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Mona Hatoum Homebound (2000)
‘Homebound is a tableau of furniture and objects arranged behind a barrier of taut steel wire in a gallery all its own. This is a cluttered domestic environment of tables and chairs, cots, toys, kitchen utensils, lights, a birdcage. All wired-up, a whining current surges round the room as clusters of objects light up in turn, the aggressive sound amplified for our pleasure and disquiet.’
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Jan Nelson and Liza May Post Down (2004)
Sculpture, video
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Tokujin Yoshioka Crystal of Light (2020)
‘The enormous artwork (height 1.65m, width 3.5m) is placed near Exit B6 of Tokyo Metro Ginza Station and illuminates the inside of the station.’
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Claire Fontaine Italy (burnt/unburnt) (2011)
matchsticks, inflammable wall
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404.zero 3.2 (2021)
‘The entire audiovisual content was produced before real setting up – we spent two weeks in a warehouse in Saint Petersburg with a similar sound system, full tables of modular synthesizers, and visualizer. It was a new experience for us – never had the ability to deeply focus on sound and light for such a large-scale setup rather than counting hours before running the show.’
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Tatsuo Miyajima Time Waterfall (2016)
The work was shown across the entire façade of Hong Kong’s iconic 490-meter-highInternational Commerce Centre on the Kowloon harbour-front.The numbers of different sizes all flow down over the surface of the building at the different speed, representing individuality of people and multi-temporality of time.
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Monica Bonvicini Blind Protection (2009)
Blind Protection is a bundle of white neon tubes hung, turned on and blaring, from the ceiling. The light hurt my eyes.
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Su-Mei Tse Swing (2007)
If you’re like me you can’t wait to jump on for a ride, however it would all be over before it started as the entire piece is essentially a rigid light made of white neon tubes and controlled by a motor embedded in the ceiling.
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Bruce Nauman Green Light Corridor (1970)
Nauman enforces the contrast between the perceptual and physical experience of space in his sculptures and installations. Looking at the brilliant color emanating from Green Light Corridor (1970) prompts quite a different phenomenological experience than does maneuvering through its narrow confines.
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Anthony McCall Various works (1973, 1974)
Anthony McCall is known for his ‘solid-light’ installations, a series that he began in 1973 with his seminal Line Describing a Cone, in which a volumetric form composed of projected light slowly evolves in three-dimensional space. Occupying a space between sculpture, cinema and drawing, his work’s historical importance has been internationally recognized.
Conical Solid (1974)
Line Describing a Cone (1973)
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Conrad Shawcross Slow Arc Inside A Cube IV (2009)
Slow arc inside a cube is inspired by a description by the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin, responsible for working out the structure of pig insulin, a complex protein chain. Hodgkin did this by pioneering a technique called crystal Radiography, and compared the longwinded process of extrapolating the dense protein cloud from reams of chromatographic grids to trying to work out the structure of a tree from purely looking at its shadow. It is similar, of course, to Plato’s cave. The piece is the first in a series of works where a small but brilliant halogen light, on the end of an articulated arm, travels diagonally from one corner of a cube of mesh to its opposite side, the path it draws being not quite straight but slightly bowed. The piece is about the relationship between the moving point source of light, the cage, which is the only constant, and the changing shadow of this constant projected on to the walls of the space. It is the shadow of a cube, but it is not a silhouette but a shadow from within itself, maybe an inverse shadow is an effective way to describe it.
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Paul Chan 1st ^Light^ (2005)
1st Light is the first of a seven-part cycle of animations in which Chan addresses the themes of religion, politics, and art. A shape-shifting parable of politics and religion in a post-9/11 world, Chan’s animation is both morally and aesthetically resonant. Drawn on a computer and projected on the gallery floor, the simple but dramatic silhouettes in the work describe an apocalyptic vision of the world. Shadowy bodies fall, earthly objects rise to the heavens.
