May 14, 2005
Untitled 1-12
Untitled 1-12, 2005, HTML, 464 x 464 pixels each
I started these drawings with the idea of trying to making a medium-sized image with the fewest table cells possible. All but one of these drawings have five rows and five columns, or twenty five cells over all. The one exception is seven by seven; I can't remember why I made this exception.
Manik: They Are What They Are & Layers
Perhaps you can imagine my surprise when I scanned my email on Tueday morning, May 10th, and found a message containing a text about my HTML drawings by Serbian artists Marija Vauda & Nikola Pilipovc, also known as MANIK. They had sent me the English translation, and at my request they sent me the original Serbian text, too. Some parts of the English translation are a little rough and are dense reading; I have only minimally touched a few misspellings or punctuation. Both the original Serbian text and English translation are presented below.
See MANIK's weblog, and Google their names to find other works, for example, MARIJA VAUDA I NIKOLA PILIPOVIC, 02.06-15.06.2004 and FREE MANIFESTA: PROJECTS: LUXURIOUS.
- Art pieces from Rhizome_Raw & etc.
- A few articles from Rhizome_Raw
- A few more articles from Rhizome_Raw
- Part of their last exhibition in Belgrade ('MANIK,THE MISSING PEOPLE'), July 2004
- A published article in 'Intelligent Agent'
- The art piece from a group exhibition in Belgrade, 2003
- A work in freeManifesta
- Their participation in the FreeBienial
- Exhibition in Slovenia,2001
- A work by MANIK on the site of Brasilian artist Regina Celia Pinto
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They Are What They Are & Layers
Marija Vauda & Nikola Pilipovc, Belgrade, 2005
Svakodnevni performans - Chris Ashley weblog-puni se kroz sukcesivne promene u konstrukciji koju mozemo videti kao dvosmerni prostorni tekst u razvijajucem, aktuelnom vremenu toka svesti. Konstituisu ga HTML table,uradene u Dreamwiever softveru i dodaci-neestetske informacije.Bas njih,uvodimo pod pojmom (simbolicka artikulacija) leyeri zato sto su oni, kao jedna od nepreglednih mogucnosti softverske retoricnosti,odlucno izbegnuti u realizaciji (gradenju) samih tabli-HTML-estetske informacije.Lejer se,tako, odnosi na datum, naziv, tekst ili pesmu-objasnjenje dodato svakom HTML-u.
Upravo dodaci-komentari prevode,izmestaju prisustvo u performativnost (dogadjaj): Vreme kao Istoriju.To je bilo!
HTML Propozicije i uputstva su precizno data u leyerima i odnose se na objekt-HTML (“All drawings start with a small table, say 18 x 16, with each cell 20 x 20 pixels, everything is on the grid, right angles only, no diagonals; everything is hard edged; there are a limited number of colors -216 web safe colors; although one can make more than 216 colors, the number of colors actually viewable varies a lot from monitor to monitor). Cin konstruisanja HTML tabli i pripada procesu uzivanja.U odabranom okviru se svakodnevno i komforno-ritualno potvrduje navika vitalnosti-serijalnosti:moduli-jedinice-celije su geometrijski oblici medusobno povezani u linijske i povrsinske structure (Sol Lewitt,Eva Hese, Robert Moris) i ubaceni u proces odvijanja toka vremena-weblog.Zamisao serijalne umetnosti pojavljuje se na prelazu modernisticke autonomije discipline slikarstva (skulpture) u post slikarske strategije.Kroz ponavljanje se potvrduje "vrhovno nacelo malih razlika"- paradigma koja se sastoji od ogranicenih zaliha jedinica-obojenih polja pri cemu jedinice iste paradigme,medusobno toliko nalikuju kako bi razlika koja ih deli bila trenutno uocljiva. Npr. "potrebno je da Mondrijanovo kvadrati istovremeno budu i srodne kvadratne forme, a razlicitih razmera i boja".Ogranicene zalihe jedinica-celija (".... I enjoy the limitations and boundaries because I am presented with a set of solutions that I can't do anything about, that I accept") brojem zadatih boja-boje u zaustavljenoj alternativi,velicinom-u zaustavljenoj alternativi, odnosima-u zaustavljenoj alternativi,izborom softvera-u zaustavljenoj alternativi, retoricki uspostavljaju konkretan prostor: nacin na koji je organizovan prostor je presudan za subjektivitet.Identiteti se delimicno i konstituisu vrstom prostora, koji je ovde falocentrican, linearan, uzlazan i potvrdan u tradiciji modernisticke paradigme.
