Όχι Μπραζίλια μα Οκτάνα


Όταν δια της πίστεως και της καλής θελήσεως, αλλά 
και από επιτακτικήν, αδήριτον ανάγκην δημιουργηθούν 
αι προϋποθέσεις και εκτελεσθούν όχι οικοδομικά, ή 
ορθολογιστικά, μα διαφορετικά τελείως έργα, εις 
την καρδιά του μέλλοντος, εις την καρδιά των υψηλών  
οροπεδίων και προ παντός μέσα στην καρδιά του κάθε 
ανθρώπου, θα υπάρξη τότε μόνον η Νέα Πόλις και 
θα ονομασθή πρωτεύουσα της ηνωμένης, της αρραγούς 
και αδιαιρέτου Οικουμένης. 
  Άγνωστον αν η παλαιά, που εκτείνεται προ του 
ωκεανού στα πόδια του κατακορύφου βράχου που μοιάζει 
με το Τζέμπελ-αλ-Ταρέκ, άγνωστον αν θα εγκαταλειφθή, 
ή αν θα υφίσταται καν στα χρόνια εκείνα, ή αν, απέραντη 
και κενή, θα διατηρηθή ως δείγμα μιάς ελεεινής, μιας 
αποφράδος εποχής, ή ως θλιβερόν μουσείον διδακτικόν, 
πλήρες παραδειγμάτων πρό αποφυγήν. Εκείνο που είναι 
βέβαιον είναι ότι η Νέα Πόλις θα οικοδομηθή, ή μάλλον 
θα δημιουργηθή, και θα είναι η πρωτεύουσα του 
Νέου Κόσμου, εις την καρδιά του μέλλοντος και των 
ανθρώπων, μετά χρόνια πολλά, οδυνηρά, βλακώδη και 
ανιαρά, ίσως μετά μιαν άλωσιν οριστικήν, μετά την 
μάχην την τρομακτικήν του επερχομένου Αρμαγεδδώνος. 
  Δεν θα εξετάσω τας λεπτομερείας..... 

.................... 

Αυτό που με ενδιαφέρει απολύτως-και θα έπρεπε να 
ενδιαφέρη όλους-είναι ότι η Νέα Πόλις θα 
ολοκληρωθή, θα γίνη. Όχι βεβαίως απο αρχιτέκτονας 
και πολεοδόμους οιηματίας, που ασφαλώς πιστεύουν 
οι καημένοι, ότι μπορούν αυτοί τους βίους των 
ανθρώπων εκ των προτέρων να ρυθμίζουν και το μέλλον 
της ανθρωπότητος, με χάρακες, με υποδεκάμετρα, γωνίες 
και Τ, μέσα στα σχέδια της φιλαυτίας των, 
ναρκισσευόμενοι (μαρξιστικά, φασιστικά ή αστικά),πνίγοντες 
και πνιγόμενοι να κανονίζουν.  
  Όχι, δεν θα κτισθή η Νέα Πόλις έτσι, μα θα κτισθή από 
όλους τους ανθρώπους, όταν οι άνθρωποι. έχοντας εξαντλήσει 
τας αρνήσεις, και τας καλάς και τας κακάς, βλέποντες το 
αστράπτον φως της αντισοφιστείας-τουτέστι το φως της άνευ 
δογμάτων, άνευ ενδυμάτων Αληθείας-παύσουν στα αίματα και 
στα βαριά αμαρτήματα χέρια και πόδια να βυθίζουν, και 
αφήσουν μέσα στις ψυχές των, με οίστρον καταφάσεως, όλα 
τα δένδρα της Εδέμ, με πλήρεις καρπούς και δίχως 
όφεις-μα τον Θεό, ή τους Θεούς-τελείως ελεύθερα να ανθίσουν. 
  Ναι, ναι (αμήν, αμήν λέγω υμίν),σας λέγω την αλήθειαν. 
Η Νέα Πόλις θα κτισθή και δεν θα είναι χθαμαλή σε 
βαλτοτόπια. Θα οικοδομηθή στα υψίπεδα της Οικουμένης, 
μα δεν θα ονομασθή Μπραζίλια, Σιών, Μόσχα, ή Νέα Υόρκη, 
αλλά θα ονομασθή η πόλις αυτή  Ο κ τ ά ν α . 
Και τώρα ο καθείς θα διερωτηθή ευλόγως: Μα τι θα πή Οκτάνα;  

............................. 

