Ritual Reportage

No:37

2006-03-30T13:02:00.000+02:00

Ellan is the DJ she chooses 'Swimming Song' by Kate and Anna Mcgarrigle.

Ritual no 37: Look up the steps for hula hula in a book, practice them on a prominent bridge - think of Esther Williams

G – You mentioned it was interesting to practice rather than perform the hula dance steps in the ritual.

E- The fact that I had to look them up, then try to remember them, combined with the fact that I was dancing barefoot (as per the instructions for hula) made it a physically difficult task which I was concentrating on; I don't know whether you can see from the film that I’m smiling - but even that was a task rather than a performance or a spontaneous display of emotion - the hula instructions specified that you had to smile, and roll your eyes in the direction in which you're moving; plus, according to your instructions, I was trying to remember to think of Esther Williams as well, so both my mental and physical activity is defined and accounted for from the outset..

G- However there becomes interruptions in the steps sometimes, in the rules, an unsure move or an awkwardness, an unsmoothness. The possibility that the hula steps could become “found” evidence interests me. That rituals can include raw data?

E-I want to make works that are more like crime scenes or archaeological sites - a richness and density of subject and ideas, clues and traces which may resonate with a viewer. The rituals are an exploration of context - viewed as a film they can seem quite abstract; the addition of the song suggests a narrative, or an emotional content - and then the text which describes the actions of the ritual takes it back to a purely mechanistic level – it functions as both closed and open narrative.

G- a form of response to context? - a movement between author, reader, text, and intertext.

Read more?
Open and Closed spaces
Open and Closed spaces

No. 4

2006-02-09T14:03:00.000+01:00

Alexia is the DJ she chooses Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.

Ritual No.4 Wear tights and tear them off whilst submerged in a bath of bubbles think of Esther Williams

Gilbert: we ask people to film their films in one shot, no editing. Do you have any thoughts on this on how it affected what you filmed etc

Alexia: Filming in one shot makes you enjoy the action more- you have the possibility to be present in it –to complete the action without stopping and starting for the camera..you are not doing the action for the camera, the sense of live is enhanced somehow.

Gilbert: do you think that editing decisions are being made regardless of physical cuts though, choices already made/taken.

Alexia: I see those choices and decisions as performance choices, directional choices rather than editorial choices. For me there is a difference between these choices and the art of afterwards, the edited montage. I see this type of edit (the montage) as a secret/private part of the process. Something which the reader will find difficult to co- author – there are pieces left out, hidden which the reader will not have opportunity to embrace, things we will never get to use

Gilbert: I see editing as all always taking place, between the viewer/reader/writer. I have recently been reading an interesting article by Bruce Andrews. He brings up interesting questions about the online reading environment in relation to Editing, raw material and active roles. If editing is a dimension of reading; if reading constructs.... Can the electronic process of writing offer us an active enough editing, involving us — but with some critical distance — in the aberrant, nonnarrative wanderings of textual sense?

Electronic Poetics by Bruce Andrews

2006-01-12T13:00:00.000+01:00

Leif is the DJ and his song of nostalgia is by The kinks ”milk cow blues”

Ritual Nr 6: Sit in a half lit room wear dark glasses and tear up a pillow of feathers- think of Esther Williams.

Gilbert: What texts have you been reading lately ?

Leif: I had a long walk today. Went to a junk-market. Bought a book about the red army fraction, it is an interesting theme. I do not approve of the violence and the acts of terror used to express frustration against the system. still they had an idealistic idea of change and i catch myself having romantic associations to that. if you feel like reading more here is a link: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_Armee_Fraktion
It's not a fascination for RAF itself - it's the history. In the light of German country s history i feel so much importance to history. RAF were the first to utter an opposite to conservative establishment.

TWO DAYS LATER:

Gilbert: reading the link you sent I am tempted to repeat an evergreen question asked in this text: ”How are we to respond to western imperialism in a time where capitalism has weakened the force of conflicts on a national level?”

