Re: [-empyre-] from a distance
--empyre- soft-skinned space--In my previous post I introduced the speculative thought which suggests wrestling with the 'hard' religious text of Islam. It seams we have been there before, nevertheless the ideological vacuum of contemporary world gives way to the new search for the meaning of life in major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. I am certainly more knowledgeable about Eastern orthodox Christianity and its tremendous influence in Russia and Ukraine than about Islam fundamentalisms. It looks like ISIS uses secrete services strategies of interrogation and terror wrapped in the fundamentalist ideology. The seeds of new ideology are sown, especially the concept of *Ummah-* supra-national community or a Common wealth of believers. Years ago I went to Central Mosque in London, I just wanted to experience religious ceremony. I was surprised how inclusive this community is, they welcome everybody with the open arms...I probably gravitated away from the topic of violence. But on the other hand it brings me to the idea of Bennett (2005) that sign ' is felt, rather than recognised or perceived through cognition'. What sign is expressing is not concerned with communication of information, more likely it is a material impression reached through our senses. The idea is taken further by Massumi's refiguration of communicational models of expression to understanding of how sign can produce a 'shock to thought'. Or in the Brecht's sense: instead of identifying with characters, the audience should be educated (?) to be astonished at the circumstances under which they function... On 15 November 2014 20:03, O Danylyuk danyl...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks for your discussions that stir so many thoughts for me. I'd like to add some of my observations. I wish for the theatrical responses that has a power to crystallise the matters, to make things more clear, because despite the postmodern scepticism I still want to make sense of this world. The subject of war actually renew my interest in realism in performance practice. As Erikson stated the one needs protagonist and antagonist represented with some plausibility and understanding to make the argument. It might be dismissed as a naive claim, yet from my observation, also supported by personal experience of Maidan protests in Ukraine and the interviewees' statements about the war experience it seems that the pure attraction to violence is a rare course for the recruits to get involved into fighting. There is a strong ideological impetus, mainly to do something important, something worse risking you life for... This ideology or faith can be completely misguided, evoking parable of blind leading the blind, though I usually try to understand the roots of the phenomenon before demonising it beyond any comprehension. The 'empathy with the enemy' is a hard strategy to conceive. But is there any other route for negotiation, the alternative for war against war approach? I came across the interview with the former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks ( Spectator, November issue), which suggests that in order to separate religion and power ( when religion moved from power to influence) as Judaism and Christianity in Europe have done in the different times in history, Islam has to wrestle with it's 'hard' texts. In his view this process 'happens 15 centuries into the history of Judaism and roughly 15 century into history of Christianity, which explains why it hasn't happened within Islam yet'. I allow myself one more quote: People want to be able to say I am religious but I feel that my faith, the leaders of my faith, have done that hard work in talking us from an age where most people lived in close proximity to people who are like them and have done the hard work in translation that to an age where we have to live with more difference in one mile of work [...] than a 17th century anthropologies would have seen in a lifetime. -- Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 -- Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
[-empyre-] from a distance
--empyre- soft-skinned space--Thanks for your discussions that stir so many thoughts for me. I'd like to add some of my observations. I wish for the theatrical responses that has a power to crystallise the matters, to make things more clear, because despite the postmodern scepticism I still want to make sense of this world. The subject of war actually renew my interest in realism in performance practice. As Erikson stated the one needs protagonist and antagonist represented with some plausibility and understanding to make the argument. It might be dismissed as a naive claim, yet from my observation, also supported by personal experience of Maidan protests in Ukraine and the interviewees' statements about the war experience it seems that the pure attraction to violence is a rare course for the recruits to get involved into fighting. There is a strong ideological impetus, mainly to do something important, something worse risking you life for... This ideology or faith can be completely misguided, evoking parable of blind leading the blind, though I usually try to understand the roots of the phenomenon before demonising it beyond any comprehension. The 'empathy with the enemy' is a hard strategy to conceive. But is there any other route for negotiation, the alternative for war against war approach? I came across the interview with the former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks ( Spectator, November issue), which suggests that in order to separate religion and power ( when religion moved from power to influence) as Judaism and Christianity in Europe have done in the different times in history, Islam has to wrestle with it's 'hard' texts. In his view this process 'happens 15 centuries into the history of Judaism and roughly 15 century into history of Christianity, which explains why it hasn't happened within Islam yet'. I allow myself one more quote: People want to be able to say I am religious but I feel that my faith, the leaders of my faith, have done that hard work in talking us from an age where most people lived in close proximity to people who are like them and have done the hard work in translation that to an age where we have to live with more difference in one mile of work [...] than a 17th century anthropologies would have seen in a lifetime. -- Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
