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zondag 2 juli 2006

Books

Just home from a book trip to Paris. I added a few treasures to my Ububibliothèque.
After visiting the 'colonnes de Buren', to 'pataphysicians known as 'colonnes d'Ubu Reine',

and admiring how the inventor of 'pataphysics has become part of the high society of Par-Isis,

I started my expedition 'sur les quais de la Seine'. Mosbunall bouquinistes were closed, but from the few who had opened their green book cases I found some treasures.

André Salmon, "Le monocle à deux coups", JJ Pauvert 1968 314 p.
Salmon was one of the more obscure founding fathers of the Collège de 'Pataphysique. He published some poetry 'Ames en peine et corps sans âmes' in 1905 and wrote two other novels: 'Archives du club des Onze' and 'Manuscrit trouvé dans un chapeau'. The backflap promises a masterwork of double meanings (body and soul), with a murderer and/or a victim, where all meanings melt finally in an absurdist ending of confusion. In a style which reminds me of both René Daumal and Raymond Queneau.

"Guide de la France Mystérieuse", Tchou, 1964, 1030 p.
This monumental book is a fortean guide to mysterious France. Other volumes exist according to the different french regions. Beautifully published with a treasure of bizarre engravings, mostly original but some of them collages which reminds of Max Ernst's works. Each city appears alphabetically. Little symbols at the sides show the theme of the mystery: 'sacred places', 'fantastic creatures', 'underground treasures' etc.

Georges Perec, "53 Jours", P.O.L. 1989 ISBN 2-86744-161-7 336 p.
This was Perec's last, unfinished, novel. Perec is one of the most prolific members of the OuLiPo, the writer's collective that invents new models and 'contraintes' or framework for new literature. He wrote 'La Disparition' without using the letter 'e', 'La vie mode d'emploi' (a large opus somehow based on mathematics), 'Les revenentes' (with only the letter 'e' ass vowel), and lots more. Only the first 11 chapters were written. Perec's notes about the last 17 chapters are included, which provide insight into his encyclopedic mindset. Sadly he died the 3rd of March 1982 before finishing this novel.

Marcel Schwob, "Le Livre de Monelle", Mercure De France 1959 , uncut, 160 p.
Schwob (1867 - 1905), a contemporary of Alfred Jarry, wrote this nihilist scripture, as seen through the eyes of a child, a symbolist fairy tale of a little girl creating her own world, sometimes of nightmarish proportions.
This book can be read online (in french)
http://www.marcel-schwob.org/Articles/93/le-livre-de-monelle

After this I visited bookshop 'Actualités' Rue Dauphine # 38. Mostly leftist political books, lots of books by Marx, Engels, Benjamin… Anarchist literature also, fanzines and leaflets of underground organisations. Found a lot of international situationism material, though I must admit that i find writings by Guy Debord boring as hell… I prefer the angry humor of Raoul Vaneigem or dadaistic writings by Asger Jorn.

Kim deitch: "The Stuff of Dreams" pt 2 and pt 3, Fantagraphics 2004-5
Deitch, the wacko PK Dick of comics, wrote another oniric tale with the invisible Waldo, another of my favourite imaginary cats. I haven't found part 1, but I reckon if I had it would remain as bizarre anyway. Why oh why are there no midgets in midgetsville?

Tommaso Campanella: "La cité du soleil", Mille et une Nuits 2000 96 p. ISBN 2-84205-450-4
Cyrano de Bergerac: "L'autre Monde", Mille et une Nuits 1998 184 p. ISBN 2-84205-316-8
Two famous utopias, two diatribes against the state and the church from the 17th century.

E.T.A. Hoffmann: "Contes Nocturnes", Phébus 1979 416 p. ISBN 2-85940-992-0
I always liked Hoffmann's strange stories. They were part of the gothic movement in Germany, but somehow always had an eerie surrealist twist. The cat Murr is one of my favourite cats of litterature, together with Lewis Carroll's cat of Cheshire. These stories were first published in 1817. Some are considered seminal texts, the very first writings of horror literature (and an influence on Sigmund Freud's thoughts). Scary cozyness and comforting terror…

I found the bookstore 'Mona Lisait' (Mona did read) at rue Danton #6. All old unraid books from stocks. I discovered a real treasure in the basement: two numbers of 'Bizarre' in minted condition. Some people would commit a murder for those, published by one of two revolutionary editors in the french language: Jean-Jacques Pauvert (the other one is Swiss Eric Losfeld). This legendary magazine from the fifties was the soil from which many pataphysicians realized their life purpose. Surrealism, dadaism and a thick layer of serious humor, with special issues about strange literature, naive art, literature studies etc. made Bizarre a holy grail to me. I only owned one copy for which I had paid a lot ten years ago. Now I tripled my collection for just a few euros (the poor librarian had no idea what she sold me).