  Και τώρα (αμήν, αμήν) λέγω υμίν : 
  Οκτάνα, φίλοι μου, θα πή μεταίχμιον της Γης και του 
Ουρανού, όπου το ένα στο άλλο επεκτεινόμενο ένα τα δύο κάνει. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή πύρ, κίνησις, ενέργεια, λόγος σπέρμα. 
  Οκτάνα θα πη έρως ελεύθερος με όλας τας ηδονάς του. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή ανά πάσαν στιγμήν ποίησις, όμως όχι ως μέσον 
εκφράσεως μόνον, μα ακόμη ως λειτουργία του 
πνεύματος διηνεκής. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή η εντελέχεια εκείνη, που αυτό που είναι 
αδύνατον να γίνη αμέσως το κάνει εν τέλει δυνατόν, ακόμη και 
την χίμαιραν, ακόμη και την ουτοπίαν, ίσως μια μέρα και 
την αθανασίαν του σώματος και όχι μονάχα της ψυχής. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή το "εγώ"  "εσύ" να γίνεται (και αντιστρόφως 
το "εσύ"  "εγώ" ) εις μίαν εκτόξευσιν ιμερικήν, εις μίαν 
έξοδον λυτρωτικήν, εις μίαν ένωσιν θεοτικήν, εις μίαν 
μέθεξιν υπέρτατην, που ίσως αυτή να αποτελή την θείαν Χάριν, 
το θαύμα του εντός και εκτός εαυτού, κάθε φοράν που 
εν εκστάσει συντελείται. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή πάση θυσία διατήρησις της παιδικής ψυχής 
εις όλα τα στάδια της ωριμότητος, εις όλας τας 
εποχάς του βίου................. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή εν πλήρει αθωότητι Αδάμ, εν πλήρει 
βεβαιότητι Αδάμ-συν-Εύα. 

................................. 

  Οκτάνα θα πή απόλυτος ενότης πνεύματος και ύλης. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή παντού και πάντα εν ηδονή ζωή. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή δικαιοσύνη. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή αγάπη. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή παντού και πάντα καλωσύνη. 
  Οκτάνα θα πή η αγαλλίασις εκείνη που φέρνει στα χείλη 
την ψυχή και εις τα όργανα τα κατάλληλα με ορμήν το σπέρμα. 

.................................. 

  Οκτάνα θα πή ό,τι στους ουρανούς και επί της γης ηκούετο, 
κάθε φοράν που ως μέγας μαντατοφόρος, με έντασιν 
υπερκοσμίου τηλεβόα, ο Άγγελος Κυρίου εβόα. 

............................... 

                   

Aνδρέας Εμπειρίκος, Γλυφάδα,  20. 8. 1965

Mother Earth Magazine

The first issue of the “Mother Earth News”, USA, 1970.

Ship overturned

Ship overturned, 2013

wood, plywood, canvas, dust, soil, acrylic, oil, rubber, 160 x 85 x 25 cm 

Squared -up sketch for the decorative elements of ship and flags to be erected over the pediment of the Admiralty 's site elevation in Mstislav Dobuzhinky's scheme, 1918

Rhetoric, Between the Theory and Practice of Politics

 As one of the consequences of the lingering process of corrosion of the rationalist assumptions of the Enlightenment project, in the last decades we have witnessed an attempt in different areas of the humanities to revive the central role rhetoric used to have in antiquity. Despite its political origins, however, the contribution of political theory to this important endeavor has only come of late, as more and more theorists have started to expose the rhetorical nature of politics in multiple manners: showing how it can be used to offer more sophisticated accounts of public deliberation, more attentive toward emotive aspects and contexts; or revealing it as an important manifestation of practical reason; or studying its presence in canonical thinkers and critical moments in the history of political thought; or finally, taking it as an inspiring source for a post-foundationalist emancipatory political theory. This variety of approaches testifies to the pervasiveness of the rhetorical dimensions in the whole realm of politics, from action to theory. The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars coming from disciplines such as political theory, philosophy, history, literature, or communication, to debate the multifaceted significance of rhetoric in politics and to explore new ways to incorporate a ‘rhetorical perspective’ in the study of political thought. Our hope is that this event could offer an important moment to assess and foster the still incipient revival of rhetoric in this area.

Keynote Speakers:Bryan Garsten (Yale University), Benedetto Fontana (Baruch College, CUNY), Marco Geuna (University of Milan), James Martin (Goldsmiths, University of London), Javier Roiz (Complutense University of Madrid), Eugene Garver (St. John's University), Kari Palonen (University of Jyväskylä)

Participants:Salvatore di Piazza (University of Palermo), Francesca Piazza (University of Palermo), Mauro Serra (University of Salerno), James David Hodgson (University of York), Lisa S. Villadsen and Christian Kock (University of Copenhagen), Katia A. Lima (University of Sherbrooke), Andreas Hetzel (University of Darmstadt), Annika Thiem (Villanova University), Sophia Hatzisavvidou (Goldsmiths, University of London), Maria Paula Lago (CEHUM), Nomi Claire Lazar (University of Ottawa), Marko Stamenkovic (Ghent University), Marina Lacroix (independent scholar) and Thomas van Neerbos (University of Amsterdam), Erik De Bom (KU Leuven), Olivia Leboyer (IEP Paris), Stuart Ingham (University of Exeter), Daniel Blanch (CIDEFA Intercultural Research Centre), Francisco Corrales (independent scholar), Russell Bentley (Southampton University), Larissa M. Atkison (University of Toronto), David Erland Isaksen (Texas Christian University), Henry Kelly (Trinity College Dublin), Steven Leddin (University of Limerick), Ozgur Emrah Gurel (University of Amsterdam), Juan Luis Conde (Complutense University of Madrid), Jesús Tovar (Autonomous University of Mexico State) and Carlos Moreira (Autonomous University of Baja California), Jorge Loza-Balparda (Complutense University of Madrid), Chris Tallent (Brown University), Geoff Bright, John Schostak (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Jill Schostak (independent scholar), Jonas Van Vossole (CES Coimbra / Ghent University), David Marshall (University of Pittsburgh), Neil Foxlee (University of Central Lancashire), Samuel Hayat (University Paris 8 / CRESPPACSU), Simon Lambek (University of Toronto), Daniel Schut (University of Amsterdam), Arnaldo M. A. Gonçalves (Portuguese Catholic University), José A. Colen (CEHUM), Attila Gyulai (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Keith Topper (University of California, Irvine), Matthew Hoye (European University Institute), Don Paul Abbott (University of California, Davis), Neofytos Aspriadis (University of Piraeus), Athanassios N. Samaras and Dogani Myrsini (University of Piraeus), Alexandru I. Cârlan and Alexandra Zaharia (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest)

