27 Feb 2009

the dependency clause of the shadow equation (Vespers 90.1)

Thank you Sheila for sharing this concept.











2 many memories
disrobe once
distortion

 


precipitates

 


heads
with a
pantonime of despondency

26 Feb 2009

Tunnel


A little something I made using Apophysis for the fractal and The Gimp for the post processing.

Vespers (90)

Show absorbs (this day
Shadow equation (given
Memory disrobes (apart from
Distortion once (precipitation

Too many (clarities
Lingering responses (chaste
Head filled (pantomime
With despondency (attuned

Maybe window (growth
Coverings fall (gravity
Beneath immediacy (tabled
Behind present (capsized winter

Attention focused (ventriloquized
Here again (loquacity
Fallen forward (tame fumes
As if (dependence clause

25 Feb 2009

21 Feb 2009

Shobana Jeyasingh - "Flickr"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QB5jKqOzTY



This is the kind of dance that inspired me to dance in the first place. I'm sure that the bastards will never let me do this kind of dancing, however I keep trying!

What I like about this dance is that it is neither here nor there. It may as well be meaningless as much as it is meaningful. The choreography is a "displacement" of culture(s), to the degree that the computerised flickers in the background (after about 3 minutes of the video) are neither human or otherwise - a spiritual truth, rather than one of place, nationality, objective reality and the familiarity of objects. By spiritual I don't mean religious, nor do I mean something connected with extra sensory perception, or some other spooky manifestation, I just mean the soul, our sense of being human.

Admittedly, the computer graphics, although connected to the dancers' movements are pretty damn dated, but that adds to the charm. The naivety of dance; its bodily (un)sophistication and limited patterns of expression allow for an immediacy of expression and its removal from the opaque imagery of computer images and video allow dance to sit next to new media arts and say "I can play with you, but I will never be you".

Evidently, this is an "intellectual" dance, although it is not pretentious, in the sense that Modern dance can be. There isn't this odd Modernist idea that dance must have profound subject-matter, but fuck the style! Here, the intellectuality is in the fusion of cultures and styles, and the sophistication of thought that creates choreography with elegant subtlety. It asks many questions and reflects today's "global community", but there are few if any answers.

Isn't the music great? I remember watching another of Jeyasingh's works, "No exit" accompanied by Michael Nyman's notated music for electric guitar! At times Nyman can be messy with his compositions, a la Vaughn Williams' muddy orchestrations, but mostly, this guitar music "kicked ass" and remained abstract and ethereal, as only an electric guitar can!

The main two concerns, stylistically speaking, for Jeyasingh are Indian dance and Western concert styles. However, once again there is no pretension, no "look at me aren't I clever", so prevalent in some Modern dance (that probably nearly killed it off!). The fluidity and funkiness of the choreography reminds the viewer of Jazz or ballroom styles and, although the Indian hand gestures and styling are subtle, they are at times, wilfully graphic.

Simon

P.s. apologies, I could not embed video in page!

19 Feb 2009

Vespers (89)

on screen, a taut white structure in the open by the sea
apart from sand these people lying down with moonlight
some sea spray as lamp of thought
a field of thrush in rhythm then the quiet of the sea

tone swollen to a phrase of midnight almost pure
as lacing sleeves of white won silver
smoothed across the space in tune
with lumens breathy as the deafness of a still composer

staves filled with a voice approaching
spleen of visible young music heeding rules learned
in the silhouette of childhood
pooled against invented windows mythological and sure

18 Feb 2009

Corredizo


Text-Art by Jeff Crouch and Diana Magallon. "Corredizo" is a beautiful work that balances both text and imagery excellently. The Spanish text is reflected in the style and colouration of the image; they compliment each other very well.
Simon

7 Feb 2009

...

I am 1000 faces in one day this moment is
the strength of advertising is its
dislocation to where finitely I am
strangely wise to strangers who remember

my friends near online experience
we called this art and deja vous
is close to you misanthrope I look
like Jim Morrison you are Paris

slipping from view I know Obama
better than you and
you are in my kitchen my cat is
schizophrenic and talks to children

feelings of passivity are media reality
Obama talks to my cat
my cat is human escaping the animal
misanthropy nearer to Dali

now as in snow cover you
speak and there is no sound and the sky
is our eye looking back on its self I am from
Ivory Coast you are a pastiche

the slightest dividend

4 Feb 2009

Flora's Suffering


The ghost-like figure "Flora" is an original photograph by Miss Boux, much edited.
Simon