
Ah, America. And yes that will be America.
A whole new place just waiting to happen.
Broken up parking lots, rotten dumps, speed balls, accidents and hesitations.
Things left behind. Styrofoam, computer chips.
And Jim and John, oh, they were there.
And Carol, too. Her hair pinned up in that weird beehive way she loved so much.
And Greg and Phil moving at the pace of summer.
And Uncle Al, who screamed all night in the attic.
Yes, something happened to him in the war they said, over in France.
And France had become something they never mentioned. Something dangerous.
Yeah, some were sad to see those days disappear.
The flea markets and their smells, the war.
All the old belongings strewn out on the sidewalks.
Mildewed clothes and old resentments and ragged record jackets.
And ah, these days. Oh, these days.
What are days for?
To wake us up, to put between the endless nights.
And meanwhile all over town, checks are bouncing and accounts are being automatically closed.
Passwords are expiring.
And everyone's counting and comparing and predicting.
Will it be the best of times, will it be the worst of times, or will it just be another one of those times?
Show of hands, please.
And ah, this world, which like Kierkegaard said, can only be understood when lived backwards.
Which would entail an incredible amount of planning and confusion.
And then there are those big questions always in the back of your mind.
Things like: Are those two people over there actually my real parents?
Should I get a second Prius?
And you, you who can be silent in four languages: Your silence will be considered your consent.
Oh but those were the days before the audience, and what the audience wanted, and what the audience said it wanted.
And you know the reason I really love the stars is that we cannot hurt them.
We can't burn them or melt them or make them overflow. We can't flood them or blow them up or turn them out.
But we are reaching for them.
We are reaching for them.
Some say our empire is passing, as all empires do.
And others haven't a clue what time it is or where it goes or even where the clock is.
And oh, the majesty of dreams.
An unstoppable train. Different colored wonderlands.
Freedom of speech and sex with strangers.
Dear old God: May I call you old?
And may I ask: Who are these people?
Ah, America. We saw it. We tipped it over, and then, we sold it.
These are the things I whisper softly to my dolls. Those heartless little thugs dressed in calico kilts and jaunty hats and their perpetual white toothy smiles.
And oh, my brothers. And oh, my sisters.
What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They flow and then they flow. They come, they fade, they go and they go.
No way to know exactly when they start or when their time is up.
Oh, another day, another dime.
Another day in America.
Another day, another dollar.
Another day in America.
And all my brothers. And all my long lost sisters.
How do we begin again?
How do we begin?
Laurie Anderson - Maybe if I Fall
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep.
There'll be a party there.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall.
Americans unrooted blow with the wind
But they feel the truth if it touches them.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep.
There'll be a party there.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall.
Americans unrooted blow with the wind
But they feel the truth if it touches them.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep.
If I fall.
There'll be a party there.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall.
Americans unrooted blow with the wind
But they feel the truth if it touches them.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep.
There'll be a party there.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall.
Americans unrooted blow with the wind
But they feel the truth if it touches them.
Maybe if I fall. Maybe if I fall asleep.
If I fall.
Only An Expert - Homeland
Now only an expert can deal with the problem
Because half the problem is seeing the problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
So if there’s no expert dealing with the problem
It’s really actually twice the problem
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now in America we like solutions
We like solutions to problems
And there’s so many companies that offer solutions
Companies with names like Pet Solution
The Hair Solution. The Debt Solution. The World Solution. The Sushi Solution.
Companies with experts ready to solve the problems.
Cause only an expert can see there’s a problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only and expert can deal with the problem
Now let’s say you’re invited to be on Oprah
And you don’t have a problem
But you want to go on the show, so you need a problem
So you invent a problem
But if you’re not an expert in problems
You’re probably not going to invent a very plausible problem
And so you’re probably going to get nailed
You’re going to get exposed
You’re going to have to bow down and apologize
And beg for the public’s forgiveness.
Cause only an expert can see there’s a problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now on these shows, the shows that try to solve your problems
The big question is always “How can I get control?
How can I take control?”
But don’t forget this is a question for the regular viewer
The person who’s barely getting by.
The person who’s watching shows about people with problems
The person who’s part of the 60% of the U.S. population
1.3 weeks away, 1.3 pay checks away from homelessness.
