Yearly Archives: 2008

anyspacewhatever, or, in search of philosophical poetry and poetic philosophy

in search of philosophical poetry and poetic philosophy

theanyspacewhatever

Time-image is a concept of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze which argues that because of film’s inherent ambiguity (it must be “read” as much as it is “seen” and “heard”); it produces what Deleuze calls “any-space-whatever.” The theory was first brought up in his books on film in relation to such directors as Yasujiro Ozu. He borrowed the term from Pascal Augé (although some scholars erringly reference Marc Augé).

Now Guggenheim chief curator Nancy Spector appropriates (borrows) French philosopher Deleuze’s concept as  theanyspacewhatever, an exhibition which brings together new installations by 10 artists including Angela Bulloch, Maurizio Cattelan, Liam Gillick, Jorge Pardo and Carsten Höller. Douglas Gordon’s 24 Hour Psycho will be shown backwards in 24-hour sequences during which the museum will remain open.

Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like

300px-Madame_X_by_SargeantDying Adonis by Goltzius

Click for credits

“Physically, men and women are generally attracted to each other because of their differences. Ask any group of men from any culture to assess the attractiveness of a female, and they will tend to opt for the figure which curves where they are flat, is soft where they are strong and — though this may be a matter for aesthetic as much as scientific debate — swells where they are narrow. The same, in reverse, is true of women, who will tend to express a preference for men with broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips. … Yet in every other respect, we expect the sexes to be attracted to each other because of their similarities. Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like. —Brain Sex


In defense of Michael Jackson

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvWMLAWrEjU]

“They Don’t Care About Us“

“In recent years a workprint of Spike Lee‘s music video to Michael Jackson‘s “They Don’t Care About Us” has appeared, which is a rough cut of the Prison version. This version contains even more violent footage (the Rodney King beating, Los Angeles riots, the Chinese Tank Man, the Vietnam war) than the released video, which also includes scenes of the Holocaust, dead bodies, gunshot and African famine scenes and a kid throwing around a foot detached from its body.” —Sholem Stein

See art and politics

Eat Out More Often

RIP Rudy Ray Moore

Rudy Ray Moore died. I had never heard of him. But the image above I liked.

Rudy Ray Moore (March 17, 1927 – October 19, 2008) was an American comedian, musician, singer, film actor, and film producer. He was perhaps best known as Dolemite, the uniquely articulate pimp from the 1975 film Dolemite, and its sequel, The Human Tornado. The persona was developed during his earlier stand-up comedy records.

Rudy Ray Moore’s type of African-American humor, called bawdry, is also represented by Blowfly and the Detroit Grand Pubahs.

Through mine eye the stroke from her did slide, directly down unto my heart it ran

DSC01551

My eye, a couple of minutes ago

A continuation of “ocular eroticism”, ocular eroticism III

“Through mine eye the stroke from her did slide,
Directly down unto my heart it ran.” —Thomas Wyatt

Full poem:

So unwarely was never no man caught
With steadfast look upon a goodly face
As I of late; for suddenly, me thought,
My heart was torn out of his place.
Thorough mine eye the stroke from hers did slide
Directly down unto my heart it ran.
In help whereof the blood thereto did glide,
And left my face both pale and wan.
Then was I like a man for woe amazed,
Or like the bird that flyeth into the fire;
For while that I on her beauty gazed,
The more I burnt in my desire.
Anon the blood start in my face again,
Enflamed with heat that it had at my heart,
And brought therewith throughout in every vein
A quickened heat with pleasant smart.
Then was I like the straw, when that the flame
Is driven therein by force and rage of wind.
I can not tell, alas, what I shall blame,
Nor what to seek nor what to find.
But well I wot the grief holds me so sore
In heat and cold betwixt hope and dread,
That but her help to health doth me restore
This restless life I may not lead.

Ocular eroticism II

The ocular eroticism mentioned in my previous post appears to be a niche art criticism trope.

