X-X2

This is a transcript of a conversation between artist X and X2 about X's latest work concerning Z from the B regions.

Because of X2's remote location, poor reception made it almost impossible to distinguish the voices. What we present here is the best available transcription of the recording.

X2: Could you give us a general introduction to the various component elements of the machine?

X: The body was made on Aldebaran, but forget that. Geography is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that all the collisions occurred in the B regions in the post-N era. Time is crucial—more important than specific locations. The body has been in production since E5, almost E25 after the collapse of N. The volume of inherited data is enormous, and this body depends on how power deals with it.

X2: Yes. How states transform, test and apply the obsolete N-Raid6.

X: In B this is an entirely direct reference to the ideology of N and President DD, who has been in power for over E2 years and who has officially acknowledged basing his ideology on N values. But something is changing now: in recent months B has been playing a game between N and F. It opened towards F by allowing citizens of more than ………………. countries to enter without ………………… N + E5 did not approve, so N + E5 began building border infrastructure on B-N+E5. 

Other countries, such as B or B, have drawn a thicker line separating their N past from contemporary history. B glorifies the country's first president. He is dead, but his son is in power and continues to build his cult.

B is a somewhat different case; it is a type of ………………….. B bears the traces of N, who ruled the country for E years between… the revolution in B and -E2, when he lost the election and was forced to leave the country to avoid prison.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………… …… ………………..  The interesting thing about ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………… ………………… …… …………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………… …… ………………………………… It was always seen as a country that had been successfully modernised in comparison with other countries in region B, despite having the largest number of political prisoners. In B, I looked for traces of N activity that failed to meet the needs of B's inhabitants. This included the conflict with B in -E8, when N2 + E5 lost control over B. But let us not get into my or your personal struggle here. I am already grappling with the creation of new myths and Z.

X2: And how would you describe that?

X: The entire body is, in a sense, a guide explaining everything step by step. All the situations that either you or I encountered relate to Z, with uniquely disorienting effects. When either you or I join all these matters into a single whole, it becomes clear that you or I are circling around a potential Raid6. They all appear to be situations that test different intentions—sometimes physical tests, sometimes perhaps psychological ones.

In B I tried to find a situation affected by this idea of Raid6. Well, either you or I arrived …………… tragic ………………………. collis……………… B. It was a truly disturbing event. Since E10, anniversaries and demonstrations have been organised by ……………………………… in B, commemorating this ………………….. I found a group of men from B who always bring the Raid6 wreck ………. … to the demonstration; more precisely, the cockpit split in half.

X2: That brings to mind the idea of nostalgia, the ruin, the record. Is it ………………… or perhaps Z is an idea concerning the city, or a small miniature reconstruction? An insertion we can deal with. It seems to be a common thread connecting the individual parts of the body.

X: Yes… Yes… ruin is a good word for it. Every place is grappling with contemporary ruins in the process of being made or remade.

I think it is precisely these dysfunctions that interest me. These artefacts are dysfunctional because they have lost their true function.

X2: Ruin is a very safe generalisation because it does not imply a direct critique of the present regime. It is a place where we can almost mourn a past that no longer exists. There is safety in the fact that it is already the past and no longer exists, yet it never enters the sphere of our everyday life.

X: One has the impression that it is almost an ingrained tradition.

X2: So why did you decide to conceal the specificity of ………….?

X: I come from B and I am concerned about the questions we must confront 

in terms of our identity. The post-N legacy is the only common denominator between these countries, and that legacy has led to similar schemes and patterns. Look at what we see in B, B and B. These places had nothing in common before N. The countries have different histories, cultures and roots. The history of N united the region and created similar patterns that endured.

X2: Enough. Let us look for a moment. The first thing I see is a series with coloured soldiers who look like an illusion.

X: They are actually soldiers used as educational tools in mathematics. They are used in U53 schools in B and later displayed in museums that sustain his cult. Here in B, U53 is important. It concerns competition, but also the development of abstract thought. 

