Midpointness day 10

Day 10

 

 

img_0559
four philosophers and one artist discuss where art meets philosophy ( and vice versa ).
many thanks to Elizabeth Coleman, James Phillips, Jenny McMahon, Daniel von Sturmer and David Macarthur.

 

 

Midpointness

 
The first instalment of this project is coming to an end but there will be more to come. I’m going to ponder over the next few days and hopefully write some more. In the meantime I’d like to introduce a thought which emerged in my very tired mind last night as we were wrapping up.
 
The philosopher David Macarthur stated that the work of art was “that which was worthy of attention” (forgive me David  if I’ve not got that quite right ?). As we were then talking about  ‘community’ I felt ( and tried to articulate ) that the power of art was that it was primarily affirmative, that as well as it being worthy of attention, it also meant that I (as a subject) I could  (and indeed must)  say the following, ( in order to let the art in );
 
 
“I am worthy of offering my attentiveness to that which is worthy of attention”.
 
More of this later.
 

Midpointness Day 9

 

Day 9

 
mind


 

Midpointness

 
 
 
The zone of the near and far.
 
Firstly I’m relieved to say that the first two postcards have arrived from Olivia Notaru, and wonderful they are too. Olivia had sent postcards that appear, disappear, mutate and become, in transit, but none of them had actually arrived. I was reluctant to print out the photos she sent me of them (see day 8) as I felt they weren’t able to ‘speak’ to this sense of time and distance. 

Now some have arrived, they have a very special place in the space at the Lock-Up and in the project generally. 
 
Hopefully more will appear over the next few days. 
Hester Reeve and I had some conversations before I came over  to Australia, but time got the better of us both. I have therefore taken the liberty of dedicating a space of 3 minutes every hour or so to be Hester’s contribution. Lets call it a collaboration.
 
Lily Mellor’s work is also ‘in transit’. Or should I say Lily is in transit, as she currently travels across China. She’s been sending me messages and images when she can. 
 
I’ve dedicated a phase/zone of the project to the near and the far, and included Lily,  Olivia and Hester in that zone.  What  I can promise (and this may exist as a subset of the zone of telepathy) is that all three artists have been present in some way in the space.
 
I’d like also to introduce Leanne Schubert to the zone of inversion. Leanne’s contributions have been generous and thoughtful.
 
I have reached a point (a mid point perhaps) where I think the space can rest for a day, allowing me to try to write the rest of my presentation for tomorrow. 

 I’ll get some decent photos up soon. 
 
The score so far looks like this.
 
 
 
 
Midpointness
A work for the Lock-Up, Newcastle, Australia.
September 2015.
The Score.
Phase D1.
Part 1.
The zone of inversion. (Schubert).
Phase A1.
Part 1.
The zone of un-exegesis. (Dutton).
Phase B2.
The zone of the cosmic and the animal. (Southworth).
Phase B1.
The zone of the cosmic and the animal. (Hassall)
Phase D1.
Part 2.
The zone of inversion. (Schubert).
Phase C1.
The zone of telepathy. (Dutton).
Phase D2.
The zone of inversion.
(Birdsong.) (Dutton).
Phase A1.
Part 2.
The zone of un-exegesis. (Dutton).
Phase C2.
The zone of telepathy. (Bracey).
Phase G1.
The zone of significance. (Granell).
Phase F1.
The zone of the near and far. (Notaru and Mellor).
Phase E1.
The zone of convalescence and love. (Dutton)
(coded message in music to loved ones. A subset of the zone of telepathy.)
Phase F1.
The Zone of the Near and Far (Reed).
Phase F1
The Zone of the Near and Far.
Silence.

 

 

 

 

 

(Reeve)
The Full text of the Zone of Un-Exegisis is as follows.  

This is read by ‘Serena’ on a slightly slower than normal speed.

Phase A.1.
 
The zone of un-exegesis.
 
 
Point 1.
 
Here we are, together, at the centre of a work, and at the centre of an institution of work. Our real work is at the centre of our unreal  work, within the centre of the work of this institution. 
 
 
Yes, of course, lets not be disingenuous about it.  Our work is at the centre of our work within the institution but due to the nature of that work perhaps our work within the institution has to become less central.
 
 
As meanings and values become split and fragmented between a sense of centre and sense of institutional core, (or strewn across, perhaps? ), then all centres, clusters, nexuses, clumps, sods, pools, puddles, and gatherings, tend to bed in and  hunker down for the long winter ahead.
 
And indeed, (and we sing this in another register)
 
“is there any sign of spring?”.
 
 
Point 2.
 
Our work, of which we are at the centre, (and the work is at our centre) consists currently of some of the artefacts ( which include  texts ) placed here, within the template of wherever it is that is currently being placed. But the work also consists of the actual placing of the artefacts as in the act of placing.  A word here, a comma there.  A guttural outburst there. Urghh.
 
We too of course are artefacts.
 
Point 3.
 
The bindings and grindings and relationships between the act of placing the artefacts, the act of constructing the artefacts (by which we mean from thought to matter), and the artefacts themselves are heavily intertwined, and, of course inseparable. At the centre of our institution of work there are similar inseparable bindings, but, due to the nature of our institutions these, convoluted, often ornate, baroque and even elegant systems are often seen as problematic because of their complexity, and thus, their awkwardness in the face of a teleological turn (towards that lost event horizon) within the epistemic realms.
 
