Hi all
I wanted to let you know about a week of screenings and events Pavilion will be putting on in collaboration with Elizabeth Price. She's a really interesting artist who draws on institutional crique, philosophy, modernism, sci-fi, pop culture and advertising to 'reinscribe and reformulate collections and archives.'
We're screening two 'epsiodes' of Price's ongoing work The New Ruined Institute - WELCOME (The Atrium) and USER GROUP DISCO (The Hall of Sculptures) - at Pavilion, which each (as Price describes) "unfolds a different room within the notional architecture of a fictional Institutional building."
Screening times: 15 June: 5.30 pm 16 June: 3 pm, 17 June: 3pm, 18 June: 5.30 pm, 19 June: 3pm
We've also got a dialogue event at 42 New Briggate at 7pm (drinks from 6.30) on Tuesday 15 June and a screening at the Hyde Park picture house at 6.30 where we'll be showing films that have directly informed the visual formulation of Price's work (Kenneth Anger, Painleve, Alain Resnais and Chris Marker).
We've just commissioned a text by Rachel Withers (Wimbledon College of Art/ Art Forum) which we're putting out as a piece of print so if anyone would like a copy just send me your address.
More info about it all here
There's an Art Monthly interview between Elizabeth and Paul O'Neill which I found a useful way into her work.
There are also some excerpts of her videos and an essay by Gilda Williams on Lux
If you'd like to book on to any of the events/ screenings just drop me a line(gill@pavilion.org.uk)
Bye for now and looking for the next lab meet.
Gill
Wednesday 26 May 2010
Wednesday 19 May 2010
The Lab With No Name Week One
Present: Andy Abbott, Michael Burkitt, Rob Quirk, Terry Slater, Lucy Bannister, Stuart Bannister, Yvonne Carmichael, Gill Park, James Hill, Dan Simpkins, Penny Whitehead
Dan and Penny joined us from Liverpool and gave a presentation that reflected what they thought of as the theoretical and political framework for the Black Lab (from what they had gathered from the blog). This moved through an outline of global Student movements and occupations reacting against the neoliberlisation of the University and the increase in debt culture through to (post)-communist/anarchist writings by the Invisible Committee (in their small book ‘The Coming Insurrection’) which they have been reading as part of a reading group about political aesthetics in Liverpool.
Afterwards we talked a little about if and why Black Lab had consciously avoided such a directly oppositional/radical framing? For some of the participants it is/was a definite reference point and might help articulate the idea of a ‘common’ ethos but in practice we spent as much time ‘doing’ rather than ‘framing’ and often a lot of the activity was quite humble and less obviously politicised. Would the kind of framework offered by Dan and Penny (through autonomous and self-organised global movements) perhaps help articulate what the Black Lab is better to a wider audience and aid in finding connections with a broader range of ‘common’ activities?
We then began to talk about the specific issues of moving on from Black Lab. It was mostly agreed that a new name would be appropriate for whatever it becomes and a few practicalities were agreed:
- that it happens less regularly (once a week has been too much of a commitment to continue with),
- that the preceding admin and documentation/dissemination (through the blog) is rotated through a ‘steering group’ rather than one person always taking care of it,
- and that it would be a good idea to experiment with different spaces in which the meetings are held so it is not reliant or tied to spaces that Black Dogs have secured.
We spent the majority of the conversation talking over some of the issues that had arisen at the last meeting to do with renaming and also articulating neatly what Black Lab/the new project is. There is a clear tension between wanting to have clarity over what the project is so that it is open for other people (not necessarily to join but to engage in) and the potential for this to unduly ‘fix’ what the project is. Its fluidity and organic development have been key to its success and we want to leave that intact whilst being able to offer a better projection of the project to help address misinterpretations like ‘it’s Andy Abbott’s Independent Art School’.