[-empyre-] concerning violence
--empyre- soft-skinned space--First of all, I propose to look at each case of war conflict and violence separately. There is no common experience of war. Also some combatants experienced both being a perpetrator and later a victim in the hands of enemy. I came across the issue of beheading when I investigated representations of Chechen war. There were videos uploaded by Chechen fighters of beheading young Russian conscripts with knives that were circulating on the net. It caused an ethical outrage of the internet community, especially when Belorussian female blogger posted video on her website under the title: Chechen kill Russian soldies as pigs. She obviously supported Chechen fight for independence as the rest of democratic world ( but at what price?). To mock the morbid curiosity of internet users the false links were created that linked to porn sites instead of videos. It was also mentioned that there was a black market of the snuff films brought from Chechnya. I am also interested in the analytical approach in understanding what precedes the actual war, any war operation has a very pragmatic frame: careful planning, calculations, tactics . for this reason I consulted military sources. We usually deal with the dramatic outcome when people are in the deadlock of fighting. I think it is important to analyse cultural, power struggles which lead to wars. Particular the wars by proxy- a long-standing tradition of Cold War doctrine. I am digging into RAND ( National Defense Research Institute ) report those days, titled Paths to Victory.Lessons from Modern Insurgencies. The study analyses all insurgencies completed worldwide between 1944 and 2010. It is overwhelming... -- Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
[-empyre-] Patriotism
--empyre- soft-skinned space--The current events in my home country Ukraine is a good case study of patriotism. The anti terrorist campaign in the eastern Ukraine that followed the Maidan protests and change of power has an unprecedented support of Ukrainian population: children sending their drawings to the soldiers, population donate money to equip the Amy, number of the volunteer's units fighting against separatists. Men dropped their everyday jobs and went to protect the unity of the country. You are out of frame if you are not a patriot in Ukraine nowadays. I keep asking if it was possible to avoid civil war, yet there is a strong opinion that there is ' no other way'. Soldiers coming back from the front are treated with the ovation in their home towns: chanting Heroes!Heroes!, people even kneel before soldiers. The other watch this on TV with the tears in their eyes. Western democracies firmly support Ukrainian right to protect it's territory.USA is the main ally of Ukraine in the fight against Russia. It is turning into war by proxy, in my opinion, the standoff between America and Russia. This is the second wave of radicalised patriotism in Ukraine since its independence. This is also this phenomenon of Cossackdom, the revival of the cossack's traditions, extremely romanticide view of history. Due to their charismatic appearance cossacks became the iconic national image of Ukraine. There are several youth organisations that train and educate youth in the spirit of the cossack's ethos. It is taken very seriously. For my project Serious Games I visited the organisation of Cossacks Martial Arts. I filmed their stunts on horses 30 C heat in the field last summer. On the top of this there are Don cossacks in Russia, that are fighting on the side of Ukrainian separatists, while Zaporozian ( Ukrainian) cossacks fight on the side of pro-government forces. It a serious game indeed. Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
[-empyre-] virtually true
--empyre- soft-skinned space--Dear friends, apparently my post didn't go through. I am doing a repost. For last couple of years I occupied myself with the research of the cultural imagination of war that resulted in thesis titled Virtually True: Intermedial Strategies in Staging of War Conflict. My concern is that our attachment to actuality is largely lost in the mediatised world, especially due to the proliferation and artful hyper intensification of the violent imaginary. The 'terror of the image' on screen makes you freeze and feel helpless in my opinion. If our culture of spectatorship neutralises the moral force of indexical records I decided to avoid familiar templates and considered neutral facticity of museum setting to present the military side of conflict, apparent 'normality' of being a combatant in a war zone. I created intermedial installation Soldiers of the Last Empire, based on material collected from my encounters with Russian and Ukrainian military and police offices trained initially in Soviet military schools. In the course of history they served in Chechnya, Afganistan, Nagorny Karabach, Yugoslavia, East Timor, Liberia and so on. How to get to the actuality despite mediatization? I thought it would be good to have them live at my performance. It wasn't feasible, my investigation resulted in a multiple data archive collected from the participants personal photographs, objects or photographs of objects that have been 'there', memoir, fragments of correspondence and video interviews. It was very down to earth account as the combatants