Leif: response is the second step. first step is to feel the personal
confrontation to that. it is about how you put your nose out there and
look for what is actually meant by that. question yourself: Am i
influenced in my way of acting by forces that i experience to be normal/ordain because i'm not used to anything else? For me I have to answer shit, i am! sure i am. it's me who just bought a new cd, a new pair of shoes, a new shaving water. it's me who decided to take the more expensive fruits just because they look nicer. it's me consuming. what can i do better? where do i find the monster called imperialism? Sometimes I resign to thinking that all I can do is being critical

Gilbert: Can being critical becoming more then passive acceptance though?
what are the ways around this? What type of poetic exchange and creative cultural activity provides an alternative to the values of production that you feel alienated by?

Grape: I believe our everyday actions carry a huge potential and may propose a level of ambition and even directly respond to these questions. An example is people who are exploring ideas of a symbolic exchange- Feral Trade is a public experiment in trading goods along social networks - an experiment in new international trade relations.
Feral Trade

To be continued….

No. 56

2005-12-08T14:56:00.000+01:00

GilbertandGrape are the Dj´s and choose the song My Darlin Companion by Johnny Cash

Ritual No. 56 Make a map of waffles, spread it with brown cheese and walk the map carrying a 20 kilos stuffed moose head.

In this edition of live reportage Gilberts choose to join our actionists by doing a ritual ourselves and make a little sum up of this years events. So far 10 participants have contributed to this blog project. We want to thank all of you for making actions, making statements selecting your nostalgic songs and taking time to watch the sunset with us. We hope the rituals may contribute to reverse and enrich perspectives on the daily actions and perhaps make us question how we might like to change alter or insist on them.

The project have been of inspiration too us in means of keeping in touch with discussions and people aside of geographical location and this theme has been central for us this year .

One gilbert in England and one Grape in Norway. Living in geographically separated locations has been included as a theme inour work. A piece we would like to show you next year is called ”missing you mostly” (premiered in Southampton this winter) in this piece we try to create a concrete space despite being physically apart creating a sense of physical relation.

This year the Gilberts launched the first chapter of performance ”The Lone Ranging Romance”(extracts of this project on the other blog) This is yet another project that have equipped us with experience in making relational work. People we have met have been generous and willing to discuss and part take in the themes we are concerned with.

The road is tempting and now there are two volvo amazons with gilberts in them, one here, one there we hope to meet you soon. Next year already have some lines and prospects tempting us to go on making statements. So please stay in touch!

If you would like to participate in this blog-work, then send us a mail and we will give you a ritual to perform.
Love and scandal GilbertandGrape.

“the idea that is better to orient yourself in relation to what already exists, rather than start from scratch. The question asked is less, "how to we rebuild" then "are we trying to inhabit these places differently?" From there, relations can be tied together between an audience and a body of work, between a public and a project. This new 'space' only needs the mediation of a sign, an object or an image. (...) There needs to be negotiations. Many of today's problems come from there not being a space for that - which in my eyes is the foundation of democracy. Art is enthralling insofar as it is an object of negotiation.”

"Islets" and Utopia... by Nicolas Bourriaud

No.16

2005-11-10T13:06:00.000+01:00

Anne is the Dj she chooses Living on a prayer by Jon Bon Jovi

Ritual no 16. Write a sentence from memory, then rewrite it by writing pom pom after each word. Call someone you love and leave the message on an answer phone.

Anne :I chose ”You shine like gold in the air of summer” its a sentance from a song that’s been playing in my mind the last days, I listen to it while driving and I would like my sister to hear it.………..calling my sister, its 9.15 in the morning I think shes asleep so I guess I will get the answer phone, …its the answer phone .. I leave this message.

”You pom pom shine pompom like pom pom gold pom pom in pom pom the pom pom air pom pom of pom pom summer pom pom”

Gilbert: I have been reading theories on routine lately, how can one take a daily action such as making a telephonecall and turn it into something that actively brings awareness of the action itself, how do we do it? Think of the options it entails? I guess I am asking if we are pacified by the numbers of times we repeat an action say telephone calls, and thereby let an action loose its integrity …identity thereby also its ”language”

Anne: this question has been important to me in my work. How everyday actions and culture are specific towards these decissions. I once did a performance wearing a burka for 23 days, exploring how this piece of clothing makes people see me and I them etc. Trying to registrate how a person experience the everyday through this piece of clothing, you can read more about the project on this Website

Read more theory? Robert Gordon's recent work on the explanation of action (Gordon, 2000) ” challenges reasons for action with causally efficacious internal propositional attitude states (beliefs, desires, etc), The "ascent routine" explains how we could reliably report what we believe, and even (through simulation) what other people are likely to believe, without making any appeal to reified belief states. According to Gordon, we do not look within, into our belief boxes, to find out what we believe; rather we look outward, reporting how we take the world to be. Of course, we can, if we want, express our findings by talking about our beliefs and desires, and sometimes it is convenient to do so, but such grammatical nominalization should not be taken to imply that beliefs etc. are things, with causal powers, any more than, say, orbits, or habits. Belief talk, on this view, is derivative from the 'real' underlying processes of ascent routine and simulation.”

