ARMS & WEAPONS

(in Slovene it was more meaningfull to use Tools & Weapons -> Orodje, orožje; one letter of difference; in both cases there is a strong relationship to hands and tools - to constructing or building; yes, and de(con)structing... )

It is very interesting what identities (or rather meanings) appeared during the realization of this last project, which is actually a collage - a collage of many previous thoughts. The latter appears to be constant, while the latter - variable appeared after I was finding objects that would take on the desired function, or would serve to materialize an idea. They are supposed to take over/play the role of the desired meanings or: become something material, which until now was only part of the mental structure. Well, it turned out that even raw objects already have their own function/purpose - meaning and identity, which is anything but variable.

For example: since I wanted to get some cheap object that would play the role of a room in a room, I found a plastic pipe that perfectly fits it, but because of this, a completely different story soon began to crystallize - interesting, of course - but without any direct connection with the basic concept of "space within space". A space within a space is actually a story about the desire for the natural inclusion of one object, subject, idea, in a common pot - in the inevitability of the given, external. Otherwise: a story about collective and individual, passive and/or active, possible and impossible, external and/or internal boundaries, limitations - internal and external - in one word: communication. It is a story about (mis)adjustment and splitting/grafting - part and whole... and the constant search for balance. Like a tightrope walker.

But when I wanted to borrow some interesting way of "playing" the instrument, the functionality of the weapon, i.e. the bazooka, immediately offered itself. In the first place, due to the proximity of the American embassy, ​​the idea quickly took shape, a solid meaning, which was later largely lost due to the changed location of the presentation of the miniature. The solid sense receded, but the connection between weapon and tool remained. The words only differ by one letter anyway. We also find the connection (arms) in English. In short: the arm extension is a tool. Another clue was offered: in the original constellation/context (-> proximity to the American embassy) it could very quickly happen that we cross the line of "forum"/joke/play and step into "cruel" reality - with a "bazooka" it would be only have to walk 50 meters... and the story would be different.

I. STORY: WEAPON AS INSTRUMENT



Since for some time I have been trying to find interesting ways of intuitively using a sound instrument, or rather a kind of interface for shaping sound, which does not require a few decades of discipline - in other words, you could also say a non-virtuoso instrument - when looking for a way to play such an instrument, I resort to already known manipulations with various tools or toys. The last such system, which I presented in the Kapelica gallery at the beginning of last year, was very happy. It was a piano string stretching game involving two pairs. In this case, the only aesthetic dimension was the sound produced by rubbing and straining two strings, and the cooperation at the level of two individuals, who at the same time also cooperated with another pair, so the story was actually about communication. Two people still create in private, but four already in public - and in public there is usually a more civilized dialogue. Public or collective should be a matter of civilization, civilizedness, and in my opinion also intelligence, which otherwise should not be equated with civilization. Well, the instrument simplified the possibilities enough that it was easy to indulge in "making music"/playing, and the additional qualities were in the simultaneity of the sound elements, which was created with fully functional movement, which represented a deeper layer of the information channel. The top layer was probably sound, below it was even less conscious movement. The intuitiveness of the instrument was very similar to collective children's games. The title was something like "opening up space". A more philosophical layer of meaning was therefore in the hidden meanings that come to the phrases "open space", "open space for the collective" - ​​play, activity, creation, whatever. The thesis was that the space for creative activity is opened by simultaneously striving for the existence of the personal (individual), extended personal - perhaps emotional (couple) and collective (four). An additional psychological element that marked the opening of the "I" to the public was the fact that the sound only increased when the actor modulated it with his voice. Another element of the trip that, despite the technical (im)perfection, worked perfectly - all four of us worked hard to make it a joy.