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Jennifer Steinkamp Madame Curie (2011)
The work was inspired by Steinkamp’s research into atomic energy, atomic explosions, and the effects of these forces on nature. Marie Curie was the recipient of two Nobel Prizes for creating the theory of radioactivity, and discovering radium and polonium. She was also an avid gardener and lover of flowers. An enveloping, panoramic work, this piece activates a field of realistically rendered moving flowers and flowering trees, drawn from a list of over 40 plants mentioned in Marie Curie’s biography, written by her daughter, Eve Curie.
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Louisa Fairclough Absolute Pitch (2014)
On each filmstrip is a single sustained note sung by a chorister who was given the instructions: “Close your eyes and sustain this (given note) for as long as you can. As you sing, picture a colour. Remember that colour”. Printed onto each filmstrip in parallel with the voice is a single block of colour. The five film loops cast the lines of the monoprint into physical space, the lengths of film slicing through the semi-dark. With the lenses pulled out of focus, the projectors throw large diffuse spots of colour and filmstrip shadow onto the walls and ceiling, the voices coinciding as the pentatonic harmony shifts through differing degrees of consonance.
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Anri Sala The Last Resort (2017)
’38 custom-built snare drums that have been upturned, installed with an interior light and suspended from the ceiling. Within each drum, an orchestral recording is played through hidden speakers. The musical track, a new variation on Mozart’s 1791 Clarinet Concerto in A Major, reverberates inside the drums to trigger their kinetic response.’
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Ann Veronica Janssens Rose (2007)
Seven beams of light and artificial haze (360 x 250 cm)
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Simon Faithfull Reenactment for a Future Scenario no.1: EZY1899 (2012)
‘This film depicts the Sisyphean efforts of a silver-suited commuter to board and fly in a monstrous rendition of a 1990s jet. The unreal vehicle is misshapen, blackened by fire and missing a wing, the craft will not fly, but the traveller undertakes his ritual of boarding and waiting for take-off whilst flames surround him.’
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James Nizam Visible Light (2013)
James Nizam, a Canadian artist, is creating geometric shapes using light and mirrors. Manipulating his surroundings, he takes advantage of the contrast between light and dark in order to create his sculptures. The installations utilize several lighting elements and mirrors in order to create a physical presence to the immateriality of light.
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Philippe Parreno Marquees (2006 – 2015)
Parreno’s iconic Marquees were made between 2006 and 2015. The Marquees and pianos are sequenced to musical compositions by Agoria, Thomas Bartlett, Nicolas Becker, Ranjana Leyendecker, Robert AA Lowe and Mirways.
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Shun Ito Orbit 2 (2015)
Après de longues années au sein de la compagnie de danse contemporaine Karas dirigée par Saburo Teshigawara, Shun Ito décide en 2001 de se consacrer à la sculpture cinétique. Les effets de la gravité, auxquels il a été particulièrement sensibilisé durant sa carrière de danseur, sont le thème principal de ses créations. La lumière est également un élément essentiel de son travail. La combinaison de lumières et de mouvements crée des rythmes complexes et une grande variété de formes et de couleurs, donnant à ses œuvres un effet cinématographique.
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Joana Vasconcelos Giardino dell’Eden (2015)
Plastic flowers, synchronous micromotors, LED light bulbs, transparent polychrome acrylic discs, electric system, spandex, PVC, MDF
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Thorsten Kirchhoff Overdrive (1998)
Oil and light bulbs on n.2 canvas
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Eugenio Cuttica Ataraxia (2018)
‘Argentinian artist Eugenio Cuttica displays one-hundred five fiberglass sculptures that stand atop white chairs and scale a ten-meter high sloping wall.’
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Cai Guo-Qiang WE ARE (2024)
‘Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang has addressed the reported injuries and distress that stemmed from his daytime fireworks display, WE ARE, that was staged last month at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. At the event, attended by a crowd of 5,000, according to the L.A. Times, rocks the size of quarters fell on the attendees which resulted in two reported injuries. Images captured by bystanders also appear to show one onlooker whose sweatshirt sustained burn holes from the falling debris. In addition to people being injured, there were multiple complaints regarding the sound the piece produced.’
