research (fragments)

Evidence

Now that I have properly edited out any sensitive content and classified statements, I can now reveal to you the long awaited sound files of Catastrophe 08. Each file contains both Marko and Tom's lecture/presentations. Seemingly at complete random, I have included various fragments of discussions and class presentations. Play it in the background while you are reading over your essay and channel the lost spirits of the Catastrophe...

The First Catastrophe:
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The Second Catastrophe
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three

The Third Catastrophe
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The Fourth Catastrophe
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The Final Catastrophe
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Preparing For Emergencies

Some listening material for those of you that can afford a small break from essay writing.

It's from my small library of public information recordings; a roasting chestnut of "common sense useful advice" for all types of emergencies. If you lived in London (and I'm assuming the rest of the UK) a few years back, you may remember getting a pamphlet through your door containing advice on what to do in the event of a wide variety of disasters. My favourite part is about 3'30" into the recording where the male voice says "Of course, there are always going to be particular occasions when you should not go into a building. For example: if there is a fire."

Common sense from The Cabinet Office.

Here's a 4 minute excerpt.

If that's got you worried that you don't know enough about these issues, and you need to listen to the entire program (approx. 23 minutes) then there's also a full length version there (33mb)

Have a look at the website for more information

"Ready" The US version is friendlier looking but slightly more sinister for the fact, especially the 'Kids' section.

Catastrophe 2008, in pictures

Hi everyone. Here are some pictures from a few of the Catastrophe sessions, especially the last one. I have completed the editing of the sound files, getting rid of loud background noises and excessive silences. The only think now is that I need a place to host the files. A friend of mine in Los Angeles has agreed to give me space on his server, I am just waiting for the ftp info. Check back soon for audio!

format crap

Sorry it's pasted so craply. Don't know how to do it otherhow.

catastrophe conference call for papers

The organisers have been following our blog and asked me to post this to invite any of you to submit proposals. Tom x

Call for papers |Conference 2009 | Tickle Your Catastrophe!

We cordially invite you to submit a proposal for the Tickle Your Catastrophe! conference, which will take place from 6 to 7 March 2009 at the Vooruit Arts Centre, in Ghent, Belgium, during the arts festival The Game is Up! How to Save the World in Ten Days (from 4 to 14 March 2009). This conference is a joint initiative of the NGE (Dutch Aesthetics Society), Ghent University, the KASK (Ghent Royal Academy of Fine Arts) and Vooruit. Check out our website on www.catastrophe.ugent.be

Programme:

Whereas the twentieth century was dominated by political extremism and (coping with) trauma, it is the fear of the inevitable and complete catastrophe that reigns at the beginning of a new century. Although worst-case scenarios have always been part of our cultural identity, the catastrophe has taken on a different form at the beginning of a new millennium. The impending depletion of the world’s oil resources and the implosion of the global economy, international terrorism, the breakdown of the financial market, overpopulation, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, pollution, major climate change, disastrous floods and new epidemics... Not only have we become increasingly aware that the threat of a catastrophe is real and inevitable, we also realize that we are not exactly innocent when we consider the causes of these catastrophes, and therefore cannot blame divine providence, fate or forces of nature. Yet we know that we alone cannot change the world. Tickle Your Catastophe! doesn’t want to wallow in doom and pessimism, but wants to question our idea of a catastrophe and the role it plays in philosophy, art and science today. As the original meaning of the conference title suggest, we want to give this concept ‘a kick up the bum’ in order to discover how the catastrophe was and is represented in art and philosophy. What is its significance when we shed the light of tomorrow on it, and when we compare it to the shadows of the past? What is the point of these visions and what is their disadvantage? Does this vision paralyse us with fear or can we see it as a comforting release? Do we have a death wish or do we simply see it as a great excuse to embrace hedonism in the here and now? Does it offer us the illusion of a chosen downfall or does it force us to act and take up responsibility, right before it is too late?

Starters: To face this many-headed monster, we start with the introduction of two antagonistic images of our downfall. We use them as a starting point, to stimulate our mind, as something to go on, or never to return to.

1# The Svalbard Global Seed
Vault In 2007, on the Spitsbergen archipelago (Norway), the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened, or rather, sealed off. In this underground vault, deep in the arctic rocks, specimens of seeds of millions of plants are preserved to assure the diversity of vegetation in case of a global crisis. This futuristic-looking complex, which was built to resist any possible catastrophe - from global warming to a nuclear holocaust - functions as a sort of time machine. It should enable us to turn back time and return to a past unaffected by the catastrophe. The Seed Vault raises some important questions: can we imagine a ‘Noah’s Ark’ for philosophical ideas, scientific theories or works of art? What is the value of a masterpiece or the Western canon in light of a catastrophe? And what do we NOT want to save for the next generation? What’s the difference between plants and weeds? Isn’t the idea of a new beginning, a life after the future, nourished by our lack of initiative and our inability to take action now, whether it be on a political, environmental or economic level? Are we being held hostage by traumas of the past, making it impossible for us to dream, and instead only safeguarding what we might lose? Are the arts condemned to a similar immobility, as they are locked behind the doors of the market and the museum? Or is art where we’ll find a seed, ready to grow and bring forth new life?