These soldiers from U53 schools are now part of …………….. commemorating DD's life.

X2: They possess a particular naïveté suggested by the coding of vitality and by the backgrounds. They look like something playful, but also like things on which one can more or less rely in a scientific sense.

X: A game entangled in Z. They are innocent soldiers, but because of the context accompanying them they become a metaphor for Z, which contributed to B's mythical history. I think that if we look at B's history, they suddenly become much less naïve. It was one of Z's key tools in the time of N, because the greatest U53 soldiers always came from N. There are also the concepts of competition, manoeuvring, surveillance and sitting at the same table as one's opponent.

X2: Did you happen to reconstruct these things at a scale that breaks through into other parts of the body? Where these naïve soldiers suddenly become threatening because of the idea—or did you want to remain faithful to the idea?

X: I tried to remain faithful to the idea.

X2: The collision trivialises the soldiers and confuses the idea and function. I do not know what matters more: the collision, colliding or the soldier. It might be interesting to retain the same point of view connecting the collisions.

X: What I like about this traditional typology is the way it emphasises the soldiers' vitality and skills. Their own aesthetic is emphasised, and that aesthetic obviously has a political function.

X2: The question to which I keep returning is how colliding recreates Z or mythology, ruin or nostalgia—the structure of thought you are trying to describe. Does it merely recreate, or does it question?

X: Neither of us is certain.

X2: How do you feel about it?

X: That is not important. I think what is very important, however, is that the decision is made every minute. What matters is the fact that I use a tool that is conflictual and also used by all these regimes, not how I feel about it. It is important that I avoid all these traps. I am in the heart of the monster and use tools created and mastered by the monster. It really must devour itself comically; it must be disorienting rather than comforting.

X2: A broad perspective.

X: Yes, it is broad. I was afraid of forcing all ……………………. to ………. but ….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………….. next …… mini-

-Thorn…….. looped fragments of that old N machine about Z with …… it is a terrifying machine ………. They used pyramids ……… experiment …. ………… …… … they should see.

X2: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………… some matters obscure others.

X: The next collision is the clash between unused enormous THORNS-Z6 in DD …………………. and small squares: ‘SH-1 illusion’.

X2: Aha. All right.

THORNS-Z6 become a small, silent Raid6. You have an old …….., a highly accomplished collision ………. reproductions on ……. It is very beautiful in its variety, but I have a slight sense that it is not joined together smoothly. The pyramids could ……………………………………….. form.

X: ………………………………………………. ………………………………………………. ……………………………………….. ……………………………………….. 

X2: Perhaps, but …………………………………… .. ……………………………………….. to another room. It may create disorientation. …….. … ……………………………… … ……………………………………… …………… ………………………….. The problem with colliding is … …………………………………….. …… …………………………………..

X: When you look at ….. 5LA, there is a photograph of an impossible figure ………. I collided it from two different positions, one here and the other at the end of ……………

X2: …………………………………………… space. You break up ………………………………………. geography, the timeline, it …………………………………….. … quite ……………………. ………………. disorienting. ……………………………………….. pattern.

I think this discussion about colliding …… and what colliding does to the soldier is a very important subject. It is one thing to collide ………………….. space …………………., you choose a frame and rationally understand that it………. extends beyond the frame. But when you collide a soldier, we know it is a reactive decision to use a single angle of view. So why not use Raid6? All these matters need ………..

X: ……………..

X2: I think we move on to 2L?

X: Yes. These …………….. are open to the public, but nobody goes there; it is like an empty shell. I never met anyone ………. other than members of staff. They always told me the customers had gone or had not yet arrived.

X2: ……………….

