. . . listening to late nite radio Nightwatch (don't let the blink to Northern Lights fool you - see the note) . . . talk about cultural economics was interesting, disturbing . . . a language & thought which needs serious evaluation . . . i suddenly made connections to the thought of René Girard . . . the hidden violence built into all of our cultures . . . intensification . . . listen to Ideas . . . follow the blinks [Fmh blinks . . . Blink: Just as a blog is a weblog, a blink is a web link. Continuing the wordplay, just as "we_blog" (instead of logging), "we_blink" (instead of simply linking).] blink . . . blink

"If Dr. Janos Marton ran the world, there would be protected spaces everywhere for people with mental illness to create paintings and sculptures, drawings and lithographs, installations, murals and collages, poetry and novels, songs and symphonies.

The abandoned buildings on the grounds of old state hospitals would be turned into sheltered workshops"

:: comment :: . . . protected spaces . . . we all need them . . . this space has become a protected space in that I can creatively process info/knowledge & imagine . . . a wonderful place to dialogue with myself . . . if there is a hidden agenda it is to stimulate others into a protected space . . . the web storm rages around . . . find a shelter from the storm . . .

. . . always nice to discover new views . . . nice, clean design & a writing artist of experience . . .

"19 July 2002 NQPaOFU 56: overthrow (instead of accepting more fairy tales about the information era, sentiments of control with large players are pressing to raise awareness of their interests with the suppression of fundamental rights (anonymity, privacy, equal network access, information education), stealing content for their own benefit) "

"A directory of resources for research in contemporary art..." by Cheryl Shurtleff of Boise State University. "Sites have been selected according to their relevance to the study of national or international contemporary art and artists..." (an incredible resouce found via Fmh )

"What Mr. Varshney found was that ethnically integrated organizations - including business associations, trade unions, professional groups, political parties, sports clubs - stand out as the most effective ways of controlling conflict."

"Poetic Terrorism" "Chaos Myths"

Unseen Chaos (po-te-kitea) Unpossessed, Unpassing Chaos of utter darkness Untouched & untouchable - (Maori Chant)

. . . language with new associations . . .

"Art Sabotage strives to be perfectly exemplary but at the same time retain an element of opacity - not propaganda but aesthetic shock - appallingly direct yet also subtly angled - action as metaphor. Art Sabotage is the dark side of Poetic Terrorism - creation-through-destruction - but it cannot serve any Party, not any nihilism, not even art itself. Hust as the banishment of illusion enhances awareness, so the demolition of aesthetic blight sweetens the air of the world of discourse, of the Other. Art Sabotage serves only consciousness, attentiveness, awakeness." - from T.A.Z. the Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological anarchy, poetic Terrorism by Hakim Bey

Many a great director (the above link to Brook as example) and ensemble have faltered on this work & even more have chosen to write about what they have seen and experienced ... i join the slide into obscurity & so I add to this endless work of sisyphus ... shakepeare on the saskatchewan 2002 ... all worked hard to chronicle the narrative with clarity, pace, energy and a sense of purpose - to share the shakespeare story trippingly well ... filling the space in front of us ... the actors presented the complexity of action with a fresh & direct simplicity without denying the richly textured language ... the feel of the performance, though in a setting removed from contemporary time, felt amazingly today like ... Hamlet searched the stage with a neurotic passion ... Rosencrantz and Guildenstern patterned the stage with a cold, suspicious rhythm ... there was a stroke of fortuitous brilliance in casting one actor as the Ghost, Player King, Gravedigger & the final words ... all worked, even when moments flattened into mere illustration, to drive the narrative line ... risks, at least what seemed like risks were attempted ... opening the play with a collage of voices penetrating our overplayed use of 'to be or not to be' & allowing ritual time & space for the burial of Ophelia ... so ... so ... it was only in the unrealized act of imagination, beyond the mundane denials, where I saluted Hamlet for his passionate, heroic, negation of everything that causes us to be dead while alive ... Hamlet is one of the great examples of the imaginative retrieval of a life & circumstance gone beyond repair ... a torch through the dark nights of all our souls ... yes there was madness ... but not the tortured darkness which tears the body into ten thousand notorious aspects from which a new body will be assembled in which you will never again be able to forget hamlet ... this night will fade & be forgotten ...

"Thirty years ago, literacy programs were more common in adult and juvenile prisons alike, because reading and writing skills were thought important for future employment. Some adult programs included "bibliotherapy," using literature to explore psychological problems as a step to rehabilitation."

