Smell is one thing you cannot hinder that triggers and traces the memories, place, composure, structure that is around it. Smell transports. It transported me the other day into school, into a test, into gesture that is impulsive, a knee-jerk reaction to being underestimated. Uninhabitable is my body in these moments. I want to jump out of the skin and wring the neck of him, the necks of them.

No, it isn’t that bad. I want an exchange on equal terms, unfiltered through the lens of testosterone. No reanimation of this monster in me. The infection was strong in its making itself known. My affect was changed by the irreconcilable difference between me then and me now. My politics didn’t change but my body did. None of this could be assumed to happen, but it feels so natural and accurate to present as I do. And how is that?

The test is in the city street, by flaneuren, by promenading in purple jeans, in the 20-year-old socks with the ankle boots in men’s size. I am man-size. I am still incomplete.

                         

                                            Death & Loss script

(German and English)

Announcements before character transformation:

Herzlich Willkommen, meine geehrtes Publikum, meine Geschöpfe. Das freut mich sehr, daß ihr da seid! Ich hoffe, daß ihr schon neue sowie bekannte Gesichter sieht und einige neue Leute angesprochen habt.

Dieser Abend ist vor allem als ein Feier konzipiert, obwohl heftige Themen auf die Liste stehen, nämlich DEATH & LOSS.

A warm welcome, my honoured audience, my beings. I am very pleased that you came! I hope that you see new as well as familiar faces and have already spoken to some unknown to you. This evening is conceptualized, above all, as a party, although heavy topics are on the list, primarily DEATH & LOSS.

Mein Character heißt Jehanne, ursprünglich die Name einer Johanna von Orléans.

Der Abend hat drei Phase. Erste Phase fängt gerade an und besteht aus ein Lektur-Performance und Gesang, ca. 15 Min.)

Zweite Phase ist eine Anleitung zum Thema Verlust, und machen wir kurze Tanzparty zusammen.

Dritte Phase besteht aus eine kommunikationsreiche Erfahrung, als wir alle „Semaphore“, breit definiert, benutzen, um unsere Gefühle/Meinungen zum Tod u. Verluste zu kommunizieren- Lustig und nicht so lustig.

My character is named Jehanne, die Name of one Joan d’Arc.

The evening will be made up of three phases.

The first phase begins now and consists of a lecture-performance and singing, ca. 15 minutes.

The second phase acts as a guide to the topic loss, and then we hold a short dance party.

The third phase includes a communication-rich experience, as we all attempt a broadly-defined, semsphore in order to communicate our feelings/opinions about death and loss –funny and not very funny.

PHASE 1 – Inferno

Jehanne Unscharf returns to the Complex in The Chronic Chronik.

(Beginn draußen aufm Dach, ich mit Megaphone. Scheinwerfer auf mich beleuchten lassen und filmt (Josh). Glitzende auf mich werfen (Christoph) und einer ein Beat macht (Nicky). Das Publikum filmt oder fotografiert oder Licht vom Handy nutzt.) 

Erstmal, alle Fotos ab u zu machen, bitte!

Rap:

Maritime dreams, disappointed commitments, bring me the belt

Maritime dreams, failed commitments, bring me the belt

Maritime dreams, fallen faces, bring me the belt

Signals are open to interpretation, so are feelings, so is death.

Signals are open to interpretation, so are feelings, so is death.

Bring the belt, the banner, the flags, I’m bleeding again…it hurts.

I’m a young girl. I’ve got nipples visible through a T-Shirt

Make a parade out of nothing, fanfare is my language and my dirt

Maritime dreams, disappointed commitments, bring me the belt

Signals are open to interpretation, so are feelings, so is death.

Signals with flags, arms and pants

Signals with flags, arms and pants

Signals are open to interpretation, so are feelings, so is death.

Signals are open to interpretation, so are feelings, so is death.

(Im Atelier wieder rein, mit Beat-Geflüster)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Die Lampen sind da.