In other words, a person with problems.
So when experts say, “Let’s get to the root of the problem
Let’s take control of the problem
So if you take control of the problem you can solve the problem.”
Now often this doesn’t work at all because the situation is completely out of control.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
So who are these experts?
Experts are usually self-appointed people or elected officials
Or people skilled in sales techniques, trained or self-taught
To focus on things that might be identified as problems.
Now sometimes these things are not actually problems.
But the expert is someone who studies the problem
And tries to solve the problem.
The expert is someone who carries malpractice insurance.
Because often the solution becomes the problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now sometimes experts look for weapons.
And sometimes they look everywhere for weapons.
And sometimes when they don’t find any weapons
Sometimes other experts say, “If you haven’t found any weapons
It doesn’t mean there are no weapons.”
And other experts looking for weapons find things like cleaning fluids.
And refrigerator rods. And small magnets. And they say,
“These things may look like common objects to you
But in our opinion, they could be weapons.
Or they could be used to make weapons.
Or they could be used to ship weapons.
Or to store weapons.”
Cause only an expert can see they might be weapons
And only an expert can see they might be problems.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
And sometimes, if it’s really really really hot.
And it’s July in January.
And there’s no more snow and huge waves are wiping out cities.
And hurricanes are everywhere.
And everyone knows it’s a problem.
But if some of the experts say it’s no problem
And other experts claim it’s no problem
Or explain why it’s no problem
Then it’s simply not a problem.
But when an expert says it’s a problem
And makes a movie and wins an Oscar about the problem
Then all the other experts have to agree that it is most likely a problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
And even though a county can invade another country.
And flatten it. And ruin it. And create havoc and civil war in that other country
If the experts say that it’s not a problem
And everyone agrees that they’re experts good at seeing problems
Then invading that country is simply not a problem.
And if a country tortures people
And holds citizens without cause or trial and sets up military tribunals
This is also not a problem.
Unless there’s an expert who says it’s the beginning of a problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can see there’s a problem
And see the problem is half the problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Because half the problem is seeing the problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
So if there’s no expert dealing with the problem
It’s really actually twice the problem
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now in America we like solutions
We like solutions to problems
And there’s so many companies that offer solutions
Companies with names like Pet Solution
The Hair Solution. The Debt Solution. The World Solution. The Sushi Solution.
Companies with experts ready to solve the problems.
Cause only an expert can see there’s a problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only and expert can deal with the problem
Now let’s say you’re invited to be on Oprah
And you don’t have a problem
But you want to go on the show, so you need a problem
So you invent a problem
But if you’re not an expert in problems
You’re probably not going to invent a very plausible problem
And so you’re probably going to get nailed
You’re going to get exposed
You’re going to have to bow down and apologize
And beg for the public’s forgiveness.
Cause only an expert can see there’s a problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now on these shows, the shows that try to solve your problems
The big question is always “How can I get control?
How can I take control?”
But don’t forget this is a question for the regular viewer
The person who’s barely getting by.
The person who’s watching shows about people with problems
The person who’s part of the 60% of the U.S. population
1.3 weeks away, 1.3 pay checks away from homelessness.
In other words, a person with problems.
So when experts say, “Let’s get to the root of the problem
Let’s take control of the problem
So if you take control of the problem you can solve the problem.”
Now often this doesn’t work at all because the situation is completely out of control.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
So who are these experts?
Experts are usually self-appointed people or elected officials
Or people skilled in sales techniques, trained or self-taught
To focus on things that might be identified as problems.
Now sometimes these things are not actually problems.
But the expert is someone who studies the problem
And tries to solve the problem.
The expert is someone who carries malpractice insurance.
Because often the solution becomes the problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Now sometimes experts look for weapons.
And sometimes they look everywhere for weapons.
And sometimes when they don’t find any weapons
Sometimes other experts say, “If you haven’t found any weapons
It doesn’t mean there are no weapons.”
And other experts looking for weapons find things like cleaning fluids.
And refrigerator rods. And small magnets. And they say,
“These things may look like common objects to you
But in our opinion, they could be weapons.
Or they could be used to make weapons.
Or they could be used to ship weapons.
Or to store weapons.”