No. 3

2005-10-14T13:00:00.000+02:00

Clare is the DJ she chose Woody Guthrie.

No:3 Keep apologising whilst swinging from a tree think of Esther Williams

CT: mission impossible - try to assert your
uniqueness‚ through a uniform... demonstrate your individuality
through your H&M sweater and Diesel Jeans, IKEA
interiors, the contents of your fridge..."oh so
original" the words i sewed across the ass of my pants
for an exhibition I took part in called 'Try this on
for size'. Tongue-on-cheek?!...

If you are able to buy into 'exclusivity' what do you
actually get at the end of the day? The worlds biggest
pair of shoulder pads? ....It's Dynasty all over
again!

G: I was reading an interview with Susan Sontag today
I was interested by her anti-postmodernism stance a
stance against everything being equivalent. Capitalist ideology seems obsessed with this smoothing
over of 'taste'. It presents itself as having so many
possibilities (many different types of shoulder
pads!), new rituals yet at the same time still
demanding categorization. By presupposing this
ideology there is a chance to play - to revel in the
margins. There is somewhere to speak from. - I kind of
understand your pop band as that..

CT: I am member of the artist group Mr Helium & the
Holy Gliders‚. We are interested in authenticity and
questions around taste‚.
Who has talent, what is good taste or indeed who shall
tell us what is good taste? There is a liberating
quality of 'childish' fantasy over the adult (that is
perhaps
to say the mainstream critical) obsession with
classification and quality-control.

Mr Helium & the Holy Gliders - our live art band - got
its name from the first song we recorded "Ahejujha".
Ahejujha attacks religious bigotry and 'from the
margins‚ offers a new space for freedom
(sexual, spiritual, creative...).

See Mr Helium and the Holy Gliders at glasgay
GilbertandGrape are listening to Le Tigre this month.
See Mr Helium and the Holy Gliders at

glasgay

No.28

2005-09-08T13:00:00.000+02:00

Maddy is the DJ, her song of nostalgia is:
Back of my hand.by the Jags
Dial up users

Ritual no.28: Sit on a dustbin, try to light a fire of a banana-Think of Esther Williams

GilbertandGrape have currently been discussing the media’s way of portraying fear and hysteria. Here is some thoughts on the topic set in gender/perspective by a French theorist. We give this to Maddy 01.00 in the morning:

”In speculum of the other woman Irigaray embraced hysteria not as a malady but as another way of thinking that the West had systematically suppressed, though in a manner that carried the traces of hysteria's irrationality within itself. The semiotic is effaced in the symbolic, although its traces can be detected in the very place of its repression.” Luce Irigaray

Gilbert: we question whether media are adopting binary repressions and stereotypical presentations of topics as fear and hysteria.

Gilbert: The conglomerate media re-appropriating hysteria as an active role – within its own power structures.

Maddy: I'm also interested in the hysteria for the banal. Today bbc radio one are looking for a new controller. If I was controller of bbc radio one I would stop them from playing james blunt who used to be in the army, falls in love willy nilly and looks slightly insincere. I would also stop them from talking over records that you are trying to listen to. It is mean of bbc radio one to try and steal Terry Wogans listeners from radio two becasue Terry Wogan has two million more listeners than chris moyles. I think they should leave Terry Wogan alone or bring him over to Radio One because he has a lovely comfy voice that makes you think everything is OK.

What GilbertandGrape are listening to KISSS on Resonance FM KISSS on Resonance FM

No. 31

2005-08-11T14:31:00.000+02:00

Live Reportage-Singapore. KC is the Dj this month he chooses Happy Together by the Turtles

KC Hoo made a response via email and so our roads crossed. He was doing a performance and inviting people to a

web-party

on Singapore's National Day - August 9th. He wanted to perform one of our rituals and so we sent him this:

No. 31:Make a diving platform from matchsitcks launch it in a pot of boiling water try to keep it floating think of Esther Williams.