Die Bühne, in was auch immer für einen Form, ist auch da.

Die Performance händelt sich um Persönlichkeitsspaltung als Methode zur Austreibung der Verzweifelung. Der Vortrag-Phase erklärt, wie the Artist sich damit umgeht. (FB)

Und jetzt kommt die Wiederauferstehung des Auferstehungsleibes!

Diese Reise fängt an mit einer Vorstellungsrunde, die nur auf die Bühne erstmal stattfindet, nämlich, ich stelle mich euch vor.

Ich verkörpere zwei Geschöpfe, nämlich mich und meinen vor-zwanzig-jahren-gestorbenen Vater. Dementsprechend lese ich wohl in zwei verschiedenen Stimmen vor, nämlich etwas tiefer bei dem anscheinend-männlicheren Wesen und etwas schriller, wenn es heißen soll, daß ich ein junges Mädchen darstelle.

Und wir gehen weiter mit dem Stuck, Stuck als Theater, Stuck als Chronik, als Complex, Performance-Stuck als Exorzismus.

Ich habe mich mumifiziert, um näher an den Gestorbenen zu kommen.

Das kommt mir etwas kindlich vor. Wie eine Hexenmeisterin… Solche Methode sind zauberhaft und kritisch. Man ändert sich sein Aussehend, sein Sehkraft, sein Sprachfähigkeit und Viola! Eine andere Weltanschauung!

Ich stelle mir vor, daß ich meinem Vater mumifizieren hätten könnte.

Dieser Sehnsucht nach Verewigung ODER zumindest der Wunsch, positive und schöne Erinnerungen nicht zu verlieren! Haben wir alle, irgendwie…

(z.B. Wie hat das Haus meiner Kindheit gerochen? Wo sind die kleine Schuhe, die ich mit 6 getragen habe? In welcher Mülldeponie wohnen die jetzt?)

Meinungsäußerungen des Vaters:

„ Jeanne, honey, you need to smile more and sit up straight. This godforsaken country! Reagan’s running us into the ground. Iran and Oliver North. Stop listening to that crap. This modern rock music is just about sex and drugs. Back in Oklahoma City, on our way to school, my friends and I jumped a trolley car and detached the electrical current from the top so the car came to a halt and we ran for it!“

NOTHING more frustrating than trying to imagine what Father said, how he would express himself. But I can still imagine his voice. His even accent. The loudness of it, the projection of it. So tall and handsome.

Fragen der Tochter:

„Why is hiney-hole a bad word? Who Kissinger? Why are we moving every 2 years to a new house? How did it feel when you found out your wife wanted a divorce? When you studied Japanese? When you listened to the music you loved? When you lost your mind? When you forgot who I was? When you didn’t understand emotions anymore?

I’m just a CHILD

Als das Kind Kind war, geht es mit hängenden Armen. Wollte ein Bach sei ein Schlüß, ein Schlüß sei ein Strom…

Lassen die Emotionen fließend rauskommen! Sei authentisch! Sei mutig!

Das ist doch eine Methode zum Exorzismus… das Schreien kommt noch.

(Remove bandages)

Im Juli war er seit zwanzig Jahren Tod. Er ist im Krankhaus gestorben. Der Krankenpfleger hat den Ring meines Vaters geklaut. Mein Vater war so abgemagert, so erschöpft. Und er könnte mich überhaupt nicht erkennen. Seit Jahren hat er mich nicht so richtig erkennen können. So ist der Tod manchmal.

PHASE 2 – Purgatorio / Intermezzo

Und nun kommt eine Phase der Purgatorio, ja wie bei Dante!

Tanz-Phase geht um Tanz als Exorzismus-Versuch und Beisammensein.

Ein Intermezzo zum Tanzen. Wir tanzen das Intermezzo durch!

Der Musikauswahl händelt sich um Popmusik der 80er Jahre, weil ich am besten mein Vater daran erinnert. Nicht das Musik, sondern die Jahrzehnte.