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Edo Rosenblith Black Space/White Lines (2014)
‘Inspired by traumatic events in society and his personal life, 17 year old Edo Rosenblith’s artwork juxtaposes dark subject matter with humor in a stylized form of painting reminiscent of R. Crumb and Philip Guston. In Black Space/White Lines, the young artist takes the fairly comfortable experience of the traditional gallery wall as a starting point and reverses expectations by transforming it from pristine white to black and bathing the space in black light. Using paint markers commonly used by graffiti artists, Rosenblith presents an on-site wall painting—in the starkness of black and white—crowded with leering faces in various stages of cartoon anxiety.’
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Angela Bulloch Various works (2001, 2312)
For years Bulloch, with the help of Holger Friese and others, has been developing a series of works known as the ‘Pixel Cubes’. Each of the small, glass fronted plastic or wood boxes contains three fluorescent tubes. Using custom-made software, the fluorescents inside the cubes can be modulated to an almost infinite variety: 16 million colours, the same number as a standard computer screen. The individual cubes form the elements of a modular system which the artist then stacks up in different combinations, in cubes, towers, columns, or even as a cinema screen. Z-Point consists of 48 stacked light cubes that create a looped abstraction of the famous scene from Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point (1970) in which the heroine watches (or possibly imagines watching) the explosion of a Modernist house in the desert.
Angela Bullock Z Point (2001)
Angela Bulloch Disco 9 (2012)
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RaumZeitPiraten CinemaBackyard (2015)
An audiovisual, urban intervention with the CycloCopters of the artists collective RaumZeitPiraten. The CycloCopters are custom-built, light and sound emitting vehicles for urban interventions. Different models of old freight bicycles were modified and customized towards mobile, opto-acoustic systems that can be used to board and transform public spaces. With this rideable instrumentarium we try to open the cities for audiovisual live-experiments and performances in search of widened associative spheres, expanding our and the participants understanding of the public space and its potential.
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James Clar Dynomite (2006)
Dynomite is a series of audio interactive, tri-colour bars that pulse and change colour in rhythm with the music. Each bar has its own set of controls allowing the users to individually tune the colour, animation, and sensitivity, creating a multitude of combinations and effects.
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Charles Atlas Painting by Numbers (2011)
‘With his trilogy The Illusion of Democracy (2008–12), Atlas has abandoned the presence of human bodies in favor of numerical figures, animating a constantly expanding and contracting universe based on six digits. Casting 1 through 6 as the protagonists of these intricately choreographed video installations, Atlas pushes the limits of their “numberness” and evokes the pervasiveness of mathematical algorithms in our increasingly technologized society. In Painting by Numbers (2011), a sea of digits swells and subsides over six acts that culminate in a climactic finale.’ — MoMA
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Katie Paterson Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight (2008)
‘Spectral measurements of moonlight were applied to create a light bulb. The bulb provides a lifetime’s supply of moonlight, based on the average lifespan of a human being.’
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Cao Yuxi (James) ORIENS (2017)
ORIENS is an Audiovisual installation finished in 2017 by Cao Yuxi(James) within a 30M*14M*14M space at Today Art Musum in Beijing. This installation utilize the three dimensions of this immersive mapping projection space, sinks the audience into external dimensional atom blackhole that beyond the human’s perception.
