METHOD NO. 25 (August 1, 2003)
Email-Bulletin "METHOD" is a free monthly on "Method Painting, Method
Poem, Method Music (Methodicist Manifesto)." Publishers are three
Japanese artists, Hideki Nakazawa, a (visual) artist, Shigeru Matsui, a
poet, and Masahiro Miwa, a composer. You can read the manifestos of
Methodicism at http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/method/
This issue, METHOD NO. 25, carries a text by Hideki Nakazawa and a web
piece by Shigeru Matsui, and word and info by the three Methodicists.
>>>METHODICIST'S TEXT OF THIS MONTH:
Why Tautology Again? (After the Talk with Barbara Pollack)
by Hideki Nakazawa, artist
Last month, I invited Barbara Pollack, a critic, as a guest for my
monthly event "METHOD NIGHT," and held a "Talk Battle" with her. The
talk was both very exciting and frustrating, because Pollack and I had
totally opposite opinions which could never meet. To put it shortly,
Pollack was a hedonist, while I was an ascetic. However, I think both
of the attitudes are the only possible two ways one can take nowadays;
the age after the collapse of logic, or Logos, or words.
The collapse of logic means the advent of tautology. The form of
a sentence "A is A," which is tautology, is the logical conclusion
deduced from logic itself. Since the sentence "A is A" has no meaning,
logic has no meaning. Wittgenstein, Saussure, Goedel, and Duchamp made
this meaninglessness obvious in the early twentieth century, when the
triumphs of democratic systems had totally expelled the meanings derived
from the former God's or kings' authority.
Tautology received much attention also in the 1960s in the context
of reductionistic art, when Reinhardt wrote "Art is art-as-art and
everything else is everything else," which was quoted by Kosuth, et al.
Conceptualism and minimalism which appeared during the last half of the
twentieth century can be thought as asceticistic attitudes to obey
tautology, while postmodernism and sensualism can be thought as
hedonistic attitudes to be excused by tautology.
Yes, I am saying that both asceticism and hedonism were deduced
from tautology, and I want to point out their similarity to Greek
philosophies. Both Stoicism and Epicureanism arose after the Socrates's
tautology which appeared during the last years of democracy in Athens.
Furthermore, those days seem to me also similar to today's
postmodernistic age in the point of mobocracy, or widespread "mere
hedonism" which even had no awareness of tautology. Epicureanism was
not far from Stoicism in its origin, but "mere hedonism" of the same
kind was far enough from asceticism, and just resulted in "anything
goes."
My regrettable point about the "Talk Battle" was that we did not
develop our argument enough. We were on different wavelengths, and I
could not talk enough even the things above. I tried to say that I
obeyed logic even though logic had no meaning, because I thought
somebody (that was I) should obey tautology again. However, my opponent
rephrased and rephrased that logic did not make sense nowadays any more.
That situation made me frustrated, but from another point of view,
Pollack's superficial but exciting sophistry itself ... which I even
enjoyed masochistically (though far from being an ascetic) ... reflected
today's superficial art world very well. Besides, by contrasting with
her, I succeeded much better in emphasizing my standpoint of being
against this hedonistic age. Therefore, the "Talk" was extremely worthy
as a "Battle." Thank you, Barbara!
>>>METHODICIST'S WEB PIECE OF THIS MONTH:
Pure Poem for Reisiu Sakai
by Shigeru Matsui, poet
http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/PurePoemRead.html
I wrote "Pure Poem" to be read by a vocalist, Reisiu Sakai. Three signs
of Roman numerals, "I," "II," and "III," constituted "Pure Poem." I
designated pitch and value for reading according to the rule used in
"Pure Poem." As the result of that, it started with the meaning of
signs and the value corresponded to each other but later the meaning and
the value shifted. For example, the state of "I"(meaning)="I"(value)
changed to "I"="III." Or, the state of "III"="III" changed to "III"="I."