Point 4.
 
The Lock Up, like any other organised cultural or indeed educational space has its institutional frameworks and rhetorics which one must always work within. If one doesn’t one is no longer contributing to the Lock Up, but to something other than Lock Up, which the Lock Up may  or may not become. Either way, it is not as it is in the here and now. All we can do is inhabit them happily.
 
 
Point 5.
 
The work, in a sense becomes, as one would wish the inhabitants of the institution would become and the institution to become.  The texts and words become, again and again. The texts are scores which are  played back by the player and performed again and again. The texts tell us nothing (explicitly ) in so much that any text that is telling us nothing is revealing something about nothing. The texts evolve as they unfold. Or unfold as they evolve. 
The texts are images and the images texts.
 
Point 6.
 
The strategy.
The reversals, the inversions, the mistakes, the mash up of rhetoric.
“Nowomnai”.
The texts are pre-written then riffed upon on the wall of the institution.  But where does the pre-writing begin and end? Why the wall? Because of the lack of the lighted screen perhaps? And aren’t the texts always ‘riffing’ and ‘laughing’ at us?
 
Point 7.
 
A more serious note on the painting and text relationship. 
 
The Improvisatory character, the in and out of ‘voices’ and the shift in registers is significant.
 
He. She. I. It. Me. Them. You. Plus the use of single and double inverted commas, as if to ask, who is speaking? This tactics allow us to move in and through the text and image field as if it, and we existed in multiple dimensions. Not simply the IT and the I.  Not simply the horizontal, and the vertical.  But, through different subjective relationships, and through being above, below, near and far, behind and within the texts via mirroring, reversing and rhetorical shift we can achieve a weightlessness which is both heady and nauseous, a euphoric and delirious phantasm almost like magic.
 
Point 8.
The pencil dragging on the wall while writing the texts. Like a rubbing on a grave.
 
Point 9.
 
There is a slow accretion, something mooted, which appears (as if forgotten) 6 months later.  We throw this text towards the future. There is no ‘time’ in this regard (as the thing is forgotten the thing simply wasn’t there). But there is delay which is a different thing altogether. In this sense these texts bear witness to the texts yet to come.
 
They are inside out ghosts.
 
“Hello there”, they say, “I’ll be out of your hair in a week or so (but in someone else’s)”
 
 
Point 10.
 
The letters themselves do not appear at once. Some are worked, some less so, all can be worked again. Some exists as durations, a layering, some as a simple touch. The knowledge gained by this is through the experience of multiple temporalities in the one frame, and even through multiple subjectivities and temporalities. 
 
We speak in the there and then as opposed to the here and now.
 
 
Point 11.
 
The work is an exorcism in reverse. It doesn’t seek to cast out, it seeks to draw and suck the phantoms towards it and keep them trapped inside, with only the merest glimpses pushing through.
 
 
 
 
 

Midpointness Day 7

 

Day 7

 
 
 
 
blogtest
 

 

 

Midpointness

Its been a long day. I’ve been drawing texts on walls and falling under spells. (Thank you Kate Southworth, your work is beautiful and profound). 
 
I’m going to hand this one over to my friends who are critical in the development of the project and thinking.
 
Firstly to Andrew for this. I appreciate it enormously.  I hope you are OK.
 
” I am not sure if this is telepathy, but yesterday I was thinking of the project and wondering about how things will spring from theory to practice for the show, when stuff/material is involved.
 
I want to be in front of the Vermeer! Surely there is no better tonic?
 
So pleased the blog entries are proving so useful, they will be excellent for a spring board in UK as well as for the show at Lock Up. They should go in the publication.
 
I made chutney yesterday for the first time, while you are doing all this, I see both as achievements, though maybe a little of the hare and tortoise in terms of long term mindsets.
 
As my brain is not working properly, i have decided to pick a book at random off the shelf and open a page a random and find something on the page that links it to Midpointness, I offer this to you….
Nothing, this spume, Virgin Verse – The White care of canvas
“Like Nauman, Marcel Broodthaers can be mistaken for a conceptual artist, antagonistic to the medium. His works have mimicked installation, as they mount imitations of museum galleries holding showcases filled with precious objects. With its concern for the history and medium of painting, his little film L’analyse d’un tableau (1973-74) overturns this idea of Broodthaers as a conceptualist. Structured as the pages of a book, slowly turned, the film begins with a nineteenth-century seascape through which a schooner sails on turbulent waters. The pages thus recall a history of art, beginning with Manet’s marine paintings and moving towards the impressionist concern with sailing. Cutting to close-ups of the boat, this history makes a great leap forward into modernism when the weave of the white canvas fills the screen like a triumphant, abstract monochrome. We cannot miss this culmination, calling to mind Stéphane Mallarmé’s toast to the blank page as the support for poetry itself:
Salut
Nothing, this spume, virgin verse
Only to point to the cup;
So afar many a troupe
We navigate, O my diverse
Friends, me now on the poop
You the sumptuous prow to reap
Lightnings and seasons perverse;
A fine ivresse brings me
Fearless of its very pitch
To bear upright this salute
Solitude, reef, star
To whatever is worth
The white care of our canvas
(Le blanc souci de notre toile.)
this toast to a medium renders Marcel Broodthaers another knight.
Ok so a little disclaimer. of course I approached the book case and I did pick the book directly, but i would not say at random as in a second i am sure my mind rejected lots of books and went for this one, still the page was opened at random and in my mind (telepathy might be needed here) this correlates or offers/opens up something for Midpointness.
 