Keywords are (but are not limited to): art and commitment, messianism, transhumanism, the environment, revolution; art as time capsule; creativity and scientific survival strategies

2# Albert Speer’s ruin value
As the chief architect of the Third Reich, Albert Speer designed Germania, the future capital of the new world. Speer tried to mirror Hitler’s power in his architecture. Hitler wanted the ruins of his empire - should it one day collapse – to rival those of the ancient Greek and Roman empires, and remind future societies of its past grandeur. To meet with these demands, Speer developed the theory of the ruin value: by using the right materials and construction methods, you can ensure that today’s grand buildings will become tomorrow’s sublime ruins, after the downfall and decay. The idea of the ruin value is a complex and dark, but also powerful metaphor. If the seed vault raises questions about art, philosophy, and science as strategies to survive the inevitable catastrophe, then Speer’s ruin value celebrates the aesthetics of destruction, where beauty, knowledge, and culture can ultimately be found in decay. It conveys a dark vitalism: it is a perverse antidote for the catharsis of forgetting and our mortality, a Pandora’s box. The vision of the ruins of the apocalyptic landscape after the catastrophe paves the way for an ode to decay, for a rebellious aesthetic of the downfall, a therapeutic revolt by mutilation, an orgy of destruction.

Keywords are (but are not limited to): the aesthetics of destruction, the destruction of aesthetics, cyberpunk, dystopia and utopia, cultural pessimism, trauma.

Call: The conference committee welcomes proposals for papers, presentations, roundtable debates and sessions exploring these themes or any other topic relevant to the theme of the conference. Contributions from a variety of disciplines are welcome: fine art; media art; philosophy (of art); performance art and theatre; film studies; art history; cultural studies; science factions,... Interdisciplinary papers are especially welcome. Papers or presentations can be in English or Dutch, but sessions will be monolingual. A detailed programme and a list of invited speakers will be announced in January 2009. A selection of participants will be invited to submit an essay, either for the online review Esthetica. Tijdschrift voor Kunst en Filosofie, or for a book that will be published at the occasion of the conference. Please send a summary of your project (400-word limit) and a short biography to catastrophe@ugent.be.

Deadline: 1 December 2008. You will be notified of the acceptance of your proposal before the end of 2008.

Conference Committee: Dominiek Hoens (Jan van Eyck academie, KASK), Frederik Le Roy (Ghent University), Mia Vaerman (NGE), Robrecht Vanderbeeken (KASK, Ghent University), Nele Wynants (University of Antwerp), Tom Bonte and Eva De Groote (Vooruit).

Sickness Bags

I don't know if it would sound too materialistic to some of you, but I would love to see our manifesto printed on Sickness Bags in airplanes! It seems to me that in this case it is not about self-advertising, as Clodagh was pointing out about the stickers. Firstly because we are sort of exorcising catastrophe (or maybe provoking sickness?) by printing the manifesto in such bags, secondly because people while in the no man's land of airplanes are kind of unconciously cultivating some kind of secret fear about a potential crash. They are thus more receptive / susceptive to such messages as the manifesto ones. Last but not least, while emptying my mind for sleep when flying from one country to another, the catastrophe's manifesto printed in from of my seat seems to be a nice time killer that not only will keep me awake for some time but will intrigue a series of strange self-intrinsic thoughts that most people normally do staring at the void out of their cabin window.
Low-cost companies like easy-jet would be my suggestion.

The Catastrophe Committee Public Broadcasting Corp

Or, to complicate matters more (in true committee stylee) why not make it accessible via a podcast or radio broadcast on Resonance FM or the Architectural Associations excellent aair.fm? I think it would be very interesting (not to mention fun) to record, for instance, the entire committee chanting the manifesto, singing it, screaming it or whispering it, all together or solo...

Or broadcast it publicly? Even get together to perform it publicly - just in time for Christmas caroling? We could compose the piece as committee, eg: Cornelius Cardew's Scratch Orchestra...

Thus we need no money - I have all the recording and editing hardware/software we may need - only logistical support, and some type of organisation to get us all in a room together (well, at least most of us) Then again, for those who wish hardcopy, we could have it 'inscribed' on CD, Cassette, Vinyl in limited edition. Then we need to create a meme, a viral advertising campaign for the public good.

