Neil Chapman’s and my prose text BLOODCRYSTALPOLLENSTAR will be included in the anthology Deleuze and Contemporary Art, edited by Simon O’Sullivan & Stephen Zepke and published by The University of Edinburgh Press on July 1, 2010. The text is based on a series of concepts taken from the work of Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari that are reworked in a series of interlinked narrative sequences.
I was recently invited to to participate in the residency program at the Headlands Art Centre just outside San Francisco, California. Over a two month period, I will focus on collaboratively putting together a limited edition artist book based on the English manuscript of my forthcoming book F I L M. Together with archivist Kajsa Thelin, film maker Cassandra Troyan, printmaker Jesse Kauppila and others, the manuscript will be reworked in various ways and in different media. We aim to have the edition ready and printed with In Edit Mode Press by the end of the summer when I leave the United States.
A short extract from the English manuscript of F I L M :
In Edit Mode Press have been invited to take part in the book fair Verbale Pupiller, in Århus, Denmark, Nov 22-25. In conjunction with the book fair we will release a limited edition CD with different edits of my recent interview with Charles Bernstein. A text piece based on the same interview and Carl Lindh’s and my interview with Johannes Heldén will be published in Verbale Pupiller’s catalogue. You can read and listen to parts of these interviews in this blog post.
Additionally, on the Saturday, Carl Lindh & Peder Alexis Olsson and I will perform a re-staged version of Charles Bernstein’s early tape work “#4.” The sound piece, which will be included on our forthcoming volume Counting Each Step of the Sun, will be performed live for the first time.
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(Recording of “#4 Restaged” from the forthcoming volume Counting Each Step of the Sun, Malmö:In Edit Mode Press, 2010.)
I’m speaking to you from Provincetown, Massachusetts.
there’s a little ech/ there’s a little/ there’s a little echo in your voice/ in your voice/ there’s a little echo in your voice // the tip of Cape Cod // as close to Eur/ s close to Europe as you could // echo/ echo in your voice/ echo // eastwards // direction // walk around // through // ambiance // at a higher level // one thing // at a higher level // sense // permutations // rep/ repetition // values // you know, one after/ one after the other/ you know, one after the other // forw/ forward or backward // peninsula // the constellation / how those cit/ how those citations are articulated // constella/ constellation of what is put together // precede most of my poems // tape/ tape work // it has to do with // harsh critique // it has to do with // sound world/ the mediated sound world/ mediated sound world through recordings // it has to do with // radio // it has to do with // how we got into Iraq // it has to do with // radio // language // textual material that can be used // it has to do with // the constellation // to hear it/ to hear it a second time/ to hear // citations/ C-I-T-A // a second time // it changes its meaning // it has to do with // language // form // necessity / it can be rev/ can be reversed, play/ versed, played with/ can be reversed, played with // to replay things // orders // dialectical // they’re poems // they use all this differ/ they use all this different material // not entirely explainable // an interest in certain things/ an interest in // putting them next to one another // serial permutations of different/ different possibilities // greater range of // a psychiatric problem // greater range of different possibilities // an expressive dimension / citational, appropriative/ appropriative quality // in those pieces/ in those pieces almost as existential // language and language structures / the political world that we’re in // almost as existential // forces of sound that come a/ forces of sound that come at one as a person and give shape/ give shape to one’s life/ the forces of sound that come at one as a person and give shape to one’s life // elsewhere // and // populate an individual life, often/ pop/ that populate an individual life, often against th/ that populate an individual life, often against the interests // the imperative, the ideology // externally through language // language // the voice // dimensions of language // poetry // repercussions // the Greek alphabet // language // allowed us // innovations // sound bytes / Massachusetts // right // juts out // kinds of language // different dynamics // The Atlantic // eastwards // int/ internalized those values / splicing together // making film // the vo/ the voice/ the voice // for the first time // connected to the human body // disarticulating // connect/ connected to the human body/ the human/ the human body // from the