HauntedGeographies

38

/ / / / / /Lowinfo
Design

It was great to see Lowinfo exhibiting at 100% Design for the first time. Tim (X-Vaux) and his team just keep moving from strength to strength– Tokyo and Milan Next.

design | lowinfo

37

/ / / / / /(Ab)users
Notes



‘Ur-Christ of the communications landscape’ JG Ballard

I’m posting about a book I’ve never read– but am desperate to read. Due to a ‘book-freeze’ I am forbidden to purchase it! ‘The Doc’ (the mighty Jorella Andrews) put me onto it: ‘The Theological Turn of French Phenomenology’ by Dominique Janicaud. Apparently it describes how certain strands of French thought have appropriated theological language, and regardless of metaphysical preference, used it to open up contemporary debate– some theology seems to have a natural affinity with post-modernity.

I probably shouldn’t read the book, just wonder at where it could lead. As someone who is fascinated with (Ab)use and the redemptive power of the reader, just the notion of this book is exciting. I’m a big fan of ‘Cut-n-shut’ theory or the crazy meanderings of illicit paths and wilful misunderstandings. Equally, with chapter headings like: ‘The Swerve’ and ‘Veerings’, it looks like there could be some interesting stuff to develop my ideas on ‘the oblique’– an approach that initially grew out of exploring bricolage (originally meaning to swerve or to avoid an obstacle).

Cultural theory does appear to contain a fair amount of theological fallout– and not just the usual suspects of McLuhan, Virilio, Certeau and Bakhtin. Derrida and Lyotard have both written on Paul of Tarsus; and two of my favourites would be Deleuze and Guattari use of Duns Scotus ‘Haecceitas’ (thisness) or Georges Batailles ‘unproductive expenditures’, heavily informed by concepts of loss and extreme sacrifice.

Has anyone read this? What do you think?

design | theology | bricolage

36

/ / / / / /(W)holes
AntiManual


Box and up-datable PDF content

Another slippery customer, this not only acts as a probe or investigation it also acts as the design payload– to enter what is tediously called ‘site of reception’. This is my ‘Oscillating’ thesis, containing not only the tactical research of Mapping, MemeTent and Tumbleweed, but also essay and various other typographical and diagrammatic interpretations.

As my entire thesis revolves around the politics of identity, it made complete sense to utilise the classic graphic mechanism of ‘guidelines’– a beautiful dovetailing of form and content. Brands and Identities are always initially articulated through these media. Equally, as a third of the thesis is theoretical typography, it made sense to choose this expression.

A note to ab(users); this anti-maual steals from Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’, with three key modes of engagement: metaphor, slogan and example. Most of the content reflects a commitment to the temporary, the mobile and the oblique– core values that this piece (and all the pieces within) seek to embody. True to these values, this manual comes unbound in a box and utilises a decimal numbering system, allowing for numerous adjustments and additions. Equally, the flexible format encourages multiple reading. Arrange and read this manual, as you like. Follow the internal leaps and associations or assert your own

design | ma | vibration | metaphysic | antimanual

35

/ / / / / /Tumbleweed
Test_2



As with ‘Labadie the Nomad’: ‘The inner journey was transformed into a geographical one’ (de Certeau).

The next weed to be realeased. This time twice as big, fluorescent and laser-cut. Dropped the ‘Semacode’. I can see why there has been little or no take up in this country– there’re bitches to use, the mobile technology is not there yet. Need to get like Japan where people are blogging off handsets.

design | ma | vibration | metaphysic | entropic media

34

/ / / / / /MemeTent/
Build

Finally realised from the original sketch. This probe explores (as a fractal or synecdoche) some of the functions of fundamentalism. In this instance, I worked with fellow anonymous worker, Sally Cooke. It was fantastic to get back to materials, discussing all the ins and outs of pattern cutting and the implications of fabrics. In the end we plumped for NATO parachute nylon, reductive black detailing and orange air-tex lining– colourway via the classic MA1 Bomber jacket.

design | ma | vibration | metaphysic | memetent

33

/ / / / / /Mapping
InsideOut_2

Very crudely, all five areas contain movement and transgress borders– there is a trespass. Apophaticism exists as a hierarchy, placing interior over the exterior– hence no vibration, just a singular withdrawal across a border.

Folding is wonderfully complex tactic’ it destabilizes the binary relationship of what is considered inside and what is out– a twisted fold that turns the world ‘topsy-tury’. It also acts as a ‘synecdoche’ (like walking), using a void or elision to unite two previously unrelated spaces. This way, things are allowed to become ‘fractal’, a whole argument condensed within one word or theory compressed into an object, as with a synecdoche one sail becomes a fleet of ships. There is constant movement across borders here, a vibration.

Apertures and holes pepper borders, be it the osmosis of camouflage or the arbitrary nature of signs (typography). They also act as powerful metaphors within themselves– for loss and disappearance. They become vibratory images, a constant movement back and forth.

In this context Memes are related to fundamentalism (and like apophaticism) to a singular retreat across a border. There is no vibration or oscillation, just a finite closure and withdrawal.

Psychathenia is a folding outwards or living ‘floris’ (Augustine), unlike camouflage there is no
vibration just a drastic, finite subordination of the figure by the ground. It constitutes a form of spatial fundamentalism where the subject permanently identifies with its environment.

design | ma | vibration | metaphysic

32

/ / / / / /Mapping
InsideOut_1

The next 5 posts are the objects and ‘probes’ I presented for my thesis. I’ll be carving up the ‘poncy’ theory over the next month. This A1 poster is a cognitive map showing the associative links for ‘inside out’– probably the major area of interest this year. A metaphysical space that just kept repeating within the work.

I mapped 5 key areas of interest: apophaticism, folding, apertures, memes and psychathenia. The ‘inside-outside’ map didn’t just consolidate my research space it also suggested future trajectories– areas of possible investigation, for instance: ‘place’. In the end the ‘inside out’, camouflage and typography gave me the trigonometry of vibration and in turn, the manual of disappearance and re-appearance.

design | ma | vibration | metaphysic