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p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! All credit to Sypha plus I guess my technical help. Thank you so much about the film. The success brings new problems with it, and we need to sort them out, but the biggest hurdle has been passed, or I sure hope so. Aw, love so knows my needs. I owe him one. Love turning everything you own into a lamp, G. ** Misanthrope, Alex is a brat, in other words. Enjoy the spoils of victory. Any progress of the positive kind with the CEO? Maybe you should remind him what can happen to CEOs who don’t take complaints seriously. ** Some Guy, New name, same you. I do, of course, remember the time when your s*ave was a topic of discussion. How could I forget. Nice, nice: your Xmas. I always think about getting a tree but then I think more about it and I don’t. I probably should think less. I have no Xmas plans other than a Buche feast a few days before the big day. It seems you did miss this year’s Buche Beauty Pageant, but nothing ever gets totally lost around here, so if you want to see the contestants, voila! ** Steve, I think I remember Bret telling me that he saw Sypha’s post and was kind of scared by it, haha. Everyone, Do go see what Steve thinks about two films: THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and Paul Schrader’s OH, CANADA. We are working on determining when and where the film will have its premiere, yes. Obviously wish I was there for the great sounding Media City Film Festival. ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh wow, a Xmas Attraction disaster? Could it be true? It seems like it’s been ages. Thanks, Ben. ** Steeqhen, I always think that opening a Word doc is the official beginning. From there on it’s either success or failure with no in between. Good luck. I’ve never been able to work well in a library, but my own place is quiet enough that even the quiet shuffling about in libraries gets too distracting. Speaking of distracting contexts, I’ve never been in a gym in my life. I’ve just looked at them through windows. I don’t even know what they sound like, but I guess I can imagine. I quit university after one year so I could write all day, so I get you. How much further to the finish line? My ‘high school’, which was a private all-boys school, had no art or creative classes whatsoever or even wood/metal shop classes. Pure academia plus gym class. But we school weirdos found each other and made art together in the margins until the school expelled us. I think they still prioritise creative classes in French schools, but I’m not entirely sure. In the US, forget it. I hope you’ve arrived into today in one complete piece. ** James, Done, that’s the keyword, Congrats. Enjoy refilling. 40+ degrees is in way no fun, but I remember trying to feel grateful that I wasn’t in Dubai. See you when you’re well rested and ready. ** Lucas, Sounds like you got a lucky break there, with the concert no-show at least. When do your holidays start? It must be soon, right? It’s like, what, wait, the 11th already. I’ll take a look at the paper that you found interesting, thanks! My night must have nice since I’m up and alert again but I don’t remember what I did. Oh, wait, played my video game, that explains it. ** hsnkktobg, Hi! Krasznahorkai’s great, at least sometimes, but the pleasure he creates is not speedy, yeah, that’s for sure. Good luck. Yes, I did get your email, thank you! I’m just behind on things, especially email, but I’ll write back to you very soon. Lovely to see you! ** Justin D, Sypha never does anything halfway, god love him. I’m in the camp that, at least for now and in theory, thinks remaking ‘AP’ as a film is a very uninteresting idea. But who knows, obviously. The proof is in the pudding, as my mom used to say. I really like ‘Glamorama’ too. I think my fave of his is ‘Lunar Park’, if I had to choose. Maybe. I’m so happy that no one I know expects or gives gifts or cards, and I’m totally in the clear. Not that Xmas shopping wasn’t fun. In fact, now that I think about it, I miss that. Sad. My yesterday was mixed. I made plans to hang out with a new friend of mine. Olivia, Mario’s origami companion creature in my video game, sang a disco song that made a temple that Mario needs to enter rise out of the desert. On the other hand, the first post-film breakthrough success problem raised its apparently ugly head. But what can one do. Envy on your Xmas shopping and even wrapping, sincerely. ** Darbz.⛄️, Hi Darbz and your snowperson too. Nice you have that comix and record store so approximately. Roberta Flack and metal, what a marriage. I do like brooms, so it’s nice to imagine you pushing and hurling about with one. Sure, I’d like to see the sketch, sure. Your professor sounds like a guy who will understand and appreciate your words. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I bet I’m not. I just described my day not even an inch north of here. It was basically good, I guess. I’m tempted to put a little pressure pad under my doormat that triggers that poorly tuned serenade. I might even actually do it. I hope your professor is dressed up as Santa Claus when you talk to him. ** HaRpEr, Haha. I read the ‘A Clockwork Orange’ novel after I saw the film, and that was a mistake. Anthony Burgess was an odd writer. It seems like he’s completely forgotten now. I never hear anyone say his name or refer to him. Makes me want to try him again and find out why. I hope against hope that you’re not getting sick. Zac always gets sick at Xmas. Always, every year. Although he’s not sick yet, but it’s a Sword of Damocles. So, … how are you? ** Joseph, Hi, Joseph! Your new book is so fucking good! ‘LP’ is my fave Ellis too. I just put together the blog’s annual Xmas Poetry Scroll post, and I found a Xmas poem by Knott that’s nice and weirdly not insane at all. I’m still hungry and utterly patient for your Jack Terricloth Day if such a thing becomes fruit. Dude, it’s always Halloween on DC’s. Thanks! ** Joe, Hi, Joe! Thanks, pal. We’re not, like, out of the woods, but we’re a whole lot closer to the highway that runs alongside it. Wow, I think I’m the same about ‘AP’. I hope that doesn’t mean we’ve become adults. ** Uday, Champagne uncorked. Congrats! One learns so much more by listening instead of talking. Not that talking isn’t instructive, I guess. Depending. There’s such a thing as pomegranate chapstick? Wow. You contribute to this place constantly and impactfully. Thanks, I can’t wait for our film to be alive. ** Okay. A day of lighted things. That’s your day. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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hi – apologies – i looked back at my reply from yesterday and it was way longer than i thought it was when i wrote it
Well I liked reading it though… Sorry if that’s weird of me to say because the comment seemed personal and heavy at some parts, and I know you weren’t writing it in reply to me or probably didn’t mean for any internet strangers to read it, it’s only that I was reading through it anyway and in my head it was playing out like the stop-motion Morning Elegance music video from like 2010 but only more metal and punk. Hi.