CEHUM – Grupo de Teoria Politica, University of Minho

Braga, Portugal

June 21-22, 2013

https://sites.google.com/site/cehumfilosofiapolitica/destaques-1/upcoming-events/cfp-rhetoric-between-the-theory-and-practice-of-politics/program

Die Arbeit

    Strastnaya Square:A tram with Labour slogans from VSKh, the supreme Economic Soviet,1918-19

True Story

Is signifier so mighty as to determinate the subject's destiny? In a certain way, psychoanalysts think so. However, the affair is not so simple. Between de unconscious determinism and the subjet, there is the dark and still undeniable mechanism of the subjectiv choice. In the end, what is destiny for psychoanalysis? The following story may help us to revisit this problem. Good Luck Mr. Gorsky True story: When Apollo mission astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous “ one step for man, one giant leap for mankind ” statement but followed it by several remarks, usual com traffic between him, the other astronauts and mission control. Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark “ Good luck Mr. Gorsky ”. Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival soviet cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the russian or american space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the “ good luck Mr. Gorsky ” statement meant but Armstrong always just smiled. On july 5, 1995 (in Tampa Bay Fl.) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question. When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball which landed in the front of his neighbor's bedroom windows. His neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky, “Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!”. True story!

Text by Gustavo Dessal

http://www.lacanian.net

Six Possibilities for a Sculpture

Six Possibilities for a Sculpture, installation view, La Loge 2013 - image: Isabelle Arthuis

In an art world of endless possibilities, can we talk about only six possibilities for a sculpture? Taking its title from a work by Hedwig Houben, this exhibition presents the work of five artists who embraces sculpture as an active force rather than static object.



Hedwig Houben and Jennifer Tee both employ sculpture and performance, but while Houben’s work explores her own thinking process from a conceptual and humoristic angle, Tee’s taps into more ethereal or mystical sources for her performances that combine dance and craft-based objects. Caroline Achaintre uses drawing as the starting point for her ceramic works and hand-tufted rugs, which bring together references to the applied arts and to shamanistic practices. Emmanuelle Lainé examines the intersection between the two- and the three-dimensional, creating large-scale images that blur the boundaries between object and subject, process and outcome. Robert Orchardson’s sculptures and installations take as their starting point the shifting meaning and appearance of theatrical stage sets, creating enigmatic yet eloquent forms.


Featuring several new works made especially for this site and occasion, the exhibition draws upon the history of La Loge - a former Masonic lodge, whose architecture is imbued with the materials and symbols of its former ritual use - to explore the totemic presence of sculpture.




A group show featuring Caroline Achaintre
 Hedwig Houben
 Emmanuelle Lainé 
Robert Orchardson 
Jennifer Tee.

Curated by Zoë Gray

La Loge, Brussels

http://www.la-loge.be

Kitsch Prothesis

X|A (Erick Carcamo, Nefeli Chatzimina) is organizing an international workshop of Advanced Architectural Design, part of an ongoing academic research, which introduces participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art, through technical attainment of design and production.

WHALE Architects [Lyda Lycourioti& Iris Lycourioti], Kostis Velonis, Georgia Mavragani and Stefanos Ziras. Three Architects, a Visual Artist and a Director, will discuss on the X|A Theme 2013: “Kitsch Prothesis”

Friday 5th of July at 6pm @ The Benaki Museum, Athens

http://www.xatelier.com/workshop

Pillar of Saora House

Central pillar of Saora house, Peddakimedi Maliaks, Orissa (also written Sora, they are an Adivasi - aboriginal - people of eastern India). It is a patrilineal culture whose marriage ceremony emphasizes the woman leaving her own kin, but the groom places offerings before the breasts of this ancestral woman-pillar. But they have free choice in marriage, and looser gender roles than the dominant culture. Also, most of the shamans are women, especially the funerary kuran, while the diviner-healers can be any gender. Entranced kuran hold dialogues with the dead on a daily basis. The dead become sonum, "spirit, deity, power," sometimes translated also as "memory". All this from Melinda Makai, "Shamanism Among the Soras" (2008), who writes, "The most important shamans are women: they also marry a sonum from the kshatriya caste of the Hindus (ilda) in the Underworld..." This spirit husband was once a living shaman, often related to the woman. This pattern of spirit marriage is common for both male and female shamans in many cultures.

http://www.suppressedhistories.net

Local Myths

Jennifer Tee, Local Myths

Carrara Marble

325 x 22 x 22 cm

semi-permanent 

Anxiety rises

Magnus Thierfelder, Anxiety rises, 2013 (digital print on paper 17x 21 cm).

Outline

Adam Gillam, Outline, 2013, courtesy the artist and Tintype, London.