The book is Under Blue Cup by Rosalind Krauss, page 44-45 btw.
 
Keep up the great work Steve,
 
Andrew”
 
and then, many thanks to Julie Harboe for pointing me towards this,
http://eipcp.net/transversal/0806 and reminding me of this text by Irit Rogoff.
In “From Criticism to Critique to Criticality”
 
Rogoff writes,
 
‘Criticality’ as I perceive it is precisely in the operations of recognising the limitations of one’s thought for one does not learn something new until one unlearns something old, otherwise one is simply adding information rather than rethinking a structure. 
It seems to me that within the space of a relatively short period we have been able to move from criticism to critique to criticality – from finding fault, to examining the underlying assumptions that might allow something to appear as a convincing logic, to operating from an uncertain ground which while building on critique wants nevertheless to inhabit culture in a relation other than one of critical analysis; other than one of illuminating flaws, locating elisions, allocating blames.
(This text is the first section of “What is a Theorist?”, see http://kein.org/node/62You can find Irit Rogoff’s extended deliberations on criticality in her recent text: ‘Smuggling’ – An Embodied Criticality)
and finally tonight, from Leanne. On the subject of Midpointness.
DEMISTS (10)
DEPOSIT (10)
DESPOTS (10)
DIMNESS (10)
DINMONT (10)
DIPNETS (10)
DISPONE (10)
DISPOSE (10)
DISPOST (10)
DISTOME (10)
DOMIEST (10)
DOMINES (10)
DOMINIE (10)
DONNISM (10)
DOPIEST (10)
EMODINS (10)
EMPTINS (11)
EMPTION (11)
ENDMOST (10)
IMPENDS (12)
IMPONED (12)
IMPONES (11)
IMPOSED (12)
IMPOSES (11)
IMPOSTS (11)
IODISMS (10)
MINDSET (10)
MISDIET (10)
MISDOES (10)
MISDONE (10)
MISEDIT (10)
MISPENS (11)
MISSEND (10)
MISSTEP (11)
MISSTOP (11)
MISTEND (10)
MODISTE (10)
MODISTS (10)
MOISTED (10)
MOPIEST (11)
MOPSIES (11)
OPTIMES (11)
PEONISM (11)
PIETISM (11)
PIMENTO (11)
PIMENTS (11)
PINNOED (10)
PODITES (10)
POINTED (10)
POSITED (10)
POSTMEN (11)
SOPITED (10)
SPINODE (10)
STIMIED (10)
STIPEND (10)
STOMPED (12)
STOMPIE (11)
TOPSIDE (10)
TOPSMEN (11)
DEISMS (9)
DEISTS (7)
DEMISS (9)
DEMIST (9)
DEMITS (9)
DEMONS (9)
DENIMS (9)
DENTIN (7)
DEPOTS (9)
DESIST (7)
DESPOT (9)
DIESIS (7)
DIPNET (9)
DIPSOS (9)
DISMES (9)
DITONE (7)
DOMINE (9)
DONNES (7)
DONSIE (7)
EMODIN (9)
ENDOSS (7)
ENOSIS (6)
EONISM (8)
EOSINS (6)
ESSOIN (6)
ESTOPS (8)
IDENTS (7)
IDIOMS (9)
IDIOTS (7)
IMIDES (9)
IMINES (8)
IMPEND (11)
IMPIES (10)
IMPONE (10)
IMPOSE (10)
IMPOST (10)
IMPOTS (10)
INDENT (7)
INDIES (7)
INDITE (7)
INIONS (6)
INMOST (8)
INSETS (6)
INSIDE (7)
INSIST (6)
INSTEP (8)
INTEND (7)
INTIME (8)
INTINE (6)
INTOED (7)
