Archiving, Saving

In New York, Beside Itself, by Johanna Burton, she discusses the attempts to capture the past, present and future through works of several artists.  I believe to understand this particular reading, it is clearer to start at the end.  Burton tells of a conversation she had with Sharon Hayes.  In the discussion, they discussed Jean-Luc Nancy’s distinction between “common being” and “being-in-common”.  Common being is desire to be an organized whole or entity.  Nancy states this is impossible to achieve.  However, she believes that individuals in a common being or body can shared the feeling of being-in-common.  It does not require the whole common being to be in agreement with one common idea but rather individuals coming together to share their bond of being uncommon.  Sound confusing?  It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.  We tend to group together with people who we have a common idea that is uncommon to others.  For example:  I follow the group, STS9.  They are not a well-known group as for as mainstay music is considered however their followers are extremely loyal and share a common love for their music.  So while STS9 is uncommon to the average music listener, they have a group of followers are in common with each other. 

Similar to the contrast of common being and being-in-common, Johanna Burton discusses the term, “being with.”  Andrea Geyer’s Interim (2002) follows her as she navigates through New York City.  It demonstrates the feeling of being isolated while being “with” public space.   Burton then discusses Sedgwick’s beside.  Try picturing a city with its past, present and future beside each other.  Sedgwick recounts her experience of walking through New York City after September 11, 2001.  She explains how she cannot stop herself from looking over her shoulder to see if she sees the World Trade Center Towers.  You can almost imagine her closing her eyes and openings them to see if they will reappear.  She is viewing the present but hoping for the past.  As Sigmund Freud states in Civilization and Its Discontents, nothing “in mental life…which has once been formed can perish.”  Sedgwick refers to New York City as an “old friend.”  This brings us to Burton’s thought of cities being living objects.  In Elizabeth Grosz’s “Bodies-Cities”, she discusses the relationship between bodies and cities and how the two move together and apart in their daily interactions. 

In Joan Jonas’s 1972 performance, Delay Delay, a woman stares on a scene in Manhattan directing the viewer to see what she sees.  Burton states how Jonas’ work stood as her reference of New York City.  In this, we see how little difference there is in our mind of an actual experience or implied experience based on an image.  As artist’s we study other artist’s work and use their techniques and images to help us create our original art.  Our experiences are often based on other’s experiences. 

As we have seen with several other works, Emily Roysdon’s work at Christopher Street piers, Talk Is Territorial, and her Untitled work on David Wojnarowicz seeks to claim the past.  There is a direct correlation between her work and Wojnarowicz’s work on Arthur Rimbaud.  In our attempts to connect with the past, does the past become part of us or do we become part of the past?  As Burton points out not all artists have firsthand experience of history.  However, our need to understand the present and the future often starts with the past. 

Emily Roysdon / David Wojnarowicz

 Emily Roysdon / David Wojnarowicz

David Wojnarowicz / Arthur Rimbaud

David Wojnarowicz / Arthur Rimbaud

 
Sharon Hayes’, In the Near Future, brings us back to being a common being or being-in-common.  Hayes took to nine locations in New York City with signs with various signs such as “I Am A Man” and “Nothing Will Be as Before.”  Although Hayes stands as a lone demonstrator in these images which makes her uncommon on the streets, the messages are common to the community. 

As always, I try to relate the reading to me personally.  In doing so, I thought about my mother’s parents.  They died long before I was born however I have a special connection with my grandfather.  I have been often told that I look like him and have many of his mannerisms and likes/dislikes.  I carry a symbol of him with my always.  I do not understand the connection however I know it exists.  As John Searle states “I know it, but I don’t know how” and I do not feel puzzled but reassured by this behavior.