II. STORY: ARMS AND WEAPONS

The story of weapons and tools could be told like this. After weapons were offered as a way of intuitive gameplay, it was clear that they had to provide all the functionality that weapons have. In the first place is measuring towards a goal. This was also accommodated, as the room within the room is designed to measure the resonant nodes that occur in each acoustic space. Resonance nodes - these are the points in the room where, due to the closed space, the amplification introduced by the room is the largest or smallest - are measured with the help of the position and orientation of the resonance tube. We reinterpret (-> translate) large enough changes with electronic conversion into a sufficiently interesting sound that this "game"/playing is interesting enough for the player, and lures him into fusion with the sound space. Here's the point: the fusion of the acoustic space with the resonant tube (-> contained space) transfers to the fusion of the aesthetic space (-> sound) with the actor/human. It finds itself in the space as a formative part, a collaborator, included, creative - merged. The success of the campaign/miniature/installation is measured in the ability of the layout to enable this fusion for as long as possible. When it becomes boring and uninteresting, the fun is over. The basic thesis is that actively merging with the environment is a pleasure. The second thesis regarding fusion and satisfaction is that the journey must first take place - a person breaks free from the individualism of his own predetermination (and subdetermination - destiny) and "happens" in the moment, on the fly, without before and after. This is the definition of play, and this story was a tale of luck and timing.

III. STORY OF A SEWER PIPE

The story brought about by the ordinary plastic pipe naturally stems from its original purpose (function). Such pipes serve as drain pipes for toilets. However disguised or modified for its new function, its basic function remains. It is known that we used a pipe through which sewage flows from each apartment into ever-larger pipes and into a collection point. if we visualized it, we see: a real network! It became interesting after such a network could not be understood as a communication network - as it does not serve for exchange: it is one-way (as far as sewage is concerned) and there are no exchanges. The next thought was, is the information channel really just feces? We understand the information channel as a specially coded set of something that serves as an exchange (intermediate, intermediary) - agreed communication code. if the communication takes place, for example, at the level of sounds, the agreed channel is sound, if at the level of colors it is color, etc. We deliberately took very simple code channels, but we could have chosen more abstract and even multi-layered ones. Thus, the communication channel can be a speech, which is not just a speech, but, for example, is about improvisation in jazz, or about the meaning of life. At the same time, this conversation can have an emotional layer, which makes it even more impossible to identify the right channel. if it is about seduction, then the real meaning that is being conveyed is something other than the point of view about improvisation in jazz, or the desire for bare expression. In addition, there is absolutely no need for awareness of the "right" communication channel. Communication can therefore take place unconsciously - but it is still successful.

Here, it is probably clear to many that by mentioning layers I am referring to information technology, where various codes - protocols are transmitted through communication links, and this simultaneously and at the same time in several layers. The highest layers are the most useful for humans, while the lower ones are intended for machines. Well, in our interpretation, the lower, more primary layers, which also carry more fundamental meanings, are more interesting. An interesting thesis was by a biologist-anthropologist who found the reason for the size of the human brain precisely in the need to decipher the "true meaning/intention" in communication between fellow human beings.

We also want to see the previously mentioned "excremation" as a kind of communication - in a similar way "networked" (because the network, as we have seen, exists). That's why we'll first give it a name: the Contemplation Network. Contemplation means "seeing" - an inner view, which in the basic meaning of the word contemplation does not mean logical reflection, but a "wide-angle view/insight into the essence" with which the monks tried to see God, infinity, the absolute, the whole. Logical structures/elaborations (of the world) do not allow such a way of "perception", as they are fundamentally reductive. From the previous story, we borrow "journey" - that is, merging with the moment, because the ripening technique is very similar to merging. For our purposes, we will settle for a half-way to the "insight of the whole", but at the same time, let's try to guess the information channel (common code), which in this case certainly takes place in the layer of the unconscious. The function/purpose should also be identified, because otherwise it is meaningless for the thing to have meaning. In that case, it wouldn't even exist...