^ I agree with **Poecilia, I enjoyed reading it!
Thanks **Poecilia and **Steeqhen , that’s v flattering – trying to imagine that music video warped into yesterday’s comment comes up with v interesting permutations – any of my comments are definitely intended for internet strangers lol ! It’s why I comment here – I guess that’s my worry tho- i always kind of comment free association ramblingy, and I wonder if maybe the result isn’t what a forum like this is for – too much like a piece of prose than a comment? I’m definitely interested in discussing with internet strangers here – but I think my comments sometimes hit a note incongruent with that ? Idk
Oh wow, that Anthony McCall exhibit is actually something I saw recently in London, when I visited about 6 months ago. One thing that isn’t super visible in the photos is how fluid the whole thing is – the entire room is full of a very thick, varied smog, so when you make any movement, like breathing or moving a limb, the entire room is disturbed, and the lights flicker a little. The film that’s projected through the smoke is also fascinating – it’s this strange curving set of lines, that are totally readable on-screen as mathematical formations, but while “inside” them – i.e., the cone of light they project, they’re impenetrable as anything other than random, slowly shifting forms. I’m not sure I really “got” it, per se, but it really fostered this incredible sense of intimacy with strangers – it was all in the dark, so you couldn’t see the person standing next to you, outside of the thin slices of light that ran across them and the movements they induced in the fog around you. I recommend looking at what’s projected on-screen, it’s a really incredibly great artwork/space. It was wonderfully hung too, they set the exhibit up in such a way that you HAD to walk through the projected “cones”, which really desmystified the whole thing in an excellent way.
Anyway, sorry, I’ve totally gone off on one about that, it was just a wonderful exhibit. Great news about the film! I’ve unfortunately had a computer issue, so I’m currently working on undoing my laptop’s fan, in order to clean it, or replace it in the worst case scenario. This is definitely my slightly odd computer fixation talking, but there was something profoundly intimate about diagnosing the issue – the fan sort of spasms against your finger, like a muscle. I’m typing this on that laptop, haha, so it’s all spread out on the bed around me, but all still managing to type / send data / display visuals. It may just be the slightly manic state I’m in, but it’s not a million miles from being erotic. Anyway, haha, I’ve totally rambled. Thanks for sharing, have an excellent day! Amazing news about the film!
Discovering the shape of pig insulin must be such a great conversation starter, plus the bragging rights have got to be crazy. The Steinkamp Marie Curie flowers one is quite sweet, those fibreglass dudes/dudettes/gendudeless are freaky-looking, and Rosenblith doing shit like that at 17 is crazy. I’m 17. I have no exhibits, no place in a gallery… I can’t compete, man. Can’t keep up with the youth they’re all too sharp and fast fuck ;-;
Hi D-Dawg, I’ve been well-rested enough to flirt and dance in my kitchen, not as defeated as I felt yesterday. In Geography class today there was a weird unidentifiable worm thing on my table, so the guy I sit next to talked about it being potentially a parasite and I made some body horror comments. That was mildly interesting. And for geography, weird worms are massively interesting.
