WHIRLING SKIRMISH

"The Drama unfolds: a day in the life of Lab Group DADA"

EXT. WEEPING WILLOW. DAY

Meet outside the porta classroom and decide to sit under the weeping willow tree because it is sunny...(deceptively so)

Cristobal begins with a summary of what he thinks our group has done so far/is doing as we have to begin to work towards our presentation February 7th:

Mentions that so far "we have the following ideas, themes, projects:
Blog
Video, documentation
Circle ideas
Postcards

and that we are creating a map of some sort
-with the Sufi/centrifuge idea as the initial glue with an ongoing undercurrent of spiritualism
-with the random postcards

Cristobal suggests maybe we are
-the network of the unknown
-the network of the beyond
(alteregos, shadow groups etc)
-Roundtable, ROUND group

He also makes a suggestion of perhaps extending the idea of spirituality triggered by Andrea's story and the John Lennon quote and make a shrine/memorial to John Lennon inspired the idea of her story being about national interest and local myth and the relation between magic and science.
Example of Thomas Hirschorn and his shrines to people he likes

Creating a network of the invisible that are created through a practice"

After this Andrea goes to stand under the weeping willow and tells the group her story (please see email as I get scared writing it because I am alone and my room is scary).
She also talks about the rumour that WE ARE THE GROUP WITH THE WORST REPUTATION and suggests maybe making a film of having dinner and we stage a big fight and act like we all hate each other
Back to the story a quick summary of the main ideas....
The Road Past-Future link
holes in the road
Seance and Johnny Golding

She thought of US as a group as punctuating a time hole in Goldsmiths, as there are groups before us and after us and we as a group are the most important things about this project not anything else we do and the fact that "we are the most problematic group is the best thing we got going..."

Barnaby says, as he wears a beautiful white scarf round his head, that Andrea's summary of our group "fits us like a well tailored jacket"

Orianna talks about her recent reading of D&Gs Kafka and how as an avid letter writer himself Kafka described letter writing as a TOPOGRAPHY OF OBSTACLES which she thought related to our group and how we are working.... "the letters we are writing embody obstacles". She also introduced the idea of letters that arrive at their destiny and not their destined recipient (o please can you correct that? make a post about it???)

Andrea then reintroduced the concept that Tura pointed out to us the week before at the Tate trip about the way we created a 'QUICK INTIMACY' and with our new reputation as the WORST group it seemed a Paradox.

Ella said we are the group that is both in conflict but also most connected

Barnaby mentions a hole - the middle of the hole and that we can see we have a hole....(it sounds wrong writing it...) pradox between familiarity and conflict is about HOLES .... as we literally become close through the circles and hand holding we are making an EXPLORATION OF FEAR AND THE UNKNOWN. A Partial NonUMENT to the unknown.

Sophia says 'We are weird'

Ella says Obstacles are more authentic

Cristobal- Mentions that the major critique of presentations in the past is that they are usually 'being too safe' and that this is not the way to work. "The disagreement is the closer point between two bodies" a weakness that we share is actually strength,

Orianna: 'Why performance? Are there not any other vehicles?"

Someone says something about Alteregos makes us absent form the whole performance and maybe it is better if we dont.
PErformance is not honest... Intimacy and disagreement on the otherhand is.

Then discussed notion of not focussing on the others and just to look at ourselves...

Then we get cold and go batck to PORTAPOO

INT. Portapoo. Day

A bee sits on Midori's leg and we take pictures of it even though she is scared. But then we get rid of it and no one is hurt by the big hairy bony bee.

We split into groups A and B and come up with an idea for the presentation.
We then put it on the board and explained.
PLEASE SEE PHOTO OF BOARD...
Otherwise I will post a proper write up tomorrow..

Then we FREAK OUT and then we all decide to have a dinner party at Andrea's house which turned out to AMAZING
I did not document the freak out because I was also involved.... also I was not very attentive so it looks like there are only 4 characters in this play but actually lots of people said things and I didnt write it down BOO ME.