INTONE (6)
IODINE (7)
IODINS (7)
IODISE (7)
IODISM (9)
IONISE (6)
MENTOS (8)
MESONS (8)
MIDSTS (9)
MINION (8)
MINNIE (8)
MINTED (9)
MIOSES (8)
MIOSIS (8)
MISPEN (10)
MISSED (9)
MISSET (8)
MISTED (9)
MODEST (9)
MODIST (9)
MOISTS (8)
MONDES (9)
MONIED (9)
MONIES (8)
MONIST (8)
MONTES (8)
MOPEDS (11)
MOSSED (9)
MOSSIE (8)
NEPITS (8)
NETOPS (8)
NISEIS (6)
NITONS (6)
NOESIS (6)
NOINTS (6)
NOISED (7)
NOISES (6)
NONETS (6)
NOSIES (6)
ODISMS (9)
ODISTS (7)
OINTED (7)
ONDINE (7)
ONSETS (6)
ONSIDE (7)
OPINED (9)
OPINES (8)
OPSINS (8)
OPTIME (10)
OSSEIN (6)
PENNIS (8)
PESTOS (8)
PIENDS (9)
PIMENT (10)
PINIES (8)
PINION (8)
PINITE (8)
PINNED (9)
PINNET (8)
PINNIE (8)
PINONS (8)
PINOTS (8)
PINTOS (8)
PIONED (9)
PIOTED (9)
PISSED (9)
PISTES (8)
PISTON (8)
PITIED (9)
PITIES (8)
PITMEN (10)
PITONS (8)
PODITE (9)
POINDS (9)
POINTE (8)
POINTS (8)
POISED (9)
POISES (8)
POITIN (8)
PONENT (8)
PONIED (9)
PONIES (8)
PONTES (8)
PONTIE (8)
POSIES (8)
POSITS (8)
POSNET (8)
POSSED (9)
POSSET (8)
POSSIE (8)
POSTED (9)
POSTIE (8)
POSTIN (8)
POTINS (8)
POTMEN (10)
POTSIE (8)
PSIONS (8)
PTOSES (8)
PTOSIS (8)
SDEINS (7)
SEISIN (6)
SENITI (6)
SENNIT (6)
SESTON (6)
SETONS (6)
SIENTS (6)
SINDON (7)
SINNED (7)
SINNET (6)
SISTED (7)
SMITES (8)
SNIDES (7)
SNIPED (9)
SNIPES (8)
SOMITE (8)
SONDES (7)
SONNES (6)
SONNET (6)
SONSIE (6)
SOPITE (8)
SPENDS (9)
SPIDES (9)
SPINED (9)
SPINES (8)
SPINET (8)
SPINTO (8)
SPITED (9)
SPITES (8)
SPODES (9)
STEINS (6)
STENDS (7)
STENOS (6)
STIMED (9)
STIMES (8)
STIMIE (8)
STIPED (9)
STIPES (8)
STOEPS (8)
STOMPS (10)
STONDS (7)
STONED (7)
STONEN (6)
STONES (6)
STONNE (6)
STONNS (6)
STOPED (9)
STOPES (8)
TEIIDS (7)
TEINDS (7)
TEMPOS (10)
TENDON (7)
TENNIS (6)
TENNOS (6)
TENONS (6)
TENPIN (8)
TENSON (6)
TIDIES (7)
TIEPIN (8)
TIMONS (8)
TINEID (7)
TINIES (6)
TINMEN (8)
TINNED (7)
TINNIE (6)
TMESIS (8)
TODIES (7)
TOISES (6)
TONIES (6)
TONNES (6)
TOPMEN (10)
TOSSED (7)
TOSSEN (6)
DEISM (8)
DEIST (6)
DEMIT (8)
DEMON (8)
DEMOS (8)
DEMPT (10)
DENIM (8)
DENIS (6)
DENTS (6)
DEPOT (8)
DIETS (6)
DIMES (8)
DIMPS (10)
DINES (6)
DINOS (6)
DINTS (6)
DIPSO (8)
DISME (8)
DITES (6)
DOEST (6)
DOITS (6)
DOMES (8)
DONNE (6)
DOPES (8)
DOSES (6)
DOTES (6)
EDITS (6)
EIDOS (6)
EMITS (7)
EMPTS (9)
EOSIN (5)
ESTOP (7)
IDENT (6)
IDIOM (8)
IDIOT (6)
IMIDE (8)
IMIDO (8)
IMIDS (8)
IMINE (7)
IMINO (7)
IMPED (10)
IMPIS (9)
IMPOT (9)
INDIE (6)
INEPT (7)
INION (5)
INNED (6)
INNIT (5)
INSET (5)
INTIS (5)
IODIN (6)
ISSEI (5)
ITEMS (7)
MEDII (8)
MEINS (7)
MEINT (7)
MENDS (8)
MENTO (7)
MESON (7)
MESTO (7)
METIS (7)
MIDIS (8)
MIDST (8)
MIENS (7)
MINDS (8)
MINED (8)
MINES (7)
MINIS (7)
MINOS (7)
MINTS (7)
MISDO (8)
MISES (7)
MISOS (7)
MISTS (7)
MITES (7)
MITIS (7)