. . . thinking of Hamlet as an elaborate fairy tale . . .

"Disgruntled geologist Alan Vaughan writes complaining about the grammar checker . . ."

. . . off to see Hamlet

. . . received a scanner as a gift (thanks!!!) and have just tested it out . . . this cover image: 'Of Yellow' is a polychromatic transcription of the sonnet 'Voyelle' by Arthur Rimbaud. vowels have been replaced with blocks of colour according to the schema described in the sonnet itself: 'A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles. All other letters, commas and spaces are grey. the image has apppeared on the cover of Sulfur 44 (Spring 1999).

We all have a drum in our chest from the moment we're born. I think music where the tempo is faster than the heartbeat excites you and music that is slower than the heartbeat calms you down. We all have a constant rhythmic beat going on, whether or not you hear it, it's continuing. You feel it all the time whether you acknowledge it or not. - Tom Waits, Thrasher Magazine interview (via wood s lot / thanks a lot)

sanctify us by your grace - for mom

a long time ago just yesterday when the river runs wild beating one heart slow a mother saw her child step one step closer to the dreamworld she watched and let the anger go to let the grandchild grow she listened and learnt knowing it would be best if the night unfurled there was talk about the fathers, the grandfathers how time does speak in the silences we keep sanctifying us by your grace

"We know the danger of bad narrative. We write it and then find the world getting made in its image. Everybody, writers and politicians and operatives, starts to pick and choose the information bits to support the story line: There are lethal forces in this world moving inexorably and with remarkable agility and with a depth of resources and an amoral, sociopathic dedication and near-supernatural resilience, in our direction. We and everything we love will die unless we transform ourselves in the face of it. The narrative then becomes the conventional wisdom and the basis for national policy (politicians will be elected because of their obeisance to it). While the narrative is thrown together and of poor quality and obviously bogus in so many respects, at least it's ours. It lets us feel like we're in control."

viaTELLIO - Teaching ourselves in a post that invites students to connect the narrative to the classroom . . . nice! . . .

"OPERATION TIPS - the Terrorism Information and Prevention System - is a scheme that Joseph Stalin would have appreciated. Plans for its pilot phase, to start in August, have Operation TIPS recruiting a million letter carriers, meter readers, cable technicians, and other workers with access to private homes as informants to report to the Justice Department any activities they think suspicious. "

:: comment :: Help!!! A month back . . . it was reported in US news(abstract) that international students would be subject to far stricter monitoring . . . students of mine in Canada have today just received emails from their International Student Office warning about changes in the student study applications, renewals, extensions . . . next it is the postal worker or the meter reader who . . . "if I am acting correctly I have nothing to fear" . . . ha . . .

"David Mamet, author of the speech, has clearly taken the words to heart. A playwright whose characters may be more famous for hurling profanities than gathering posies, Mr. Mamet has balanced his own gritty art with the occasional foray into children's theater. But while his adaptation of "The Frog Prince" is certainly a contrast to much of his work, it is no less provocative and perhaps even more haunting."

human cooperation :: biological basis revealed. Functional MRI scans have revealed a 'biologically embedded' basis for altruistic behavior, with several characteristic regions of the brain being activated when players of a game called 'Prisoner's Dilemma' decide to trust each other and cooperate, rather than betray each other for immediate gain, say researchers from Emory University... more in *context weblog* [context weblog]

Drum Story / Story of the Drum / Part One / The Sisters

In a dark time of pain & sorrow the drum came as a present.

A friend found them and left them waiting for me to choose at One Thousand Villages (a store filled with articles from all over the world sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee).

There were two drums - a light skinned & a dark skinned. Sister Drums.

It was a difficult choice . . . the dark skin was mysterious and deep . . . the white was light and brilliant sounding . . . after much deliberation the dark was chosen . . . A few days later having decided not to separate the sisters I returned to the store and brought the light drum home to her sister.

They lay dormant for many months and came joyously to life when a skilled drummer from Barcelona visited and participated in a project which required the sisters. He awakened them in a wonderful month of play & improvisation as we worked on a project called Volcano: An Abstract in Silk. The project was a journey about living the questions.

As is the way with projects & groups & life, decisions led to demanding choices. Jealousy led to the sister drums being separated. In fact, the dark drum disappeared. I feared she would never return.