THIS IS HOW IT WENT

KC:I read it when the party started and there were no matches in the house. I went out to the neighboring convenience stores and none sold matches, only lighters! They must really be a relic, historythese days. You cant get matchsticks anymore

KC: National Day can be said to be nostalgia par excellence for Singaporeans because the stories of the country's founding and our core values are reiterated annually on this day by a giant spectacle of F-16 fly pasts, mass displays, marching, laser shows, parachuting stunts and of course, fireworks! This year's even more significant because it's our 40th birthday and it'll be held on The Padang, the site of the first National Day way back in 1965. And as always, the nation's celebrations will be webcasted live as it has been since 2001. To know more, please visit STEAM!BOAT is a party taking place with the Internet on National Day. A real-life steamboat (a Chinese dish akin to Korean BBQ/Japanese teppanyaki) party will occur and relayed to the Internet via live chatroom, webcam and the website. This is in response to the burgeoning development in Internet bandwidth, wireless technologies and the means of social interaction on the Internet.

However not many people joined the web-party, one of the guests was this guy who webcammed with us, the experience was more alienating then border communicating really. We were watching him sitting in his flat somewhere, dimly lit and in singlet (ala webcam porn)

G there are difficult questions on framing and settings, at one side you are opening up for a discussion to anyone who has internet access and lessening the subjective control of where your work is viewed but on that other side it can be difficult to separate what is public and what is private.

As Teresa de Lauretis (1987, 25) has put it: "that 'elsewhere' is not some mythic distant past or some utopian future history: it is an elsewhere of discourse here and now, the blind spots, or the space-off, of its representation."

G: Thankyou KC for joining in this ritual reportage and for searching for the matches.

What GilbertandGrape are reading on connectivity, embodiment and the instant aesthetic of news.

Connections, both inside and outside of our bodies, involve growth, existence and functionality on the one hand whilst simultaneously impacting on the production of subjectivity on the other. Mapping bodies, movement and systems of exchange foregrounds the centrality of connection to human life. Connection is about people and meanings. Identifying the inseparable flows and networks of both developing technologies and developing selves can help to productively explore the meanings and importance of connection and connectivity. Extract 'I Connect Therefore I Am: Connectivity and Networking in Bodies, Technologies, Communities, and Selves 'Anthony Lambert

read article

CNN has begun an experiment that uses iChat AV to conduct face-to-face interviews. A new US show hosted by Wolf Blitzer,

situation room

aims to mix traditional reporting with new online technologies.

No. 64

2005-07-14T13:00:00.000+02:00

Kennet is our Dj for July he chooses Poetry in Motion by Bobby Vinton
Kenneth selected ritual No. 64: Go to the lighthouse and bring a stuffed moose head, make plastic antlers as the sun goes down-Think of Esther Williams

G Gilberts are interested in cliches; how do you suppose a cliché...as a painting of a sunset and a moose can be a reference for this phenomena?

K I know I group of artists that tried by survey to find out what was the most wanted painting in America, see Arthur Dantor yes there is a link to the artists Komar and Melamid where I saw this replica of the most wanted painting; A deer standing grassing by a water maybe a couple of deers in the afternoon or evening sun. The artists surveyed what colours people prefferd, how much blue should there be in a painting, what kind of things object or motifs would you like.etc

G This is what I find on the web when looking it up:
”In the last chapter of After the End of Art, Dando suggests that the message must be a kind of comedy or play, which does not take itself too seriously. "The true heroes of the post-historical period are the artists who are masters of every style without having a pianterly style at all..." (AEA p. 217). As examples, he cites the Russian artists Komar and Melamid, who in a work commisioned by The Nation magazine first surveyed the USA to see what people wanted most and least in a painting, and then produced what they claim are the most and least wanted paintings. They have since repeated the process for several other countries;

I am gonna put the link in so our blog readers can have a look:
The results may be viewed at

www.diacenter.org

where links may also be found to a similar project involving music.

K The work, is not the paintings themselves, but the play of ideas involved in making them

G The play of ideas is what interests us too, whats with the nostalgic song you chose ?