This relates to whether we call it a ‘club’, ‘school’, ‘lab’, whether we use ‘art’ in the name and whether the name is ambiguous or attempts to be descriptive. Dan offered an observation that perhaps as long as the activity is continued to be well documented then the pressure to summarise what the project is becomes lessened. The sort of people that will feel an affinity or share common ground with a project like Black Lab are hopefully the kind of people that will appreciate the fact it can’t be easily or neatly articulated in a sound bite and will spend time engaging in a blog to get a sense of what it is. The people that can’t be bothered to do that are perhaps people that wouldn’t connect with it anyway.
Lucy suggested that we have the next meeting as a workshop in pulling out some key reflections on the past project using paper, pens, post-its etc. This might help us to find ways of articulating the project that we are collectively comfortable with. Lucy will therefore be the first in the ‘rotating chair’ and responsible for setting a date, time and venue (Saw Mill Yard should be available) and contacting potential invitees. Andy will forward around the contact list to everyone who has put themselves forward for being in the ‘steering group’ to date.
Actions
LB to arrange next meeting date TBC
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Daniel Simpkins and Penny Whitehead Tues 18th May
Hey all,
Just a reminder that this evening we will be joined by Dan and Penny who will discuss their practice and we can talk about future developments for the 'Black Lab' in a potential new space.
If you want to have a look at Dan and Penny's website beforehand it is http://www.disruptdominantfrequencies.net/main/contact.html.
Here is a link to a Map of the new space - go up Saw Mill Road and it's the unit opposite the Foundry restaurant
Saw Mill Yard, Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS11 5WH, UK
Link:
We will commence at 6pm.
Just a reminder that this evening we will be joined by Dan and Penny who will discuss their practice and we can talk about future developments for the 'Black Lab' in a potential new space.
If you want to have a look at Dan and Penny's website beforehand it is http://www.disruptdominantfrequencies.net/main/contact.html.
Here is a link to a Map of the new space - go up Saw Mill Road and it's the unit opposite the Foundry restaurant
Saw Mill Yard, Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS11 5WH, UK
Link:
We will commence at 6pm.
Friday 7 May 2010
New Space, Moving Out.
Hi all,
We'll be moving stuff out of Green Sands into a new temporary space in the Round Foundry today at 2:30pm and then on Sunday afternoon if necessary. Anyone that is able to come down and lend a hand will be most appreciated. Details of the new space will come soon.
bests
Andy
We'll be moving stuff out of Green Sands into a new temporary space in the Round Foundry today at 2:30pm and then on Sunday afternoon if necessary. Anyone that is able to come down and lend a hand will be most appreciated. Details of the new space will come soon.
bests
Andy
Black Lab Week Twelve
It was decided in the meeting that a new method for minuting and disseminating the activity in the Lab should be tested. As such these notes are intended to be less comprehensive than usual…
Present: David Thomas, Mick Welbourn, Dan Robinson, Andy Abbott, Dave Ronalds, James Hill, Yvonne Carmichael.
We used the final meeting in the Green Sands to reflect on what had happened in the space and what we might want to take from it into future developments for the ‘Black Lab’.
We discussed the activity of a fortnight ago; the music jam, performance day and meal. It was agreed that these three activities had demonstrated the range of approaches that had been applied in the Lab; from the very free-form and organic to the tightly curated and more ‘organised’. We discussed the perceived tension at the food event where it seemed there was a clash between the desire on Jayne’s part for the event to be organised and to follow a schedule and the manner in which it was embraced and ‘detourned’ by participants (particularly through the presence of children). Those that were present found it a productive tension but Andy had concerns that it might have arisen due in part to a lack of clarity about what Black Lab is and its ethos/methods. Are we in a position now to better articulate either of those?