MODES (8)
MODII (8)
MOIST (7)
MOITS (7)
MONDE (8)
MONIE (7)
MONTE (7)
MOPED (10)
MOPES (9)
MOSED (8)
MOSES (7)
MOSTE (7)
MOSTS (7)
MOTED (8)
MOTEN (7)
MOTES (7)
MOTIS (7)
NEIST (5)
NEMNS (7)
NEMPT (9)
NEONS (5)
NEPIT (7)
NESTS (5)
NETOP (7)
NIDES (6)
NIMPS (9)
NINES (5)
NISEI (5)
NISSE (5)
NITES (5)
NITID (6)
NITON (5)
NODES (6)
NOINT (5)
NOISE (5)
NOMEN (7)
NOMES (7)
NONES (5)
NONET (5)
NONIS (5)
NOSED (6)
NOSES (5)
NOTED (6)
NOTES (5)
ODISM (8)
ODIST (6)
OINTS (5)
OMENS (7)
OMITS (7)
ONNED (6)
ONSET (5)
OPENS (7)
OPINE (7)
OPSIN (7)
OPTED (8)
PEINS (7)
PENDS (8)
PENIS (7)
PENNI (7)
PENTS (7)
PEONS (7)
PESOS (7)
PESTO (7)
PESTS (7)
PIEND (8)
PIETS (7)
PINED (8)
PINES (7)
PINON (7)
PINOT (7)
PINTO (7)
PINTS (7)
PIONS (7)
PISES (7)
PISOS (7)
PISTE (7)
PITON (7)
POEMS (9)
POETS (7)
POIND (8)
POINT (7)
POISE (7)
POMES (9)
PONDS (8)
PONES (7)
PONTS (7)
POSED (8)
POSES (7)
POSIT (7)
POSSE (7)
POSTS (7)
POTED (8)
POTES (7)
POTIN (7)
PSION (7)
SDEIN (6)
SEISM (7)
SEMIS (7)
SENDS (6)
SENSI (5)
SENTI (5)
SENTS (5)
SEPTS (7)
SETON (5)
SIDES (6)
SIENS (5)
SIENT (5)
SIMIS (7)
SIMPS (9)
SINDS (6)
SINED (6)
SINES (5)
SIPED (8)
SIPES (7)
SITED (6)
SITES (5)
SMITE (7)
SMITS (7)
SMOTE (7)
SNEDS (6)
SNIDE (6)
SNIES (5)
SNIPE (7)
SNIPS (7)
SNITS (5)
SNODS (6)
SNOEP (7)
SNOTS (5)
SONDE (6)
SONES (5)
SONNE (5)
SONSE (5)
SPEND (8)
SPENT (7)
SPEOS (7)
SPETS (7)
SPIDE (8)
SPIED (8)
SPIES (7)
SPIMS (9)
SPINE (7)
SPINS (7)
SPITE (7)
SPITS (7)
SPODE (8)
SPODS (8)
SPOTS (7)
STEDS (6)
STEIN (5)
STEMS (7)
STEND (6)
STENO (5)
STENS (5)
STEPS (7)
STIED (6)
STIES (5)
STIME (7)
STIMS (7)
STIPE (7)
STOEP (7)
STOMP (9)
STOND (6)
STONE (5)
STONN (5)
STOPE (7)
STOPS (7)
TEIID (6)
TEIND (6)
TEINS (5)
TEMPI (9)
TEMPO (9)
TEMPS (9)
TENDS (6)
TENNO (5)
TENON (5)
TEPID (8)
TIDES (6)
TIMED (8)
TIMES (7)
TIMID (8)
TIMON (7)
TIMPS (9)
TINDS (6)
TINED (6)
TINES (5)
TIPIS (7)
TOISE (5)
TOMES (7)
TONDI (6)
TONED (6)
TONES (5)
TONNE (5)
TOPED (8)
TOPES (7)
TOPIS (7)
TOSED (6)
TOSES (5)
DEMO (7)
DENI (5)
DENS (5)
DENT (5)
DESI (5)
DIES (5)
DIET (5)
DIME (7)
DIMP (9)
DIMS (7)
DINE (5)
DINO (5)
DINS (5)
DINT (5)
DIPS (7)
DIPT (7)
DISS (5)
DITE (5)
DITS (5)
DOEN (5)
DOES (5)
DOIT (5)
DOME (7)
DOMS (7)
DONE (5)
DONS (5)
DOPE (7)
DOPS (7)
DOSE (5)
DOSS (5)
DOST (5)
DOTE (5)
DOTS (5)
DSOS (5)
EDIT (5)
EMIT (6)
EMOS (6)
EMPT (8)
ENDS (5)
EONS (4)
EPOS (6)
ESTS (4)
IDEM (7)
IDES (5)
IMID (7)
IMPI (8)
IMPS (8)
INNS (4)
INTI (4)
INTO (4)
IONS (4)
ISIT (4)
ISMS (6)
ISOS (4)
ITEM (6)
MEDS (7)
MEIN (6)
MEND (7)
MENO (6)
MENT (6)
MESS (6)
METS (6)
MIDI (7)
MIDS (7)
MIEN (6)
MIND (7)
MINE (6)
MINI (6)
MINO (6)
MINT (6)
MIPS (8)
MISE (6)
MISO (6)
MISS (6)
MIST (6)
MITE (6)
MODE (7)
MODI (7)