In Begleitung meiner ModernDoor-Kolleg*nnen bringen wir Euch zum Tanzen auf diese Bühne!!

Die Anleitung ist folgendes: Schließ erstmal den Augen. Denkt an eure Verluste, eure Schaden, bis zum Wehtun und schreien. SCHREIEN!! So laut, wie möglich. Schreien ist auch Exorzismus-Versuch.

(80s pop music, ca 20 Minuten)

PHASE 3 – Paradiso

Semaphore kann als Methode zur Kommunizieren und Auseinandersetzung verwendet werden.

Emotionen, geistige Belastung, Verlust, Verzweiflung, Depression, wir können darüber reden ….oder besser: Wir können darüber winken!! Wir können Bewegungen erfinden!!

Erstmal zu die Aufgabe. Eine Beschreibung der Methode:

Semaphore laut Wikipedia ist

…das Winkeralphabet (Semaphore) dient zur optischen Nachrichtenübermittlung zwischen Schiffen oder an Land. Mit der Entwicklung des Sprechfunks verlor es stark an Bedeutung, wird jedoch auf See noch heute vor allem militärisch genutzt, da es – im Gegensatz zu fast allen Funkverkehren – nur schwer abhörbar ist. Offizielles Kommunikationsmittel ist es noch bei der United States Navy und den Meeresselbstverteidigungsstreitkräften Japans, wird jedoch auch bei anderen Marinen noch gepflegt.

Anleitung

Am Bespiel demonstrieren mit TheModernDoor:

Euch chaotisch bewegen mit spontan “Semaphore”, einige Sätze schreiben bis zum “STOPP” und euch unbeweglich verharren!!

 

                            DEATH & LOSS II            research/matter-of-fact texts

Underlying all our mystic states are corporeal techniques, biological methods of entering into communication with a higher being/state/it/thing-ness

Marcel Mauss, Les Techniques du Corps

French sociologist Georges Lapassade devoted much of his research to understanding trance, specifically rituals occurring in Italy and the Maghreb. While teaching at the Sorbonne in 1957, Lapassade practiced and taught an early form of psychodrama.

“Each woman moved to the pulse of the drum …. The sick woman’s movement increased in intensity and speed, her eyes half closed, she appeared totally oblivious of her surroundings, abandoning herself completely to the dance. Her movements flowed freely from the inside out, from her torso to her limbs, gaining strength and speed as she came full circle around the imposing altar to where the helpers were… till finally, she threw her arms up and was about to fall, but the Kodia guided her to the floor…”
-From a description of an Egyptian Zar ceremony

The !Kung’s healing dance is an attempt by the healers to remove the invisible arrows shot at them from the invisible spirit world causing sickness. The healers dance around a fire until their concentration puts them into a trance state. They believe this activates a powerful force which the !Kung call n/um. When they reach the trance state and achieve n/um, they are able to ritually heal everyone sitting around the fire. Both men and women can become healers by going through an apprenticeship with an experienced healer.

Hysteria, ecstacy

Plato wrote of two contrasting types of dancing, one which enabled the motions of beautiful bodies, the other parodying with distortion the motions of ugly bodies.  We find examples of ‘convulsive’ or ‘frenzied’ dancing across cultures and it is often bound up in shaman culture.

Dancing your Disease

1374: Thousands of German men & women traveled to Aachen to celebrate the midsummer festival of St. John.  It is documented that these visitors were overtaken by some force which induced them to leap, scream and dance for hours in the streets until overcome by exhaustion.  Dancing their contorted dance, these assemblies of dancers were further augmented by musicians playing bagpipes, on the theory that those affected should be helped to dance the disease out of their system.

 

NOW/MAD ARTIST STATEMENT

NOW/MAD Project (collaboration since Autumn 2012)

Now/Mad is a series of lectures/ performances/ installations by Jeanne Hamilton and Mihai Lukacs.