K poetry in motion, speaking about cliches its very sentimental, Bobby is mouning he does the falsetto its almost sadistic to go into that mood as he does with similar songs as mr lonely. He strengthern and highlight the sad songs, oh but I do like the direct access this mucic gives, somethimes that’s the beauty with cliches, when it’s a cliché I can choose to leave it when I want to, when you have the ironic distance

No. 34

2005-06-10T18:33:00.000+02:00

EXTRA NEWS FLASH
Steve Kurtz and Steven Barnes were in Stavanger this week to present Critical Art Ensemble. Steve is falsely accused for mail fraud by the FBI and is awaiting a trial. Please read more about the case and support Kurtz by joining the mail list.

http://www.caedefensefund.org/

See Critical Arts Ensembles work

http://www.critical-art.net/

We could be Heros - David Bowie

Steve and Steven came along for a ride in the Volvo Amazon with GilbertandGrape, we were planning to do ritual

No. 34: Wear a swimming hat whilst making a hubcap think of Esther Williams. The rain was heavy so we skipped the hubcap, went inside to talk about the notions of heroes whilst wearing swimming hats.

G Do you have any associations with the name Esther Williams?
S I have seen her big extravagancies, Busby Berkeley movies the king of human sculptures, design and kaleidoscope, the moral is you should always smile when you swim, you should always wear make up when you swim, grace and poise are a woman's best friend whilst in the water,
S I am sure I have seen it but I cant really remember.
G What is a hero?
S A hero can't live outside the mythological confines, as far as I am concerned. The word has been degraded to every day speech, at least in American culture everyone is a hero. People have been hero obsessed since 11th September.
S The real thing remaining is a Yet Lee film
S As a little kid I thought Batman was a hero, the Joker had him in his claws, then I really thought it was going to take a heroic gesture for Batman to get out of the situation.
S David Bowie with the song we could be heroes-He put the word heroes out cause you could bee one (singing) just for one day.
S We have both worn capes though so maybe we have been heroes. I had the Batman cape; a shower curtain held together with a little safety pin. Tried to run as fast as I could down the street to see if the cape would flow out behind me
G In many myths and folk tales, a hero is chased by villains, traditionally the protagonist of a story, possessed of powers far beyond that of a standard human, which enable him or her to perform some truly extraordinary, beneficial deed. These powers are sometimes not only of the body but also of the mind. That’s a description from a book I am reading but
What about the little every day actions and the heroicism in an effort or will expressed in simple actions?
S Yes that's true. A personal hero is something else; a personal hero does not necessarily wear a cape. And personal heroes are much needed in life. Simple action can be significant but it's the cultural loaded ideas of heroes that are exclusive. So if you call someone a hero in that term it means someone is less then a hero.

Dial up users can click here for lower res movie

No. 35

2005-06-09T13:00:00.000+02:00

Esther is the DJ she chose Why can't I be you by The Cure - it makes her feel nostalgic for a long coach journey after a car had broken down.

Esther is our hero of the month: We asked her to choose a ritual from a list of 80 alternatives we had written. She selected

No. 35: Photocopy a picture of someone you look up to and wrap a present with it. Think of Esther Williams.

Three questions and three answers for the road

G:Is there any place you have never left?

Esther: I have always loved being by the sea and my work is influenced by both environmental factors of landscape and how we see ourselves in Landscape and I guess I have never left Lulworth Cove and Stair Hole on the South Coast of England. I would like to say it’s the architecture but I guess its more the Geology. The patterns and the formations, the strata of the rocks, which are visible as layers of data and evidence of time, passed. The water from under the surface forces its way up through the cracks through the sediments, it forces its way up to the surface.

G: We need nostalgia more in certain conditions than other, someone told me this one morning as I was waking up. I am thinking about the fake and the real, does it matter to you that a message is fake?

No because even something that is fake still brings something to it that's based in reality - Faking events is so easily done its is so staged on television – it (news) seems to be becoming one big commercial exercise.

Does any car mean anything to you besides being a vehicle for transport?

I drive a Landover I like it because it's easy to work on. The Landover has become a cultural icon definitely because it is so huge -it's a recognisable vehicle/ visual its been around for so long. People say it's a British icon because it helped through the war and helped to build industry - but I think that's more of a fictional narrative these people see the Landover as solid and well built unchanged since the 1950s/postwar era and that's how they want to see Britain. But it's a story really. I'm more nostalgic for a continuity of design and something recognisable.