THANK YOU ANDREA you are lovely
and thank you everyone else because and I think we are the hottest group which i think counts for something, non?
PS sorry I posted this so late I forgot

See you tomorrow with GLUE POSTCARDS and some nice music???
x amal

FIN

Hi all,

There is new information about the Lab intermediate presentation for the next week.

It will take place in room RHB144 on Thursday, 7th February, 2-5 pm. Each group have 40 minutes (20 minutes presentation, 20 minutes discussion).

There are two options of presentation:

1. A draft of the proposed of the project for March.
2. Present the research that have undertaken so far and relevant visual material as a reference to their ideas.

We are in the second option of presentation. So, apart from the post that we will send to the course. We have to define our 20 minutes tomorrow. The easy way would be a brief visual or audiovisual presentation with the most relevant concepts and discussion
of the last weeks. We can create a map or a diagram.

See you tomorrow,

Cristóbal

PS: As a reminder: public works (Andreas Lang and Kathrin Böhm) will present their work tomorrow, 3-5 pm (RHB 274).

Can we do one on Thursday? Perhaps somewhere nearby on a break from the cabin?

How far is it?
It is so small
The place I am getting to, why are these obstacles-
The body of this woman,
Charred skirts and deathmask
Mourned by religious figures, by garlanded children.

(continued in the group video section...all poetry Silvia Plath)

A summary of Andrea's email as posted to blog:

Andrea has tracked the convergence of local mythology, national interest and personal history through a street full of holes in Blackburn. (See her email for the full story.)

Using ideas spoke about in the Johnny Gold lecture: holes, nodes and future time overlaying/enveloping and occurring simultaneously, Andrea thought to apply the same principles to our time and space and interactions in the lab.

In order to apply these principles Andrea suggests we think of the lab not as an end product. Her idea is that we and our container ARE the representations of this project. This way, every activity that does or doesn't occur, every thought spoken or silent and every general piece of detritus is documented and has value.

She says: "The crap we bring to the container i.e. food papers etc. All have a place without hierarchy. It becomes a 'momento mori' through sound recordings/film/debris/coats and bags left discarded and uncollected representing the process whilst absenting our physical selves- a nonument."

I think it is the clearest and most striking idea concerning our offering to the larger lab groupings i've heard thus far.
I hope some of you will feel the same.
Sophia

Thanks ella for the minutes they were useful to have a refresher.... (i might try and post the previous minutes form the week before last on to your post so we can put them altogether...??)

Here is a link I received from a forward... it is a bit random but the pictures made me think about our networks/diagrams ideas...

Learn Networking website

Also anyone up for organising our next meeting?? Maybe we can all reserve al least thursday daytime (from 11 instead of the old lecture) for us to do something before the main meeting... or maybe we can relocate somewhere for the 3-5?
any thoughts?

amal

1. Hand holding/ spider re-cap + discussion:

once we (everyone minus Kegham?) reassembled in the container, the first topic of discussion was what happened at the tate earlier that morning. re-cap: we met under the spider and just allowed the conversation to flow naturally while holding hands and walking in a circle-- not unlike our usual discussions, just moving. participants were generally pleased with what happened, and the ideas that were developed through this event.

members of the group who did participate wanted to know why people who did not attend did not attend. Flavia explained how the idea of hand holding in a public place makes her feel uncomfortable and seems like a hobby cult-- she simply has an aversion to these kind of activities.

we also discussed how the idea of a group experience / intimacy might be too forced or coming from a few dominant members. In the case of the tate event, it seemed like a few people were in the know while others had no idea what was happening. for some members of the group (Flavia and others), the postcard project was easier and less threatening because we could stay within our comfort zone.

Barnaby then brought up the reading by J E Nang about the idea of an inoperative community, especially the problematic of forming communities and the dynamics and struggle of the individual joining the group.