LEYERI razotkrivaju kopce i nacine povezivanja i medu jedinicama-modulima vizuelnih tabli i otvaraju pristup bocnim (ako smo,na trenutak zauzeli poziciju unutar HTML-a) beleskama-upadima. Sam Ashleyev tekst-leyer preuzima na sebe jednu od metoda kritike kada bira cas ovo,cas ono mesto za cin-delovanje-prostor :fragmenti, glagoli nemackog jezika, pojmove zen budizma, imena mesta u Meksiku, ”mesta gde sam spavao”, bodhi, untitled i najzad: in memoriam Susan Zontag koja se zalaze (tu Ashley locira i svoj stav) za akriticnu kritiku zasnovanu na dokumentarnosti i cinu,impersonalnom i organizacionom pristupu i postupki,u kome je sam umetnik ili kriticar saucesnik u artikulaciji.
Tekstualni dodaci-lejeri ne lome i ne dekonstruisu poetske i metafizicke ideale modernizma. Sve je vec bilo i izazov je-dug prema “zvanicnoj istoriji” uvek se ponovo vracati, potvrdivati i dodavati, dodavati, dodavati jer prekinuti govor znaci uci-iskoraciti u nepovratan process.
Opravdano nepoverenje u dijalog sa svetom-eksterijerom se time raskida iz potrebe za sublimnim koje se postize u dijalogu sa Drugim.Otuda «upad» ili uvoz najcesce dalekog Drugog-potonulog u istoriju,mit ili smrt.U susedstvima/blizinama,u domenu govora,lezi zametak sukoba.Mesto/vreme-spoljasnjost iz koje govori pesnik TU FU od pre 1000 godina uvodi i postaje aktuelno mesto brige o svakom delu procesa stvaranja..Refleksija o tehnici smesta se na mesto dalekog Drugog,u polje izuzetne briznosti ,upravo zato sto je tehnika samo bice sveg stvaralastva. Datiranje, svakodnevni upis u vremenu i za vreme, je u tradiciji On Kawara's "I'm still alive" .Mesta preloma-uputstava za gledanje su naslovi-napadno asocijativne forme.
SIMPTOM Kada bi evocirali hard edge i sistemsko slikarstvo nedvosmisleni upadi-leyeri (naslovi, datumi, poezija, antropoloska i meditativna putovanja, objasnjenja, samorefleksija, narativnost, dnevnicki zapisi) bi svakako omeksavali njihove formalne rezultate-fetisizam autonomije. Kod Ashleya dva dramaturska toka-texta, telo(HTML) i jezik (komentari-leyeri) nikada i ne napustaju mesto medusobne afirmacije. Prostor izmedu njih je samo prisustvo-realno slepe mrlje-simptom (izmedu imaginarnog-slikovne predstave i simbolickog- kojim nastaje smisao i znacenje): mogucnost za katarzu-razresenje-smisao: zaustavljanje smisla predstavlja, po Bartu, neuporedivo slozeniji poduhvat, pa zato i nemoguc. Situiranje u tom rascepu-rupi izmedu slike i teksta, izmedu tela i jezika, izmedu pasivnosti i aktivnosti, dakle i(ni) tu i (ni) tamo je mesto za (hipoteticku) subjektivnost. Postmoderni subjekt, umetnik i nije pripadnik celovitog,jedinstvenog pogleda na svet, on je hipoteticni subjekt koji nastaje u suocenju eklekticnih i raznorodnih interpretativnih mogucnosti u okviru dela.
INTERTEKSTUALNOST Jezicki zaplet izmedu uzivanja proisteklog iz mantricke discipline upotrebom ogranicenja i sumova spolja-ostatka sveta, razresava se kolonizacijom-uvozom-prisvajanjem Spoljasnjeg-Drugog (civilizacije koje su svoju drevnost i dugovecnost gradile kroz intuitivno, meditativno, htonsko) cime se kontinuitet ( i lica i nalicja) uspostavlja. Iako su imanentno odvojeni, obelodanjuju nesto ili nekoga, sto je u samom objektu (HTML) sasvim nerasaznatljivo sa stanovista spoljnjeg, promicuceg-oznacujuceg.
Rezultat estetske kontemplacije i nije novo znanje vec celokupnost dozivljaja.
Dramaturgija weblog performansa/prostora nabrajanjem i punjenjem autonomnim-formalnim sadrzajima/radnjama-HTML postaje staticna i ispunjava principe sinhronije a zadnji plan-leyer preuzima radnju-pogled u drami belezenja-dijahronija. Mesto za paradoks-zaplet-znacenje-ogranicenje nikada i nije u spajanju dva teksta,vizuelno organizovanih kompozicija tabli i jezickih komentara (slike i reci). Jedan tok svesti-vizuelne informacije slede i ispunjavaju-pristaju na sudbinu-inerciju formalnih sistema koji su analiticki i ne zavise od prikazivanja spoljnjeg sveta. Likovna autonomija apstrakcije linearno organizuje interijer dok iz eksterijera stizu dojave, radnja, dogadaji. Uzivanje je uvek na strani Drugog i zato ga Ashley ne prepusta ni Junaku (HTML) ni Glasniku (leyeri) dakle nigde i nikome izvan onoga sto je vec odabrano-uvezeno-prisvojeno da bude Drugi.
