Patterns of Research, Process & Practice
The Swiss National flag is the only square flag to fly. It's history of design is complex.
A story I heard was that it was related to a Roman Legion and so one could follow this pattern of arrival to the fact that the Swiss Guard do in fact guard the Vatican and so the Pope to this day, due to the fact that the Swiss originally were the most advanced mercenary army in the world, renting themselves out to the highest bidder. This was due partly to the geographical and political structure of the region that being a series of 'private' kingdoms that eventually through business came together to make a complex whole of cantons which there are 26.
The linguistic medley is composed of French, Italian, German, and Romansh.
Employing this information into the geographical and architectural structure of the living space I was to arrive into lead to me painting the floor with this icon of a Nation.
It is an image that states simply - Efficient / Clean / Safe / High Quality / Neutrality / Wealth -
as a flag it is also the symbol for the International Red Cross when inverted.
In February of 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Société genevoise d'utilité publique [Geneva Public Welfare Society] set up a committee of five Swiss citizens to look into the ideas offered by Henri Dunant in his book Un Souvenir de Solferino - ideas dealing with protection of the sick and wounded during combat.
Process . . .
Starting points . . .
Reasons . . .
Pathways . . .
Structures . . .
Patterns . . .
Beginnings . . .
The flag, its history, its developments, its significance, its identity to a nation, all enable something to begin.
I begin by painting the Swiss National Cross onto the floor of the room I was working in.
A nation part of yet separated from a political land mass.
Starting points . . .
Reasons . . .
Pathways . . .
Structures . . .
Patterns . . .
Beginnings . . .
The flag, its history, its developments, its significance, its identity to a nation, all enable something to begin.
I begin by painting the Swiss National Cross onto the floor of the room I was working in.
A nation part of yet separated from a political land mass.
I then requested people sit in this identifiable neutral icon.
The Build
This was a significant build.
A construction using the wood that is employed in the building of the internal structures that are used in the nuclear bunkers ~ The tables, the beds, the walls, the chairs. It is the same wood that is employed to build the iconic Swiss Chalet.
The construction was 5 boxes at 2.5m squares.
2.5m is the official measurement employed in Swiss architecture, its tidy that way.
5 boxes laid on the 5 squares of the Swiss flag that was painted on the floor, it's tidy that way.
Compartment - work / sleep / food / performance / water / bodily waste / display, it's tidy that way.
A construction using the wood that is employed in the building of the internal structures that are used in the nuclear bunkers ~ The tables, the beds, the walls, the chairs. It is the same wood that is employed to build the iconic Swiss Chalet.
The construction was 5 boxes at 2.5m squares.
2.5m is the official measurement employed in Swiss architecture, its tidy that way.
5 boxes laid on the 5 squares of the Swiss flag that was painted on the floor, it's tidy that way.
Compartment - work / sleep / food / performance / water / bodily waste / display, it's tidy that way.
Food
The food was acquired from a government list that indicates what food each bunker should contain.
The food and water listed was for exactly 2-weeks, the duration of 3:3:3, this included 75 liters of water,
enough for the human body to drink, was, and do the pots with.
The food and water listed was for exactly 2-weeks, the duration of 3:3:3, this included 75 liters of water,
enough for the human body to drink, was, and do the pots with.
Time
Time was a significant mechanism within this work
A durational performance of 333 hours, in real time, of real time.
How does one count time and at the same time live time?
Time was seemingly mechanistic /
On time
In time
Time is one of those Swiss cultural cliches.
Precision time pieces & The cuckoo clock.
I lived for the 333 hours with 24 clocks ticking time,
just to remind me of the time, of its actuality of being
in object and in sound.
To live with time / In time / With time.
A durational performance of 333 hours, in real time, of real time.
How does one count time and at the same time live time?
Time was seemingly mechanistic /
On time
In time
Time is one of those Swiss cultural cliches.
Precision time pieces & The cuckoo clock.
I lived for the 333 hours with 24 clocks ticking time,
just to remind me of the time, of its actuality of being
in object and in sound.
To live with time / In time / With time.
Suspension
Suspended in time
and within space.
A geographical location of suspension ~ Suspended between place / part of yet not part of /
and within space.
A geographical location of suspension ~ Suspended between place / part of yet not part of /
Remain Neutrality
The question of Neutrality was a major vain running through this project.
What does it mean to be neutral?
What does it do to a populations psychic make-up?
What does the implications of being part of but not part of a geographical landmass yet separated from the economic / the political systems that presently rule Europe.
When it comes to engaging with war, the Swiss Sovereign State refuses to engage wit the acts of warfare.
A statement that stuck with me was that the Swiss remain separate with a removal of interest; "It has nothing to do with us, so we are not involved."
But what is war?
At what point does engagement and inclusion make you involved?
A passive aggressive inclusion predetermines this neutral stance, not just as a nation but as a person.
Seemingly always in control of situations.
3:3:3 was a demanding process for all concerned.
It was personnel; "Who are we as Swiss?"
It was a question to be answered and what was interesting was that I am not part of the "WE".
It is a difficult location to be ~ part off ~ the ~ WE ~
'We' is something of the together, a word of solidarity, but how together are the Swiss, with a multiple linguistic system, and a complex political structure, together but in pieces, together but separate.
Who is the 'WE"?