2. Communication

Cristobal observed that clear communication is not working at the moment for all members of the group. we now have a blog (which should be easy) and group email correspondence so if nobody complains about a specific group proposal, he (and others) will assume that everyone is in agreement (no objection is passive approval). Despite short notice, Cristobal shared how he chose to move a meeting in order to participate in the Tate group activity, because it was more important for him to keep his commitment to the group than to deal with his personal business that morning. he continued to say that individuals who do not attend are the ones who miss out.

some one else suggested that not every project we do has to have a deep metaphysical meaning-- perhaps just getting together and allowing something to flow out of it, is good too. But Flavia responded that she's not interested in (or used to) doing things just for the sake of togetherness. Liliana said that "this is school, not some randomness" and supported the idea that our group activities are like homework-- an obligatory part of the course we should not see as optional.

it was also suggested that if someone is absent (or silent?) for weeks, they are not in a position to object to what the group has decided. cristobal mentioned that critique is a form of resolution-- members have to share, and give an alternative if they are opposed to any group ideas. it's valuable for the whole group to hear everyone's perspective.

3. Neo Hippy / new age critique/ forced intimacy

some members of the group (Flavia, Ella, others?) critiqued the perceived new-agey, hand-holding flavor of our recent activities-- or method, while others (Liliana, Barnaby, more) don't see our endeavor as new-agey at all. Barnaby brought up the darker side of our discussion under the spider, especially our talk of diseases, wounds, bodily fluids-- and the fact that Ring around the Rosey refers to the plague and death. thus, it was proposed that our actions, in a sense, critique or flip the utopian ideas of the hippy movement-- and thus are not typical hippy endeavors. We don't really need to label ourselves, in fact, we should avoid labels, because different terms (and activities) have different meanings to different people and are not particularly useful.

some people continued to bemoan the "group therapy" feeling. yet others seemed to feel that "forced intimacy" is what we are supposed to be doing as a group. we could have chosen to remain cold and distant but instead our group chose to engage in family bonding experience-- we chose to make our group project a personal endeavor.

4. Next steps

amal suggested that andrea should present her idea (which only a few people have heard) to the whole group. (apparently it is not new agey, incorporates our themes and is brilliant). yet it was re-emphasized that our group's project must be integrated and should not be a collage of individuals ideas. it is an exploratory process and so none of us are in a position to say what the final project will be. still for the sake of the project, we agreed that we must think like individuals and not like a cult, even if we need to behave as a cohesive group. someone offered a piece of theory (barnaby?): one can only be a true individual when in a group.

5. Postcard presentation / alter ego continuation

david stood up and read the narrative we created by sending him timed and dated postcards with one sentence each. we then tossed around the idea of avatars and alter egos and decided to each send orianna a postcard written by our "other self" this week.

If you click on the link below you can have a look at some images from Robbie Cooper's book where he shows images of gamers and their alteregos.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/technology_online_gamers_unmasked/html/1.stm

I post this in reference to Ms. Bourgeois' spider...

"Writing to you, this delirium has beset me; my whole being shrinks, my suffering shrieks inside me, it tears me loose from myself in the same way I succeeded, when I bore you, in snatching you out from inside me. In this contorting, in this unseemliness, I resolve into a cry, not of love, rather of hate. I am twisted by anguish and by delight as well. But it is not love's delight, the only thing possessing me is rage. My rage brought you into the world., this rage which I realised yesterday as I was looking at you, that you were hearing. I do not love you, I remain alone, but you hear this lost cry, you will hear it incessantly, and until death takes me, I shall go on living in the same state. I shall live in the expectation of that other world where I will be in ecstasies of pleasure. I belong body and soul to that other world and so do you. I have absolutely no interest in this world where they scratch about, patiently waiting for death to enlighten them. As for me, it is the wind of death that sustains the life in me, I would cease to exist for you if for one instant you forgot that, for me it is the breath of pleasure. By pleasure I mean equivocal pleasure.

It is from Georges Bataille "My Mother" and is a letter from a mother to her young adult son.

I would point out how it links the spider, the text from the reader I mentioned in class (which is a discussion of Bataille, individuality and the group aesthetic, AND using post to communicate....but if I did you might think I was just being a clever cunt.

Bisous, Barnaby

I FOUND THIS PUBLISHED IN MCSWEENY'S (A FAVORITE PUBLICATION OF MINE) ENJOY AS A THOUGHT.