PASIVNI PROSTOR Postupak preuzimanja mantricke forme" (“A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation...«) ilustrovan je redovnoscu oglasavanja-prisustva-datiranja,strukturom HTML-a i rasporedom,organizacijom i izborom leyera. U tom smislu je to i pasivni prostor jer je vec dovrsen time sto je preveden u kontemplaciju - They are what they are. Pomiren. Po Hajdegeru i uloga umetnika u stvaranju dela postaje pasivna i beznacajna, bitno je da je delo stvoreno. Iako cine da umetnost bude “jos i nesto drugo”uvezeni dodaci je smestaju u sred sintagme «umetnost kao umetnost » (Ad Reinhart još 50-tih,60-tih razmatra smisao te sintagme) ne pokazujuci nista drugo (izdajnicko-raskidajuce) do propozicija u i o samom radu.
Prostorni text-weblog je predlozen za recepciju i otvoren je za pitanja i odgovore koji se situiraju u etablirana znanja i iskustva sto su formalne posledice umetnosti.
Performans-weblog, bez obzira koliko bio sklonjen i zatvoren u vizualnu strukturalnu autonomiju, uvek ostavlja mogucnost iznenadenja, i zato,za razliku od uhodane pozorisne predstave, ne zna se kuda ce tekst da iscuri, da se savije,da se smesti.
Performans-arhiva-weblog je disciplina ponavljanja i skladistenja.Ponavljanje je uobicajni oblik redundance koja je imanentan otpor entropiji u procesu komunikacije.
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They Are What They Are & Layers
Marija Vauda & Nikola Pilipovc , Belgrade, 2005
Translated from the Serbian by Vanda Perovic
The daily performance – Chris Ashley’s weblog – is loaded by successive changes in construction that can be seen as a two-way text in space set in the unfolding, current time of a stream of consciousness. It is constituted by a HTMLtable, made by Dreamwiever software and supplements of non-esthetic information. It is them that we introduce under the concept (symbolic articulation) of layers because they are the ones, being one possibility out of the infinite possibilities of software rhetoric, which have resolutely been evaded in the realization (construction) of the very HTML tables – esthetic information. Layers thus refer to the date, name, text or poem-explanation which is added to all HTMLs.
It is the additions-the comments which translate, shift the presence into performativity (event): Time as History. It happened!
HTML Propositions and directions are precisely given in layers and refer to the object-HTML (“All drawings start with a small table, say 18 x 16, with each cell 20 x 20 pixels, everything is on the grid, right angles only, no diagonals; everything is hard edged; there are a limited number of colors -216 web safe colors; although one can make more than 216 colors, the number of colors actually viewable varies a lot from monitor to monitor)The act of constructing HTML tables belongs to the process of pleasure. Within the chosen framework there is a daily and done in comfort-ritual confirmation of a habit of vitality-serializing: modules-units-cells are geometric forms mutually linked into line and surface structures (Sol Le Vit, Eva Hese, Robert Morris) and inserted into the process of a time unfolding-weblog. The idea of serial art appears on the intersection where modernistic autonomy of the discipline of painting (sculpture) turns into the post painting strategies. The repetition confirms –‘the supreme principle of small differences’- a paradigm which is made up of limited supplies of units-colored squares while the units of the same paradigm, are similar as much as it is needed for the difference which separate them to be instantly be visible. For example ‘It is necessary for the squares on Mondrian’s paintings to be simultaneously corresponding square forms, but of different sizes and colors-. The supply units-cells is limited by (".... I enjoy the limitations and boundaries because I am presented with a set of solutions that I can't do anything about, that I accept") the number of colors - colors frozen in an alternative by their size- in a frozen alternative of relations – in a frozen alternative by the choice of software- in a chosen alternative that rhetorically establishes a specific space – the way space is organized is decisive for subjectivity. Identities are partially constructed by the kind of space, which is here phallocentric, linear, ascending and affirmative in the tradition of the modernist paradigm.
LAYERS reveal the links and ways of bonding between the units-modules of visual tables and they open the access to the lateral (if for a second we have taken the position inside HTML) notes-intrusions. Ashley’s own text-layer takes on one method of criticism when it chooses one or the other place for the act-the activity-the space: fragments, German language verbs, Zen Buddhist concepts, names of places in Mexico, ‘places where I have slept’, bodhi, untitled and finally: in memoriam to Susan Sonatg who advocates (this where Ashley locates his stand) an noncritical critique based on the documental and the act, impersonal and organizational approach and procedure, in which the artist or the critique him/herself is the collaborator in the articulation.