MODS (7)
MOES (6)
MOIT (6)
MONS (6)
MOPE (8)
MOPS (8)
MOSE (6)
MOSS (6)
MOST (6)
MOTE (6)
MOTI (6)
MOTS (6)
NEDS (5)
NEMN (6)
NEON (4)
NEPS (6)
NESS (4)
NEST (4)
NETS (4)
NIDE (5)
NIDI (5)
NIDS (5)
NIED (5)
NIES (4)
NIMS (6)
NINE (4)
NIPS (6)
NISI (4)
NITE (4)
NITS (4)
NODE (5)
NODI (5)
NODS (5)
NOES (4)
NOME (6)
NOMS (6)
NONE (4)
NONI (4)
NOPE (6)
NOSE (4)
NOTE (4)
ODES (5)
OINT (4)
OMEN (6)
OMIT (6)
ONES (4)
ONIE (4)
ONST (4)
OPED (7)
OPEN (6)
OPES (6)
OPTS (6)
OSES (4)
PEDS (7)
PEIN (6)
PEND (7)
PENI (6)
PENS (6)
PENT (6)
PEON (6)
PESO (6)
PEST (6)
PETS (6)
PIED (7)
PIES (6)
PIET (6)
PINE (6)
PINS (6)
PINT (6)
PION (6)
PISE (6)
PISO (6)
PISS (6)
PITS (6)
PODS (7)
POEM (8)
POET (6)
POIS (6)
POME (8)
POMS (8)
POND (7)
PONE (6)
PONS (6)
PONT (6)
POSE (6)
POSS (6)
POST (6)
POTE (6)
POTS (6)
PSIS (6)
PSST (6)
SEIS (4)
SEMI (6)
SEND (5)
SENS (4)
SENT (4)
SEPS (6)
SEPT (6)
SETS (4)
SIDE (5)
SIEN (4)
SIES (4)
SIMI (6)
SIMP (8)
SIMS (6)
SIND (5)
SINE (4)
SINS (4)
SIPE (6)
SIPS (6)
SIST (4)
SITE (4)
SITS (4)
SMIT (6)
SNED (5)
SNIP (6)
SNIT (4)
SNOD (5)
SNOT (4)
SODS (5)
SOME (6)
SOMS (6)
SONE (4)
SONS (4)
SOPS (6)
SOTS (4)
SPED (7)
SPET (6)
SPIE (6)
SPIM (8)
SPIN (6)
SPIT (6)
SPOD (7)
SPOT (6)
STED (5)
STEM (6)
STEN (4)
STEP (6)
STIE (4)
STIM (6)
STOP (6)
TEDS (5)
TEIN (4)
TEMP (8)
TEMS (6)
TEND (5)
TENS (4)
TIDE (5)
TIDS (5)
TIED (5)
TIES (4)
TIME (6)
TIND (5)
TINE (4)
TINS (4)
TIPI (6)
TIPS (6)
TODS (5)
TOED (5)
TOES (4)
TOME (6)
TOMS (6)
TONE (4)
TONS (4)
TOPE (6)
TOPI (6)
TOPS (6)
TOSE (4)
TOSS (4)
DEI (4)
DEN (4)
DIE (4)
DIM (6)
DIN (4)
DIP (6)
DIS (4)
DIT (4)
DOE (4)
DOM (6)
DON (4)
DOP (6)
DOS (4)
DOT (4)
DSO (4)
EDS (4)
EMO (5)
EMS (5)
END (4)
ENS (3)
EON (3)
ESS (3)
EST (3)
IDE (4)
IDS (4)
IMP (7)
INN (3)
INS (3)
ION (3)
IOS (3)
ISM (5)
ISO (3)
ITS (3)
MED (6)
MEN (5)
MES (5)
MET (5)
MID (6)
MIS (5)
MOD (6)
MOE (5)
MOI (5)
MON (5)
MOP (7)
MOS (5)
MOT (5)
NED (4)
NEP (5)
NET (3)
NID (4)
NIE (3)
NIM (5)
NIP (5)
NIS (3)
NIT (3)
NOD (4)
NOM (5)
NON (3)
NOS (3)
NOT (3)
ODE (4)
ODS (4)
OES (3)
OIS (3)
OMS (5)
ONE (3)
ONS (3)
OPE (5)
OPS (5)
OPT (5)
OSE (3)
PED (6)
PEN (5)
PES (5)
PET (5)
PIE (5)
PIN (5)
PIS (5)
PIT (5)
POD (6)
POI (5)
POM (7)
POS (5)
POT (5)
PSI (5)
PST (5)
SED (4)
SEI (3)
SEN (3)
SET (3)
SIM (5)
SIN (3)
SIP (5)
SIS (3)
SIT (3)
SOD (4)
SOM (5)
SON (3)
SOP (5)
SOS (3)
SOT (3)
TED (4)
TEN (3)
TES (3)
TID (4)
TIE (3)
TIN (3)
TIP (5)
TIS (3)
TOD (4)
TOE (3)
TOM (5)
TON (3)
TOP (5)
DE (3)
DI (3)
DO (3)
ED (3)
EM (4)
EN (2)
ES (2)
ET (2)
ID (3)
IN (2)
IO (2)
IS (2)
IT (2)
ME (4)
MI (4)
MO (4)
NE (2)
NO (2)
OD (3)
OE (2)
OI (2)
OM (4)
ON (2)
OP (4)
OS (2)
PE (4)
PI (4)
PO (4)
SI (2)
SO (2)
ST (2)
TE (2)
TI (2)
TO (2)

