Urban Adventure in Rotterdam: May 2017

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Particles of deep topography - 19

Observation, description and its abuses

Text: The End of Oulipo?: An Attempt to Exhaust a Movement by Lauren Elkin , Scott Esposito - remixed
Illustrations: Photographs from Kassel during the Documenta (13) in 2012

Ways of observing - the context switch:

Benjamin tells authors they must learn to appropriate as does a camera’s lens. A camera is a tool for taking things out of context: taking a photo is nothing more than selecting a rectangle of the world to be pulled up from its surroundings.

Ways of observing - the cubist view:

Merleau-Ponty argues that painting that adopts a classical view of things—that is, painting that attempts to portray the world “realistically”—is but one interpretation of our experience, one that makes our world precise and rational. But of course, I would not be alone in arguing that what we experience in day-to-day life more commonly conforms to Picasso’s Cubism or Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism than classical art.

Ways of observing - methodical, long-term observation:

Perec once said, “I detest what’s called psychology... I prefer books in which characters are described by their actions, their gestures and their surroundings.” ... Elsewhere he declares his ambition “to write every kind of thing that it is possible for a man to write nowadays.” ... I begin these descriptions over again each year, taking care, thanks to an algorithm ... first, to describe each of these places in a different month of the year, second, never to describe the same pair of places in the same month. The intent is to create a way of looking at these 12 places that will reveal things no one has ever seen in them before ... “Question your tea spoons,” he exhorted readers of “The Infra-Ordinary.” “What’s underneath your wallpaper?”

Ways of observing - obsessive, exhaustive observation:

[Édouard Levé says] ... “Make an effort to exhaust the subject, even if that seems grotesque, or pointless, or stupid.” ... one might consider his photography book Amérique, where he compulsively produces photographs of American cities that share their names with major world cities. In both books the project is clear: follow the idea exhaustively, trusting that what comes will be art. Somehow in this widest of embraces he will catch things that are new ... they simply give the details, leaving it to the reader to decide what lies beneath.

Abuse and consumerization of revolutionary (situationist) techniques:

Products, beliefs and fashions that once existed on the boundaries of society were resolutely transformed into mass-consumable versions that were bought up by the middle classes.

David Foster Wallace put forth the argument that the second half of the twentieth century was a time of two great changes: first, the development of this “no” of resistance against capitalistic culture, and, second, the co-opting this “no” of resistance into a catchy sales pitch. Wallace identified the “no” of resistance with irony—long a potent weapon of the oppressed—and then he went on to argue that the appeal of this irony had been taken over by savvy advertisers, who use it to make their products hip. The fiction of irony and ridicule, which he identified with rebellious postmodernists like Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, had been taken over by TV culture.

[Christian] Bök also strikes a polemic tone, forcefully declaring that artistic innovation has been co-opted by capitalism: Postmodern life has utterly recoded the avant-garde demand for radical newness. Innovation in art no longer differs from the kind of manufactured obsolescence that has come to justify advertisements for “improved” products; nevertheless, we have to find a new way to contribute by generating a “surprise” (a term that almost conforms to the cybernetic definition of “information”).

About this series Over the years I've collected many place descriptions. It's a waste to keep them on my harddisk. So I'll publish them from time to time. I will add some pictures when suitable.
Enhanced and amplified topographies can be found in a broad range of literature. The best ones link to metaphysics or mysticism and (pre-) load the landscape with unexpected layers, sheets, slabs and strata of meaning. We can appropriate all this work to enrich our everyday surroundings.

Previous posts are 1:The paranoid method, 2:Rooftops and sacrifices, 3:Oil and electricity, 4:Sewing machines, 5:Rooftops and apparitions, 6:Woods, 7:Mushrooms, 8:Formlessness (2d), 9:Formlessness (3d), 10:Autumn, 11:Monsters and mad scientists, 12:Empty spaces, 13:Stars and planets, 14:Addiction against emptiness, 15:Suggestive vagueness, 16: Ominous places and books, 17: Military technology, 18: Ominous telephones.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Particles of deep topography - 18

Ominous telephones
Text: China Mieville, Looking for Jake and other stories
Text: Fortean Times Forums: Isis177, danny_cogdon, Nitsuj, forteanflight, smoothvirus, Urvogel, brumben, lucydru, escargot1
Illustrations: Exhibits of Boijmans Museum Rotterdam, photographs by me

Post-apocalyptic technology cannot be trusted. Is all technology post-apocalyptic?