Cause only an expert can see they might be weapons
And only an expert can see they might be problems.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
And sometimes, if it’s really really really hot.
And it’s July in January.
And there’s no more snow and huge waves are wiping out cities.
And hurricanes are everywhere.
And everyone knows it’s a problem.
But if some of the experts say it’s no problem
And other experts claim it’s no problem
Or explain why it’s no problem
Then it’s simply not a problem.
But when an expert says it’s a problem
And makes a movie and wins an Oscar about the problem
Then all the other experts have to agree that it is most likely a problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
And even though a county can invade another country.
And flatten it. And ruin it. And create havoc and civil war in that other country
If the experts say that it’s not a problem
And everyone agrees that they’re experts good at seeing problems
Then invading that country is simply not a problem.
And if a country tortures people
And holds citizens without cause or trial and sets up military tribunals
This is also not a problem.
Unless there’s an expert who says it’s the beginning of a problem.
Cause only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can see there’s a problem
And see the problem is half the problem
And only an expert can deal with the problem
Only an expert can deal with the problem
It's a good time far bankers and winners and sailors
With their stories of jackpots and islands of pleasure
They keep their treasures locked in Iron Mountain
Locked in Iron mountain,
They're sailing through this transitory life.
They're moving through this transitory life.
It takes a long time far a mouse to realize he's in a trap
But once he does, something inside him never stops trembling.
And grandma in the pancake makeup she never wore in life
Lies there in her shiny black coffin looks just like a piano.
She made herself a bed inside my ear.
She made herself a bed inside my ear.
And every night I hear
We're sailing through this transitory life.
We're moving through this transitory life.
When the doctor says: congratulations, it's a boy!
Where do all the dream baby girls, those possible pearls, go?
Lorraine and Susan with the brown eyes
And lovely Irene and difficult but beautiful Betty
And tiny tiny Juanita?
They're sailing through this transitory life.
They're moving through this transitory life.
Afraid to breathe, afraid to rise
We run and run in this transitory life.
Tipped off balance we fall like light
We land on water in this transitory life.
We fall like light on water and water turns to ice.
Everything keeps changing in this transitory life.
Everything keeps changing in this transitory life.
With their stories of jackpots and islands of pleasure
They keep their treasures locked in Iron Mountain
Locked in Iron mountain,
They're sailing through this transitory life.
They're moving through this transitory life.
It takes a long time far a mouse to realize he's in a trap
But once he does, something inside him never stops trembling.
And grandma in the pancake makeup she never wore in life
Lies there in her shiny black coffin looks just like a piano.
She made herself a bed inside my ear.
She made herself a bed inside my ear.
And every night I hear
We're sailing through this transitory life.
We're moving through this transitory life.
When the doctor says: congratulations, it's a boy!
Where do all the dream baby girls, those possible pearls, go?
Lorraine and Susan with the brown eyes
And lovely Irene and difficult but beautiful Betty
And tiny tiny Juanita?
They're sailing through this transitory life.
They're moving through this transitory life.
Afraid to breathe, afraid to rise
We run and run in this transitory life.
Tipped off balance we fall like light
We land on water in this transitory life.
We fall like light on water and water turns to ice.
Everything keeps changing in this transitory life.
Everything keeps changing in this transitory life.
Laurie Anderson - Thinking of You
Sky flying birds. Flying over cities.
Flying over mountains,
Sky flying moon. Sailing over wide plains.
Pulling on the oceans.
Snow flies around. Snow flies around.
Snow flies around. It's falling on the circus.
Falling on the circus.
Snow flies around. Snow flies around.
Snow flies around. It's falling on my little hometown.
Falling on my little hometown.
In the house. In the fire.
In the house. In the fire.
Snow flies around. Surrounds my town.
It knocks us down.
It's falling on the circus.
Falling on my little hometown.
Snow flies around. It knocks us down.
Surrounds my town.
It's falling on the circus.
It's falling on my little hometown.
Can't believe I had such a beautiful baby
Can't believe I had such a wonderful Iife
Can't believe I had such a beautiful body
Can't believe I had such power and fear and strife.
I was thinking of you. And I was thinking of you.
And I was thinking of you.
And then I wasn't thinking of you anymore.
Flying over mountains,
Sky flying moon. Sailing over wide plains.