Midpointness Day 6

Day 6

lockuprec
The exercise yard in the Lock-Up, serving as a reading room
and a symposium space from for the period of Midpointness.

 

Midpointness

2 x 0 ÷ 1 = 0


Many thanks to the contributers of the reading groups over the past couple of days. Far too much to get down onto paper/screen here. My respect and gratitude to Jude, Penny, (who’s equation above refers to my habit of creating nothing from something),  Rosemary, Leanne (A.K.A. ‘Spanner’ ), Fern, Christina, Alex, Sean, Penny,  Emily, Sarah, Liz, and  Jess. Interesting gender imbalance.  

We are indebted to the authors of the texts.  

We have all  been round the houses and back but the whole thing might be summed up in the spirit of a comment from Leanne, following on from discussions about Blanchot, Social Work, the work of the Work of art and the ‘lack’ which haunts the image. Leanne’s parting words at the end of the third session were,

“The Work of Art is the renunciation of Desire”
These were the texts we were working through.
Text. Jan Verwoert. “Exhaustion and Exuberance: Ways to defy the pressure to perform” in Tell me what you want, what you really, really want. (Rotterdam: Pier Zwart Institute, William de Kooning Academy Rotterdam University and Sternberg Press, 2010), 13 – 41
Text. Andrew Warstat. “Unteachable and Unlearnable: the ignorance of artists” in: On not knowing; how artists think ed. Elizabeth Fisher and Rebecca Fortnum. (London. Black Dog in association with Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge and supported by the University of the Arts London, 2013), 42-52
Text. W.J. Mitchell “What do pictures want” in What do pictures want: the lives and loves of images (Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, 2005) p 28-56
Text. Elizabeth Grosz “Chaos. Cosmos, Territory, Architecture ” in Chaos, Territory, Art ( New York, Columbia University Press, 2008 ) 1-24
 
It would be impossible to fully recount the range of discussion here but I have no doubt that things will surface through the coming week and hopefully merge somehow into this blog and into the project as a whole as I hope things will for all the contributors in their own endeavours, all of which seem wonderful.. 
 
These texts are providing something of a back bone to the project, thinking through  (and beyond) performance culture, not knowing, the Blanchotian student, the weak image (causing  a particular stir in the group), framing chaos, zones of transaction between image and text, three forms of enlightenment, (the historical enlightenment, the enlightened sophisticated reader, and the spiritual), ventriloquism, (twice cropped up), taboo, the subaltern, how inverting pictures is bad for the soul, radical unsatisfaction, the impotent, the anamorphic blur and art as an instrument of the mind (thanks to Christina for that one).
 
back on Monday

Midpointness Day 5

 

Day 5

 

 

bracey
Image courtesy of Andrew Bracey ( and Vermeer )

 

postcard1
A strange coincidence

 

Midpointness

I received a telepathic message from Andrew today wondering if I was ready to open the package he had given to me back in the UK, which was not to be opened until I was ready and settled in the development of the project. This I did (see above). What a strange thing. The telepathy exceeded itself in order to be itself. This seems somehow appropriate. Instead of me opening the package and following the instruction, I was instructed telepathically to open the package in order to share telepathic thoughts. Which I do (don’t I Andrew?) and am doing as I write ( don’t you agree A? )

Midpointness Day 4

Day 4
screenshot2015-09-18at13-59-21

Midpointness

A glint or a twinkle?
Whilst having a very pleasant dinner this evening  with S, J, F and H (thanks to all for wonderful hospitality) the conversation turned once again (between S and I) to the the ‘cul de sac’ of irony. An issue, or plight, or predicament (thanks to Michael Phillipson for those terms)  that some of us have been ‘struggling’ with (see, even here, I can’t struggle with something unless I’m ‘struggling’ with it! ) in our various practices. There was a very pithy comment from S (I’ll project that one into the future and predict that S will return to this as a huge problem with his own observation as we have a coffee with E before a reading group tomorrow at the Lock-up at 10 a.m.) which was that he perceived, or felt a ‘vulgarity’ in a passion which didn’t have a glint in it’s eye.
This  struck me as profound for (at least) two reasons. Firstly, it made a terrible and disturbing kind of sense, it  felt like a fact. Secondly (and this occurred to me a bit later) was that I found the application of the word ‘glint’ too steely and cold for my ‘delicate’ sensibilities (there it is again).  I would have preferred a ‘twinkle’. Now, this thought reminded me of my late Dad, who most definitely pretty much always had a twinkle in his eye, especially when we were earnestly discussing pressing matters of art, sex, politics and/or Scrabble. The twinkle was the ‘permission’ which allowed us to move past ‘ourselves’ and enter the conversations and territories that as so-called ‘normal’ working class Mancunians (and lets not forget also men) might not have felt so comfortable negotiating. It allowed us to ask,”what does this feel like if I say this, or that, or think this or that, who do I feel like when I say or think this or hear this?”.
As the default position of certain men of certain ages from certain areas of Manchester is to avoid  at all costs any accusations of pretentiousness, this intimacy and openness felt (and still feels) like something of a relief.
*
Sometime  ago in the studio, I had been thinking  about this matter of the sincere statement
(through ‘the lens of art’ as S puts it) and I tried to think of what I considered to be one of the (probably pretty few) unequivocal sentiments in my life of which I could speak.
The simple declaration I wrote with a marker pen on an A1 sheet of paper was this.
I LOVE MY CHILDREN
 
At the time, I felt that although this statement was profoundly ‘true’ for me, it’s very ‘trueness’ was put at risk by it’s declaration from within the the realm of aesthesis. At the risk of totally overstepping myself, I figured that what might be at stake (for me) in this declaration within the sphere of art might be the very limits of language, that it marked a place of oscillation between ontological realms in which truth and art were opposed.
And yet, following on, thinking of the ‘twinkle’ in the eye, I’m now not so sure. Perhaps, I can declare my love for my children here and now through the lens of art, precisely because of a twinkle in the eye, and maybe, just maybe, that gives a possibility for a small path to be found at the bottom of the cul de sac, which leads down to the open meadow. If this were the case, considering this declaration of love felt between my Dad and myself,  and my love for my Daughters, wouldn’t it be really something if there had indeed been a cul de sac where I had lived as a child which had a path leading down to the playing fields known in local parlance as ‘the Meds’?