Head

Sanne Mestrom, Head, 2012

Unglazed ceramic & timber

HxWxD: 60x40x35cm (ceramic); 120x40x20cm (timber)

Revival of Urban Istanbul

By 關譚

The transformation of the urban environment and our living spaces has become the primary strategy of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AK Party and its stranglehold over the government and municipalities of Turkey. 

These new urban policies have become a means of justifying segregation, neoliberal capitalist lifestyle, indebtedness, exploitation, racism, corruption, and a generalized state of exception that violates our human rights. 

The Gezi Park occupation in Istanbul is a continuation of an urban movement that has transformed into a public movement. It is not only about protecting a green space against demolition for a new shopping mall and “reconstruction” of an “Ottoman” military barracks. It is a symbol of being together, of commoning in spite of our differences in Istanbul. 

The month of April saw protests against the demolition of Emek Theater—a historical place that attracted people from different classes and environments over many years. In addition to political organizations, many opposition groups, neighborhood movements, and cultural movements were activated. 

A few hundred people then occupied Gezi Park on 28 May. One of the organizers picked up a microphone and suggested that everyone meet each other. We turned our bodies and offered our hand, told each other our names, and met.

After police entered at 4am with tear gas and started to burn the tents, more people gathered in the afternoon of 29 May. At 5am on 30 May the police brutally attacked the gathering. People began to return at 9 that morning. By 10am on 30 May the public had gathered. 

By the evening, thousands more people had arrived—not only other opposition movements, but even Islamic groups, football fans, and anti-authoritarian groups. The peaceful environment of reading books, singing, dancing, talking, eating popcorn and rice from street food vendors created a total environment of togetherness in spite of our differences. As Carlo Petrini has said, coming together in an unorganized way through meeting, getting know each other, and friendship, is vitally important for starting a movement. 

After their brutal attack on 31 May, the police barricaded the park. When the public called for a press meeting to protest the attack and reenter the park, only a few hundred gathered, and I lost hope for a moment. 

When we approached the barricade to try reentering, the police used force again with teargas and powerful water cannons. The attack continued until noon, as did the fight back. 

The teargas is made from a strong chemical that disables you and renders you partially blind. Several people were injured. The luxury hotels around the park such as Divan Hotel let the protestors and activists inside and helped them. 

People went to Taksim Square, which was partially under construction by the government to create a pedestrian walkway doubling as high ground for surveillance. The Taksim Square project was criticized and protested several times by many NGOs and organizations within Istanbul. 

The peaceful protest that was only about sitting together at the entrance of İstiklâl—one of Istanbul’s main public streets—was attacked again around 1pm by teargas and water cannons. This time, the police began targeting individuals when they shot teargas canisters. They shot a teargas bomb into the Taksim subway station and closed the doors so that even children and babies in the subway were affected. This was the beginning of the chemical war against the citizens. Media coverage was silent, completely censored. On television you would find a demonstration of how to make risotto. 

The 6th Administration Court of Istanbul suspended the Topçu Barracks Project—known publicly as the planned construction of a shopping mall at Taksim Gezi Park—before 5pm on Friday. We are not still sure what this means. It could mark either the success of our intervention into urban policy or a justification for detaining protesters. Meanwhile, some famous fashion brands and business communities have already announced publicly that they will have no part in any shopping mall built where “blood has been shed.”

Thus the public grew through İstiklâl and nearby districts until by 7pm the numbers reached into the thousands, and had spread to other districts such as the Anatolian side of Istanbul at Kadıköy. Police began again shooting teargas and flew helicopters over İstiklal, Beyoğlu, Tarlabaşı, Harbiye, Şişli. Facebook/Twitter and personal video recordings become the most important means of disseminating information. 

The teargas formed a fog over Istanbul. From 7pm, the police began shooting plastic bullets. Around 10, we were told that more buses of police were arriving to block both parts of İstiklâl and the police were standing by for permission to use real bullets. 

The hotels, hospitals, cafes, high schools, and other public spaces announced that they were accepting the injured. Shopkeepers offered lemon and medicine. All public squares were full until the morning. A public bus driver used his bus as a barricade against the police to protect the people who were attacked. 

From the Guardian: “…amateur video footage showed Turkish military personnel refusing to help the riot police, as well as handing out gas masks to demonstrators. There were also reports that some of the police had switched sides and joined the protests.”

On Saturday morning people began to walk from the Anatolian side of the city by crossing the Bosporus Bridge. Other cities in Turkey rose up in full support of protecting a small green park against an authoritarian government for the right to “breathe” in the city. Cars and buses honked their horns in support. 

The Hilton Hotel managers and staff were proud to host the injured, while its neighbor, the İTÜ Architecture Faculty Taşkışla, closed its doors to its own students. These students were the most active in the occupation of the park by affirming the emancipatory, oppositional role of architects and urban planners in a neoliberal city.

Around 2am people who couldn’t leave home because of children began a protest clashing kitchen tools such as pots and pans from their windows. The sound rose into the sky over the city and become the sound of urban Istanbul’s revival.

www.occupygezi.com

www.direngeziparki.com

The five most common insults and slogans of medieval rebels

How subversive was the speech of Flemish rebels in the later Middle Ages? Violence remained the exception in urban rebellions, whereas subversive utterances, though always risky, must have been almost the rule of daily politics in the urban centres of late medieval Flanders and in many other European towns and cities as well. Quoted below, you can find five of the most popular expressions of urban rebels in Flanders. Naive at first sight, they contain however hidden messages for those who were shouted at.

