SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL – this is the first thing I had to think about when I saw the logo on the flyer for SI, a few weeks before the meeting actually took place. Many links between SI and SI still stand: spectacle becomes situation (as in Sartre’s “Theatre of situations”) – the construction of situations as a setting up of environments – the notion of space (and of the diagram) that plays an important role in their ideas on urbanism, psychogeography, dérive, … the notion of PLAY also: SI as a playground for adults…
MOVEMENT – where the ordinary becomes extra-ordinary, as in Sergio’s films; or the other way around: where the extra-ordinary becomes the ordinary as in Massumi’s idea on image value that replaces use-value…
REPETITION – there is a lot of repetition involved when one talks about performing arts; repetition in the sense of rehearsal. But the repetition I’m aiming at is somewhere else. There was a repetition in the way the days were structured: meals, meetings, discussions, presentations. But always with a difference; this is where the notion of VARIATION comes in; or the notion of COUNTERPOINT (which was so important for Christine, who has been repeating so often – in and on her work). When I think about repetition, I also have to think about the idea of the one minute presentations (which took place twice), or the ten minute dances Pieter initiated and which were performed by different persons in totally different ways, or the stopwords drifting around in physical and mental space, that kept on repeating themselves: < yes, but >, but still…, although, and yet…, and so… and of course: OK. (+ EXORCISM? SPECTROLOGY? = UNLEARNING? -> repetition as what you want to get rid of; not repeating the teacher but deciding for yourself what to learn and what not). Rhythm!
OBSERVER – this has to do with my own role in SI and my experience as an observer. SI made more than ever clear that any observer is always already an actor and a spectator at the same time. You cannot isolate the one from the other. Therefore, this notion of the observer, is linked to notions of PUBLIC, of WORK, and (thinking more in particular about Matter of Act) CRITICALITY. AMBIGUITY may also become important here, as borders constantly shift or disappear. (also related: the observer as AGENT; the AGENCY created by subjects and objects…)
OPEN, EMPTINESS – these notions come with the notion of STRUCTURE in/behind SI. I had the feeling that, the less programmed, the less this meeting was centred towards a public, the more open it became (and paradoxically: the more receiving towards the public). The emptiness it brought with it, seemed very fruitful for the dynamic of SI.
SPACE – this is probably the key concept of SI, where all other concepts meet. Openness, emptiness, situation, playground repetition, variation, etc… There is also this notion of the BUBBLE and the FOAM that formed on its edges, like tiny ANTENNAS – made clear in Dmitry’s diagrams..
MANIFESTO – or maybe: the need for a PLATFORM – Swedish Dance History as a manifesto of/with manifestoes; as manifest bricks in and around space; as repetition (p. 964: to repeat is somehow a failure).
DIAGRAM – we saw several of them: in Dmitry’s work, or in Nikolaus’. Vladimir suggested it could be the link between SPACE and IMAGE – the other key concept in Dmitry’s final diagram of SI. (the third key concept in there was OBJECT)
MATTER and/or AFFECT – I think of course of Lilia’s Moving You, which says a lot about relations between subjects and objects. I also think of the way things, objects, get agency in Latour’s thinking: the shift he makes from matter of fact to matter of concern. (see Brian Holmes’ affectivist manifesto)
SIMULTANEITY – is linked to SPACE, but also with TIME. Something that came up when I watched Pieter’s ten minute dances: thinking and talking and dancing at the same time – therefore it also has to do with openness, trust, doing (acting), …
LEARNING – this is what SI was all about: coaching, exchange of experiences (see also REPETITION or RE-ENACTMENT) (cf. UNLEARNING -> EXORCISM, SPECTROLOGY: the ideas that haunt us). Rancière’s INTELLECTUAL EMANCIPATION
INTERVIEW – this is a suggestion from Myriam. The interview is not only important in her own artistic practice, but also played a major role in Christine’s work; Dimitri created his SI diagram through interviews; Vladimir’s communication sculptures (most notably the dialog box) triggered interviews, etc… CF. PORTRAIT???
SHARING – this is something else that came up while discussing these keywords on Saturday. Not everything is shared; there is also a space of non-sharing, of privacy or secrecy. If not this meeting would have become rather totalitarian. It has to do with the partiality of observing. (cf. PARTAGE in Rancière)
CURATORIAL PRACTICE? Cf. 6M1L: curating processes, not products.
FUN! Extra-ordinary makes people laugh – performers succeed when the laugh becomes ordinary (check: Bergson: Le rire?); we had a lot of laughing during SI!