body that’s making it // disorienting // disembodied // on the tape/ on the/ on the tape recorder // it always had / sound bytes // written poetry// language can be dissonant // the site specificity / the site specificity of all language // S-I-T-E // what is inherent in the use of tape/ in the use of the tape recorder itself // a voice that is situated // a voice / a vo/ from the body that is making it // always and // it always had and // out aloud // in the dark // you don’t get away with // time // speaking to you from Provincetown, Ma/ Provincetown, Massachusetts // The Atlantic / you can forget that, it dis/ it disappears into the discou/ it disappears into the discourse of my speaking/ you can forget that // the date is August 14 // th/ it’s a/ the date is August 14, it’s a Friday in Provincetown, Massachusetts // how can you bring that/ ing that site specificity into the rhythmic // general background // S-I-T-E // you don’t get away // how pervasive it is // with you // material // ghost in the machine // things ob/ obliterate/ obliterate it // you can hear it // you can // somebody else // something that says // speech is much mo/ speech is much more pervasive // writing/ in writing // aspects of voice // repressed within alphabetic writing // experienced // connections between // a relation // usually it’s in the back/ usually it’s in the background // voicing/ we’re taking that // foreground // voice // it’s/ it’s just there // operating/ operating system // reveal codes // encode // terms such as code // human life // much more collective // family // language // to say something/ something/ to take it out of its // symptoms // to hear what is // specific // hear what/ hear what is surrounding that person // for me this is // obsession // ideological // social motivations // specific rhythm // it’s like swimming // one part of the pool // an apparent shift/ an apparent shifting/ shifting // one part of the pool // you reveal // reflection // darkness // almost totally dark // shifting // types of discourse you/ you might say/ types of discourse you might say // fragments of each thing that is/ that is quoted // among the elements cited // that becomes a/ becomes a rhythmic element // fragments of each thing that is quoted // you get an overlay // frag/ fragments // disjunctions // quotations // ironic remarks // overlay of // muddies the waters // aware of // creating the work from // the end of the // there’s no way out of that/ there’s no way // inside out // to hear that voice // overlay/ over // rich and resonate texture // reflects in front of // through a glass darkly // for the first time // from the body that was making it // echoing // chair // move/ move through // experience // every time // move through // reflected pool of sonic overlay // intensified echoic chamber // different angles // this reconfigured world // reflected // mirrored repetitions in citation // more // echo/ echoic // echo in my voice?/ that leaves out the whole problem // biographical // body // from the body that was making // connections // the sensations // moving through // echo // what interests me // a single view // multiple // the experience // as a text // to replay things or to play them/ to replay things or to play them against one another // close to Europe as you could // very end // speaking to you from Provincetown // Land’s End // from Provincetown, Massachusetts // you can forget that, it dis/ you can forget that, it disappears into the discourse of my speaking
Track 001: I’m speaking to you from Provincetown, Massachusetts.
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Track 002: Constellations.
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Track 003: Connections.
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Track 004: Criticality.
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Track 005: Voices.
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Text and recordings based on an interview between myself and Charles Bernstein (14.08.2009). Previously published under the title Interviews 001: Charles Bernstein: Tape Works (Malmö: In Edit Mode Press, 2009).
2.
Var ska jag börja nånstans? Det är något som sker // There’s a litte echo in your voice. repetition. We’re both by the coast. restaging. The constellation/ The constellation of what is cited/ what is cited. tape works. When you hear it a second time it changes its meaning. The forces of sound that co/ The forces of sound that come at one as a person and give shape to one’s life. cutting up tape and splicing it together. reptition. Is there a distinction to be made? the 70s stuff A bump in the la/ A bump in the language. // superimpositionerna dom svarta blocken den sönderfallande texten // the tape recorder marked by its accent. S-I-T-E. a rhythmic element I’m speaking to you from Provincetown, Ma/ om Provincetown, Massachusetts./ sachusetts./ incetown, Massachusetts. You can forget that. It disappears into the discourse of my speaking. It’s a Friday. It’s 10.22 am in Pro/ It’s 10.22 am in Provincetown, Massachusetts. // En explosion har skett. Vad det är som har hänt Samplad och ändrad på. berättelsen. söndersprängda narrativ söndersprängda romaner // witin a tape work. There is no end to it. // kicka vidare. Texten är ett slags partitur. Texten är en sla/ partitur. Texten är en slags ingång till lju/ Texten är en slags ingång till ljudet. // through a glass darkly. a reflected pool of sonic overlay. intensification This reconfigured world as rich as possible. A-F-F-E-C-T. Repitition as opposed to what? // Blade Ru/ Blade Runner. Jag har manipulerat den. // from one part of the pool to the other. You use the reflection. // när jag är riktigt trött på det. Utmattning? // The making visible that which was in/ The making visible that which was invisible, making audible that which was inaudible, or no/ isible, making audible that which was inaudible or not noticed. // ljud // A moving through a space that is ultimately extremely dark. Almost totally/ that is ultimately extremely dark. Almost totally dark. a litle bit of reflection, light, in that darkness. To be out of your mind is a problem as well. To be in one’s mind, or to be able to go in and out of it at the same time/ o in and out of it at/ or to be able to go in and out of it at the same time To flip them around/ played forward or backward You could walk around. You could run. You could look under things. You could see more. That’s the issue of a constellation. // att skriva mig in i nånting. Sampling att stjäla från andra. att se vad som händer Hur nära kan jag komma det här? // It’s a critical project. // Det är olika händer som gör det. Den ena vet inte vad/ ka händer som gör det. Den ena vet inte vad den andra gör. Det har olika händer. // Rewinding and spooling, looking at it. // Nu rullar bandet. // We’re talking in English. The disembodied exp/ dismbodied experience of the phone lines. We’re not seeing one another. // Är det ett svenskt ord? Glitches. Det finns ett tydligt brott i att byta språk. att släppa kontrollen. bryta ned modersmålet för lätt att uttrycka sig på. pop teoretiskt laddad // the multiplicity of that language also. exile languages errors // ska ta överhand från nånting annat. olika volym. djupskillnad höjdskillnad En ny röst ett mer personligt tilltal en felaktig formulering ett stavfel // stutters, stammers somewhere in the gaps // Nånting finns i mitten vad som händer i gapen tystnaden. nyanserna av grått. Den här linjen som har texten i sig. inspelat ljud. dubbelhet // the uhms and the ahs // något är utelämnat. glappen påvisar nånting. // other connections looking for the message. // Ibland får jag för mig att det fi/ Ibland får jag för mig att det finns en hemlighet. // get rid of the noise get rid of all that static get to the signal. Sometimes you want to increase the noise ratio.
Text is based on an interviewbetween myself and Charles Bernstein (14.08.09) and myself, Carl Lindh and Johannes Heldén (19.08.09). Previously published in Verbale Pupiller’s catalogue (Århus: asterisk, 2009).
Metal, hook, wire, crane. Equivalences. Or not? Turn. A first variation. This is a first variation. It’s now 5.15 am. A straight line. More or less. A straight line towards the water’s edge. This abandoned port a plane of infinite variability. Den övergivna hamnen ett plan av oändlig variabilitet. This body, the mud’s infinite fecundity, the objects scattered; these relationships electrified. Meandering dispossessed. Turn towards an interface between this body and the world; turn towards the stolen object, detta stulna objekt, the stolen pistol, denna stulna pistol. Turn towards the pistol, pistolen, the gun, the revolver, rev-, the machine, maskin, the fingers that grip the metal components, fingrarna som griper, the skin, an eye, a tongue, tungan, an ear, ett öra. Equivalences. Are they equivalences? Edible, digestable? Can they be absorbed through tissue? Now count them. Räkna dem nu. Nu. Fingers are connective tissue seeking in this darkness to grab hold of things. Spider body’s stain. Spindelkroppsfläck. An arachnoid glue. –noid. Sticky, sticky surfaces. Blue gum. Continuous connections through blue gum skin, exchanges, equivalences; sticky black goo, sticky black market gum. Listen now, concentrate. A disoreinting void. A sticky void now electric. The world as jigsaw puzzle passing before these eyes. Each piece a possible fit, to fill part of this membranic gap, to reconstitute this missing relationship. En förlorad relation. Point of departure. Body scurries across the yard. Map in sand. Lines of lines. Segment of segments. Grain-line complex. Stuck in pores: skin-sand-lines. Paths? The inifinite possibility of holes in holes. Hål i hål. Keep straying. Stray to stray. Förgås? Concentrate. Metal hook, white cloth: a