1. ‘A bad chicken was brooding’ (een quaet kiekin broedde; Ypres, 1477) was a common proverb in the Middle Ages. It meant that wicked people were hatching a malicious plan. They ‘were brooding on’ subversive plans that had to remain hidden from the authorities, until they could take action and openly call for a strike in the textile industry. Testimonies of Flemish rebels not only show that they planned their political actions in clandestine meetings, but also that even groups completely excluded from political power, as the young apprentices of the Flemish textile guilds, commonly exchanged dangerous political ideas amongst themselves without the initial knowledge of the urban rulers or the deans and masters of their guilds. When these bad eggs were hatched, subversive speech could pose a serious threat to the authorities.

2. ‘Son of a b*tch’ (hoerezuene; Bruges, 1478). Such vulgar language was not used only by rebels, as it seems to have been quite common in all social layers in town. Anyway, as today, one of the most common metaphors used to describe the strengths and weaknesses of opponents in past societies involved sexuality. Insulters targeted men and women with references to their (alleged) sexual excesses and unreliability. Furthermore, a victim’s descent was called into question when an insulter called him or her a ‘b*stard’ or a ‘son of a b*tch’. Power and status depended not only on behaviour, but also on membership in an important family through birth or marriage. Both aspects came under pressure if a man or woman was labelled as an illegitimate child, because in Flanders ‘b*stards’ had no legal rights unless the sovereign legitimized them.

3. ‘I sh*t on you’ (ic schyte in ulieden; Bruges, 1527). In 1527, the fishmonger Thomas Haghebaert had shouted to the dean and the sworn men of his guild ‘I have nothing to do with you or with the magistrate. I sh*t on you and on the aldermen and on all those who think they can harm me!’ He was exiled as well, a heavy punishment for a serious crime. More than just social status and reputation were at stake when Thomas threatened his superiors with these ‘faecal insults’. He was also challenging their legal authority. Therefore, this ‘indecent language’, as it was called in the final verdict of Thomas, not only wanted to dishonour the chiefs of the guild, as the main purpose of the defamation was to destabilize the political authority of rulers and privileged social groups.

4. ‘Liver eater’ (levereter; Ghent, 1432). This offensive term was generally aimed at corrupt officers or aldermen. The term was linked to ‘organologic’ views which compared the city with a body that could be harmed by the corrupt acts of individuals. In this case, according to rebel ideology, people who ate the ‘liver’ of the city damaged the most important part of its ‘body politic’. Medieval medicine saw the liver as the source of all necessary body fluids, but medical models aside, the basic idea of eating one’s liver is expressive enough. By accusing someone of this severe crime, rebels legitimated the punishment of those who were accused of corruption, as they claimed that it was a necessary action to cure ‘a wounded town’.

5. ‘Kill! Kill!’ (slaet doot, slaet doot; Bruges, 1477). The rhythmic structure of the Middle Dutch text, and of several other similar examples, shows that it was meant to be chanted or sung. If a mob of thousands was shouting such phrases unisono, this would obviously have an extremely intimidating effect on the aldermen hiding in the city hall. Using a rhetoric of violence targeted at the moral failings of rulers, these shouted slogans did not attack the urban government as a whole, but just those who had failed to fulfil their proper role as good governors. Rebels sought to hold up the mirror to magistrates, asking them to correct their faults and remedy the particular grievance that lay at the heart of the protest. Rebels did perhaps not fully understand what the ‘bad practices’ were that they were referring to when they collectively shouted similar slogans in public during times of commotion, but they certainly did know what was at stake and why they shouted it.

Text by Jan Dumolyn and Jelle Haemers

Source: http://blog.oup.com/2013/05/five-common-insults-slogans-medieval-rebels-flanders/

Living Labor and The Phantom of Liberty: Contemporary Art and the Pedagogical Paradox

Design: Jeanne Betak. Photo courtesy the Danish
Labor Movement Library and Archive (ABA). 
Photographer unknown.

Henie Onstad Kunstsenter continues its curatorial production model of book publishing to address critical issues in conjunction with its exhibitions Arbeidstid (work time) and Lære for Livet (Learning for Life).

Living Labor
 Living Labor considers the increasing subordination of life to work. Despite economic instability, growing income gaps across countries and the rise of a migratory, flexible and underpaid labor force, our commitment to productivity is unflagging. Today, work enlists us to psychologically invest ourselves in a boundaryless work life, which seeks to instrumentalize all of our waking hours. In response to the eroding boundaries between work and life, and  against the historic backdrop of the Scandinavian labor movement, the writers gathered in Living Labor propose viable forms of refusal and imagine prospects for a post-work future. Contributions by Will Bradley, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Carl Cedarström and Peter Fleming, Annette Kamp, Michala Paludan, Olivia Plender and Hester Reeve, Ole Martin Rønning, and Kathi Weeks.