Evidence:

Essays in Critical Materialism

Reconfiguring the Renaissance: Essays in Critical Materialism – Page 159

by Jonathan V. Crewe – Renaissance – 171 pages

37 The same model of what we may call “ocular eroticism” informs secular literature as well: one thinks of Wyatt’s “Through mine eye the stroke from her did …
Transcendence, Desire, and the Limits of ...

Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage: Transcendence, Desire, and the Limits of … – Page 103

by Celia R. Daileader – Performing Arts – 1998 – 194 pages

… displacing the “ocular eroticism” prevalent from Plato through Wyatt – an eroticism which pertained to the longing for one’s lady as well as the longing …
Reading the Medieval in Early Modern England

Reading the Medieval in Early Modern England – Page 208

by Gordon McMullan, David Matthews – Drama – 2007 – 287 pages

… point is that Mary’s ‘erotic fragrance’ — a vestigial remnant of medieval ‘ocular eroticism‘ — presupposes the importance of Mary’s physical knowledge …
Shakespeare the Actor and the Purposes of Playing

Shakespeare the Actor and the Purposes of Playing – Page 134

by Meredith Anne Skura – Performing Arts – 1993 – 325 pages

… particularly of the erotics of the gaze.50 The ocular eroticism associated with the hunt in general in Love’s Labour’s Lost is here epitomized in …
The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima

The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima – Page 70

by Jerry S. Piven – Literary Criticism – 2004 – 273 pages

… which is also consistent with Mishima’s ocular eroticism as simultaneously retaining, destroying, and merging with those on whom he gazes, …

Sexual Aliveness: A Reichian Gestalt Perspective

by Edward W. L. Smith – Self-Help – 1987 – 126 pages

Gotta love Google books.

My tongue would penetrate her eyelids

Claude Nicolas Ledoux has the best public domain eye. The best in the non-public domain area is the eye from Bunuel's An Andalusian Dog.

Claude Nicolas Ledoux has the best public domain eye.

The best in the non-public domain area is the eye from Bunuel’s An Andalusian Dog.

French blog Au carrefour étrange has a post on ocular eroticism.

Story of the Eye invariably comes to mind, but to our subject at hand:

I quote from Au carrefour étrange[1] who quotes from La vie sexuelle de Robinson Crusoe:

« J’ai connu une femme dont j’embrassais l’œil en introduisant ma langue entre ses paupières et son orgasme alors était intarissable » (Michel Gall. p.89)
« I once knew a woman whose eyes I kissed and my tongue would penetrate her eyelids, she would then climax to the point of exhaustion» (Michel Gall. p.89)

I love books or films which start with the sexual life of….

La vie sexuelle de Robinson Crusoe

Examples in this category include The Sexual Life of Catherine M., The Sexual life of the Belgians, The Sexual Life of the Savages and now this The Sexual life of Robinson Crusoe.

Emmanuel Pierrat has called The Sexual life of Robinson Crusoe a small masterpiece. It is not available in an English translation.

Digression:

Here the An Andalusian Dog eye, just before being slashed, with the beautiful Argentinian tango in the background.

I’ve posted the razor scene before, it’s about the last place online where you can still see the still and the film[3]

Here is the tango scene with a nice colorized pre-razor still of the film.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17OAI5M4tI]

Un Chien Andalou (1929) – Luis Buñuel [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Un Chien Andalou is World Cinema Classic @69

Elliott Smith @39

It’s been five years since singer-songwriterElliott Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) died from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted. Smith had battled with depression, alcoholism and drug addiction for years, and these topics often appeared in his lyrics.

I’d heard of him before, but this is the first time I am listening to his work. His story and music remind me of Nick Drake and that other tragic 20th century American musician, Tim Buckley.

Some complimentary depression imagery:

L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar Degas

L’Absinthe (1876) – Edgar Degas

Morphine (1894) - Santiago Rusiñol

Morphine (1894) – Santiago Rusiñol