Dunno if I enjoyed refilling, I was too tired to feel much other than… how fucking tired I was. Just an evening spent curled up/lying on a sofa with my eyelids drooping. I started a new Murakami (he’s samey but I eat his shit up all the time) last night – Sputnik Sweetheart, and it’s already so cute and adorable. He’s kind of the author I go to for a comfort read.
I think I’m generally grateful that I’m not in Dubai regardless of the season. Not only cus, super hot and sand – I’m not crazy on either – but the whole, UAE criminalising homosexuality, thing.
Fucking mock exams in January, not looking forward to those. However am sooo looking forward to Christmas. Next week on Friday is when we break up for holibobs, and I’m determined to wear my Santa hat. Today the advent calendar was a coconut chocolate which was super yummy. No one else I know likes coconut the way I do. Tragic. Your stance?
Gonna finish lunch, write, read, listen to music, dread Thursday, the usual. Thx for the kindywindy words. Till tmrw – plus, your private all-boys school sounds like the kind I’d be interested by. My father once said I’m not being sent to an all boys school, after which I smirked, after which he asked me why I was smirking and said he was now concerned. Teehee. As if my taste for Whitman and queer theory and Burroughs weren’t enough, or having a copy of Kramer’s Faggots and a Penguin collection of international gay writing and a book on Fire Island, etc. I’m very obviously gay whatever point proven.
Seeyou Den.
P.S. jay, no idea re: veggie sausages. One time was when my mother was gauging just how much parosmia has fucked up my sense of taste (hint: a lot, but I live with it after several years, bleh). Another was when I was younger and having school lunches and just figured ‘man fuck it I’m gonna have the vegetarian sausages. Let’s live on the wild side.’ Some other guys on the table I sat at did the same, and I can remember the general shared disappointment.
I don’t even play Scrabble that much. It’s generally a given whenever my grandmother visits or vice versa. Few things stoke my already pre-existing adolescent animosity toward my family like Scrabble does.
Kind words appreciated, sentiment sincerely doubted, but they’re done. No want talk or think abt them. Happy Wednesjay.
Lucas, wahey, awesomewawesome. Thx for restwishes, I have got some rest. Ideally by the time you see this I will have replied to your email, which I’m totes looking forward to because I enjoy producing massive fuck-off blocks of text for others to read. Hope it’s been a good one.
Oh, sorry to hear about your sense of taste – I guess it’s going to make student cuisine more bearable, at least? I think veggie sausages have the potential to be way, way better than meat, but that may just be my boyfriend’s cooking. They’re odious when cooked like normal sausages, but when you treat them as their own thing, they’re wonderful – particularly Linda MacCartney.
Oh, we had that as a family for Monopoly – my dad would always come up with some elaborate “strategy” that ended up collapsing when he realised how random everything was. Haha, well, see you then! And congratulations, again!
Hey, hey Dennis. Yeah, my holidays start on the 20th. Today’s looking to be much better (so far). I got a first appointment with an endocrinologist on February 6, which is so much earlier than I expected! I’m not immediately getting testosterone that day but even my psychiatrist told me that I’d most likely have to wait for a first appt in March. It’s a huge mood booster, plus I’m feeling sort of positive about my history exam tomorrow. I’m just not expecting myself to be perfect, which is an attitude I should be applying over all, honestly. How was Wednesday on your end? I don’t really anything else to report, I’m just journaling and reading whenever I can, not doing much more.
Darn, you got here before I could email ToT am literally about to start it though B) so. thumbs up
Hi!!
Really, even if the film’s path into the world still doesn’t seem entirely smooth, I’m sure you’ll deal with anything that comes up now. (Oh yeah, another thing that annoyed me about that podcast: they referred to “Room Temperature” but didn’t even know its title.)
I’m trying to imagine my bedroom with nothing but lamps in it. Not very practical but potentially quite atmospheric. I love warm lights. Love renaming himself Genie and moving into a lamp, Od.