Editors: Milena Hoegsberg and Cora Fisher
Design: Jeanne Betak
Sternberg Press / HOK

The Phantom of Liberty: Contemporary Art and the Pedagogical Paradox
 What kind of ideological apparatus is our current school system, and how is the relationship between freedom and discipline considered in the system’s most recent controversial changes? The Phantom of Liberty is a response to ongoing debates about pedagogy, school, and educational policy. The modern state is occupied by the question how schooling can be made more efficient, how children’s learning can be optimized. The interest in children’s performance at school undoubtedly stems from the competition thinking that characterizes “adult society.” Contributions by Emanuel Almborg, Dave Hullfish Bailey, Adelita Husni Bey, Nils Christie, Ane Hjort Guttu, Carl Hegemann, Carsten Rene Jørgensen, Lars Bang Larsen, Sharon Lockhart, Magnus Marsdal, Marit Paasche and Allan Sekula.

Editors: Tone Hansen and Lars Bang Larsen
Design: Eriksen / Brown
Sternberg Press / HOK

Henie Onstad Kunstsenter
 Sonja Henies vei 31
N-1311 Høvikodden, Norway

www.hok.no


Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek | The Nation

Nietzsche’s Marginal Children: On Friedrich Hayek | The Nation

St Kilda Skatepark

Marine Parade, St Kilda, Melbourne, 2013

Crece en la plaza en sombra

Crece en la plaza en sombra

el musgo, y en la piedra vieja y santa

de la iglesia. En el atrio hay un mendigo...

Más vieja que la iglesia tiene el alma.

Sube muy lento, en las mañanas frías,

por la marmòrea grada,

hasta un rincòn de piedra... Allí aparece

su mano seca entre la rota capa.

Con las òrbitas huecas de sus ojos

ha visto còmo pasan

las blancas sombras en los claros días,

las blancas sombras de las horas santas.

Antonio Machado

Moving Walls

Moving Walls, 2008

350 cm x 200 cm x 100 cm

Acrylic, Wood

William Shakespeare,Timon of Athens

Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall,

That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth,

And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!

Obedience fail in children! slaves and fools,

Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,

And minister in their steads! to general filths

Convert o' the instant, green virginity,

Do 't in your parents' eyes! bankrupts, hold fast;

Rather than render back, out with your knives,

And cut your trusters' throats! bound servants, steal!

Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,

And pill by law. Maid, to thy master's bed;

Thy mistress is o' the brothel! Son of sixteen,

pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire,

With it beat out his brains! Piety, and fear,

Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,

Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood,

Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,

Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,

Decline to your confounding contraries,

And let confusion live! Plagues, incident to men,

Your potent and infectious fevers heap

On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica,

Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt

As lamely as their manners. Lust and liberty

Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth,

That 'against the stream of virtue they may strive,

And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,

Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop

Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,

at their society, as their friendship, may

merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from thee,

But nakedness, thou detestable town!

Take thou that too, with multiplying bans!

Timon will to the woods; where he shall find

The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.

The gods confound--hear me, you good gods all--

The Athenians both within and out that wall!

And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow

To the whole race of mankind, high and low! Amen.

Exit

Les aventures des hommes et des machines

Ludvik Askenazy, “Les aventures des hommes et des machines”. Edité en 1958 , Maison d'Edition Technique a Prague, a l'occasion de l' Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, 1958.

Blue Bicycle

you drop it right there

your blue bicycle


in the almost-grass of april

and it sinks in 


just a little bit

like a tired dinosaur


the blue kind

i don’t know all the kinds


you talk about them a lot

but i always forget

David Luetke

Sandwich People

Cubist costumes designed by Ivan Puni as advertisements for his exhibition at Der Sturm Gallery, Berlin, feb.1921.

The Hills

Purity, solitude? There. They are grey. Intact greys not even the idle foot surprised, supremely light. Greys beside Nothing, melancholy and beautiful, which the air shelters like a soul, visible
because so true to its object: waiting always. To be! And even more remote, for smoke, for eyes of the most distracted, a secure Nothingness: the perfect grey on tender aridness, grey of those hills!
Jorge Guillén
translated by Julian Palley 

A Rabbit Displaying Churchill's Victory Sign

Demon Telegraph Magazine, April-May 1945. Courtesy Davenport Magic Company, London.