How did we get here? What ways did we join and collaborate and what ways did we separate or withdraw within the flux of moves and worlds? Following our own experiences with travel, madness, detachment, expansion and withdrawal as artists, theoreticians and artivists, we produce pieces for 2 partners, using what Brian Massumi calls “twoness [as] a relay to a multiplicity”. Our separate experiences (as US-American/Eastern European, wo/man etc) separate and mingle in a chronological interaction based on our visual and written archives from the time we experimentally moved from one location to another. Our relay in ideas and theory expands upon our idea of “sobjectivity”, which addresses the intertwining of subjectivity and objectivity, an imaginary distinction that functions worldwide to render perpetrators, victims, gatekeepers and outsiders; a claim to objectivity in sciences and research is used to confirm “right” and to buttress authority. By being at every step a relay away from fixed ideas into direct action and performance, our strategy is to analyse and reinvent a nomadic archive of possibility and becoming. An intersectional approach to identity formation and psychological “well-being” will be investigated within the performance and resulting art objects, memorials and remnants.

The life pace and disjointed, mediatised experience of the post-capitalist subject demands nomadism on a mental, survivalist or physical level. A mediatised experience crossing imaginary worlds occurs while simultaneously the nomadic move is made across physical borders. The disorientation and flexibility caused by neoliberal capitalism and the many possibilities of cultural/social/political exchange happening in contemporary life is the subject of much discussion and debate. The “now” of “now/mad” is the contemporary interaction and the happenings yet to be. The “mad” refers to the affecting and excitable psychological processes that are crucial to countering a dominant discourse of “progress”, a “free market” and “borderless” space. The now/mad is not pathology (clinical madness as a form of nomadic debilitating detachment from this world) that we decide to abandon but an exercise in engaging with unimagined ways and embracing uncharted territories both psychological and physical.

Efforts to pinpoint exact “locations” and states of mind are as ambiguous as the categories of madness and the assumed necessity of classifying the life of the nomad who can be seen as a border-crosser and transgressive figure; a figure embodying the unstable, roaming and morphing potential of meaning. These disjunctures, transformations, re-routings necessitate invention of a nomadic approach by abandoning any desire or nostalgia for fixity or definitive location.

We reject individualized experience in favour of an inclusive and porous subjectivity; one that adapts. Now/mad is the desire for other configurations, for identities “made of transitions, successive shifts, and coordinated changes, without and against an essential unity.” (Rosi Braidotti)

By rejecting a totalizing universal gaze, we embrace feminist theory and the politics of location (Adrienne Rich), which refer to the local and global power hierarchies that form and influence encounters. We work to imagine what a now/mad view would look and feel like starting with the fragments and memories of our own bodies and their movements. Out of psychological and physical disorientation, we attempt to re-route and abolish capitalist/patriarchal/racist/artistic hierarchies in favour of a dynamic that would bring the memorialization of experience to a full expression, able to produce a collective public critique of unequal power relations in order to promote “human relations that do not automatically fall into roles or stereotypes but open onto fundamental relations that bring out the most radical and basic alienation of madness”(Felix Guattari).

Although  mediatized  and  medicalized  “clients” and  “patients”  are  produced  and  packaged  in entertainment  as  well  as  doctors’  offices  i.e. present and openly addressed in contemporary, post-industrial  publics,  the  causes  and phenomena  working  themselves  out  in interpersonal, intimate relations requires further discussion  and  interrogation.  We  see  this approach as a creative strategy (sobjectivity) with which  to  approach  otherwise  inscrutable, seemingly chaotic experiences piling upon each other  over  time.  We  will  present,  through  the performance  of relayed  movement,  melancholy and disjunctures, the fissure where the classifying psychology  of  today  and  the  affective  and inexplicable/unempirical meet. Our aim is neither to provide a solution to these disorienting boundary-traversing experiences nor to  stabilize  an  “sick”  social  realm.  On  the contrary, through personal archaeological mining and relayed collaboration, we highlight and push forward a critique of hierarchies — political, social, medical.

(Documentation of street interventions in Vienna see DVD)