We began by addressing the method. We talked about how the Tuesday ‘general meeting’ had provided some rhythm and momentum to the project and that it provided an opportunity for those not able to make every meeting to learn about the events. We also discussed alternatives – like alternating between ‘general meetings’ and events on Tuesday although it was felt this had been applied to some extent. We also talked about how the lab had been administrated – Andy taking responsibility for ‘chairing’ meetings, completing minutes and being a point of contact for potential participants. It was agreed after discussing alternatives including finding funding for this kind of role that a rotating chair and admin would be the best structure to share the work load and the learning.
We also talked about the name. Is it helpful that the project has been called a ‘Lab’? The consensus was that this was a fair representation of how we used the space. Perhaps the link to Black Dogs (through the word ‘Black’) is unnecessary? We talked about alternatives. Andy proposed, following Dan’s initial reflections on the project, that ‘club’ was a better descriptor of the project than ‘Lab’ and potentially more inclusive and fluid (i.e not rooted to one site). We talked about other names for the project from the problematically dry (Leeds Art Club, Critical Art Club) to the more vague (Green Sand Club). The general consensus appeared to come down on the more lyrical and open.
We tried to unpick any ‘ethics’ that might have arisen or presented itself during the project. We attempted this by going round the group and talking about what we had enjoyed the most about the project. Responses included the fact that we had made use of empty property, to the open and apparently ‘agenda-less’ nature of the project. The word ‘comfortable’ arose a few times when talking about the environment we had created. Why was the environment of the Black lab free and comfortable? Why does it feel like a safe place to attempt things? How might we articulate this better? It would be a shame if all we had to say about the project at the end was that it was good because it was vague. Yet there is something crucial and critical about the open nature of the activity and the drive behind that activity. How can we retain this whilst doing justice to the specifics of what has happened and what we might have learned?
It was clear that we weren’t going to be able – nor should we attempt – to ‘wrap up’ the Black Lab at this particular meeting and so called it a night.
Actions
All present to contribute to notes and minutes
New space for Black lab (or whatever it may now be called) to be identified
Next Meeting: decided when in new space. Tuesday May 18th is when we have a visit from Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead.
Present: David Thomas, Mick Welbourn, Dan Robinson, Andy Abbott, Dave Ronalds, James Hill, Yvonne Carmichael.
We used the final meeting in the Green Sands to reflect on what had happened in the space and what we might want to take from it into future developments for the ‘Black Lab’.
We discussed the activity of a fortnight ago; the music jam, performance day and meal. It was agreed that these three activities had demonstrated the range of approaches that had been applied in the Lab; from the very free-form and organic to the tightly curated and more ‘organised’. We discussed the perceived tension at the food event where it seemed there was a clash between the desire on Jayne’s part for the event to be organised and to follow a schedule and the manner in which it was embraced and ‘detourned’ by participants (particularly through the presence of children). Those that were present found it a productive tension but Andy had concerns that it might have arisen due in part to a lack of clarity about what Black Lab is and its ethos/methods. Are we in a position now to better articulate either of those?
We began by addressing the method. We talked about how the Tuesday ‘general meeting’ had provided some rhythm and momentum to the project and that it provided an opportunity for those not able to make every meeting to learn about the events. We also discussed alternatives – like alternating between ‘general meetings’ and events on Tuesday although it was felt this had been applied to some extent. We also talked about how the lab had been administrated – Andy taking responsibility for ‘chairing’ meetings, completing minutes and being a point of contact for potential participants. It was agreed after discussing alternatives including finding funding for this kind of role that a rotating chair and admin would be the best structure to share the work load and the learning.
We also talked about the name. Is it helpful that the project has been called a ‘Lab’? The consensus was that this was a fair representation of how we used the space. Perhaps the link to Black Dogs (through the word ‘Black’) is unnecessary? We talked about alternatives. Andy proposed, following Dan’s initial reflections on the project, that ‘club’ was a better descriptor of the project than ‘Lab’ and potentially more inclusive and fluid (i.e not rooted to one site). We talked about other names for the project from the problematically dry (Leeds Art Club, Critical Art Club) to the more vague (Green Sand Club). The general consensus appeared to come down on the more lyrical and open.