Pulling on the oceans.
Snow flies around. Snow flies around.
Snow flies around. It's falling on the circus.
Falling on the circus.
Snow flies around. Snow flies around.
Snow flies around. It's falling on my little hometown.
Falling on my little hometown.
In the house. In the fire.
In the house. In the fire.
Snow flies around. Surrounds my town.
It knocks us down.
It's falling on the circus.
Falling on my little hometown.
Snow flies around. It knocks us down.
Surrounds my town.
It's falling on the circus.
It's falling on my little hometown.
Can't believe I had such a beautiful baby
Can't believe I had such a wonderful Iife
Can't believe I had such a beautiful body
Can't believe I had such power and fear and strife.
I was thinking of you. And I was thinking of you.
And I was thinking of you.
And then I wasn't thinking of you anymore.
Laurie Anderson - Youtube comment
"No one else in our culture has the perspective of someone who has spent the last several thousand years watching the human species fail to make its best qualities manifest in all its endeavours while still maintaining a broken-hearted sympathy for the poor, weary individuals within the species."
Laurie Anderson - Live
Langue d'Amour - woman and the snake, 'woman in love' - white shirt in the background- symbol the language of love. Mine is a dressing-gown. Connections everywhere if only you look.
Sharkey's Day - backing band, dressed like a man - gestus - 'world music' influences - big pixelated symbols in background - planes - joy - choreographed - lots of gestus, Laurie leads
Zero and One - visually first half, gimp suits, clumsy, ugly graphics and generally visually - BUT extreme grace and fluidity of her dancing. Masks- what are the influences and what do they mean? Interesting because her face is a huge storytelling tool she employs. Is her voice faintly patronising like a primary school teacher's, and is she mimicking authority with this? This time it's her body communicating only. Removes the fame of her face.
Sharkey's Day - backing band, dressed like a man - gestus - 'world music' influences - big pixelated symbols in background - planes - joy - choreographed - lots of gestus, Laurie leads
Zero and One - visually first half, gimp suits, clumsy, ugly graphics and generally visually - BUT extreme grace and fluidity of her dancing. Masks- what are the influences and what do they mean? Interesting because her face is a huge storytelling tool she employs. Is her voice faintly patronising like a primary school teacher's, and is she mimicking authority with this? This time it's her body communicating only. Removes the fame of her face.
Bad Cover Version
Starring imitations of all the celebrities that usually sing on Live Aid and other cheesy collaborations where they cover a song but with a load of different famous singers, and inevitably ruin it, but singing a PULP song (including a Jarvis imitator). Amazing idea, brilliantly executed, what I love is that they really did it, and Island let them! The idea for the song is that you're experiencing a bad cover version of love, I think we all know what that feels like, 1-2-3-RELATE!
Saturday 7 April 2012
History is an angel being blown backwards into the future
The Dream Before "History is an angel being blown backwards into the future, history is a pile of debris and the angel wants to go back and fix things to repair things that have been broken but there is a storm blowing from paradise and the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future. And this storm, is called progress."
Laurie Anderson Interview
Laurie Anderson talking about why she likes to work at home surrounded by her cool 'stuff', demonstrating her AMAZING SOUND SUIT and generally being a buffting.
Monday 2 April 2012
The Second-To-Last Day I Loved You
I wonder every day
if today
will be the last day of loving you.
How many more are to come?
Before I drum you out of thought forever.
Well, I might have the odd glance.
I might think on a soft night or,
seeing something that I used to see
might think of you;
Now I would see, and think,
of thinking,
stop.
I would hopefully not continue.
Love is a pest,
(so they might as well say)
and you are the worst of them,
Please, go away and leave me to wonder,
Count up the days 'til I no longer dwell upon
when I can say
that today was the second-to-last day I loved you.
if today
will be the last day of loving you.
How many more are to come?
Before I drum you out of thought forever.
Well, I might have the odd glance.
I might think on a soft night or,
seeing something that I used to see
might think of you;
Now I would see, and think,
of thinking,
stop.
I would hopefully not continue.
Love is a pest,
(so they might as well say)
and you are the worst of them,
Please, go away and leave me to wonder,
Count up the days 'til I no longer dwell upon
when I can say
that today was the second-to-last day I loved you.