The last time I picked up the receiver something whispered to me down the wires, asked me a question in a reverential tone, in a language I did not understand, all sibilants and dentals. I put the phone down carefully and have not lifted it since.

Salvador Dali, White aphrodisiac telephone, 1936
Boijmans Museum - Rotterdam - Photographed in 2009

Just like sewing machines, classical telephones are eerie appliances. In the days of analog telephones real weirdness was still possible. Like getting a connection to nowhere and later losing the evidence:

I remember finding some number that would patch me through to odd "error" recordings. These were not the standard (for USA) three tones, followed by the female voice telling you your call could not be completed, but were lower quality recordings without the tones. Also, the voices were of different people. ... Around that time my mother noticed long-distance calls to tiny hamlets way up in the mountains showing up on the bill. She didn't get too upset about it because they only cost 1 or 2 cents. ... I started "collecting" the recordings to tape ... no idea whatever happened to that tape though.

Salvador Dali, Beach with telephone, 1938

Boijmans Museum - Rotterdam - Photographed in 2009

Or calling ghosts and being connected to unknown persons. And then that door closes gradually:

Back in 1982 when I would have been 12 years old, there was a song called 867-5309/Jenny that was a big hit on the radio. The rumor at school was that if you called this number "Jenny" would answer. So, of course we called it! ... But what happened was strange, it would never ring, usually you would hear a hiss or some kind of series of clicks or pops. What was even stranger was that every once in a while you would get patched into other people's conversations. ... Calling that phone number became my favorite pastime for a few months. ... However, as the weeks went by it became more and more difficult. I would have to call dozens of times to hear anything. Before long all you would get was the clicking and popping noises and nothing else. ... Much later, I tried it again but whatever was going on had been fixed and if you called the number you got a recording that the call could not be completed as dialed.

Salvador Dali, Lobster telephone or Aphrodisiac telephone, 1938

Boijmans Museum - Rotterdam - Photographed in 2017

Or calling unknown places and being connected to unknown persons:

This was about 15 years ago when mobiles were unheard of. ... I used to have a dodgy telephone extension, most amusing, because if you lifted the handset, tapped the "cradle" 2-3 times and listened, you could hear people talking in a phone box. Of course it depended on whether anyone was on that phone at the time, and often I'd only hear one side of the conversation, but it was highly interesting. I assumed it was the box round the corner but never found out.

Salvador Dali, White aphrodisiac telephone, 1936

Boijmans Museum - Rotterdam - Photographed in 2017

Even today strange events are reported, even in the era of mobiles:

Had a call a few weeks ago and when I said "Hello?" it paused then said "That is not an appropriate answer".

I had a strange phone call that I found quite scary at the time. It was probably 1 AM and the phone rang. Thinking some disaster had occurred for the phone to ring so late, I rushed to answer it. The voice at the other end sounded like a robotic Anne Robinson and said simply : "Goodbye". The voice was right weird. You had to hear it really ...

Yesterday afternoon my telephone rang and when I answered it and said 'Hello!' a couple of times I heard my voice played back to me saying the exact few words that I had just spoken. Then the line went dead.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Milton Rakove on politics - 8

I'm reading this wonderful book from 1975: Don't make no waves ... don't back no losers by Milton Rakove. The book is a great mirror for our times. It does not give answers but it puts things in perspective. I like its musings on political philosophy and "Realpolitik". Something resonates with our times. See the quotes below. The earlier parts of this series are 1:Voters, 2:Power, 3:Immigration, 4:Religion, 5:Segregation, 6:The Irish, and 7:Political philosophy.

Communication style

... Daley projects an image at public gatherings of an effective, well-organized speaker who knows where he is going. "His style comes through," according to one observer, "not as inept but as unpretentious."

Community activities, 1968 - on Flickr - by Digital Collections, UIC Library

County board president George Dunne, Daley's possible heir apparent as mayor, recounts Daley's advice to budding candidates for office: "Prepare your talks carefully, and don't go over five minutes. Don't tell off-color stories. If you've had something to drink, stay home."

