text about text
13 messages
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 1:46 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
The text starts to unfold on this white field in the middle of the screen and no one knows its direction. Except that it will be sent to Kajsa when finished. And that each day for almost a month a thread of words will be sent between us. The two of us. The authors of the emails. Sending, receiving sending receiving sending receiving sending receiving sending. Responses and reactions. Statements and speeches. Questions and problems. Promises and potentials. Prologues and preludes. Possibilities and potatoes. Words that start with P.
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 2:55 PM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
Authors that start with K and words that start with P. I’m thinking of the materiality and the immateriality of this writing. No pens pressing into papers, no papers, no painting or potato printing, no pissing. More like words on T, like the tips of my fingers typing, tap dancing the rhythm of my thoughts. Text edit tools and a virtual trash bin. But no tracing of the shapes of the letters…
I’m also thinking about the formal and informal format of this form. The formal academic assignment accomplished through an exchange of e-mails, which brings an informal feeling to the task. “I’m just gonna write an e-mail…” E-mailing in itself, for me, carries the idea of fast writing, of not editing too much, of quick communication. So here we go, I’m gonna click that send area of the screen really soon…
(See, it’s only because we’re e-mailing that I use ellipses… they certainly do not fit in an acedemic text…)
(etc…. and so on and so forth)… ……. .. ……. ………… (…….) …. …. really soon…. (……;…) oops almost an emoticon…. (………)
now
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 3:31 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
Now is now. Today’s format is emailing from a phone. This is even more informal and it is going to be really short since this text doesn’t like to be written in this way. It is like it looses its importance. Being ignored, marginalised, not taken seriously. The hierarchical stair starting from the top:
1. Word document written on computer. 2. Emailing from computer.
3. Emailing from phone.
Anyway. It’s just words. To be interpreted. To be continued.
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 9:24 PM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
R u da?
OMG! WTF!! 4COL! PLZ this txt sux
LOL
ne-wayz I 1-D-R how 2 make it in2 a 1daful po-mo cleva txt? LOLROTF&ICGU
def TBC ASAP
NUFF 4 now
g98t
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:17 AM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
Unfortunately it doesn ́t get better than that today. Low writing. Low level. Lowness.
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Tue, Oct 28, 2014 at 8:31 PM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
I’m just reading a text by Amy Billingsley on humor as feminist resistance:
“In this way, humor can operate on language like a Trojan Horse. Like the Trojan Horse, it can manifest itself through forms and scripts that are recognizable, but then find a trap in this form through which it can subvert the text and shift it in an entirely different direction. Recall that Wittig was interested in the ability of literature to recast material words and deploy them in a new way that shocks the listener and that Irigaray and Cixous were interested in the ability of laughter to disrupt discourse. Humor does both of these, taking expected scripts and leading them to unexpected, disruptive directions. This can be taken up in a context of feminist resistance to silence in that the warping potential allowed by jokes can be used upon the discourse of patriarchy specifically. In the context of feminism, humor can shift away from or disrupt the language of phallogocentrism and move towards a language in which women (as themselves or as a class) can speak.”
How do we deploy words in a new way that shocks the listener? It sounds tempting. But shock is a strong word. It takes a lot to shock somebody these days. What are your thoughts on this?
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 10:36 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
This is a good question and today I want to think before I write. …
It makes me think about humour and women. The traditional role of women is definitely not to be funny. Humour is a man and it seems to be part of a structure that is hard to break. I would say that just an attempt to be a funny female writer is a feministic act. If you then succeed to be funny it is probably a great step for feminism. Luckily many humoristic female writers entered the scene during the last decade.
“Laughter to disrupt discourse” makes me think about the Swedish author Liv Strömquist who with her texts and illustrations brutally deliver serious and important subjects in a very funny packaging. The subject of the first chapter in her last book is about men who has been a little bit too interested in female genitals. One example is Mr Kellogg (the guy who invented cornflakes) who recommended women to put carbolic acid on their clitoris to avoid abnormal excitement and thereby prevent masturbation.
I believe that unexpected words are effective tools to disrupt discourse even if they are not particularly humoristic. This leads me to the book Wetlands by Charlotte Roche and her character Helen. A sexually active woman being obsessed by bodily fluids (tasting them with pleasure) and with a quite unusual interest for her own body was just not very appropriate to write about in Germany at the time. But after the book published in 2008 the previously unmentionable became the biggest topic. Boarders are challenged, crossed and blurred.
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 12:00 AM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
Yes sometimes it is hard to foresee what will create shock and move borders. “When the shit hits the fan” is a great expression. The shit is pretty harmless in itself, but when it hits the fan, BOOM, watch out! When body fluids hit the fan borders are challenged, crossed and blurred.
There is something comical about the taboo around body fluids. Simon Critchley writes that humour is born in the insurmountable gap between the metaphysic and the physic, between being and having a body. That might have something to do with it. Our souls- arseholes.