August 8, 2005

Dear Doppelgänger,

So, it sounds like you're in town? Because people keep telling me they saw me places where I wasn't. It's kind of funny, I guess, and I'm trying to be a good sport about it, but it's also kind of freaking my shit.

I'll confess I'm a little unclear on the doppelgänger parameters. Are you, like, punking me? Or are we on equal footing here? Exactly who is the doppel and who is the gänger? If we meet, will we explode?

Maybe I should back up and say congrats on the weight loss. I first heard about you back in college, when friends started saying, "Yo! There's this chick who looks exactly like you if you gained 60 pounds." I never saw you myself, but (as you know?) you were pretty omnipresent for a couple years. My housemates made frequent eyewitness reports, like, "I saw the Fat Brangien again today, going into Newcomb Hall." Or, "The Fat Brangien looked sort of sad in the cafeteria this morning. I wonder if she's OK."

Anyway, it sounds like you've dropped some pounds, since the people who've seen you over the last month haven't noted our contrasting weights. I'd high-five you if we were ever in the same place at the same time (presuming the space-time continuum remained intact). But the fact is, people haven't mentioned any differences at all, because they're convinced you're me.

Take the woman in my kickboxing class who asked me, "So, what were you doing down at the courthouse last week?" When I told her I wasn't at the courthouse, she said, "Yes you were. Remember? We waved at each other." At which point I had to insist I wasn't at the courthouse, and I wasn't, but it made me look kind of crazy and criminal, you know?

Then there's that guy I had a date with several years ago—the night that ended in all the unpleasantness about the bill. He was inspired to get back in touch after "seeing me" at a gallery opening a couple weekends ago. When I insisted I hadn't been to any openings recently, he reminded me of the artist's name and gallery location. When I maintained I hadn't been in attendance, he seemed to think I was lying to get rid of him (again).

And what about the former colleague who e-mailed to say it was great to "catch up" on the Metro bus the other day? What gives? You held a commute-long chat without tipping your doppel hand? (Also: Was he as cute as I remember? Were you wearing a good outfit?)

I'm not sure what my rights are vis-à-vis the doppelgänger contract, but in the interest of maintaining my (our?) reputation, I wonder if we could establish some ground rules. By all accounts, you're being friendly, which I appreciate. But let's not get too friendly, if you know what I mean. Best to leave those sorts of misunderstandings to the situation comedies. Also, please refrain from declaring things "retarded." I really hate that. And no trucker hats, either, OK?

Yours,

Brangien Davis
Seattle, WA

I'm still trying to figure out a few things... however, I did manage to see Barnaby's video!

Sarah.

SO HERE IS INVITE to PRE-PORTACABiN CONVERSAtiON TIME
PLACE: under Maman
TIME: 11 in the morn
BRING: random props,.,, ideas....AND ANY OF THE BELOW: recording equipment. COStumes. a good book. intelligent witty dinner conversation ....absolutely essential for cold mornings in london.... and whatever you want

'A Day in the Life' as told via Andrea didst inspire me this day.
You can either view this (grainy, shitty, muddy) video or just remember the first time you might have heard the Beatles song...

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Following on from the comment I made about Second life
Maybe we can have a Second life Lab Group?
(click above to connect to Second life website)

Maybe if I get some feedback if you want to explore the idea of an ALTERNATE US

Thinking about the story we are making through the postcards (did everyone send one?)
then I thought about as an extesion to the story idea we can maybe play around with the idea of creating narratives.
After Oreet Ashery's lecture on Thursday (http://oreetashery.net/) and thinking about Flavia's postcards which suggested scenes or places where things happened or were going to happen maybe we can also develop our own Avatars in the group. Fictional characters/alterEgos.

WHO ARE YOU GOing TO BE?

Maybe we can develop our fictional characters online? THrough this blog.....????

Also who would like to meet up in SECOND LIFE?

-amal

Having not been in on Thursday but having had read the Minutes by Amal I
post this as a welcome-to-blog-town for all of us:

Safi