We tried to unpick any ‘ethics’ that might have arisen or presented itself during the project. We attempted this by going round the group and talking about what we had enjoyed the most about the project. Responses included the fact that we had made use of empty property, to the open and apparently ‘agenda-less’ nature of the project. The word ‘comfortable’ arose a few times when talking about the environment we had created. Why was the environment of the Black lab free and comfortable? Why does it feel like a safe place to attempt things? How might we articulate this better? It would be a shame if all we had to say about the project at the end was that it was good because it was vague. Yet there is something crucial and critical about the open nature of the activity and the drive behind that activity. How can we retain this whilst doing justice to the specifics of what has happened and what we might have learned?
It was clear that we weren’t going to be able – nor should we attempt – to ‘wrap up’ the Black Lab at this particular meeting and so called it a night.
Actions
All present to contribute to notes and minutes
New space for Black lab (or whatever it may now be called) to be identified
Next Meeting: decided when in new space. Tuesday May 18th is when we have a visit from Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead.
Monday 26 April 2010
Free Cinema School
Hello,
in no.w.here lab's email newsletter they include info on a Free Cinema School. It appears they'll be at No Soul For Sale too. Here's their newsletter:
[1]FREE CINEMA: THEN AND NOW WED 5 May 7-9PM Free "One of the most thrilling films to be created in Britain this year" James Norton, Vertigo Magazine, 2009 http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/showarticle.php?sel=bac&siz=1&id=1194 A grass roots filmmaking collective residing on the Edgware road invites you to an informal meeting at 'The Free Cinema School'. The evening is an inclusive and collaborative invitation for local residents, film s ocieties, and filmmakers to come together to screen and discuss the film that was shot on the street last summer. Alongside the film screening(s) is an open call to present new ideas, stories, texts, photographs, and personal memories of the Edgware Road with readings from the Free Cinema movements first published journal 'Sequence'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Anderson What is it to revisit the practices of Free Cinema from the complexity of individual desires, public mandates and private interests that currently shape the making of culture today? Or at a moment in which individuals produce and circulate their own media constantly? And where does freedom lie in relation to ongoing initiatives to regulate movement between countries and monitor behaviours within neighbourhoods? As the first proposition of the Centre for Possible Studies, the Free Cinema School takes its cue from the original movement, proceeding with the idea of understanding ci nema as a way of both reflecting contemporary life and inserting the poetic into its daily negotiations. This evening will take place in a relaxed atmosphere in Donya cafe. 5th May 7-9pm Donya Restaurant, 436 Edgware Road, London W2 1EG FREE but please rsvp is advised as places are limited: amalk[at]serpentinegallery.org For further Free Cinema school events in May an June please visit: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=234 ----------------
[2]FILM WITHOUT FILM: May 14.15.16 Turbine Hall. Tate Modern. Free To celebrate The Tate Modern?s 10th anniversary, the gallery will host "No Soul For Sale ? A Festival of Independents". For this free arts festival, Tate Modern is inviting over 60 of the world?s most innovative independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations and artists? collectives, from Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro, to take over the Turbine Hall. We would like to invite you to come and support no.w.here at No Soul for Sale as we launch FILM WITHOUT FILM. This context will include the launch of no.w.here's new artists film and video quarterly including articles by Maxa Zoller, Simon Payne, Rob Muellender and Nicky Hamlyn, an exhibition of the original Instructions For Films series with work by over 40 artists including Michael Snow, Yoko Ono and Maurice Lema?tre and performed works in the Starr Auditorium (programmed for Sunday 16th) http://www.nosoulforsale.com/index.php/2010 http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=231