Midpointness Day 2

 

 

 

 

Midpointness

lockupimageday2
Artists in Residence. The Lock Up.
Day 2
A Conversation with S, (re) reading Jan Verwoert’s exhaustion and exuberance, the matter of convalescence and sending telepathic messages to my friend ‘A ‘
I recall, last night in conversation with S, (he just emerging out of flu, me still wobbly with a bit of jet lag) I came out with an equation which, once and for all, I hoped, would get the monkey(s) off my back in regard to the relationship between art and research (who would have imagined so many monkeys in the UK?). There are monkeys here too, as S (albeit in a cheerful and resigned manner), is trying to accommodate and/or walk all over.
Well, I was very tired.
If Research (X) is a contribution to a form of  knowledge (Y) , and some kinds of  Art (A)  have an effect on how the world is understood and forms  of knowing  (epistemology) (Y)  then  A is part  X, and X part A.
X+ A= Y2
Thus, instead of worrying endlessly about whether art is or isn’t a form of research we can finally accept that there is this thing, lets call it ‘artistic research’  ( er…like pretty much everyone in Northern Europe already does) which is knowledge squared. How cool is that?
So cool I’d better get my  coat……
But back to more pressing matters.
What is the midpoint? Or better to ask  perhaps,when is the midpoint?
Why better? Well lets say that to define the midpoint in advance (or after the fact) of it’s appearance affects it’s (dis)appearance, to the extent that the midpoint is no longer a midpoint but a ‘midpoint’, something ossified by scare quotes, exiled into the past or the yet to be. Like the cult of ‘failure’, the midpoint becomes the aim, and as a result, no longer itself.
In which case, it’s important to remember that the project as it stands feels like it’s more about trying to create the conditions for some kind of doing and witnessing of something which sits outside of the beginning and the end as opposed to in-between them.
I’m cautious here of falling into the trap of a fetishisation of the liminal. The midpoint (for me here) is not a liminal space as much as a moment, perhaps.
I’m thinking of Gary Peters’ articulation in his essay ‘ahead of the yes and no: Heidegger on not knowing and art’,  the  ‘ahead of the yes and no’ is more of a third ‘sphere’, which he describes as one of ‘indifference’. (On not knowing; how artists think ed. Elizabeth Fisher and Rebecca Fortnum. (London. Black Dog in association with Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge and supported by the University of the Arts London, 2013)

 

Here Peters tells us,
“when Heidegger speaks of inbetweeness he is speaking not of the space between affirmation and negation but of a space-time that is situated outside rather than inside such boundaries” 
Questions of beginnings and endings and what sits within or without them are neatly worked with in Jan Verwoert’s exhaustion and exuberance (p 33). What is particularly interesting about this beautiful essay (in respect of this project) is the recognition and the sense of love of the complexity which sits between the polar opposites of ‘the yes’ and ‘the no’, the ‘I can’ and the ‘I can’t’ (and much more),a sentiment which also sits at the heart of this project. The essay (for me) encapsulates the very aesthetic realm it seeks to explore, producing something to be ‘felt by the mind’, to use Peter Osbourne’s description of the aesthetic (in “anywhere if not at all”).
Verwoert writes,
” In painting, (as in writing) the beginning and the end of the work are defined through an immanent demand, as the decision about how to start and conclude are choices that shape the very identity of the piece. It is only by concluding in a particular way that the piece establishes its own standards and demonstrates why it has to be the way it is”.
Verwoert goes onto to write about the the state of suspension between exhaustion and activity (p 70) (another form of midpoint perhaps).
“between the ‘I Can’t’ and the ‘I Can’, the state of convalescence is the epitome of an empty moment of full awareness”
It was when I was reading this, thinking about exhaustion and convalescence, that I recalled an earlier paragraph which I am now sending telepathically to A back in the UK. (are you receiving A?)
“This inextricable ambivalence between what you want and expect of yourself and what others want and expect from you is one of the hardest puzzles for anyone who works creatively and on demand to solve” (p62)
 
As Andrew B and I discussed when we started talking about artistic behaviours and strategies ( echoing, delaying, reversing, speeding up or down, inverting ) which might be interesting to look at in terms of some kind of artist/curator type thing (this project), the suggestion of telepathy was  seen as nonsensical and quickly rejected (at least by Andrew. I confess, I never quite gave up on it). Maybe some things simply are created by the friction of the the ‘no’ and the ‘yes’  which sit at the heart of the nonsensical.
(know what I mean A?)