daily jobs are for them.Taking my cue from Foucaundian concept I observed the practice of self as performed by combatants, yet those practices are not entirely invented by individuals They are models found in culture and are proposed or imposed upon individual by his culture, his society, and his social group. Military group is always connect to the power structure, they act in interests of their national states, which take the moral responsibility of military actions. So is soldier a mad subject or a patriot? Ethical concerns: I was very insecure dealing with the most controversial issue, best exemplified by the title of book by american psychologist James Hillman A terrible Love of War (2004) My role: practitioner/researcher as 'experiencer' , engaging into informal investigation in a real life situation. -- Olga Danylyuk Director, designer PhD candidate, Central School of Speech and Drama London, UK +447971341395 +380664086948 ___ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
[-empyre-] post from Olga Danylyuk
--empyre- soft-skinned space--Dear friends, I would like to share some ideas from my research project about the cultural imagination of war that was part of my thesis *' Virtually* *True'. Intermedial Strategies in Staging of War Conflict*. I was concerned that our attachment to the actuality is largely lost in the mediatised world, especially due to the proliferation and artful hyper intensification of the violent imaginary. It seems that mainstream news reporting is in permanent 'moral crises', paradoxically caught between saturation and sanitisation. If our culture of spectatorship neutralises the moral force of indexical records, I decided to avoid familiar templates. If our culture of spectatorship neutralises the moral force of indexical records, I decided to avoid familiar templates and considered neutral facticity of museum setting to present the military side of the conflict, especially the apparent 'normality' of being a combatant in a war zone. I created intermedial installation *Soldiers of the Last Empire *that was based on material collected from my encounters with Russian and Ukrainian military and police officers, trained initially in Soviet military schools. Being brought up in the similar tradition they took different pathways since the split of the USSR. The title of the piece points out to the origin of the military ethos, which largely informed the expressed worldview in documentary film, which was part of the installation as well. In the course of history the soldiers served in various hot spots, like Chechnya, Afghanistan, Nagorny Karabach, Yugoslavia, East Timor, Liberia. One Russian officer (military intelligence, two Chechen wars) playfully responded to my first email to him: *… Ask a specific question and you get a concrete answer)) So what’s required from me? To kill someone and then commit an outrage or vise versa? Say what’s needed and I’ll do it for you, especially as I am on vacation. But don’t concern yourself with war. After all, it’s a job.* Another former Soviet officer ( Nagorny Karabach and other conflicts) wrote back: *Why war?...It’s of no interest, dear Olga, And practically not realistic. Because no one will tell you anything that’s true and reliable. They’ll either refuse or will laugh it off gently, turning the conversation to more neutral topics. The ones who excitedly tell you about days they spent in the war…are likely to be lying through their teeth. You know, the best stories ever reported about war were written in smoking area next to military headquarters. Next to staff soldiers always ready to talk a lot about ‘front-line’ routine.[…] And no movies about war. Everything in them is lie…* First question: Is it possible to get to the actuality despite mediatization? I was curious to engage with the live world to continue my investigation beyond mediatized representations, which often limit our perception of events to what fits the screen. My investigation resulted in a multiple data archive collected from the participants for the project. The presented material consisted of personal photographs, objects and photographs of objects that have been ‘there’, an autobiographical memoir, fragments from correspondence and video interviews, including personal video archives. Second question: How I am going to present my participants to the public? Taking my cue from Foucauldian concept I observed the practice of self as performed by combatants, yet the practices of self are not entirely invented by individuals. They are models found in culture and are proposed – indeed, perhaps, imposed - upon the individual ‘by his culture, his society, and his social group’ (1997:291). My practical project demonstrates that self-performance of a military group is always connected to the power structure. They act in the interest of their national states, which take the moral responsibility of military actions.To understand the ethos of this social group that is very remote form civilian life I decided to use sympathetic imagination and to avoid pre-judgments if I could. It is important to bear in mind that my interviewees shared the ethos of Soviet military school, as mentioned above, that held the status of military officer very high. It was one of the most prestigious professions at the time, which attracted the brightest men with the ambitious to protect the country. Even after USSR fall apart the tradition of military ‘noblesse oblige’ survived almost to the present days.However, in the light of thg current events in Ukraine it's impossible to unify this group any more. At the time I conducted my research project,in 2012, Ukraine was a strategic partner of Russia and there was no sigh that we would ever engaged in military conflict with Russians. Third question: The ethic of research and my role in the project? For the sake of this project I became an ‘experiencer’ myself by engaging into informal