What do you think?

stickers

Another reason I favour these is that sandwich bags are quite complicated: we'd have to do deals with several sandwich shops, who will already have deals with other people, and might not want biohazard stuff written on their food. Stickers you can just smear anywhere: up and down the balconies, in sports stadia and transport networks, taken up by muttering bums... (as Burroughs would say)...

the leaking of the signifier

We want leakage. Crypts leak. Marko and I aren't academics: we're artist types who like to see things have effects in the world, leave traces, seep out. I favour a simple sticker format, with a kind of logo and some of the lines from the manifesto/manual, and it can be up to individuals to leave them where they like, or not to if they don't want.

What do you think Marko?

What it would cost

Hello all,

I have found a quote for the sandwich bags, not from Bag Media but from Caterprint. The minimum order is 10,000 which seems a bit excessive to me, but maybe you guys really like sandwiches. And carrying them in many, many bags.

Anyway, the cost is £405.90, plus £70 for ‘originations’ (anyone know what that means? Is that if we ask them to do the design?), plus VAT, which is… £559.19. Plus delivery, which is £18-25.

Alternatively we could have 1000 Catastrophe Napkins (33cm, 2-ply, white) for £175 + £40 originations + VAT = £252.63. Plus delivery.

Paper Cups, Sandwich Bags, Napkins

Apologies to Jamie and Sarah who have put energy into getting quotes and the like, but do we really have to blow up to £500 on publicity without any real consideration for why and for what end we're doing it? I know I'm not the only one that feels deeply uncomfortable about this manifesto and its use. Why does the manifesto need to be made public in this disposable way? Why do we need 'a product'?

Manifesto Sleeves

So I did some research to see what it would cost to put the little jewels we came up with in last class on to coffee cup sleeves. According to Printed Cups UK, the minimum quantity we can order is 1,000, and for the 12-16 oz size sleeve (with 1 color) it would cost 148.75, for a 2 color sleeve it is 168.75. There is also a one off charge of 95.00 per order. This could all be done within a week to two weeks. This is just one idea, so do with it what you will.

The Outsider is me!

Just a note that I published the previous post using my existing blogger account, which showed as "The Outsider".

/Mohamed

The Year of Taba’a (The Great ‘Sinking’)

The Arabian Gulf (aka Persian Gulf, but the Arabs of the region, including me, will not call it that off course!), is mostly known around the world for its oil fortunes. But, like other places, it had its share of disasters, both natural and man-made: wars (naturally!), earthquakes (in Iran), plane crashes, and storms.

This post is about a disaster of the last kind: the great sea storm of 1925. People in the gulf call it the “Taba’a” (the ‘sinking’) because when it happened, it sank almost all the ships in the gulf. In Arabic, a “Taba’a” also means a “print” or an “imprint”. The “Taba’a” catastrophe was imprinted for decades on the gulf people’s minds and souls.

In the third decade of the twentieth century, the gulf states economy was still impoverished. It was based on pearl diving, palm cultivation, and fishing. Devastating storms were not a frequent event in the generally calm waters of the gulf, but they were not unheard of either. There were several “sinkings” other than that of 1925, like the “Kuwaiti’s sinking” when in 1871 Kuwaiti trading ships where stormed and sunk while they were on their way back from Muscat and India just before reaching the Straits of Hormuz. Other “sinkings” happened inside the gulf waters in 1910, and in 1916.

The “sinking” of 1925 was by far the most devastating. Bahrain, the island in the middle of the gulf, lost about 5,000 of its population that night (its total population was less than 80,000!).

On a quiet September night in 1925, the pearl diving season was coming to an end with only two days left for the ships to sail back to the shore. Early that night, all the ships have taken their positions on their designated “dives”. The crews were preparing for their pearl diving rounds first thing in the morning.

It was a full moon and the sea was so quiet, as one survivor remembered. Many sailors stayed awake on the decks chatting and resting in what appeared to be a pleasant night. Little after midnight, the weather changed suddenly. A strong wind blew accompanied by heavy torrential rain. The sea roared beneath the ships taking them by surprise. Everyone on board ran for cover. Just a few moments afterwards, every cover blew away. The ships, which were stationed close to each other, started twirling hysterically in the sea and crashed into each other.

The screams of sailors fighting the monstrous waves and calling for each other, mixed with the groans of those injured by the ships wreckage. Their outcries of prayers and supplications to God, in which they deeply believed, were lost in the thundering noise of the sinking ships.

The mayhem lasted for a little over half an hour. When the storm finally waned down, ships from neighbouring ports rushed to the scene to rescue the survivors. It was said that 80% of the ships on the gulf water that night sank, and even the ships that did not sink sustained great damage.

In the morning, the sea surface was crowding with dead corpses. The scores of torn naked bodies floating in the water were the inscription of the brief catastrophic event. The survivors returned to the shores severely injured and traumatised.

Cut out and keep