The light coloured drum resided in a temple occasionally playing in the rich gold light and spent a winter in shock not used to the northern cold. Just when all hope was lost - like a miracle - (after a year) the dark sister magically appeared at the door . . . afraid, lonely & hurt . . . It was not an easy meeting . . . their contact was fragile and restrained . . . fraught with coldness & suspicion.

It was decided that they would live apart, for the moment, & so the dark one moved to a loft overlooking the city & the light skinned played in the temple.

In the summer of 2002 the light skinned found herself in the hands of a group of caring, young, gentle spirits . . . She drummed like she had never drummed in her life . . . She thought of her sister and longed for her return to share this hot summer time which reminded her so much of her motherland Kenya.

So it came to pass . . .

comment: Deeper and deeper My first experience with Kenya (or at least that's what we call her because we couldn't find her real name) was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It brought me deeper into what I like to call my "Drama World".... The feeling of playing Kenya was like no other and when the two other drummers and I talked about what we thought Kenya had told us, we were amazed to find so many similarities. We were right about the triangle and the lonley, dark feelings but there is so much more to find out. I am looking forward to Raymon telling us more stories and even more so I am looking forward to Kenya telling us more. =*) I'll miss you Kenya

"Art is as important to the human psyche and physical body as air is, as oxygen, as water. And alas, because it's not something we can quantify reliably, we tend to think art is a luxury. Art is not a luxury. The artist is so necessary in our lives. The artist explains to us, or at least asks the questions which must be asked." - Maya Angelou

(whiskey river)

"The aim of the Movement, as ever, is a "no poverty, no affluence" society to reduce the disparity between rich and poor brought about by late capitalism and corporate globalization. The priority placed on care for the land reminds me of Sarvodaya's list of Basic Human Needs, the very first of which is "a safe and beautiful environment." "(via Abbe Normal . . . really need more peace blogs/writings/meditations)

'Eunoia', which means 'beautiful thinking', is the shortest English word to contain all five vowels. This Book also contains them all, except that each one appears by itself in it own chapter. A unique personality for each vowel soon emerges: A is courtly, E is elegiac, I is lyrical, O is jocular, U is obscene. (from the back cover of Eunoia by Christian Bök)

:: comment :: . . . fabulous fun . . . want the brilliance of this self proclaimed(?) Dada bard to tackle the consonants . . . a wonderful activity is to play with sound . . . sounding the vowels into the sand of a beach surrendered clues to written word . . . also watch where sound is placed in the throat . . . clues to . . . just irrational fantasy . . . heard Mr. Bök's virtuoso performance of Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters . . . would love to have seen the performance as well . . . watching sound shaping creates a physical involvment . . .

. . . Really ??? . . . "ANDY WARHOL was the most important American artist of the second half of the 20th century. He helped change our idea of what art is and what it can do. He made it look trashy and valuable, passive and active, like nothing and like something. His influence was profound. Gerhard Richter, among many other artists, would not exist without him."

. . . Really . . . "Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer whose camera captured many of the most influential figures of the 20th century, died Saturday. He was 93. "

(CBC News: Karsh)

Much has been made of this "think tank summit" hosted by Steven Spielberg prior to shooting. Can you give us an idea what that experience was like?

Belker: I thought, "What is all this?" [Laughs.] They went into great detail on medical future, architectural future, the rising of the sea level. For me, what was most interesting was the way they foresaw the future; if you really showed that in a movie today it would be unbelievable. So, to make it more realistic, you almost have to draw back from that and show it a little more reasonable.

(Salon.com Arts & Entertainment)

"Angry that little Johnny flunked, increasing numbers of parents are suing teachers."

(salon:life)

"Living Planet Report, released by World Wildlife Foundation, shows that humans are currently running a huge deficit with the Earth --"

(context weblog)

nothing matters but the quality

of the affection--

in the end--that has carved the trace in the mind

dove sta memoria -- Ezra Pound

(via wood s lot)

"The bane of open collaborative projects. Given time, most open collaborative sites are overrun by garbage: pointless scribbling, overheated argument, vituperative name-calling, and other meaningless nonsense. The temptation to scribble seems irresistable to many; once a site acquires a sufficient number of readers and writers, it seems doomed to succumb to a wave of graffiti.

This phenomenon was termed The Graffiti Effect in MarkBernstein's Hypertext '99 keynote. "

(Weblog Kitchen)

. . . fascinated by these 104 Stories (blog like writings) of Bernhard . . .