What we are reading
Owen Gibson Monday June 6, 2005

The bloggers have all the best news

How2

No. 17

2005-05-12T13:00:00.008+02:00

G.U.N ladies are the DJ`s:They select Hildringstimen sung by Erik Bye.
Hildringstimen is a song they both hum without knowing the reference for doing so.

Hanne and Camilla are heroes and ritual enthusiast, we invited them to Tou Scene so our roads crossed. We asked them to choose a ritual from a list of 80 alternatives we had written.

No. 17: Wear plastic gloves whilst building a matchstick fountain, think of Esther Williams

An extract of a conversation for the road:
Gilbert:
What is a ritual?

Hanne:
A correspondance to the way we live, it is interesting to think about how rituals historically and socially change, this signefies what a ritual is, the time we live in. As for contemporary rituals I belive they are in danger of replacing pure actions in terms of commodity. Shopping and commercialism replace significant motivs, individual needs erased by public demand for materialism

Grape:
reading Deleuze at the time, he is talking about deterritorialization in relation to this, the life of any culture is always both collapsing and being restructured. Restructured as in order to gain ground that is solid for individual means, creating new rituals perhaps?

Gilbert:
In relation to religion ritual is a loaded word but the action is pure, I am interested in how we can create rituals, which regardless to a spesific religion indulges meaning because of simply executing an action. Spending time focusing on this one thing till you`v crossed the limit of bordom, so that the action can inform rather then just being executed.

Camilla:
Funural rituals is perhaps one of the remaining acts which regardless religon or culture; we all have in common and still take part in? Also ritual in terms of feminism interests me, playing the role already given by looks/asppearance but use it to negotiate ways of empowering a change, by wearing costumes which are loaded of prejudice then bending prejudice by doing an action in contrast, wearing plastic gloves not washing up, building a matchstick fountain

Hanne:he he whilst thinking of Esther Williams

No. 47

2005-04-14T13:00:00.000+02:00

Mark is the DJ his selection is Martha & the Muffins: Echo Beach

Mark is a hero, and a nostalgia enthusiast he made a response so our roads crossed, As a song to listen too whilst watching a fake sunset Mark chose Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins as his song of romantic significance. Mark is a writer and an authority in rhetoric. We asked him to choose a ritual from a list of 80 alternatives we had written ( see more about what we mean with ritual on our web page). He chose one for good weather and one for bad.

No. 47: Sign a variety of fruits in your name whilst smiling extensively- think of Esther Williams

Here are three questions and three answers for the road:
Gilbert: What is Lone Ranging Romance?

Mark:Its not aimless wandering but it is being able to take the next third turn on the right because you feel like it and see where the road goes. I think you can pick things up that may not necessarily be directed towards something, you can take directions from people you meet and stuff you read even if that wasn’t the direction of the meeting.

Gilbert:There are News reporters made to look like they are on location when they are not, and complete segments in TV shows can be created this way to make it look like the segment was filmed on location when, in fact, no one left Los Angeles!
We repeat no one ever left los angeles
Does this worry you?

Mark:I don’t think its about whether its fake or not – I don’t think its about that. Its like when James Stuart and Kim Novak are driving in a car and they are not really driving its just a backdrop its not pretending to be real.

Gilbert: Do you think we can have nostalgia for the future?

Mark:I think we have. I think we have nostalgia for the future like the 1950s sci-fi future flying cars and silver suits that was meant to have happened now. So there is that kind of nostalgia for a future we don’t believe in anymore. I think it can be useful to look at, to pinpoint the things you are being nostalgic for and then try to see whether some of them are useful or practical or whether they are only – whether it is only a negative this longing for something which is ineveitably lost.

Nostalgia is often thought of as passive and the ways of thinking of it as active and productive are not trying to construct something that’s lost, but retieveing something that’s useable that can go forward rather than only being about the past.

Dr. Mark Leahy has written a paper on the topic of: Form in Contemporary Poetry and has also just passed his driving test.

Interview Conditions:
Location:Café, Latitude: 50.42 North, Body temperature 38c, Weather:Sun with a low breeze