No Soul for Sale participants will include: 2nd Cannons Publications 98weeks Alternative Space LOOP Arrow Factory Arthub Asia Artis Artists Space Artspeak Auto Italia South East Ballroom Marfa Barbur Black Dogs Capacete Entertainment Casa Tres Patios cneai= Collective Parasol Dispatch e-flux journal Elodie Royer and Yoann Gourmel-220 jours Embassy gallery Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado FLUXspace FormContent Galerie im Regierungsviertel / Forgotten Bar Project Green Papaya Art Projects Hell Gallery Hermes und der Pfau i-cabin Intoart K48 Kling & Bang Latitudes L?appartement 22 Le commissariat Le Dictateur Light Industry Lucie Fontaine Lugar a dudas Mousse New Jerseyy Next Visit no.w.here Not An Alternative Or Gallery Oregon Painting Society Para/Site Art Space Peep-Hole PiST/// Interdisciplinary Project Space Post-Museum PSL [Project Space Leeds] Rhizome Sala-Manca + Mamuta S?n Art Scrawl Collective studio1.1 Swiss Institute The Mountain School of Arts The Museum of Everything The Royal Standard The Suburban The Western Front Society Thisisnotashop Torpedo tranzit.cz Viafarini DOCVA Vox Populi Western Bridge White Columns Y3K
in no.w.here lab's email newsletter they include info on a Free Cinema School. It appears they'll be at No Soul For Sale too. Here's their newsletter:
[1]FREE CINEMA: THEN AND NOW WED 5 May 7-9PM Free "One of the most thrilling films to be created in Britain this year" James Norton, Vertigo Magazine, 2009 http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/showarticle.php?sel=bac&siz=1&id=1194 A grass roots filmmaking collective residing on the Edgware road invites you to an informal meeting at 'The Free Cinema School'. The evening is an inclusive and collaborative invitation for local residents, film s ocieties, and filmmakers to come together to screen and discuss the film that was shot on the street last summer. Alongside the film screening(s) is an open call to present new ideas, stories, texts, photographs, and personal memories of the Edgware Road with readings from the Free Cinema movements first published journal 'Sequence'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Anderson What is it to revisit the practices of Free Cinema from the complexity of individual desires, public mandates and private interests that currently shape the making of culture today? Or at a moment in which individuals produce and circulate their own media constantly? And where does freedom lie in relation to ongoing initiatives to regulate movement between countries and monitor behaviours within neighbourhoods? As the first proposition of the Centre for Possible Studies, the Free Cinema School takes its cue from the original movement, proceeding with the idea of understanding ci nema as a way of both reflecting contemporary life and inserting the poetic into its daily negotiations. This evening will take place in a relaxed atmosphere in Donya cafe. 5th May 7-9pm Donya Restaurant, 436 Edgware Road, London W2 1EG FREE but please rsvp is advised as places are limited: amalk[at]serpentinegallery.org For further Free Cinema school events in May an June please visit: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=234 ----------------
[2]FILM WITHOUT FILM: May 14.15.16 Turbine Hall. Tate Modern. Free To celebrate The Tate Modern?s 10th anniversary, the gallery will host "No Soul For Sale ? A Festival of Independents". For this free arts festival, Tate Modern is inviting over 60 of the world?s most innovative independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations and artists? collectives, from Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro, to take over the Turbine Hall. We would like to invite you to come and support no.w.here at No Soul for Sale as we launch FILM WITHOUT FILM. This context will include the launch of no.w.here's new artists film and video quarterly including articles by Maxa Zoller, Simon Payne, Rob Muellender and Nicky Hamlyn, an exhibition of the original Instructions For Films series with work by over 40 artists including Michael Snow, Yoko Ono and Maurice Lema?tre and performed works in the Starr Auditorium (programmed for Sunday 16th) http://www.nosoulforsale.com/index.php/2010 http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=231