Bizarre 11, 1950 96 p.
A text by Jean-Hugues Saimont, one by Philippe Soupault and a study by Thomas Owen of my favourite horror writer Jean Ray. And extremely strange illustrations. Yummy.

Bizarre 31 1963 48 p.
Photogrammes by Segalat and especially some texts by protoprankster André Frédérique - a guy who used to dress as a priest to insult nuns in public places!

I finished with my yearly visit to the best library in the entire multiverse. Every time I go there I have the impression I took up some weight. Every year it's harder even to pass the entrance door, because every year more books pile up in front of each other op to the ceiling. I think this year it's up to four layers of books, but since there are not many shelves cupboards and most books are simply put upon each other, I have no idea how far the walls are. There is only room for two or three customers, and they have to get out on the street to pass each other. The owner seems to take it all in zen-like fashion, standing (or sitting) on a pile in a corner, using another pile as a table. A house made of books. All of them - absolutely all of them - treasures. All in excellent condition, about diverse subjects as underground comics, surrealist books, limited artsy editions, revolutionary texts, mangas, bizarre literature, obscure SF and fantasy, magick, erotica, thousands of fanzines in all possible formats… I told the owner he'll end up with only accepting dwarves as clients, and he replied he had a lot of dwarves as customers… who managed to discover marvels at the bottom that other customers couldn't find. I sometimes tested him and the guy knows every book in his store and where they are.

If visiting Paris, go pay a tribute to 'Un regard Moderne', rue Gît-Le-Coeur. The man will one day be responsible for creating a black hole.

I bought a number of the "Monitoires du Collège de 'Pataphysique" # 29 (=l'Expectateur # 28), 1993, 98 pages. I've been recieving their publications since 1996, and older books sometimes pop up. this one is avery disturbing number about Philippe Merlen. This writer with high pataphysical potential, friend of most founder of the Collège, enlisted the WaffenSS in the second world war. He proved his faith in the nazi doctrines, and yet remained a pataphysician through his writings, which usually deal with the equality of all values ('Alles bleibt daselbe'). Lots of pictures of a guy in uniform. Doesn't feel very comfortable to read that the college accepts such members…
Of course he never existed and it's a literary prank to express the most extreme form of 'pataphysics. Most founders of the Collège were actually heroes of the résistance.

Ian Monk: "Elémentaire, mon cher", bibliothèque Oulipienne #128, 2003 36 p. ex. number 70
Numbers one till 52 were published in three thick volumes which I own; 53 to 85 in three other volumes which I havent' seen yet; the individual booklets are extremely hard to find. Oulipo grouped geniuses as Georges Perec, Raymond Queneau, Italo Calvino and even Marcel Duchamp to produce new forms of literature. its actual members still meet once month and edit their findings in these little books.

Clément Pansaers: "Le Pan-Pan au cul du nu nègre", Allia 2005 ISBN 2-84485-196-7 48 p.
This individualistic writer (1885-1922) only published three books in his short life. 'Bar Nicanor' and 'Apologie de la Paresse' are his other two. He is probably the only Flemish - and even Belgian artist who briefly joined the Dada movement. He was admired by most surrealist writers but still remains quite unknown.
"To live is an imaginary disease".

Comte de Lautréamont: "Oeuvres Complètes" José Corti 2005 ISBN 2-7143-0210-6 Uncut, 432 p.
a facsimili edition of a book of 1953. I cannot even begin to express the importance of Isidore Ducasse, who nicknamed himself Lautréamont, for the modern literature; he influence worldwide other writers but still remains an enigma. The disturbing 'Les Chants de Maldoror', his most famous work, is probably the very first surrealist writing.

zondag 25 juni 2006

The Mirror

We are trained to see our mind as inside our body. We are trained to perceive our thoughts and think: this must be my mind. We are trained to feel pleasure or pain and feel: this must be my body.
Illusion.

"I was never 'in' the body anymore than a sonata is 'in' the instrument"
RAW, The earth will shake p.351

It dawns on me that our body 'is in' or 'is formed by' our mind, just as a sonata emanates from an instrument.
The kabbalistic theory of emanations; higher and higher levels of perceptions, each higher step as the source of the lower one: the tree of life showed upside-down bearing the fruit of the tree of knowledge, itself bearing the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, itself the origin of the material world.

"Light was the secret, the first matter of the alchemists. God's first commandment was not 'let there be matter', but 'let there be light'."
RAW, The earth will shake p.347

Matter seen as a result of vibrations. Quantum theory accepts matter as particles in some ways, as waves in some ways, as matter and waves in some ways. String theory goes further into the vibratory aspect, so does the branes theory. All searching for the alchemist's stone: the Unified Grand Field Theory. Is it possible that third gear conceptual mind acts like a blindfold by working out concepts upon concepts, trying to see the bigger picture connecting separate dots of our understanding while these dots only show our lack thereof? In the emanations point of view the perceived world(s) is nothing but the world of forms, resulting from the light. Any sculptor knows that form is made by light. Szukalski was the best photographer of his own work.