Daley, in public gatherings, is rather taciturn, conservative, and reserved. "How do you approach the mayor?" the machine guys ask laughingly. On tiptoe," says newspaperman D.J.R. Bruckner. "And when he speaks to the people, most of the time, he uses few and careful words. Sloppy listening habits are very dangerous around this man."

Management style

Central to Daley's political style is his acceptance of responsibility for all matters which fall under his own purview. And he applies the same standards to all those who work for him or with him.If Daley assigns a job to a politician or city employee, he will not tell the person how to do the job. He will spell out the obligations of the position being offered, define the parameters of accountability, make it clear that with the title and the authority goes the responsibility, and define his own role in no uncertain terms.

Richard J. Daley - on Flickr - by gympumpkin

He normally will not give orders to an appointed or elected party or governmental official, give advice to those who come seeking it, or involve himself in a situation which has been brought about by the action of others. Woe to the party or public official who comes to him to ask what should be done about a particular situation. If you are working for the mayor, and you have a problem, and you come to him to ask him what you should do about your problem, chances are excellent that you will have a permanent problem with the mayor.

If you have a problem, and you ask to see him to tell him about your problem, and then tell him what you think you should do about your problem, you are likely to get a monosyllabic grunt or nod, and leave the office, still not having received a yes or no as to what to do about your problem but recognizing that if you have a problem, it is still your problem. And you will know, too, that if you do not resolve that problem satisfactorily, you may be looking for another job in the very near future.

Non decision making

There is a great deal of research and analysis being done today in contemporary political science, psychology, and sociology on how decision makers in positions of responsibility and authority go about making decisions. Most of this research and analysis is irrelevant to professional politicians like Richard J. Daley.

What the students of decision making have overlooked is that most successful politicians who have remained in office for any length of time are not decision makers. They are, rather, skilled practitioners in the art of not making decisions.

Blanik Mountain Knight - on Flickr - by Digital Collections, UIC Library

There is a simple explanation for the behavior of the non-decision makers who have managed to remain in public office for any period of time. They are generally professional politicians who, early in their political careers, learned the relationship between decision making and their chances for staying in office for any length of time. They know that every time a public official makes a political decision, somebody wins, somebody loses. They know, too, that those for whom they made the decision are ungrateful and will soon forget what was done for them. They know, further, that those against whom the decision was made will never forget the decision maker and will do their utmost to remove him from public office at the very first opportunity.

They know, finally, that while an office holder must be held accountable and responsible for whatever happens in his office, there is no need for him to seek accountability or responsibility in somebody else's sphere of authority. Consequently, most successful politicians avoid making decisions whenever they can and make decisions only if they are forced to do so by a developing crisis or an aroused public opinion. And, even when they are forced to make a decision, they will do it at the lowest level of accountability in order to alienate and offend as few people as possible.

Political technique of non decision making

Richard J. Daley is a master of this political technique. While he accepts his responsibilities as mayor of Chicago and chairman of the Democratic party of Cook County, he will not accept the responsibility for the operation of any ward or political subdivision of the city, nor will he make decisions for those in the city bureaucracy who have been given responsibility or authority over a particular area of public policy.

Community activities 1968 - on Flickr - by Digital Collections, UIC Library

If backed against the wall, he will appoint a committee to study the problem or announce that it should be decided in accordance with the principles of Christian justice. In the meantime, he will be looking around for a successor to the unfortunate bureaucrat or politician who failed in his responsibilities at his level in the political or governmental systems that Daley controls.

For example, when Superintendent of Schools James Redmond announced the Redmond Plan for busing black children in the city of Chicago into white schools, Daley was asked at his press conference what he thought of the Redmond Plan. Daley responded, "I'm not familiar with the specifics and details. I am not an educator. This is up to the educators of our country, the educators of our community, the board of education and their staffs to work it out." The reporter then asked if Daley was going to use his power as mayor to implement the Redmond Plan. Daley's response was, "Do you want the schools brought back into politics?" It was clear what the mayor was doing. He was going to run Superintendent Redmond up the flag pole and let him wave up there before he involved himself in such a controversial issue.

Politician versus administrator

It is a fact of human behavior and human psychology that the talents of a successful politician are different from those of a successful administrator, and that men who are capable administrators usually have little feel for the realities of political life.