No Soul for Sale participants will include: 2nd Cannons Publications 98weeks Alternative Space LOOP Arrow Factory Arthub Asia Artis Artists Space Artspeak Auto Italia South East Ballroom Marfa Barbur Black Dogs Capacete Entertainment Casa Tres Patios cneai= Collective Parasol Dispatch e-flux journal Elodie Royer and Yoann Gourmel-220 jours Embassy gallery Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado FLUXspace FormContent Galerie im Regierungsviertel / Forgotten Bar Project Green Papaya Art Projects Hell Gallery Hermes und der Pfau i-cabin Intoart K48 Kling & Bang Latitudes L?appartement 22 Le commissariat Le Dictateur Light Industry Lucie Fontaine Lugar a dudas Mousse New Jerseyy Next Visit no.w.here Not An Alternative Or Gallery Oregon Painting Society Para/Site Art Space Peep-Hole PiST/// Interdisciplinary Project Space Post-Museum PSL [Project Space Leeds] Rhizome Sala-Manca + Mamuta S?n Art Scrawl Collective studio1.1 Swiss Institute The Mountain School of Arts The Museum of Everything The Royal Standard The Suburban The Western Front Society Thisisnotashop Torpedo tranzit.cz Viafarini DOCVA Vox Populi Western Bridge White Columns Y3K
Sunday 25 April 2010
Sun Burgers for Black Lab (written before the food event)
My recipe is sun burgers. These are raw, vegan burgers, with all their living enzymes intact. A good choice for a Sun Day, and for the vibration of the Gold (or Sun) Energy which many associate with Jesus.
Perhaps Jesus was raw love, and his ideas have become “cooked” and poisonous – often not on purpose, but as a result of processing with heat which is too fervent.
The Black Lab has been good. I have had some really good times, and met/got to know better people whose company I’ve really enjoyed.
Maybe the limited food we have at the lab (and have the potential to make) has meant limited ideas – ideas have been pretty heavily theoretically “processed” or “cooked”. Andy’s jokey assertion that we could make “hot crisps” was an interesting variant – trying to cook something again which is already heavily cooked. This is in part due to having limited kitchen equipment, of course! But even if we did have it, I think mostly what was sought was a gas stove right? Illustrating that it’s often not really the equipment that’s lacking, it’s the idea. Or perhaps we have the idea, but because it’s uncommon to our social ideas of eating, we think we should opt for the great leveller – the bag of fucking crisps! We know everyone can stomach these – right? Right?
When I say ideas have been theoretically processed or cooked, what I mean is that there has been a lot of high theory (or at least heavy reference to it). I enjoy this sometimes, but I always appreciate it better when it is grounded in my experience and not too far abstracted. This is not the fault of theory, or of my experience. It’s just that I find theory offers highly concentrated thoughts which have relevance for me when they are touchable. I can “grasp” thoughts and abstraction well, and this comes naturally as well as being a skill I’ve been trained in, but I don’t feel the relevance of doing it anymore. I don’t want to grasp, I want to caress – to be able to engage in mutual embrace and discover complexity and depth in understanding something simple, and allow it to become part of me, and me of it. This is where I’m at. A personal sense of communion. A phenomenological “sense” of communion. Of course you can relate this feeling to theory too! But my view right now is that you can explain or explore absolutely ANYTHING with theory. Anything at all. And yet if it isn’t meaningful to you, if you don’t feel it, if you’re not drawn to it, it’s just an exercise. Yes, it can become more than that in the process, but why not begin with a connection that is felt, or, more precisely, known? It’s an indication.
After reading this last bit over, I imagine there will be some laughter at the terms “caress” and “embrace”. I’m not using these terms to try to be “risqué” (do the burgers need sauce? Ah, perhaps they do!). I think our bodies are often considered with embarrassment, tied up with cultural shame about sex, and almost always considered in relation to sex. And this is maybe why if we begin to release hang-ups about food, the body will become a little more free to be expressive and enjoyed.