Reisiu Sakai read this piece in Japanese. The three signs, "I," "II,"
and "III," were pronounced as "Ichi," "Nii," and "San" in Japanese.
cf. "Pure Poem" www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/PurePoem.html
>>>METHODICISTS' WORD & INFO OF THIS MONTH:
Hideki Nakazawa, artist:
nakazawa@aloalo.co.jp http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/
- Group show "Revolving Door: iscp <-> asia" at Chambers Fine Art, NYC.
Curated by Yasufumi Nakamori. Aug 7 - Sep 6, 2003. Opening Reception:
Thu, Aug 7, 6-8 pm. Curator's talk and walkthrough: Thu, Aug 14, 7 pm.
210 Eleventh Ave., 2nd floor, NYC. (corner W 25th St.) T 212.414.1169
- METHOD NIGHT VOL. 8 presented by Hideki Nakazawa
Performance "Train Transfer" on Thu, Aug 21, 2003.
(1) Meet at around 5:30 pm at Chambers Fine Art (see above), OR,
(2) Meet at 6:30 pm SHARP at the north end of the platform for uptown
trains at the 14 St Station of Subways 1,2,3,9 (7 Ave. Red Lines).
... Performance piece "Train Transfer with 9 Reverses" was composed and
premiered in 2001 in Japan by Hideki Nakazawa (artist), Sigeru Matsui
(poet), and Tomomi Adachi (musician). This time in NYC., Nakazawa will
ride on a train along the subway lines 1,2,3,9 with audiences. Please
pay your own transit fare by yourself. The performance will begin from
the 14 St Station at 6:30 pm SHARP; do not be late. Or, you are welcome
to join him around an hour earlier at Chambers Fine Art at Chelsea,
where his floor piece arranged approximately by 40,000 coins will be
being exhibited in a group show. COME AND WITNESS TODAY'S TRUE
RADICALISM.
Shigeru Matsui, poet:
shigeru@td5.so-net.ne.jp http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/
- Recently, I am engaging in updating my website and also in planning
some performances. Many people think my such activities as "what is
just connected with pleasure after all." I deny it. All my activities
are neither pleasant nor painful. "Method" follows mere logic that is
insensible and inexpressive. Logic itself has no meaning. It is the
existence of logic that has meaning. What is important for poesy of
"Method Poem" is to be understood by everyone. I only observe logic.
There is no mystery in logic.
- Performance "READING" on August 2, 2003, at Usagigoya, Tokyo.
http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/Reading.html
Masahiro Miwa, composer:
mmiwa@iamas.ac.jp http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~mmiwa/
- Activities of this month: Forming a new Matarisama ensemble at IAMAS.
/ Developing the first prototype of "Matari-o-Max VR," the special
Matarisama training software with 7 virtual Matarisama players. /
Creating an endless melody-generating-system for male voices. /
Designing a new controller for speaking and singing without using human
voices (a secret project of "Format Brothers"). / Continuing the
workshop "Let's invent a new folk entertainment!" on the web. / Starting
to construct the final version of Matarisama-Dolls collaborating with
Mr. Noriaki Ogasawara. It can be possible that I will be in Linz,
Austria during Ars Erectronica Festival in the beginning of September
with a final version of Matarisama-Dolls.
Group "METHOD":
http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/method/
>>>POSTSCRIPT:
The next issue, NO. 26, will be published on September 1, carrying a text
by Shigeru Matsui and a web piece by Masahiro Miwa. There are two
versions of this bulletin; one is only in English which you are reading
right now, the other is accompanied by Japanese translation which we can
send you at your request. To read the back numbers, visit the above URL
of "METHOD." To subscribe or unsubscribe to this bulletin, email any of
us at the above email addresses. You can send on this bulletin to
others freely, but corruption and appropriation are prohibited.
Monthly Email-Bulletin METHOD NO. 25 published on August 1, 2003
(C) Hideki Nakazawa, Shigeru Matsui, Masahiro Miwa, 2003