I like the photos of the Angela Bulloch disco floors. Never had the chance of dancing on a Saturday Night Fever-style floor like that, which must make for a giddy experience. The Polish artist Piotr Uklanski make this in the 90s which I think would have worked in a similar way.
Hey Dennis,
Essay is… getting there. I have the rough outline of what I want to say, and have words on the page. Hopefully I will have the majority done by tonight.
I’m the same somewhat with libraries, but I think I’ve conditioned myself to being able to work there. I struggle working at home, and I struggle working in coffee shops (mostly cause Cork is so small and I expect to see people I know pass by).
Gyms are interesting. There’s obviously a lot of homoeroticism to it; sweaty beefy men with their legs on display and moaning from the weights, but also I find it to be a good de-stressor. I’m always trying to get my friends to go with me so I can hold myself accountable in going, but they’re all either too disinterested or nervous to go. I also like the feeling that ‘controlling’ how my body looks gives me; I’ve always had a fluctuating view of my body since I was a young child. I’m the type of guy that can gain weight easily and will never have a flat stomach, unless I become malnourished and waste away. It’s something that I am *somewhat* happy with now as most guys seem to be insecure about being skinny, but gave me serious grief growing up.
My school experience was a bit of a blur. I don’t think that there were any ‘artistic minded’ people in there, but I was too depressed to see that side of people even if they were. I spent most of my time wishing I was someone else, and then when I did become more ‘normal’ and out drinking and smoking in fields every saturday, I just felt hollow. Looking back, all that time I spent alone listening to music and watching films made me who I am today, and I’m happier for it.
I was reading that you that issue with your film’s production sorted, so congrats! I still need to watch Permanent Green Light and Like Cattle Towards Glow, so I’ll try get around to them over the Christmas break. Talk to you tomorrow!
From Media City, I watched forensic research artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s THE DIARY IN THE SKY last night. Are you familiar with his work, which cuts across art forms?
I’ve now posted my music top 10 list (with extensive addenda) on my blog: https://steeveecom.wordpress.com/my-favorite-music-of-2024/
Strange weather in New York today – it’s poured all day, but it’s 60 degrees (Fahrenheit), so it feels even more humid. It’s nice to observe from my apartment.
Looked hard at all of these pieces while 100% sober and came out on the other end super disoriented, in other words: now that’s what I call art! (volume 1).
I can’t tell you, or – rather, I can only *try* to tell you how much that compliment about the new book means to me. That sentence coming from you makes my day, month, and year. Thank you so much.
Lunar Park, aside from just being a great book in my opinion, holds a special place in my brain because of how and where I read most of it for the first time. I was working as a valet (valet work is great for reading on the clock) at a place on the beach in north Florida. It was winter and hardly anyone was coming by at all. So, I read most of LP on my feet, outside, in the dark, in the relative Florida cold. It really paired well.
Looking forward to that entire Xmas poetry post. I love Knott’s “insanity” but it was so infectious it seeped into my own stuff, and his insanity isn’t mine. I can’t get on his level.
I’ll work on the Terricloth as able over the coming days and weeks. Reached out somebody who might wanna contribute or source some anecdotes as well. I do have a title though: “Who’s that fruit in the suit?”
Happy Halloween!
Hey. Yeah, for the past two years I’ve been sick on Christmas day somehow, which is infuriating. And two years before that I was as well. I’m not too bad, I’m still up and about as I’m writing this. I think it might be food poisoning, though I can’t think what could have caused it. I won’t tell you why I think that. What really kicks in as soon as I get sick is how painful it is to smoke. It doesn’t feel so bad going past my throat but my heart starts racing and I get out of breath really quickly. But I’m such a nicotine fiend that I can’t do without the relief and I get really pent up and annoyed about it. Those are the worst parts of human existence, where pleasure is denied to you.