sign. Turn. Different line; pace steps with respiration. Ok. Arriving at the point towards which these movements have been directed, body slumped. Inevitable arrival. And then what? This was once a port, now an exit? No exit? Excitations scattered across the ground are passageways, portals. Every gesture and inventory and a map: Dark brown wood, a boat. Far from intact. Hole. Hål i hål. A small sailing boat, capsized, sunken into the muddy canal. A larger ship next to it, abandoned. Wood eaten by organism. Leaking. Crane in distance, three concrete fundaments – its legs – upon which a pyramidal structure of large metal beams rest. Hook suspended from the top of the pyramid, multiple thick metal coils. Blue plastic barrel afloat in a flooded storage facility. White field; blue, grey; green, turqoise entering from the top right corner. A structure of wooden shipping pallets in layers, piled one upon another. A single wooden pallet with large chunks of chalk scattered around it, nearby – roof tiles, terracotta. Rust infested machinery (large wheel, metal cords, levers). The voice emanating from a portable radio nearby. Tendons. A small death. Messy hair. Messy hår. Flatten it out with your hands. Platta till det med händerna. Urinate. This falling man. Fallande man. Clumsily. Klumpigt. Body flat to the ground. Face down. Exhausted. Peeling a banana. Skalar en banan. Peeling a banana without looking, skalar en banan med slutna ögon, lying down, liggandes ner. Peeling a banana, above the head. Eyes closed, sight embedded in mud. Eyes shut closed with mud. Ögon slutna i gyttja. Arms stretched above neck. Peeling. To hate these eyelids, the soles of these feet. Nothing ahead. No. No possibility to progress from here but through exchange: station for belly for tips of fingers for myth for banana for stone and coil for segment and turn. Turning. Station för mage för banan mot sten mot.
First investigation section. “Your pistol has been stolen?” “Yes, sir. I’m very sorry, sir.” “How many rounds were in it?” “All seven, sir.” “A Colt?” “A Colt pistol was stolen.” “A cold pistol? A pistol, cold?” En kall pistol? En pistol, kall? “A Colt pistol was stolen…” … pause… “… when he was off duty.” Han var inte i tjänst. “I’m ready for punishment, sir.” I’m ready for punishment. “Don’t talk like that. This isn’t the army.” This isn’t the army. “What should I do, sir?” “Don’t just wait for something to happen.” Don’t just wait for something to happen. Vänta inte bara på att någonting ska hända. “Stop following me.” “Tell me then.” “Tell me then.” “Stop copying me.” “Copy me then.” Härma mig inte. “Tell me then.” “I’ll sue you.” “I’m going your way, that’s all.” “Please yourself.” “Please yourself.” “Whatever.” Whatever.
A dead dog, corpse in the bushes next to an overgrown path, eyes gauged out, blinded, beaten to death with a brick, cut open with the neck of a broken bottle, sönderslagen flaskhals, unsuccessfully cremated, kremerad, remains charred. A tortured dog is not just another object. The meaning of the carcass? To turn and turn again, att vända och vända igen, to ignore its impact, eyelids glued together with mud, ögonlock fastlimmade med gyttja, or to dissect this body, an inventory of its cells, organs; its composition? The dog, a blockage now, an insurmountable impasse. A closer examination of its death would be unbearable. A significant anomaly in the inventory. A turning from it is a turn towards it. Att vända sig ifrån det är att vända sig emot det. Its gravity both merciless and intolerable. This peculiar preponsity for earthen movements. Crawling, moving on all fours. Try to stick as close to the ground as possible so as not to feel vertiginuous. An unhealthy interest in the subterranea? A necessity dictated by the composition of this body. This blood, its hematological texture (a chewiness? a rubbery quality? rubber, bleached by the sun, gone fragile? no, rubber turns into sticky goo…). An entirely different experience of gravity. Att uppleva tyngdkraften på ett helt annat sätt. The pull towards the ground, relentless. What pulls? tynger? No way of figuring this out. Damage might be neurological, psychological, dermatological, or any possible combination thereof. Kombination av allt detta och mer. The land left intact. Intakt land. A burning sound. Brännande ljud. Or not so. Uneasy observations. His shifting point of departure, gravity pulling beneath the sand, the dirt and the mud. under sand gyttja och lera. To move more profficiently across the porous texture, between its layers. Put one bottle at the end of an anticipated trajectory, one at each of its potential points of bifurcation, one at its beginning. What forces pull in what directions? Vilka krafter drar i vilka riktningar? And at what points? Mudlines. Sandgravities. Assmeblages are concrete forces. Move between the bottles, one step at the time. No, less. Break movements down into fractals. Follow