"(…)it was nothing more complicated than his own mind purged of the habits and limits of a lifetime. (…) more like a mirror than a sun: reflective."
RAW, The earth will shake p.351

Kaballah sees the physical body as a costume we wear on the stage of life; our personality or self-perception as the role. This is a way of simplifying things for those still going down Jacob's ladder.
Every kaballistic text tells the story of the light going down the ladder deep into the matter. Every kaballist should try to mirror the story and try to go up again. From a frog perspective one can see the body as a little self inside the greater minds: soul, spirit, divine self… But the illusion pervails as long as the mind stays in the three lower gears.

Some models show the material world of action (Assiyah) as a reflection through the psychical world of formation(Yetzirah) of the spiritual world of creation (Beriah). With the self in the material world, all perceptions seem mirrored. Confusion arises when the self reaches the higher psyche sensing some idea of the reflection, and lots of diverging theories are made up trying to explain the confusion away, to cling on to the seemingly safer material perception.

The body is a construct of the mind. All the matter a few notes played by the light. And what I call 'I' only reflections on a mirror.
We are knots.

maandag 1 mei 2006

Beaufort

Been seeing some bits of an exhibition of monumental art called 'Beaufort' at the belgian coast. This is the second edition, previous one took place 4 years ago. Most of the sculptural artwork is designed especially to stay there and change under influence of the northerm sea-wind.

The first work we saw was the best. In a graveyard next to a small church in Mariakerke, by Ostend, Belgian painter James Ensor is buried. The little church looks serene. When turning the corner to where Ensor is buried, the sight is overwhelming.

The grave itself looks kinda dull, but french-born artist Louise Bourgeois found this an excellent place to show her work called 'Maman' made in 2001. The gigantic spider cages in on the grave, seems not dangerous but protective. The belly of the 9 meter high arachnid seems to bear eggs. This bronze sculpture must weigh tens of tons yet resting on eight small surfaces seems extremely light.

Louise Bourgeois, now living in New York, started studying mathematics, worked for Fernand Léger, and is considered one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. And one whose career hast lasted the longest: it seems hard to believe, but this work was made when she was 90 years old. She's 95 now and still working!
The spider has appeared in Bilbao's Guggenheim, in Havana, Ottawa and Tokyo. But this seems the best possible spot.

Next in line was Joep Van Lieshout's Body Bar. Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) have designed all kinds of objects on the edge between design and sculptures, bridging the gap between necessity and art. They also produce excellent Shaker furniture. Often objects which seem utilitarian are shown in an exhibition context, confusing the spectators.
A huge polyester female body devoid of head, arms and legs lies in the grass.

One can enter through the right leg (there's even a lock on the door!). Inside it smells like beer, there's a bench and a dart board in a funny place. The translucent end of the left leg looks like a stained window in a church.

In New York a similar piece is shown since 2005. It was called 'Bar Rectum'. And in 2001 they produced 'AVL-ville', a 'free-state' conceptual work in Rotterdam showing most of their works.

Third work 'la peau du vent', 'the skin of wind' involved a huge slab of marble and a tree in copper.

Attached to it is a young tree. It is designed for the tree to grow along the copper sculpture and, moving with the wind, to erode the marble. Artist is italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone. The copper tree shows the future: already carvings have been made in the slab to show what can be expected.

In the sand Luc Van Soom exhibits his 'Noli Mi Tangere'.

A metallic tree of 12 meters ends its branches with lampposts with a gold finish. At dusk the lamps start to glow in different colors giving a surreal impression. The title hints to the impossibility of touching the light.

In a church in Blankenberge, chinese artist Ling Jian exhibits paintings of the buddha.

It's a strange sight contemplating the serene imagery of near-perfect buddha faces in a background of catholic stained windows. The round form of the large rosace is repeated in the form of the five paintings. in the back the framework repeats the form of the neo-gothic ceiling.

Further on the beach, "The man who saw the boat, in the air" by belgian Jean Bilquin shows a mysterious figure looking at a boat in the air.

I seems to tell a story; on the boat humanoid shapes seem to evolve, hovering in the air on a gigantic slag of concrete resting 10 meters above on a metallic structure. The figure is split in half. Though the gap one can see the boat and the sea in the background; the body is made of grey concrete but the head is made of bronze. At the front an androgynous face smiles to the horizon, in her hair the story of the boat is carved. At the back of her head/hair a large eye looks at the visitor.