Amateur Photography
Squared off.
Mountains can be:
Squeezed, boxed
Framed, inside a
Viewfinder-
All the sheer
faces told to
Smile! Wider!
Cheese! Hold,
the pose...
released!
breathing out
relaxing cheeks.
Until fat,
Swarms of booted
Fur-lined,
Padded, swaddled, suited,
Tripod-waving
things arrive.
Another lot
ascending tops
probing for the
perfect shot
and make those mountains
Stand Up! Straight!
Pull in boulders
turning shoulders
shuffle closer
peaks together!
until the shutter...
lets them stoop,
slide and droop
while they wait.
The next
busload descends,
hell-leather-bent on
showing friends
on flickr
mountains that can pose
and look to camera,
work their angles...
Even though we know
mountains are not,
naturally
picture perfect
in every shot.
Mountains can be:
Squeezed, boxed
Framed, inside a
Viewfinder-
All the sheer
faces told to
Smile! Wider!
Cheese! Hold,
the pose...
released!
breathing out
relaxing cheeks.
Until fat,
Swarms of booted
Fur-lined,
Padded, swaddled, suited,
Tripod-waving
things arrive.
Another lot
ascending tops
probing for the
perfect shot
and make those mountains
Stand Up! Straight!
Pull in boulders
turning shoulders
shuffle closer
peaks together!
until the shutter...
lets them stoop,
slide and droop
while they wait.
The next
busload descends,
hell-leather-bent on
showing friends
on flickr
mountains that can pose
and look to camera,
work their angles...
Even though we know
mountains are not,
naturally
picture perfect
in every shot.
This Evening
If you wake to find me breathing
Deeply, just pretend I'm sleeping
Sweetly, even though we know
I'm only, dreaming of this evening
And
How to
Make it
Never
Over.
And so I would hate to end this
Neatly, now I know we're both
Discreetly, wishing there was more than
Dreaming, on this endless evening.
Deeply, just pretend I'm sleeping
Sweetly, even though we know
I'm only, dreaming of this evening
And
How to
Make it
Never
Over.
And so I would hate to end this
Neatly, now I know we're both
Discreetly, wishing there was more than
Dreaming, on this endless evening.
Sunday, reading Walt Whitman
O Me! O Life!
...The question, O me! So sad, recurring - What good amid these,
O me! O life?
Answer
That you are here- that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Response
I must forgive her. I must leave this life I have built. It is the wrong one and I have no more faith in it. No more love contained. There is no more here but the passing of shadows. No joy in others, no love. No beauty in the silhouette on window, reading aloud songs of sorrow.
Duty! Calls the drunk marauder on the street below. I! Duty! He wakes me from my dreams of savage loss. From crushing all I have created. Turning upon my heel to start again, out, in a new direction. I once thought of pride, once a crested moon hung full before me and beamed in it's resplendent splendour. Now the river channels run dry and I have lost the batteries for the remote.
...The question, O me! So sad, recurring - What good amid these,
O me! O life?
Answer
That you are here- that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Response
I must forgive her. I must leave this life I have built. It is the wrong one and I have no more faith in it. No more love contained. There is no more here but the passing of shadows. No joy in others, no love. No beauty in the silhouette on window, reading aloud songs of sorrow.
Duty! Calls the drunk marauder on the street below. I! Duty! He wakes me from my dreams of savage loss. From crushing all I have created. Turning upon my heel to start again, out, in a new direction. I once thought of pride, once a crested moon hung full before me and beamed in it's resplendent splendour. Now the river channels run dry and I have lost the batteries for the remote.
Poem that i wrote
I can feel a new cavity coming
Way down back at the deep end
And I can tell this one will be hanging
Around for a while in my mouth
So I'm going to wait
Until all my teeth are holy-
Mouthful of holy teeth
And then I'm gonna say
Open up my mouth and pray
For a new set to lie beneath.
My molars are already peppered
My tongue is pushing at the back
Feels like shrapnel scattered
Waiting for one to pop.
So I'm going to bide my time
'til I'm smiling like a pirate
Or a medieval peasant
And then I'm gonna spray
Slap my palms to the dust and pray
For the good lord to make me a present.