Σκέψεις για το αντι-μανιφέστο μιας Σοσιαλιστικής Γλυπτικής

To 1923 ο Βλαντιμίρ Τάτλιν, σ' ένα ατέλειωτο σχέδιο, αποπειράθηκε ανεπιτυχώς να σχεδιάσει την παραγωγή μιας κατσαρόλας με πολλαπλές χρήσεις (τηγάνι και τσαγιέρα μαζί). Ασφαλώς δεν είναι η πρώτη φορά που διαπιστώνουμε την αδυναμία ενός σημαντικού καλλιτέχνη να είναι ταυτόχρονα και καλός σχεδιαστής αντικειμένων. Όμως αυτό που έχει περισσότερο ενδιαφέρον στην περίπτωσή του είναι οι ιδεολογικές αντιφάσεις που βρίσκονται στην καρδιά της σοβιετικής πρωτοπορίας (και όχι μόνο). Ο Τάτλιν στη διάρκεια των χρόνων της Οκτωβριανής Επανάστασης, μαζί με άλλους στρατευμένους συντρόφους, απορρίπτει τα παραδοσιακά εκφραστικά μέσα και μ' ένα προγραμματικό, διακηρυγματικό λόγο μέσω δημοσιεύσεων ανακοινώνει το πάθος του για τα αντικείμενα καθημερινής χρήσης που θα είναι πολύτιμα στο χαμηλόμισθο εργάτη. Μπορεί κάποιοι από το στενό κύκλο των Προντουκτιβιστών να τα καταφέρνουν καλύτερα -όπως στη περίπτωση των σχεδιαστικών εφαρμογών της Stepanova και της Popova στη βιομηχανία των υφασμάτων -  όμως η δυσκολία του  εμπνευστή  του μνημείου της Τρίτης Διεθνούς να θέσει τον εαυτό του αποκλειστικά στη βελτίωση των συνθηκών των εργατών έχει ειδικό ενδιαφέρον, γιατί αποτελεί διακαή πόθο κάθε καλλιτέχνη που ονειρεύεται να έχει τη δεξιοτεχνία ενός Ηφαίστου και να απολαμβάνει ταυτόχρονα τις τιμές ενός Απόλλωνα. Ο καθένας από τη συντεχνία των εικαστικών θέλει κατά βάθος να είναι ο maitre της  εμμονής του είτε πρόκειται για μάρμαρο είτε για τσόχα, ακόμα και αν αυτό ερμηνεύεται με τους σημερινούς όρους μιας σημειωτικής «επένδυσης» και λιγότερο ενός απτού υπολογίσιμου υλικού με βάρος και  διαστάσεις.

Σε κάθε εικαστική απόπειρα για τη συνένωση του υψηλού και του μαζικού αντιστοιχούν εκατοντάδες επιτυχημένες εφαρμογές από εμπνευσμένους επαγγελματίες σχεδιαστές που προσέφεραν πρακτικές λύσεις σε εκατομμύρια πολίτες στις νεωτερικές κοινωνίες. Η Christina Kiaer, ιστορικός που ειδικεύεται στη σοβιετική τέχνη, αναφέρεται στην αδυναμία του άλματος του Τάτλιν από την πρωτοπορία της γλυπτικής στον επιτυχημένο σχεδιασμό για τηγάνια, κατσαρόλες και φούρνους. Αλλά το ερώτημα μπορεί μονάχα να περιοριστεί στην αναποτελεσματικότητα του Τάτλιν να παράξει κάτι που να είναι χρηστικό, ή μήπως είναι ένα γενικότερο σύμπτωμα της ανισόρροπης σχέσης της κομμουνιστικής ιδεολογίας (όπως και της υπόλοιπης στρατευμένης πρωτοπορίας) με την εμπειρία της «κατοικίας»; Η πρακτική της καθημερινότητας για έναν ριζοσπάστη ντανταϊστή, φουτουριστή ή κονστρουκτιβιστή  φιλοξενείται στις κραυγές και τις διαμαρτυρίες στις διαδηλώσεις, τη ρητορική από το βήμα, τις αντιπαραθέσεις στα νεανικά καφενεία και τις αναμενόμενες συγκρούσεις στο πολιτικό και κοινωνικό πεδίο. Η σύγκλιση τέχνης και ζωής εκλαμβάνεται ως μια μακρινή διαδρομή από το σπίτι, όπου τα προπαγανδιστικά περίπτερα, τα εργοστάσια, οι κοινωνικοί και οι κοινόχρηστοι χώροι έχουν αντικαταστήσει τη σταθερή τοπολογία του οικογενειακού βίου.

Ο αρχικός προσδιορισμός μέσω της σοβιετικής γραμματολογίας, παρόλη την ιστορική φόρτιση  με τα κείμενα του Arvatov, αφορούσε στην κυρίαρχη φιλοδοξία των προντουκτιβιστών να μεταφέρουν  τον καλλιτέχνη άμεσα στην αλυσίδα της μαζικής παραγωγής, ταυτίζοντάς τον με τη διαδικασία της εργασίας. Το «σοσιαλιστικό αντικείμενο» ως όρος, γεννήθηκε μέσα σε αυτές τις συνθήκες ριζικής αναθεώρησης της αστικής εκτίμησης του εικαστικού έργου. Ένα λοιπόν από τα ερωτήματα που με απασχολούν αφορά στις συνθήκες παραγωγής του «σοσιαλιστικού αντικειμένου».