It often seems that imagination runs out when dealing with food on a day to day level, and we tend to forget about the materiality of our bodies, the way they ground our ethical stances, the way they are responsible often for a lot of the activity of our minds and consciousness. To look to food to help take communion to a new level is, I believe, imperative. Not only is it the way we can commune with and help heal the earth (and thereby each other), not only is it how we can sustain life and nourish growth, not only is it how we can help ourselves to access higher consciousness, not only is it a way to experience pleasure, it is also how we can make politically active choices which can make massive differences to the capitalism we live with (and have, to a degree, chosen) and move towards a less wasteful (less packaged, less separated) and more unified and holistic (whole-y) way of life.
Cooking is only a relatively recent discovery/invention in the scale of mankind’s existence, and many people consider it a big player in the game of cancer.
But choosing raw can also be tricky – you eschew social traditions which revolve around eating together, you can be heavily mocked, and criticised more than usual.
Referring to Caravaggio’s painting, it’s meaningful that they haven’t started eating yet! Maybe the implication is that they’re eating with their souls, listening to Jesus, and have no need for physical sustenance. Anyhow, the food, while more vividly and centrally presented than in Da Vinci’s depiction, is being pretty much ignored by Jesus and friends. Perhaps they’ll eat it to appease the tensions from the discussion they’re having or perhaps they consider it an unimportant use of time faced with the preciousness of (Jesus’ last) words. It seems as if nobody wants to eat because it’ll hinder their capacity to talk (or maybe they’re waiting for Jesus to take the first bite). So, really, does Caravaggio place importance on food as communion, or on talking? It is the words that are being shared, the concept of the Eucharist, not “the body”, the realisation. “The Last Supper” painting isn’t really about material food, implying that “supper” isn’t really just about food. This we clearly know. But maybe it’s not really enough about food! “Supper” has become (apart from an antiquated term that’s often now associated with the class system in Britain) too symbolic, automatic, and not embodied enough – we think and we talk (maybe some of us don’t even do that at “supper”), but do we think about what we are eating, and how we eat it? It is matter, and it does matter.
You know how when people have that conversation about "what would you have for your last meal, if condemned to death?", rather than going home and making that a reality for themselves (and surprisingly the answer is often quite a simple meal – not generally gourmet or out of reach), and eating it as if it were their last, they probably don’t bother, losing the potential to really enjoy the moment, and replacing it instead with talking about it, describing it. Words become a (disembodied) substitute – essentially, a fetish (consider the problems caused by taking the Bible too literally).
So, I give to you all these nourishing raw sun burgers, made without loss of animal life, made from ingredients which have directly used the sun’s energy, in the knowledge that they will give you something which cooked burgers can’t. I want you to have eaten them prior to reading this, or during, so that when you do read or hear these words, you have something to embody them in.
Perhaps Jesus was raw love, and his ideas have become “cooked” and poisonous – often not on purpose, but as a result of processing with heat which is too fervent.
The Black Lab has been good. I have had some really good times, and met/got to know better people whose company I’ve really enjoyed.
Maybe the limited food we have at the lab (and have the potential to make) has meant limited ideas – ideas have been pretty heavily theoretically “processed” or “cooked”. Andy’s jokey assertion that we could make “hot crisps” was an interesting variant – trying to cook something again which is already heavily cooked. This is in part due to having limited kitchen equipment, of course! But even if we did have it, I think mostly what was sought was a gas stove right? Illustrating that it’s often not really the equipment that’s lacking, it’s the idea. Or perhaps we have the idea, but because it’s uncommon to our social ideas of eating, we think we should opt for the great leveller – the bag of fucking crisps! We know everyone can stomach these – right? Right?