the itinerary between the bottles. Twist, standing on one leg. stående på ett ben, på ena benet. Loss of balance. förlorad balans. Scarecrow gestures. Keeping the balance whilst carefully twisting, shifting the angle of the foot. fotens vinkel. Careful not to knock down the bottles. Again, that voice coming from the portable radio next to him. Återigen, rösten från den bärbara radion bredvid honom. Messy hair. Flatten it out with your hands. Urinate. Rise again. Res dig. Fall. Trilla. Hobble on. Move bottles. Vänta på Gud. Wait for God, och lite till och, vänta! And then some. Wait! Någon till, några till. Gather up objects, detritus, plants, bodies, whatever can be found. Make lists. Compare and juxtapose lists. You get to know the ground intimately; a gesture towards the sun each morning, en gest mot solen varje morgon, towards the moon at night, mot månen om natten. A second variation now. 6.45 am. Turn turn (…), turn turn. It’s a circle, right fot at its centre, body turning, spinning around it. A third variation. It’s now 7.00 am. Crane, turn, crane (…), crane, turn, crane (…). Movement between the legs of the crane, tringular. A fourth variation at 7.50 am, step step turn (…) step turn turn (…). Slow progression. And so on and so forth. Och så vidare, och så vidare. The abandoned port a habitat. A landscape known intuitively and intimately. intuitivt och intimt. This peculiar sense of joy embedded in its dereliction, the discovery of its liminality. Yes. Limits to limits, a set of impossibilities from which universes emerge in turnings. All these cranes. Why was it done? Varför blev det gjort på just detta sätt? Hur kom allt detta till? Body of spinning alterities. Turn. A body of multiplied exteriorities. Exteriör. Turn to turn. Turn to the mouths of those other objects slobbering. A pull towards them, mot dem. You walk. You walk because of the bit and you turn. Du går och du vänder. Du vänder. This is a truly peculiar joy, to recognize within the impossibilities of given conditions an optimism re-playable.
SPOOLS has been selected for the juried exhibition ISEA ‘09 at Ormeau Baths, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. For the exhibition, parts of the the project archives have been turned into a series of manuscript for two voices, which have been recorded in tracks used for a multi-channel sound installation where broken dialogues, cut-up questions and phrases are allowed to play up against one another in the exhibition space.
The exhibition opens on August 7, 2009 and goes on until September 1, 2009.
A remix of Concrete, & The Smear, initially exhibited at Esbjergs Kunstmuseum, will now be exhibited at NEON Gallery in Brösarp, Sweden. Referencing a wide array of discourses around military architecture, psychoanalysis, and wartime testimonials, the project superimposes sounds and spoken words recorded in actual bunker structures in Blåvandshuk near Esbjerg on the Danish west coast. At NEON Gallery, the installation utilizes a large silo adjacent to the gallery itself. In the silo, the sound track, which oscillates between abstract soundscapes and fragments of spoken text, is installed alongside projected collages superimposing textual references and architectural plans. The exhibition opens July 11 and closes August 31, 2009.
If you speak Swedish, you can read more about the exhibition in Kristianstadbladet and Sydsvenskan, and listen to an interview with Radio Kristianstad here.
An audiovisual installation of the mini-novel ATLASwill be exhibited as part of Art of the Overhead, at Stapelbäddsparken in Malmö, May 21-31, 2009.
ATLAS is a very short novel printed on transparencies to be read on multiple overhead projectors. Readers are invited to juxtapose, combine and superimpose pages as they see fit, altering the narrative of the novel by creating different sequences and text assemblages as they map their way between the pages.
Ola Ståhl, Revisit/Inverted Image #1, published in Unrealised Projects (vol. 4, 2009).
Revisit / Inverse Image # 1, a text collage using material discarded in the editing of recent writing projects, has been published in the fourth issue of the web journal Unrealised Projects.
On October 4, 2008 Concrete, & The Smear opens as part of the exhibition The Map Is Not The Territory curated by Claus Carstensen and Per Aage Brandt at Esbjergs Kunstmuseum in Denmark. The glass facade of the museum facing the sculpture garden has been turned into large loudspeakers omitting sound and text fragments recorded in bunker structures in nearby Blåvandshuk. Drawing upon a wide array of discourses around as disparate topics as military architecture, psychoanalytic theory, poststructuralist philosophy, and wartime memoirs and testimonies, the sound oscillates between the abstract soundscape generated by the bunker structures themselves in their environment, and superimposed layers of fragmented spoken language.