Are your kids allowed to talk about farts and poo at day care, by the way? My friend told me that it is not allowed at her kids day care!! It is pretty hard to avoid. She accidentally said Goodbye little Fart- Siri to her daughter once and all the kids started giggling and the parents gave her evil stares.
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Sun, Nov 2, 2014 at 11:02 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
Oh yes that must be hard to avoid! I think that my kids are not allowed to talk about poo while eating at the kindergarden and I kind of support that since we have the same rule at home (none of us are able to stick to that rule, but anyway).
I wonder what is worse, written or spoken body fluids? Poo, pee, sweat, vaginal discharge, saliva, blood, snot, sperm, diarrhea, vomit, smegma.
I googled smegma and I found this text:
Smegma is a whitish substance that may be present on the genitalia (…) Smegma is caused by shredded skin cells, largely dead epithelial cells, mixing with skin oil secretions, such as sweat and naturally-produced lubricants. Smegma may build up if it is not washed away. This may cause problems (…) If smegma is allowed to build up it may begin to smell. It also may provide a place where bacteria can breed.
When the shit hits the fan is a great expression indeed. It immediately create pictures in my head. I would love to use it as a title sometime. Do you have any suggestions on titles for this text we have written so far?
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 11:07 AM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
I have organised “Vagina Painting Seminars” with my group Arena Baubo at some different events. It is a seminar where we discuss a certain topic at the same time as painting with a brush that is attached between our legs. The participants can either sit in a circle and observe or join inside the circle and paint and talk. We did that in Helsinki during the Pride festival last year. The discussion was about the explicit body in performance as a feminist strategy, and Julia Kristevas ideas about the abject in relation to performance art. Kristevas “abject” is relating to that which is rejected by and disturbing the social order, that which is experienced as disgusting or taboo. So a collective painting was taking shape during a discussion around these issues, until I informed everyone that we had about ten more minutes, and encouraged anyone who wanted to join and still hadn’t done so, to give it a go, or if anyone had something on the tip of their tongue, to let it out now. At that point one audience member, and in this context, it is relevant to add, it was a male, stood up and peed on the painting.
It was one of those moments of terror and success, of total awkwardness and confusion and still spot on. I should have seen it coming, but I was still a bit shocked, and many people in the room felt threatened and uncomfortable. Moreover the guy who did it seemed psychologically unstable and unable to reflect on it afterwards. We continued discussing whether it was a macho aggressive act of destruction or, like someone suggested, a moment of relieving a strong current in the collective unconscious into action. People approached us afterwards and asked if it was part of the performance, if we had planted the audience member and hired him to do that.
By this I would like to propose that body fluids written with body fluids is an even stronger breaking of the taboo.
However, it is interesting to think that the exact same act, facing a wall or a tree, on a late friday evening, would pass almost unnoticed.
As for the title. How about:
Text about text about body fluids
or:
High and low writing- a dialogical approach
or:
OMG! OMG! When the shit of the text hits the fan
I think certainly not the favourite paradoxical title of visual art works: Untitled
How about challenging the very idea of a title, which is to give a very short introduction to the ideas of the text, or a flavor that can effect the reader while reading the text or a way to grab attention or the shortest possible representation of the longer text. How about, if the whole of this text that we have written so far is the title of this text, and whatever we write after this moment is the text? In that way we would really mess up the systems of archivisation. I once had a musical score as a title for a project, and the administrator at The Swedish Arts Grant Committee had to ask me if the words that were part of that score would be ok as a title, because their computer system would not accept images.
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 1:06 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
Only the fourth time I read one of your titles I got it right So I add this wrongly read title as a suggestion
High and low writing- a diagonal approach
I buy your last suggestion though
For the reason that
Long titles are problematic
They just don ́t fit in
Writing with body fluids
Could be very effective
Make your own poo with Danish rye bread and nutella Or try what my daughter just did
Shit in her brothers bed
Poo art
Don ́t pee on feminist art work PLEASE
Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com> Wed, Nov 5, 2014 at 9:08 PM To: Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com>
This
—- —is
————now
——————-the
————————-text
———————————of
—————————————this
———————————————text.
—————————————————–High
————————————————————-and
———————————————————————-low
—————————————————————————–writing.
—————————————————————————————-A
———————————————————————————————-diagonal
———————————————————————————————————-approach.
Klara Elenius <klaraelenius@gmail.com> Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 8:36 PM To: Kajsa Wadhia <kajsawadhia@gmail.com>
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
————T
————T————EEEEEEEEEEEE
————T————E
————T————E
————TO ———E——————-X————————X
————T————EEEEEEEE———-X——————X
————————-E————————-X————-X
——————-WRITE—————————X——–X
————————-E——————————X—X
————————-EEEEEEEEEEEE————-X
———————————————————X—X
——————————————————-X— —-X
—————————————————–X———– X————-TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
—————————————————X —————X ———————-T
————————————————-X ——————eXtra—————–T
———————————————————————————————T
———————————————————————————————T
———————————————————————————————T
———————————————————————————————T
—————————————————————————————- WET
———————————————————————————————Text
——————————————————————————————————– (please pee here)
MEGA MINI 