Η πρότασή μου διαφέρει από το πλαίσιο που το σοσιαλιστικό αντικείμενο ερευνάται από το ζεύγος Arvatov-Tatlin. Αφορά στην υλοποίηση του σοσιαλιστικού αντικειμένου ως γλυπτό χωρίς την υπαγορευμένη συσχέτισή του με τη μαζική του εφαρμογή και την άμεση χρηστικότητα. Μπορούμε να υποστηρίξουμε σοσιαλιστικά αντικείμενα-κατασκευές όπου η δομή τους προβάλλει αξίες που σχετίζονται με τις συνθήκες εργασίας του καλλιτέχνη ως τεχνίτη χωρίς να αποσκοπούν σε οποιαδήποτε εργαλειακή χρήση; Εν ολίγοις αποσκοπώ σ' ένα γλυπτό που θέτει ζητήματα ιδεολογικής ταυτότητας και που γίνεται αντιληπτό ως ένα «πολιτισμικό αντικείμενο» προς ενατένιση, χωρίς κάποια προγραμματική εφαρμογή. Η υλοποίηση μιας τέτοιας συνθήκης βοηθά στην ακύρωση της διαφοράς ανάμεσα στον καλλιτέχνη και τον τεχνίτη ορίζοντας την άμεση και  στενή συνάρτηση του ύφους και του ήθους του επαγγέλματος με την ταξική ή έστω τη γνωστή «τοξική» ιδιότητα (με την έννοια της νευρωτικής επαλήθευσης της ταξικής θέσης). Ο καλλιτέχνης στις συνθήκες που προανέφερα στην καθημερινή του ενασχόληση με το métier, είναι «προλετάριος» ανεξάρτητα από την οικονομική και κοινωνική του συνθήκη εφόσον καταβάλλει φυσικό πόνο και παράγει αντικείμενα. Επιπρόσθετα τη δική μου συνθήκη που μοιράζονται πολλοί εικαστικοί, τα υλικά που επιλέγονται και η μη ραφιναρισμένη αντιμετώπιση των χαρακτηριστικών τους σε συνδυασμό με την άμεση κατάδειξη της δομής τους δεν αφήνουν περιθώρια για την αποθέωση του γλυπτού ως φετιχιστικού προϊόντος ή της αποδοχής του ως «υψηλό έργο τέχνης», τουλάχιστον με τους όρους που χρησιμοποιούσαμε μέχρι πρόσφατα. Πρόκειται στο σύνολό τους για υπολείμματα από βιοτεχνικές και εργοστασιακές δραστηριότητες, αποσπάσματα, ασχηματοποίητα υλικά που επανασχηματοποιούνται και συναρμολογούνται με στόχο την επιβεβαίωση της μεταβιομηχανικής τους δομής, η οποία δεν μπορεί παρά να χρησιμεύει ανάμεσα σε άλλα και ως ένα εργαλείο ιδεολογικής επιβεβαίωσης.
Το σοσιαλιστικό γλυπτό δεν προκύπτει λοιπόν σήμερα μέσα στην ατμόσφαιρα της ταιλορικής δομής υπονομεύοντας έτσι την καθοδήγηση της κουλτούρας του εργοστασίου, δεν προσφέρει λύσεις πρακτικές, αλλά την ίδια στιγμή ανοίγεται στο παιχνίδι της ενατένισης και του στοχασμού, χωρίς τις γνωστές συμβάσεις μιας γλυπτικής που φαίνεται να έχει παραχθεί για να αποκρύψει τις προλεταριακές της δομές.

Source: http://www.culturenow.gr/21183/kwsths-velwnhs-skepseis-gia-to-anti-manifesto-mias-sosialistikhs-glyptikhs

The University Bookman: On Avoiding ‘Prosperous Wickedness’

The University Bookman: On Avoiding ‘Prosperous Wickedness’

Girl with a pomegranate

Alicia Frankovich

Girl with a pomegranate, 2012

What Good Luck! What Bad Luck!

Fortunately

by Remy Charlip published by Scholastic, 1969.

Landfall

And indeed I shall anchor, one day—some summer morning
 of sunflowers and bougainvillaea and arid wind—
and smoking a black cigar, one hand on the mast,
 turn, and unlade my eyes of all their cargo;
and the parrot will speed from my shoulder, and white yachts glide
welcoming out from the shore on the turquoise tide.

And when they ask me where I have been, I shall say 
I do not remember.

And when they ask me what I have seen, I shall say 
I remember nothing.

And if they should ever tempt me to speak again, 
I shall smile, and refrain.

Randolph Stow, 1969

Who Might Rebuild

Kostis Velonis, (Ecclesia) Who Might Rebuild, 2013

5 m L, Plywood, wood, hammers. "Direct Democracy", Installation viewMUMA /Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australi

"Direct Democracy" Show

Direct Democracy explores the changing nature of our engagement with the democratic tradition and looks to the emergence of new democratic models. The exhibition reflects contemporary social movements, unrest and the desire for change; modelling key social dynamics and possible futures. In Direct Democracy destruction and resistance are connected with the need to collaborate and rebuild. Recent political shifts such as the Arab Spring, the global financial crisis and movements such as Occupy are considered in relation to earlier struggles for autonomy and self-definition, as well as the interplay of constructive and corrosive dynamics in leadership and governance. The exhibition examines the shifting forms of political agency, in both emerging and foundational democracies.

Direct Democracy continues MUMA’s ongoing series of thematic and discursive exhibitions, such as Networks (Cells & Silos) and Liquid Archive. Curated by MUMA’s Senior Curator Geraldine Barlow, Direct Democracy features the work of a number of international artists together with artists and artist collectives from Australia.

Milica Tomić, One Day, instead of one night, a burst of machine-gun fire will flash, if light cannot come otherwise (Oscar Davico, fragment from a poem). Dedicated to the members of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Initiative – Belgrade, 3 September 2009. Photo by Srdjan Veljovic.

Artists: Laylah Ali, Hany Armanious, Natalie Bookchin, A Centre for Everything, DAMP, Destiny Deacon, Alicia Frankovich, Will French, Alex Martinis Roe, Andrew McQualter, John Miller, Alex Monteith, Raquel Ormella, Mike Parr, Simon Perry, Carl Scrase, Milica Tomic, Kostis Velonis, Jemima Wyman.

Curator: Geraldine Barlow

Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia

26 April - 6 July 2013
| MUMA