Community activities 1968 - on Flickr - by Digital Collections, UIC Library

Successful politicians are usually gregarious, hail-fellow-well-met types who enjoy shaking hands with the multitude, who revel in publicity, who are inveterate joiners, and who have legions of acquaintances and friends. Capable administrators, in contrast, are usually private men who shun the limelight, who gain satisfaction in working out problems, who are masters at shuffling papers and delegating responsibility, and whose thought processes are normally orderly, circumspect, and undeviating.
Daley is an exception to the rule. A rarity in American politics, he is a first-rate administrator who is also a master politician.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Particles of deep topography - 17

Obscure texts and radio technology

Text: Kittler and the Media (TM - Theory and Media) (Geoffrey Winthrop-Young) - remixed
Illustrations: Rotterdam library, Rotterdam parking garage, WWII radio station near Rendlesham

Make your prose cryptic, with multiple meanings, this brings you closer to the truth:

One frequently has the impression that the author is writing not to communicate, but to amuse himself. His text consists of a tapestry of leitmotifs, puns, and cryptic pronouncements, which at times makes for fascinating reading, but too often resembles free association as much as it does serious scholarship. As in much poststructuralist writing here and abroad, the often-cited rigor is more an assertion of the convinced than a fact of the prose: analysis frequently cedes to apodictic statement; logic repeatedly yields to rhetorical flourishes.

Use conspiratorial themes woven around ubiquitous modern technology, and you will be right:

This war was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted . . . secretly, it was being dictated instead by the needs of technology . . . by a conspiracy between human beings and techniques, by something that needed the energy-burst of war, crying, “Money be damned, the very life of [insert name of Nation] is at stake,” but meaning, most likely, dawn is nearly here, I need my night’s blood, my funding, funding, ahh more, more. . . . The real crises were crises of allocation and priority, not among firms – it was only staged to look that way – but among the different Technologies, Plastics, Electronics, Aircraft, and their needs which are understood only by the ruling elite. (Pynchon 1987: 521)

And place these themes in urban or rural culture, to add layers of meaning:

Speed and acceleration have mandated the creation of special training camps that teach new forms of perception to sluggish people and accustom them to man-machine-synergies. This started in 1914 with the wristwatch and it will not end with today’s combat simulators. We can assume that in the interim period, when wars are not running in real-time, rock concerts and discos function as boot camps for perceptions that undermine the thresholds of perception. You can take the media out of war, but you can never take the war out of media. “Our discos are preparing our youth for a retaliatory strike”.

The more obscure technology references enhance the nostalgia, especially when looking at technology remnants in the landscape:

A world war, the first of its kind, had to break out to facilitate the switch from Poulsen’s arc transmission to Lieben or De Forest’s tube-type technology and the mass production of Fessenden’s experimental procedure”. In response, critics have raised the ironic question of whether this means “that without WWI radio technology would have been gathering dust in the basement[s] of various universities”.

Whether it is a matter of hi-fi technology living off innovations in aircraft and submarine location technologies, or of radio stations exploiting the VHF frequency modulation and signal multiplexing that had been indispensable for the successful coordination of “incredible” Wehrmacht panzer tactics, “the entertainment industry” – to quote one of Kittler’s most (in)famous aperçus – “is, in any conceivable sense of the word, nothing but an abuse of army equipment”.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Beautiful art in Gouda

In the Gouda municipal museum behind the church:

Slate cone - Andy Goldsworthy - 1991

The only artwork by Andy Goldsworthy in the Netherlands. Goldsworthy was heavily criticized in the Dutch press as being "too beautiful" and not being sufficiently modern and conceptual. I disagree.

Paul Arntzenius - (forgot to note the name of the picture)

C.F. Daubigny - Sunset - 1887

I'm surprised that the painter dared to make such a simple, almost abstract, painting. It gives a very good impression of the evening sky, even though it uses the pre-impressionist style of the Barbizon school. A nice painting that presents both the medium and the message. I don't care that my History of modern art says that "The Barbizon school landscapes ... tended all too quickly to degenerate into academic clichés."

A wonderful set of indoor still life's by Mieke de Haan.

She is very good at painting light and space.

Mieke de Haan - Burnt - 2012

"I'm interested in the past that travels with us, that is carried by situations and people. ... I'm inspired by space and time. By deserted hallways en rooms in old buildings. I'm moved by the almost tangible emptiness in these spaces. ... Light falls through dirty windowpanes and breaks into shard on the floor."