[-empyre-] public lament and gardening

Monika Weiss gniewna at monika-weiss.com
Fri Oct 5 04:13:54 EST 2012 

Dear Maria,

Thank you for this questions that implies an answer but also leaves it open for interpretation. 

I consider lamentation as a communal mourning process in public sphere of polis, which in the ancient times was not supposed to be polluted by any openly expressed emotion (unworthy of citizen) nor by anything else coming from non-citizens such as were women at the time. In various geographies and traditions around the world women were the ones who organized themselves and then performed lament in response to war, response to the absurdity of war, often joining forces with the other mourners from the other side, the "enemies".  It's the pollution of the polis through staining it with empathy and affect, that drives my recent work. Even more so, I think the political force comes out of that unknown, permeable, leaky state of mourning, when the boundaries between you and me and the third (as in Levinas) are prone to overlap or momentarily melt, because we are indeed undone by each other. Soldiers are trained to un-think the Other as a no-body, through developing a specific language or vocabulary that avoids any reference to human beings (target, casualty etc.) and also through the strategic enforcing of the agenda of difference, we and them. It would be a military tragedy (and humanity's victory) if we were to actually look at one another with the understanding that the boundaries of Otherness are porous and permeable. 

I think of Lament also as a form,incantation, return, calling, echoing, hence my use of Lament's ABA format. The pollution that happens when the two worlds cross and merge, then and now, dead and alive. I think of Lament as enunciation and as anamnesis, also as a direct sibling of historical memory which, when real and subversive, is capable of undoing power, to some extent. That's why my work has been gradually [over the last 10 years or so] moving towards a focus on the idea of a City, specifically City's memory and City as a martyr (more about this later...)

So yes, lamentation is a critique that serves towards community self-constitution, where the boundary between lamentation lamentations becomes fluid and reversible.

Monika


On Oct 4, 2012, at 9:31 AM, Maria Damon wrote:

> Is there then (I'm sort of assuming the answer is yes, but asking anyway in order to make it part of the fabric of the conversation) a way in which lamentation is also critique as well as community self-constitution, as in Lamentations?
> 
> On 10/3/12 10:35 PM, Monika Weiss wrote:
>> Thank you Ana for those words. I would love to know more about the Antigona Oriental.
>> 
>> p.s.
>> Yes, we have lived through torture since time immemorial but with the Declaration of Human Rights and other international institutions, we had hopes for progress in that area. So, I don't subscribe to the idea that what was there once, is therefore explained today..... the problem with the law and its ability to constitute law, and therefore, to go outside of itself, such as was the case with the concentration camps, and such as is the case today thanks to patriot act etc. otherwise under the umbrella of emergency. But there is a deeper underlying notion of "right" that certain powers have, like during Feudalism, the self-assigned right to inflict "law" upon others, including pain and torture, for the sake of "higher goals" or "security".  
>> 
>> 
>> On Oct 3, 2012, at 6:35 PM, Ana Valdés wrote:
>> 
>>> HI Monika I checked the links you post and they were stunning
>>> beautiful, as the cry of the mourners in the Greek tragedies. By the
>>> way a group of Uruguayan former political prisoners, many of them my
>>> former comrades, put together a beatiful piece called Antigona
>>> Oriental. It was a contrast between their texts and the text of the
>>> Greek tragedy and it worked perfect. The old crimes and the new
>>> shapes, but as Allan said probably Humanity has lived with torture and
>>> mayhem since Man (and Woman) were born.
>>> I think we deal different with pain and each one of us choose it's own
>>> strategy and have his own array of tools to do that.
>>> For me is writing for others is painting, for others dancing, etc.
>>> Ana
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 8:17 PM, Monika Weiss <gniewna at monika-weiss.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi Ana,
>>>> I had the same feeling and wrote about it to Alan....
>>>> By the way, can't wait to hear more from you as part of this discussion.
>>>> Monika
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>> 
>>>> On Oct 3, 2012, at 2:13 PM, Ana Valdés <agora158 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Dear Johannes, as I wrote in my answer to Alan, I am sad I don't have
>>>>> a clue how to avoid these ads in my text, I guess this is the prize to
>>>>> pay for a free digital hosting :(
>>>>> I am now poor as a mouse :) moved back from the First World with all
>>>>> it's glamour to the non glamorous and poor Third World. It means I
>>>>> can't afford to pay any fee for a more fancy add free hosting :(
>>>>> But as I said Amazon still sell back copies of the book where the text
>>>>> is included, the Garden of the Alphabet, published by Serpent's Tail
>>>>> in London and New York.
>>>>> Best regards to all of you
>>>>> Ana
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 3:39 PM, Johannes Birringer
>>>>> <Johannes.Birringer at brunel.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>>> Dear all
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> thank you Monika for your text/introduction to your understanding of the system of lament, and "public lament as performative and political act in public domain"
>>>>>> -- this is richly evocative and will have to go back to your writing after looking at some of your work (the slides, and the films or film excerpts you include on
>>>>>> http://www.streamingmuseum.org/content/monika-weiss/
>>>>>> I am listening to the sound now, of two of your videos.  I was struck, entering the site, to also find your reference to Cage's silence.
>>>>>> on first viewing/listening, your visual-sonic work has quite a mesmerizing quality.  I am just responding now, without thinking, to my listening, and
>>>>>> also watching the face(s) of the women in your films. (this listening is now private, at a screen, in the dark of my room). so no public lament this.
>>>>>> But you stage these works in public galleries or spaces, and they are visited by the "public". how then does such work function in an art context?
>>>>>> can it become a ritualizing space?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> but i shall look forward to reading more concisely (see below) your position, also in regard to the questions already brought up by Alan, when in his last post he  speaks of
>>>>>> the "overwhelming suffering of the world," stating that he does "not know how to accommodate all of this".  This followed the conversation about
>>>>>> pain, torture, memory begun by Ana.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> This accommodation will concern us, in the coming days, i am sure.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Monika, could you expand a little on your reference to Zygmunt Baumann's idea of "gardening" .
>>>>>> What idea is this?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And Ana, I began to delve into your longer text on the migration from torture.
>>>>>> It is a very complex and fascinating text, and i agree with Alan that the "clickable words" are a rather amazing intrusion function of the website.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I clicked "perfume"
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> We did not find any results for perfume.
>>>>>> Search tips:
>>>>>>       Ensure words are spelled correctly.
>>>>>>       Try rephrasing keywords or using synonyms.
>>>>>>       Try less specific keywords.
>>>>>> Make your queries as concise as possible.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> with regards
>>>>>> Johannes Birringer
>>>>>> dap-lab
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Monika schreibt:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Interesting question below from Alan about the nature of video as a catalyst for memory, pain and lament and later I would like to expand that part of our discussion towards the performative and the circular in terms of the relationships between cinematic mirroring and lament as well as pain. Just briefly for now -- about torture. I am more preoccupied with torture inflicted by governments, institutions and systems that often hide their violence -- as you know only recently in my city of origins, Warsaw, a CIA compound was found in which "suspected terrorists" were kept for a number of years and tortured by US forces, without any real knowledge amongst the civil part of the Polish government. There are thousands of examples of course. Massive, systematic pain and torture systems, the ones that are pre-designed by others, "enlightened", designed by those who are in power or who represent structures of power and hegemony not because of hate, anger or any other emotion but becau
>>>>>> se of fulfilling some abstracted and pragmatic goal, akin to Zygmunt Baumann's idea of "gardening" .
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/
>>>>> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>>>>> http://www.twitter.com/caravia158
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0
>>>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/
>>>>> 
>>>>> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>>>>> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
>>>>> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you
>>>>> will always long to return.
>>>>> — Leonardo da Vinci
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> empyre forum
>>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> http://writings-escrituras.tumblr.com/
>>> http://maraya.tumblr.com/
>>> http://www.twitter.com/caravia158
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/art-and-activism/
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/food-history-and-trivia
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/gender-issues/
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/literary-exiles/
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/museums-and-ethics/
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/urbanism-3-0
>>> http://www.scoop.it/t/postcolonial-mind/
>>> 
>>> cell Sweden +4670-3213370
>>> cell Uruguay +598-99470758
>>> 
>>> 
>>> "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth
>>> with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you
>>> will always long to return.
>>> — Leonardo da Vinci
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> empyre forum
>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>> 
>> M o n i k a   W e i s s   S t u d i o
>> 456 Broome Street, 4
>> New York, NY 10013
>> Phone: 212-226-6736
>> Mobile: 646-660-2809
>> www.monika-weiss.com
>> gniewna at monika-weiss.com 
>> 
>> M o n i k a   W e i s s
>> Assistant Professor
>> Graduate School of Art & Hybrid Media
>> Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts  
>> Washington University in St. Louis 
>> Campus Box 1031 
>> One Brookings Drive 
>> St. Louis, MO 63130 
>> mweiss at samfox.wustl.edu
>> http://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/portfolios/faculty/monika_weiss
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre

M o n i k a   W e i s s   S t u d i o
456 Broome Street, 4
New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212-226-6736
Mobile: 646-660-2809
www.monika-weiss.com
gniewna at monika-weiss.com 

M o n i k a   W e i s s
Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Art & Hybrid Media
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts  
Washington University in St. Louis 
Campus Box 1031 
One Brookings Drive 
St. Louis, MO 63130 
mweiss at samfox.wustl.edu
http://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/portfolios/faculty/monika_weiss






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