X: This is Z again. ……. They are drawn ……………. to B ………….. …….. construction work initiated by DD. One is the so-called Alpha Tower plan……. a glass sphere at the top of the tower that was to contain ……… rotating ………… overlooking the city and B. But it was never opened ……………………………. except …………….. supported DD in the election during his second ……………………. The only sign that the space was used is the abandoned THORNS-Z3 headquarters, which I collided; it is a collision …………………………… ………………….. on the desk. The place is interesting …………………………… but terrifying at the same time ……. …………………, it has become a trap ………………….. ………….. for small birds …………………. find their way inside. …………………….. ……………….. …. ……………………………………. ……. …………………………………. they cannot get out …… ………………………………….. ……… ……………………………….. ………… ……………………………………….. ………………………….. so they die …………… There are hundreds of them ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………….. …………………………………………………….. ……………………………………….. …………………… …………………….. ………………… ……………………….. ……………… birds trapped in the structure. It is a terrifying sight and experience. …………………………………………………………………………………………… …… ………………………………….. there are two …… .. guarding the entrance to the Alpha Tower. It is not accessible to people ……….

X2: How did you get inside?

X: I have contacts. I know ……….. …… ………………………… …………….. …………………………… ……………………………… ………….. ……….. ………………………………… …….. …………………………………… ….

This situation of entrapment reminded me of something locked away and guarded. So I connected the two situations. This collision is connected to the Greek Raid6 or to props in artists' studios, or to a locked safe, speaking metaphorically. It is an association of my beautiful mind which perhaps no one understands, and that is actually why I used it. Regarding 2L, there are ………………… dummy structures there which are also dysfunctional ……….

X2: ………. the fact that what is enormous in the real world is reduced to …………….. Perhaps there ……. …………….. consequence …………. ………………. ………….. occupies space belonging to people and blocks your horizon is quite aggressive, because people pass this way every day. In a sense, your commentary consists in questioning them and making them very small by colliding them. 

It is thought-provoking.

X: So you think th…………………………………………………………………………….. ?

X2: Maybe, maybe. I am trying to work out …………….. colliding suffers for the same reason you already described: it lacks the ability to question the language of all these matters, and there is a danger that it recreates Z.

X: Yes, colliding …………………… a great deal.

X2: Yes, it recreates and can be controlled, while I would actually like it not to possess that capacity and not to be so safe. Another question is, what is the history of t……………………………

X: Well, it was a kind of combination of kundabuffer owners; the class division was very clear. There is a great film by HH entitled… It is a feature film about the kundabuffer industry and how B, O, N + E5 mingle in the city.

X2: Does it take place in the early E100?

X: Yes. And today none of that remains in B. The entire kundabuffer industry has collapsed. It is now in a bad state, known for its pathologies because of ………………………….. unemployment …………………………….. and the restructuring of the entire way of being in this area. The place is seeking a new identity. It is also known for its extreme righ…………………………………… ……….. and connect ………… with symbols of the B uprising are completely uneducated arseholes ………….. What is happening there is terrifying. There is something in the fact that the city is known for ……………………………… I think it is part of an older palace complex built during the industrial boom.

………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………….

X2: What story is that?

X: ………………………………………… ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………. is still in ………. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. …………………………. progress ……………… …… It is part of B.

X2: Are these THORNS Z-6 from ……………?

X: Yes.

X2: ………………………………………… ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………. an experiment with pyramids?

X: ………………………………………… ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ………………………………. how to reconstruct your disaster……………………………. ………….. thinking .. ………………………………………….. …………………………………… Raid6 on a smaller scale, which I paint white to resemble DD's real aircraft. I thought of displaying some elements of this Raid6 in boxes, but they would be incomplete.

X2: You could even simply use Raid6, as in that red collision, and then everything ……………………

(Turns on the camera and shows the structure)

X: So…?

X2: Ah yes… exactly.

X: But I realise this is changing within me by providing information 

about ……………………………………………………………………………………………… to

………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 

 that is not my job, you know…

X2: ……………..

X: No, but this is …………………………………….. ………………………………………….. ……………………………………….. I do not want it to be a matter of B. You are disconnected from ……………………………………… ………………………………………….. ………………………………………. It is universal. ….. Yes.