Imagination

Near the Coptic quarter in Cairo we noticed whole rows of streets in whose four-and five-story houses thousands of chickens and goats and even pigs are kept. We tried to imagine what the noise would be like if these houses were to burn down. (Thomas Bernhard. The Voice Imitator 87. Translated by Kenneth J. Northcott)

. . . they have the same flavour of the quiky writings found at Textism or openbrackets . . .

. . . need to rant . . . having never done so this way . . . feels awkward . . . it discourages me how mean & petty burocrats can be . . . the slightest bit of self-importance & crass power tactics result . . . a shame . . . to make what we need to do work to the best of our abilities . . . the ability to respond with dignity and grace . . . petty, petty, petty . . . how not to get involved . . . need to reach others deeply, to create a sense of joy & awe . . . when that miracle occurs the pettiness dissolves . . . suppose it is their only salvation for a thankless mediocrity . . . Rage, rage, rage . . . Do not go quietly . . . But too often suppressed silent rage erupts at the wrong time & place . . . Why waste so much time and energy . . . Let it go !

"In essence, Judd converted the four-cornered picture plane of painting into a six-sided rectilinear volume that, single or in multiple, on the floor or wall, became the staple of his art. He was inspired in this innovation by architecture and by his sense of the "wholeness" of the paintings of Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, and in some respects Mondrian, and not at all by traditional sculpture. "

. . . server down for almost two days now . . . just came back . . . visited this site from other computers and discovered many template errors . . . hope to fix this but everything reads correctly on my computer . . . so much to learn . . .

"On Mr. Schumann's side, the room is the equivalent of a Bread and Puppet atelier, filled with white, shrouded totemic figures on the verge of being animated. On the walls dunces cry slogans in cartoon balloons, "Thou Shalt Eliminate Evil" and "Coffeetables Unite Against Junk Mail." In the center is a machine that looks like a waterwheel or a torturer's rack but actually makes wind sounds for theatrical effect."

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times The installations by Peter Schumann in "Show People: Downtown Directors and the Play of Time," at Exit Art through Aug. 17.

(nytimes: arts)

:: comment :: . . . have always loved Bread&Puppet . . . ever since the days i met them in europe at a festival in Bonn where their grace and simplicity belied the actual complexity of meaning . . . the joy of large figures dancing with the wind was inspiring . . . to this day i make puppets & masks due in large measure to the Schumann creed . . .

. . . nothing to say but it's ok . . . good day . . . (all above plucked from the the secret garden

. . . didn't dare post this yesterday but now between the two patriotic holidays will quote Thomas Bernhard from On the Mountain Rescue attempt, Nonsense:

Fatherland, nonsense,

traditions keep using the same words, expressions, slogans: family values, personal values, fellow coutryman: nation state, national language, national health, national pastime, people's paradise, peolpe's anthem, betrayal of the people, national hoiday, etc.,

regading the teacher: when we watch a person who's being killed in some mysterious way, but whose death doesn't happen right away, but only little by little, without his knowing who his murderers are, though there's no question but what it's a violent death; when we watch a person like that, I was saying, who gradually takes on the characteristics of a corpse, though fully conscious: nothing can keep me from believing in this image, no one will ever prevent me from seeing this image; I write my article and hand it in to the editors, I go for a walk,

for hours up and down

these people, comical, fooling themselves: their grimaces, how they might escape from the prison they've been shut up in,

there's not a shred of hope,

(translation Russell Stockman)

. . . start the month with a seris of links . . . hmm . . . a practise of reflection [meeting in the screen] . . . reread june entries . . . most were either promises into territories of interest which simultaneously create a caricature of self . . . or gifts presented to authors of visited sites fulfilling some desire to ac[knowledge] ex[change] . . . now to archive or not . . . one reason that erased previous four months was the discovery (through referers) of too many google searches dis[play]ing 'if'... . . . too many false promises i felt . . . why archive? (calendar functions automatically) . . .

1:27:40 PM     comment []   Google It!   - See Also:  blogging 

afflatus: Dictionary.com Word of the Day. afflatus [Dictionary.com Word of the Day]

Art as a State of Mind. Not all art is committed to canvas or stone. One artist works by transmitting her emotional brain waves to a computer, creating a unique canvas for her imagination. Imagine what Van Gogh would have done with that. By Gene J. Koprowski. [Wired News]

furtherfield :: experimental net art collective. Colluding with artists, critical poets and net-nomads to reinvent the worlds that straddle earthly and digital zones... more in *context weblog* [context weblog] :: comment :: this site has been a nugget of info(pedia) & it has an RSS feed