Textual additions-layers do not break down nor deconstruct the poetic and metaphysical ideals of modernisms. Everything has already taken place and is a challenge, a debt to ‘official history’. To go back always, to confirm and add, add, add, because to stop speech means to enter-step out into an irretrievable process.
A justifiable distrust of a dialogue with the world- exteriors is thus severed due to the need for the sublime that is achieved by a dialogue with the Other. Thus, the ‘intrusion’ or the import, most often, of a distant Other – that is sunk into history, myth or death. The beginning of conflict is located in the neighborhood/in the vicinity, in the domain of the language. The place/the time-the outer world about which the poet TU FU who lived 1000 years ago spoke, leads us and becomes the current place of concern about each part of the creativity process. The reflection on the technique is put in the place of the distant Other, into the field of exceptional concern, for the very reason that the technique is the very essence of all creativity. Dating, the daily inscription into time and for time, is in the tradition of On Kawara’s ‘I’m still alive’. The edge place-the directions for looking are the titles- aggressively associative forms.
SYMPTOM If we were to evoke hard edge and system painting the clear intrusions-layers (titles, dates, poetry, anthropological and meditative journeys, explanations, self-reflection, story telling and diary entries) would certainly soften their formal results – the fetishism of autonomy. In Ashley’s work two dramatistic flows of the text, the body (HTML) and the language (comments-layers) never leave the place of mutual affirmation. The space between is just the presence–authentic blind spot-symptom (between the imaginary-the pictorial representation and symbolic- through which meaning and sense are created): the possibility for a catharsis- resolution-meaning: to stop meaning represents according to Roland Barthes a much more complex undertaking, and thus an impossible one. Thus the place of the (hypothetical) subjectivity is to be situated in that rift-hole between the picture and the text, between the body and the language, between passivity and activity, here and there, neither here nor there. The postmodern subject, the artist does not have a complete, consistent view of the world, he is the hypothetical subject created in the confrontation of the eclectic and heterogeneous interpretative possibilities within the framework of his work.
INTERTEXTUALITY The language conflict between the pleasure originating from the mantric discipline which uses limitations and the noises coming from the outside- the rest of the world, is solved by colonization-importation-appropriation of the Outer-Other (civilizations that built their longlivety and anciency through the intuitive, meditative, cshtonic by which the continuation of both sides is established. Although they are imminently separated, they reveal something or somebody, which is quite illegible in the very object (HTML) from the point of view of the outer, the transient-significant. The result of the esthetic contemplation is not new knowledge but the totality of the experience.
The dramaturgy of the weblog performance/space achieved by enumerating and loading of the autonomous-formal contents/activity- HTML becomes static and fulfills the principles of synchrony and the rear plane-layers takes on the plot-the gaze in the drama of recording-diachrony. The place of the paradoxes-plot-meaning-limitation has never been in the merging of the texts, visually organized compositions of tables and language commentaries (images and words). One stream of consciousness-visual information flows and fill-comply to the destiny-inertia of formal systems that are analytic and do not depend on representing the outer world. The pictorial autonomy of abstraction organizes the interior in a linear way while the plot; events and information come from the exterior. Pleasure is always with the Other and thus Ashley does not give it to the Hero (HTML) nor to the Herald (layers), thus not to anyone or anyplace apart from that which has already been chosen-imported-appropriated to be the Other.
THE PASSIVE SPACE The procedure for taking the mantric form (“A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation...«) is illustrated by the regularity of appearance-presence-dating, structure of the HTML and in the allocation, organization and choice of layers. In that sense it is also a passive space because it has been completed by being made into a contemplation.- They are what they are. Reconciled. According to Heidegger the role of the artist in the creation of a work of art also becomes passive and unimportant, the important part is that the work of art has been created. Although they contribute to art becoming ‘something more’ the imported additions situate it into the middle of the syntagm ‘art as art’ (Ad Reinhart discussed the meaning of that syntagm in the 50s and 60s) not showing anything else (in a treacherous-breaking up way) but propositions in and about the work itself. The spatial text-weblog is proposed for reception and is open to questions and answers that are situated into established knowledge and experience that are the formal consequences of art. The performance-weblog, regardless how much it has been hidden and is closed into a visual structural autonomy, always allows for the possibility of surprise, and thus contrary to the established theatre performance, we do not known where, at what point, the text will flow out, bend, situate itself.
Performance-arhives-weblog is a discipline of repetition and storing. Repetition is the usual form of redundancy that is an immanent resistance to entropy in the process of communication.