RE: ‘A Clockwork Orange’, yeah, Burgess’ other books are not read at all. I remember my dad was always telling me that ‘Earthly Powers’ was one of his favourite books which made me not want to read it. Burgess does come up a bit because he did that thing where he wrote down the supposed best books of the 21st century that people sometimes cite and his critical work comes up sometimes. Also, he was a big proponent of ‘Finnegan’s Wake’ being Joyce’s masterpiece and edited his own slim version which, at least in the UK, you see more in book stores than the actual book. Funnily enough, there was a course you could take at my university last year on ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and quite a few people did in fact take it. I didn’t. I took the creative course on experimental literature obviously. I did get quite jealous though because a friend was doing an essay or presentation or something on the influence of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ on David Bowie. I got annoyed though because they weren’t even a Bowie fan and I thought I could do it much better. But yeah, I’m really weary of dystopia for the most part. It’s mostly what if we lived in a world where x happened. I do love Joy Williams’ ‘Harrow’ though, which avoids the cliches, and I’m sure there are other exceptions. I’ve heard Anna Kavan is good, and I do remember liking some of Philip K. Dick’s stuff. Like anything, the mainstream commodified version of it is bad.
Wowww, this year’s selection is particularly elegant!! I especially love the teddy bear. Which one are you going to feast on? I love imagining you biting and licking an elegant Bûche.
Hey, Dennis! ‘Lunar Park’ is up there for me, too. The last few pages of that book are so incredibly beautiful. Do you ever just re-read certain sections of novels that you particularly enjoyed? I do. I’m always curious to see if their effect ever differs. I guess I’m currently jaded when it comes to Xmas shopping, but I can see how it would be missed with absence. I’m trying to imagine that scene you described from your game play—it sounds really fantastical. Hopefully the film issue that arose is a mere bump and not entirely insurmountable. I emailed you something a few days ago. Now I’m wishing I could’ve gift-wrapped it somehow.
shitt. Ok not at my house right now so I cant send the really incredible picture almost masterpiecistic picture right now, but ill send this
https://xyzdarbz.com/art-things-i-do/
Alot of the art is old and im far more skilled.
so archaic Literally ive only told three people about this site including you. Feel special.
Haha ,speaking of Lit be bewildered if im a bit bewildered because i totally hit a band-aid blunt like some 30 minutes ago and honestly it worked with a little added charm and less smoke time. But I dont typically smoke in fact I used to hate it mostly because I associated with the lazy ppl around me
But im so exhausted and uptight from work and so much other stressful shit so trust me when I say that I would probably be crying or i dunno writing blood on my walls if I did have good music and a cat and then of course
im rambling.
So I also have been trying to be a better communicator and maybe it seems…otiose? (cool new word) to try to apply that pricniple here but anyways I do ask sincerly that I hope my dark humor doenst b other you. I dont even know if its dark or if its even humor, maybe im too crass or upfront, I dont it im just an admittedly clueless person at times.
Anyways good vibes all around today despite me breaking a promise to stay clean (This is not drug related) but its fine because this saturday me n a friend are going to a show.
DId I tell you when I saw Boris I tried to get in the pit? Haha well its a small venue but it was still a sizable pit (It almost took the entire floor) and instantly as soon as getting into, 5ft fucking pound of flesh went soaring across the floor on my knees but it was fun, laughing the entire time and some girls helped me up.
What kind of places you like hanging about? Like boostores and food or?
Oh11 downtown theres a place called Tap Tea and recently they put a ramen bar there
me and a friend checked it out one day on the 30th which just so fucking happened to be anime night so theres just some cosplay kids swarming in while me and my friend, head to toe in black like some kind of …ruines…? (lost my vocabulary but trying. to make this quick) are sitting in the back. I know nothing about anime, the manager was nice though.
Thats a comic book ref you may not get. I guess comic people are like cosplay nerds,
See ya next week
I keep wanting to delete certain things before hitting send, but I challenge myself not to in order to stop overthinking?
Should I not do this.
I guess I should be realllly brutally honest but about some time ago I stopped talking because I genuinly was in some crazy spell beleif that this whole website was a syop…or not necessarily a syop but that an experiment for a book you were writing. where you kind of just sat and studied every single word like a person was a body of unreadable text. Its almost peculiar to look at now.
Every day istg i feel like im turning into that guy I met in “the Dunes” who was the sweetest person but jesus christ I didnt understand him. hahha
Anyways like I said see ya next week.
/ᐠ – ˕ -マ 𓆏𓆏