S. Raoul's study of the projected image, the beam in a box, digital dandruff, pixel lint, horizontal nystagmus and a vicious Tinkerbell. In other words, the beffudling beam of video art is befuddling becaue it quite simply, disrupts our cognitive abilities, especially our temporal comprehension, mental equilibrium and general air of smugness.

“They commonly described diffuse small particles, such as TV static, snow, lines of ants, dots, and rain that lasted for months to years.”
A flood, soft mud, a tremor. A quivering pane, a weather vane, a microscopic tear, a convoluted inner ear, a mechanical beat, a windowless seat, a stuttering pace, a show displaced, unpeeling paint, an artist’s feint, the filmed complaint.
"When we have entopic firing from our retina ... if you look at the white wall and really focus on it with the right lighting, you can see it.”

Symptoms of exposure to befuddling videos in white cubes include:

negative afterimages
inability to form a coherent response
inability to make sensible predictions about the future
sugar craving
unbearable urge to urinate
vague sense of irritation
a mental itch

Once the projection has reached the V1 or visual cortex, it proceeds to introduce predatory specimens,  perceptive overriders. This is especially effective if wine, beer or fruity cocktails are served at the opening. As a consequence we may end up over-sexed, though still solitary or under-sexed but morally smug

The derangement is most pronounced in those exposed to the trauma of the post-exhibition ‘tear-down’, akin, in effect, to working in an asbestos mine, which is also why curators in particular begin to show accelerated and acute symptoms. Notable symptoms include, the paradoxical yearning for a intangible, enduring work, a substantial gesture, a temporal performance that doesn’t end, a distaste for jargon yet a continuing fidelity to it, and perhaps worst of all, where they begin to imagine art where none exists.

This is why, even if we have mixed feelings towards art (is it of value? Is it beneficial, is it tangible?), we must remember that Judicious management is required. For the art that slips between the gaps may be silent and of no danger to the populace, but if we look closely through the white noise of video, we will see the wank

So I'm here at the Univ of Amsterdam Special Collections Library, possibly the most open access, welcoming library I've had the pleasure of working with. In a tragicomic twist I'm here because of a long-term project I began just before IFLA Singapore last year, a project I had titled 'Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book'. A project that involves visiting libraries all over the world in the context of book destruction, banning et al, and talking to librarians who save books. The contrast could not be more telling. I've been vacillating between shock, shame, bereavement (yes, I loved the National Library that much), and disbelief. Heartbroken.

In a shocking decision, the Singapore Writer's Festival has invited me as a featured writer in a panel discussion on the 3rd of Nov.

S. Raoul's paper, The Tuning Fork of the Mind, which proves that art deranges the brain, will be presented by me (as secondary and sole surviving author), at the re-new digital art and science conference 2013 in Copenhagen at the end of Oct (date of presentation TBA).

So after the eye-opener that was the 2nd International Summit of the Book, and IFLA's World Library and Information Congress 2013, both held (very conveniently for me) here in S'pore this August, I've been working my way through mountains of accumulated material. Pulp (in its research stage at least) seems to have mutated into a more library-centric form, and I can't seem to convince myself that its a bad thing. A surprising number of librarians have expressed interest in the project, which expands the nature of the conversation as well. Huzzah.

I was awarded the Creation Grant for 2013 by the National Arts Council, Singapore, for my project PULP: A Short Biography of the Banished Book.

‘Pulp’ is part of a long-term project, an attempt to revive unfashionable or discredited knowledge/histories/cultures and civilisations. Concentrating on libraries and the accessibility, archiving and destruction of knowledge, the project will work with select global institutions that have been the targets of acts of destruction, desecration or censorship.

The outcome will be a tongue-in-cheek biography of books, their meaning and resonance for people here and in select global sites that have significance in humanity’s shared cultural history, and will culminate in a film, a publication and a visual arts installation.

I will post updates about the project as it progresses