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8 May-18 May 1997: duende Julie Henderson (in collaboration with Anne Walton and Caroline Farmer) Discharge1 of duende with a touch of semi(er)otic hysteria to say nothing (of) a preoccupation with (avoiding an absence of) definition. This is hard. And then again, soft. "Ssss"ounds. Like soft sounds. Or sounds like "soft". But can "soft" be a sound? And anyway, if we're to be completely honest here, the sound we're working with is dark. "Dark sound". There! It's out in the open now. One possible translation for you2. From the Spanish in this case. But why Spanish, you may ask. What's wrong with English? What's wrong with it in"deed... Thing done intentionally or responsibly; brave, skilful, or conspicuous act; actual fact, performance...". Ahhhh, meanings. Where would we be without them? Lost, probably. In the dark. Missing. Like "longing for"? understanding. Or (a) more! (a) more! Like standing under. This "conspicuous act", this "performance" of ... Translation: it's a vexed business, all right. And then again, all wrong. Which is to say it's in "a state of commotion". Like the sea, according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary. But now we're in danger of 'being'["sss"]wept away with the ["sss"]well, when a quick word count warns: 190 words already. Almost halfway there. And still so unresolved. So empty. But at the same time, full. Of potential. Time! The sudden alarm of it: (w)ringing, pressing, pushing, squeezing something out. Or in....wards3. Now where did that reference to a hospital come from? This is not about sickness is it? Depends. On your point of view of ...(a) form, a loose form of tack4ing. Things. Or no things. Together! Trying to speak. Together! In navigational terms. Like trying and then again not trying to pin or even write it down. Like (a) birth, (a) berth ((a) bored5?) this vessel. Drifting through. A short passage of words. Leading words (in?) other words. Away. A way. To constantly write (or "right" as in "correct" or "balance") itself. To ess6ay7 . Rather than: to be written. By. Upon. Or about. face8. Like a going about9. Again and again. It's hard work. This! To try. This! To say. This! To speak. This! ... And this ... and ... this might (finally) be the point. Or one of many. And all of them looking (as in "searching"? "probing"?) a bit blunt or broken and (un)even(ly) stuffed. muff10(l)ed. Opened. And closed. Over muted voices. "Ssss"ounds. Coming and going ["Inside"!] the other wise smooth ["Inside"!] surfaces of the white cube. Ever so "ssss"lightly interfered with. "Touched" (up?) as in: "moved". Into, in two - an abra(i)ded kind of formation. An odd sort of gift11. Wra["psss"]. Over. Wra["psss"]. Under wraps12. And then again unwraps. Itself. R.I.P.'s itself. Open .... sesame13. There! To find....its own (un?)kind of organ14. Grind, grind, grind(er?). Ground. Down. Write! Down to the ground. (Ahhhh!....at last! Blood!) letting. Gravity. Do the work! The work! Oh please let "it" do the work! This! .... ah! .... time! But "it's" getting out of hand, now. "It" could be anything, now. Real(ly). Or unreal(ly). "It's" the container that mat, matt, matte15, matters most, now. Not what's in it. See? It's so ... bleeding. Obvious. It's a (suit) case of ... now. You see? "It". Now you don't. It's (a) full (and empty) stop (over) now. It's a period (piece) now ...itsssssa ... itsssssa ... by-bye now. Notes 1 "discharge ... fire (gun); release electric charge from; put forth, get rid of, send out, emit, (missile, liquid, purulent matter, abuse); acquit oneself of, pay, perform, (duty, debt, vow); undergo discharge of contents; (of river) flow into sea..." 2 Another one could read something like this: "'The duende is not in the throat, the duende comes up from inside, up from the very soles of the feet'. That is to say, it is not a question of aptitude, but of a true and viable style - of blood, in other words; of what is oldest in culture: of creation made act...the duende...must come to life in the nethermost recesses of the blood...kindles the blood like an irritant,...exhausts...repulses, all the bland, geometrical assurances, smashes the styles...": Poet in New York by Federico Garcia Lorca (translation by Ben Belitt), Grove Press, Inc., New York at p 154-156 3 "wards ... notches and projections in key and lock designed to prevent opening of lock by wrong key..." 4 "tack ... long stitch as slight or temporary fastening in needlework; temporary change of direction in sailing to take advantage of side wind..." 5 Let's hope not or we're done for girls. 6 "-ess ... suffix forming nouns denoting females (actress, adulteress, countess, goddess , lioness...) 7 "say ... utter, make (specified remark), recite, rehearse, in ordinary speaking voice ... 8 "face ... supply ... with facings; cover (surface) with layer of other material; dress surface of..." 9 "going about ... (nautical) on or to the opposite tack..." 10 "muff ... woman's fur or other covering (usually cylindrical) into which both hands are thrust from opposite ends to keep them warm...; bungle, miss...; blunder in (theatrical part, etc.)..." 11 "gift ... thing given, present, donation..; faculty miraculously bestowed, virtue looked upon as emanation from heaven etc., (gift of TONGUES); natural endowment (gift of the GAB), talent,..." 12 "wrap ... enfold, enclose or pack or conceal in folded or soft encircling material, (wrap it in paper, cotton wool; wrap up a parcel; mountain, affair, is wrapped in mist, mystery; wraps up his (or her) meaning in tortuous sentences, in allegory); "under wraps in concealment or secrecy ..." 13 "open sesame ... magical or mysterious means of commanding access to what is usually inaccessible..." 14 "organ ... musical instrument of pipes supplied with wind by bellows, sounded by keys, and distributed into sets or stops having special tone, which in turn form groups or partial organs...; (archaic) person's voice with reference to its quality or power..." 15 a nod, here, towards Roland Barthes via Trinh T. Minh-ha, either of whom help give a group of girls like us, dutch courage, so to speak, at times like this. "The term 'matte' (mat, mate in French) is used by Barthes to describe texture, colours, sounds, the surface of a text. It may mean such things as lusterless, without resonance or echo, flat, 'literal'". It's a term which comes up in Barthes reading of Japan in his L'Empire des signes (Geneva: Skira, 1970). He refers to the "void" around "the Japanese thing" as "an empty space making it matte". But in relation to the Japanese box, he says that it "... does not function as a temporary accessory to the object it contains; as envelope it is itself an object. Although its value is related to what it conceals, "that very thing which it encloses and signifies is postponed for a very long time" (Barthes p 61). "Like a rigorously arranged bouquet which invites the perceiver to follow what the creative hand has traced, thus frustrating the simple decoding of a symbolic message, "the package is a thought"": When The Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender & Cultural Politics by Trinh T. Minh-ha, 1991, Routledge, NY, at p 210 Anne Walton April 1997 |
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installation view
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