Psychoanalysis is the tool that serves to deconstruct sublime objects (the sublimated), which otherwise appear as wholes, but nevertheless took shape from something. Elimination is one of the most rewarding topics, as literally any elimination can be connected to the equation. Of course, it is important on which side the marker and the marker are located. Thus, sexuality becomes equal to excretion of faeces, speech, public performance, any kind of penetration, and non-excretion to withholding, non-communication, dissatisfaction, and in the intermediate stages calculating, conformism, self-gratification, etc. And of course vice versa: abstinence (can) mean self-love, the absence of sexuality, and sometimes the other way around. Here, it is perhaps a little clearer that there is no uniformity and no equality between the two concepts. Deconstructing objects is always a process of guessing the reasons for the creation of objects. When there is no unambiguity, we are talking (in mathematics) about nonlinear systems, about higher-order equations that have several solutions, and how quickly they even remain without a solution. Deterministically, we can thus only deconstruct very simple systems, and in more complex ones, the interpretations become just one of a multitude of possible stories.

Objects that are archetypes are usually universal objects that arose on the basis of very different stories, and they passed into the folk treasury precisely because of this universality. We can often agree on folk wisdom, even if our reasons are very individual. The deconstruction of such an object is its interpretation/explanation from a timeless object into a temporally divided, causally consequential object - a story. so if we imagine a network of excreters, poopers, connected to the home interface (-> toilet bowl), we know that despite their unconsciousness they are networked, connected - or even: connected in the unconscious. We also know from the psychoanalysis of elimination that the process of elimination is a very internalized process - each individual performs internalization very individually. This is one of the rare situations when an adult, socialized person even listens to the inner movement. The toilet is an extremely private space. At the same time, it is also extremely coded. It is also usually the cleanest place. You could even say that for a non-believer, the only holy place is - various, perhaps, art galleries. Well, even for art, it is still true that the artist brings his inner self to the fore. And is it any wonder that art is still spoken of as beautiful, pure, ethical. Um, equation: is the toilet a place of ethics? The gallery is a public space, let's call it (but not the first!) a sanctuary, where the process of collective elimination/purification is led by a great magician/artist/curator, while the toilet is a private space - a prayer room, where we carry out individual introspection/purification.

In addition to this hair-raising story, it may be interesting to look at the biological characteristics of growing up and the related change in attitudes towards elimination. When watching a baby, we can always be amazed at the ability to change moods - everything is reflected on the face. if he is wormed, he will tense up, squirm, become all raspy until the tension bursts, then satisfaction - relief - spreads across his face. A baby is not yet considered capable of thinking about time. Like animals, he is present directly in the moment. In a few years, however, he develops the ability of cause-and-effect thinking, and thus also the human way of self-referentiality - when he sees the separate existence of himself from others. The transition to "civilization"/socialization happens even later (or even never completely). This process means seeing the simultaneous equivalent presence of others. To grant equivalence to the "other" means at the same time to take away the centrality of the "self" (a bio-Copernican turn?) - but from then on to constantly coordinate the two "weights". This is the active balance of a tightrope walker. The tightrope walker is aware of himself, his "role" in the collective, and he is also sensitive to the most complex self-referential loops - what do I think others think about me, my actions. Communication through such social communication networks almost completely replaces contemplation. Existence in "this moment" is almost non-existent for a socialized person. Perhaps the most common flight from civilization (time) to animality (moment = timelessness) is sexual intercourse. Or some other, natural or artificial adrenaline rush.

So if we have at least roughly indicated the necessity of occasional "gazing into timelessness", then perhaps we have also found the functionality of contemplative networks. Regardless of the fact that it is not about conscious or collective "connections" with a higher. Why did we do it? Only because the network clearly already existed, but it did not have a higher meaning/interpretation, such as the discharge of feces. And, of course, not to give too much weight to technological networks, where human-decent communication seems to take place. Another reason: if through the thought process we can equate the perception of concepts such as the moment and timelessness, nothing and the universe/all/absolute, then we must still relativize the meaning of logical structures - not eliminate them. Or another reason: grinding an object/artifact is primarily work, but maybe that's why I had to afford this "junk". Satisfaction = satisfaction. Finally, one equation... surprisingly, in mathematics it is called an identity, and in philosophy it is a tautology. True: we lost an unknown somewhere, so this equation does not say or solve anything.