Way down back at the deep end
And I can tell this one will be hanging
Around for a while in my mouth
So I'm going to wait
Until all my teeth are holy-
Mouthful of holy teeth
And then I'm gonna say
Open up my mouth and pray
For a new set to lie beneath.
My molars are already peppered
My tongue is pushing at the back
Feels like shrapnel scattered
Waiting for one to pop.
So I'm going to bide my time
'til I'm smiling like a pirate
Or a medieval peasant
And then I'm gonna spray
Slap my palms to the dust and pray
For the good lord to make me a present.
Laurie Anderson Interview
| Laurie Anderson Interview: | What are your future ambitions? |
| Anderson: | I have a very ambitious thing that I'm working on now, which is a big five-year plan. After I got back from the last tour, I realized that instead of doing what I usually do, which is go from project to project, I thought I'd like to really think about what I'd like to do over a bigger time period. So I made a lot of charts, and they all had dotted lines connecting them, showing how different things would relate to each other. I highly recommend this to people, just to take a bit of a longer view and think, 'What would I really like to do if I had no limitations whatsoever?' I hope I get to do a few of these things. But if I don't get to do all of them, I still think it was a really great exercise in learning about myself as an artist. To just kind of think of what I'd really like to do, what I really dream of doing. |
DV8
DV8's physical theatre/dance, the last part, the dance between the two men against a backdrop of homophobic bullying.
A look, desire, coyness, a need, ready to turn into feral rage if not met with caution and reciprocated barely, but just enough to walk the tightrope of what they must communicate without ever over or under-stepping the mark. Neither must confirm nor deny; especially not accuse with a denial.
The intimacy, the aggressiveness, the back and forth exchange and negotiation of boundaries; who is on top, who on the bottom, who is dominant and submissive, how honest can they be? Just the same as any romance, how much to give away, to say? How deep to go until you wait for your partner to join you in the shallows- can you wade together? Are you the one in the lead, in control? Is he?
Dance is the perfect metaphor, for where the line has not been firmly drawn, where there is very little to go on except what is forbidden. Drawing an entirely new map of love and joining up out of what there is. Prescribed behaviours/manners that do not fit like two pieces of a puzzle, but must be hewn anew out of established codes not designed for this kind of interaction. In squaring up to each other they also pin down, establishing moments of tenderness and lust within harsh rejection and disgust as they push and pull themselves together and apart. They play both games at once, that of the lover and that of the gaoler, the keeper of social order.
I have never seen anything that describes and dramatises human interaction so beautifully and so perfectly, as DV8's performances. Every movement is a thousand words.
A look, desire, coyness, a need, ready to turn into feral rage if not met with caution and reciprocated barely, but just enough to walk the tightrope of what they must communicate without ever over or under-stepping the mark. Neither must confirm nor deny; especially not accuse with a denial.
The intimacy, the aggressiveness, the back and forth exchange and negotiation of boundaries; who is on top, who on the bottom, who is dominant and submissive, how honest can they be? Just the same as any romance, how much to give away, to say? How deep to go until you wait for your partner to join you in the shallows- can you wade together? Are you the one in the lead, in control? Is he?
Dance is the perfect metaphor, for where the line has not been firmly drawn, where there is very little to go on except what is forbidden. Drawing an entirely new map of love and joining up out of what there is. Prescribed behaviours/manners that do not fit like two pieces of a puzzle, but must be hewn anew out of established codes not designed for this kind of interaction. In squaring up to each other they also pin down, establishing moments of tenderness and lust within harsh rejection and disgust as they push and pull themselves together and apart. They play both games at once, that of the lover and that of the gaoler, the keeper of social order.
I have never seen anything that describes and dramatises human interaction so beautifully and so perfectly, as DV8's performances. Every movement is a thousand words.
Fabricators on being fabricators.
Art is all about the idea now: I think using fabricators makes art more valid and not less, from a conceptual point of view. If an artist has an idea, it can still take a lot of work to realise. As far as I'm aware, no artist who uses fabricators ever sits on their behind and lets other people get on with it. I don't know any people who work harder than artists.
I tried to be a sculptor and, although I could make all sorts of things, I recognised that I didn't have a language. Skilful people can make anything, but that doesn't mean it will be made well or can touch a large number of people. The language has to be distinct. A good fabricator can take an artist's language and work with it, a bit like a translator.