When I say ideas have been theoretically processed or cooked, what I mean is that there has been a lot of high theory (or at least heavy reference to it). I enjoy this sometimes, but I always appreciate it better when it is grounded in my experience and not too far abstracted. This is not the fault of theory, or of my experience. It’s just that I find theory offers highly concentrated thoughts which have relevance for me when they are touchable. I can “grasp” thoughts and abstraction well, and this comes naturally as well as being a skill I’ve been trained in, but I don’t feel the relevance of doing it anymore. I don’t want to grasp, I want to caress – to be able to engage in mutual embrace and discover complexity and depth in understanding something simple, and allow it to become part of me, and me of it. This is where I’m at. A personal sense of communion. A phenomenological “sense” of communion. Of course you can relate this feeling to theory too! But my view right now is that you can explain or explore absolutely ANYTHING with theory. Anything at all. And yet if it isn’t meaningful to you, if you don’t feel it, if you’re not drawn to it, it’s just an exercise. Yes, it can become more than that in the process, but why not begin with a connection that is felt, or, more precisely, known? It’s an indication.
After reading this last bit over, I imagine there will be some laughter at the terms “caress” and “embrace”. I’m not using these terms to try to be “risqué” (do the burgers need sauce? Ah, perhaps they do!). I think our bodies are often considered with embarrassment, tied up with cultural shame about sex, and almost always considered in relation to sex. And this is maybe why if we begin to release hang-ups about food, the body will become a little more free to be expressive and enjoyed.
It often seems that imagination runs out when dealing with food on a day to day level, and we tend to forget about the materiality of our bodies, the way they ground our ethical stances, the way they are responsible often for a lot of the activity of our minds and consciousness. To look to food to help take communion to a new level is, I believe, imperative. Not only is it the way we can commune with and help heal the earth (and thereby each other), not only is it how we can sustain life and nourish growth, not only is it how we can help ourselves to access higher consciousness, not only is it a way to experience pleasure, it is also how we can make politically active choices which can make massive differences to the capitalism we live with (and have, to a degree, chosen) and move towards a less wasteful (less packaged, less separated) and more unified and holistic (whole-y) way of life.
Cooking is only a relatively recent discovery/invention in the scale of mankind’s existence, and many people consider it a big player in the game of cancer.
But choosing raw can also be tricky – you eschew social traditions which revolve around eating together, you can be heavily mocked, and criticised more than usual.
Referring to Caravaggio’s painting, it’s meaningful that they haven’t started eating yet! Maybe the implication is that they’re eating with their souls, listening to Jesus, and have no need for physical sustenance. Anyhow, the food, while more vividly and centrally presented than in Da Vinci’s depiction, is being pretty much ignored by Jesus and friends. Perhaps they’ll eat it to appease the tensions from the discussion they’re having or perhaps they consider it an unimportant use of time faced with the preciousness of (Jesus’ last) words. It seems as if nobody wants to eat because it’ll hinder their capacity to talk (or maybe they’re waiting for Jesus to take the first bite). So, really, does Caravaggio place importance on food as communion, or on talking? It is the words that are being shared, the concept of the Eucharist, not “the body”, the realisation. “The Last Supper” painting isn’t really about material food, implying that “supper” isn’t really just about food. This we clearly know. But maybe it’s not really enough about food! “Supper” has become (apart from an antiquated term that’s often now associated with the class system in Britain) too symbolic, automatic, and not embodied enough – we think and we talk (maybe some of us don’t even do that at “supper”), but do we think about what we are eating, and how we eat it? It is matter, and it does matter.
You know how when people have that conversation about "what would you have for your last meal, if condemned to death?", rather than going home and making that a reality for themselves (and surprisingly the answer is often quite a simple meal – not generally gourmet or out of reach), and eating it as if it were their last, they probably don’t bother, losing the potential to really enjoy the moment, and replacing it instead with talking about it, describing it. Words become a (disembodied) substitute – essentially, a fetish (consider the problems caused by taking the Bible too literally).
So, I give to you all these nourishing raw sun burgers, made without loss of animal life, made from ingredients which have directly used the sun’s energy, in the knowledge that they will give you something which cooked burgers can’t. I want you to have eaten them prior to reading this, or during, so that when you do read or hear these words, you have something to embody them in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)