[D-G] coucou NZ!! a letter from Europe

NZ pretzelworld at gmail.com
Sun Dec 18 03:24:21 PST 2005


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conceptual landscape art like at the dia beacon or the kind robert
smithson is known for, spiral jetty and such, these are essentially
just banks, all material assets such as art will loose value at a
slower rate then a real bank would charge you to keep it,  I must have
a problem cuz I get really worked up about this, I do not intend to be
so disagreeable but just don't agreee, I see it differently. I mean
the fact that spiral jetty is finally being destroyed by nature is
such a great event for me. I cannot understand why people want to save
it, why so much money must be amassed and used to preserve this
monument's stance against nature, why play that role? as a banker,
sure, but as an artist it seems like a compromising situation.
the machine keeping that "collective unconscious" agenda alive. that
machine is a very real thing, yet so much bigger than consciousness, I
must admit. So it becomes unconscious again, yes again, because during
the first step empirical (observable) territory is destroyed by the
reterritorialization, but in the second step reterritorialization not
only destroys terr. but also ruins the empirical moment (like its raw
data) by grafting upon it an experimental approach towards knowlege
which at this point becomes a limiting factor. I will have clarify
myself better...

...like two people who speak different languages arguing over the
correct color of a chicken egg... is it blanc, white, or weiB. it
doesn't matter if empirical evidence of the egg itself is not the
subject of debate, but rather the subject is the spelling of the word
used to describe it. Then that is the point where we become
unconscious again. A pataphysical moment that positively expands our
internal experimental landscape and inversely dismantles an observable
exterior reality. YOu see that quality of incomprehensible vastness?
Well, the experimental system quickly becomes/assumes a false
empirical reality through the chaos. like a satanic eucharist
experience.... computer programming technology... DVDs.

It is a different thing entirely to confront the very real AND
conceptual landscape of times square nyc, as you have just suggested,
yet it is not a return to an empirical zone, no no no. However there
is this notion of simulation, one of PV's favorite topics, that helps
us believe in these false narratives.
In 1907, just by flashing monochromatic lights one might
reterritorialize a space, but just imagine how much better the
reterritorialization process would work with POLY-chomatic lights!
hell, why not invent another dimension to this experimental system and
add fantastic stereo sound fx too, now that would be something fit for
a king.

so in 1911 indeed this emerging technology's greatest triumph was then
the Kinemacolor film of the Delhi Durbar, the spectacular ceremony
held to commemorate the coronation of UK's King George V and Queen
Mary in Delhi in December. the event was filmed by several film
companies, and their black-and-white records had already been seen in
Britain by the time the Kinemacolor film returned from India. The film
opened at the Scala on 2 February 1912, and many felt that the
filmgoing public would now be tired of the Durbar. Kinemacolor proved
them very wrong. Offering the public an unprecedented two and and a
half hours of film. the film was presented with a stage setting that
represented the Taj Mahal, and accompanied it with a 48 piece
orchestra, a chorus of 24, a fife and drum corps of 20, and three
bagpipes. Its success was phenomenal. Patriotic London flocked to see
it. continue reading at:
http://website.lineone.net/~luke.mckernan/Color.htm

That our 7 senses can fulfill experience for our minds is quiet a
feat, but it is ultimately just an illusion (plato's cave was for
prisoners, bottom line), complete reterritorialization of experience
itself. The fact that kinemacolor was behind this great media stunt
ought to trigger a few alarms, cuz kinemacolor is also known to be the
company behind DWGriffith's "Birth of a Nation" Completed 2 years
after the "Delhi Dunbar" DWGriffith's action-packed melodrama was all
about the founding of that most hated and divisive american
institution, the klu klux klan... and he had the balls to call it
"birth of a nation." having balls is a great quality for a fellow, but
if that fellow is a sycophant for a globo-political-racist agenda then
that spells major trouble. That trouble has been perfectly integrated
into the psyche of 21st century schizoid-man in only 2 generations.

for an artist to tune into such a collective unconsciousness with the
intent to create art seems very crucial today. but the artist who
keeps it hidden is really doing nothing at all - that is a
"de-tentional pov". I have no doubt that christo and co. are capable
of such a sensitive reading of the current psyche, but what it is that
christo does is "institutional art." (its as if he flies around like
mary poppins with her umbrella defusing highly political moments for
the benefit of the institution) sure, he's got the balls but he does
very little for the public except tickle the unconscious strata, to
what ends? I find such an attitude annoying, especially in a time when
skilled artists ought use their techniques to re-clarify those
original empirical zones that have been unconsciously lost.
Identifying those spaces is key, but so is connecting those spaces,
binding them like a raft. I think its also key to just detach certain
of those spaces, many of them are fully functioning autonomous zones
that only need protection.

central park is special for new yorkers, its a place to forget all
about the institutional capitalist landscape, hundreds of homeless
people live there, they dont want to see christo's police 24-7, it
sucks. but if christo has the balls to join up with you on your
incredible project to completely cover times square with an
audio-video-quilt, then thats different, times square is different,
its already been taken over by the grid and turned into a chessboard
that plays the endgame till eternity. poetically enough, the first
fictional story ever filmed in color was kinemacolor's "Checkmated"
(1909)!



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