I'm not interested in how many assistants Rodin had. I'm interested in his language, his vision. Big artists have a big language – and Rodin's was monumental.
I tried to be a sculptor and, although I could make all sorts of things, I recognised that I didn't have a language. Skilful people can make anything, but that doesn't mean it will be made well or can touch a large number of people. The language has to be distinct. A good fabricator can take an artist's language and work with it, a bit like a translator.
I'm not interested in how many assistants Rodin had. I'm interested in his language, his vision. Big artists have a big language – and Rodin's was monumental.
Angela Carter by Helen Simpson
One shining aperçu that emerges from its pages to spread light through the stories of The Bloody Chamber is that passivity is never a virtue, in fact, even - especially not - in women. "Justine marks the start of a kind of self-regarding female masochism, a woman with no place in the world, no status, the core of whose resistance has been eaten away by self-pity," wrote Carter, tracing the descendants of De Sade's heroine Justine down to Marilyn Monroe. Another passage might have been written specifically as an epigraph for The Bloody Chamber: To be the object of desire is to be defined in the passive case. To exist in the passive case is to die in the passive case - that is, to be killed. This is the moral of the fairy tale about the perfect woman.
The stories in The Bloody Chamberare fired by the conviction that human nature is not immutable, that human beings are capable of change. Some of their most brilliant passages are accounts of metamorphoses. Think of "The Courtship of Mr Lyon", which ends with Beast transformed by Beauty - "When her lips touched the meathook claws, they drew back into their pads and she saw how he had always kept his fists clenched, but now, painfully, tentatively, at last began to stretch his fingers"; or of the story with which it is twinned, "The Tiger's Bride", where this time Beauty is transformed by Beast - "And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shiny hairs. My earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur". The heroines of these stories are struggling out of the straitjackets of history and ideology and biological essentialism. "There's a story in The Bloody Chamber called 'The Lady and the House of Love'," said Carter, "part of which derives from a movie version that I saw of a story by Dostoevsky. And in the movie ... the woman, who is a very passive person and is very much in distress, asks herself the question, 'Can a bird sing only the song it knows, or can it learn a new song?' Have we got the capacity at all of singing new songs? It's very important that if we haven't, we might as well stop now."
Extract
The stories in The Bloody Chamberare fired by the conviction that human nature is not immutable, that human beings are capable of change. Some of their most brilliant passages are accounts of metamorphoses. Think of "The Courtship of Mr Lyon", which ends with Beast transformed by Beauty - "When her lips touched the meathook claws, they drew back into their pads and she saw how he had always kept his fists clenched, but now, painfully, tentatively, at last began to stretch his fingers"; or of the story with which it is twinned, "The Tiger's Bride", where this time Beauty is transformed by Beast - "And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shiny hairs. My earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur". The heroines of these stories are struggling out of the straitjackets of history and ideology and biological essentialism. "There's a story in The Bloody Chamber called 'The Lady and the House of Love'," said Carter, "part of which derives from a movie version that I saw of a story by Dostoevsky. And in the movie ... the woman, who is a very passive person and is very much in distress, asks herself the question, 'Can a bird sing only the song it knows, or can it learn a new song?' Have we got the capacity at all of singing new songs? It's very important that if we haven't, we might as well stop now."
Extract
The Internet Problem: when an abundance of choice becomes an issue
But more than ever, I'm realising that the old problem of overcoming constraints to action has been replaced by the new problem of deciding what to do when the constraints fall away. The former world demanded relentless fixity of purpose and quick-handed snatching at opportunity; the new world demands the kind of self-knowledge that comes from quiet, mindful introspection.
An abundance of opportunity is a funny kind of problem to wrestle with, but it is a problem – and a hard one, since abundance manifests itself as noise that must be ignored in order to stop reacting and start introspecting.
But don't get me wrong: I'll take the "too many great possibilities" problem over the scrabble for opportunity any day.
Find the article here
An abundance of opportunity is a funny kind of problem to wrestle with, but it is a problem – and a hard one, since abundance manifests itself as noise that must be ignored in order to stop reacting and start introspecting.
But don't get me wrong: I'll take the "too many great possibilities" problem over the scrabble for opportunity any day.
Find the article here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)