This is the position to remain separate / this is a job / to question and to watch / to watch and to listen / to hear the voices within the silence and see the invisible within movements and actions.
I was in a cage, a sequence of boxes, surrounded by faces, voices, eyes watching in.
I became the beast to arrive to and sit and watch, arrive and feed chocolate to, arrive and bring cake, arrive and bring beer or drugs or tobacco, to be fed and cared for like the creature.
I was to remain neutral, I would receive everything and anything.
I was part of the building, i was inside an inside of an inside of an inside or an inside of an inside. The inside of a construction, the inside of a building, the inside of an organisation, the inside of a canton, the inside of a language, (being French), an inside of a country that was inside of a geographical land mass, I was part of yet separate from, inside and looking in.
It was a curious position.
I had everything I asked for.
I was being kept alive.
Everything was comfortable and in control.
If I made too much noise then the door would be closed.
I would stop work and shut all systems down when ever this happened.
I would die.
Passive resistance.
"Your noise is disturbing us.
We can not talk"
"You wanted a 24 / 7 process." I would reply.
Through the noise of bullets and explosions that I had downloaded from the internet and playing 20 all at the same time.
Through these noises of war that shattered the comfort of controlled order, I went on with my reasoning.
""Shutting the door is removing me from the life of the building. I make noise but I disturb you so you silence me.
It was you who set the rule that I would live with the door open at all times but not when I disturb you?"
Where are the boundaries and the borders in a country that accepts the liberty of the individual, to take what drugs they wish, to carry a high powered revolver, to commit suicide, to be at liberty . . .
Where are the borders to cross, disturb, when everything is sustained, when everything is "Ok", contained in a predetermined order.
"Who are we?"
How am I to find out who or what the 'we' is but by pushing the boundaries of the supposed collective - I am not part of the 'We'.
I am invited to explore the notion of 'we', to ask what 'we' is, to get beneath the 'we' and expose it. experience it, live within the 'we'.
It wasn't "who are we as a human race?"
It was an isolated introverted reflection and like the Swiss Guard who act as a mercenary security force around the Pope,
I was like an arts mercenary brought in to dig, fight someone else fight, surgically reveal the soft under belly and get people to "feel."
It seemed to be a dirty job.
It seemed to be a cruel thing to do.
The human complexity was as delicate and intricate of fresh snow flakes.
I had been positioned and I had shaped myself into Frankenstein's Creature.
The book was a reference, a starting point, a tragedy of humanity.
The position of neutrality seemed to be a position of human tragedy.
Involved yet not involved.
Part of
a part from.
There was the pleasure of guilt displayed yet hidden.
The hidden seemed more of value than what could be seen
Nothing seemed real, it was a wonderland I had fallen into ~
Crystal clean dream.
At times I was a character in the Prisoner.
I was working in Russia at the time /
Another project / another part of / another immersion beyond the cold iron of historical propaganda and paranoia.
I'd travel between up to four nations / Leaving one cultural clime to another.
In the spring of 2001 I experienced 4 separate springs, it was beautiful yet unnerving,
everything on a roller coaster of heightened reality, re-birthing again and again and . . .
I'd leave the winter beaten streets of Saint Petersburg and find myself on a train flowing along the edge of Lac Leman.
Beauty suspended in the air that you breath.
It was shocking to the sensibilities and as unreal to me as Russia could be to most.
"Who are we?"
"I want people to feel."
These opened ended and seemingly naive question
(To Be Continued)
What does it mean to be neutral?
What does it do to a populations psychic make-up?
What does the implications of being part of but not part of a geographical landmass yet separated from the economic / the political systems that presently rule Europe.
When it comes to engaging with war, the Swiss Sovereign State refuses to engage wit the acts of warfare.
A statement that stuck with me was that the Swiss remain separate with a removal of interest; "It has nothing to do with us, so we are not involved."
But what is war?
At what point does engagement and inclusion make you involved?
A passive aggressive inclusion predetermines this neutral stance, not just as a nation but as a person.
Seemingly always in control of situations.
3:3:3 was a demanding process for all concerned.
It was personnel; "Who are we as Swiss?"
It was a question to be answered and what was interesting was that I am not part of the "WE".
It is a difficult location to be ~ part off ~ the ~ WE ~
'We' is something of the together, a word of solidarity, but how together are the Swiss, with a multiple linguistic system, and a complex political structure, together but in pieces, together but separate.
Who is the 'WE"?
This is the position to remain separate / this is a job / to question and to watch / to watch and to listen / to hear the voices within the silence and see the invisible within movements and actions.
I was in a cage, a sequence of boxes, surrounded by faces, voices, eyes watching in.
I became the beast to arrive to and sit and watch, arrive and feed chocolate to, arrive and bring cake, arrive and bring beer or drugs or tobacco, to be fed and cared for like the creature.
I was to remain neutral, I would receive everything and anything.
I was part of the building, i was inside an inside of an inside of an inside or an inside of an inside. The inside of a construction, the inside of a building, the inside of an organisation, the inside of a canton, the inside of a language, (being French), an inside of a country that was inside of a geographical land mass, I was part of yet separate from, inside and looking in.
It was a curious position.
I had everything I asked for.
I was being kept alive.
Everything was comfortable and in control.
If I made too much noise then the door would be closed.
I would stop work and shut all systems down when ever this happened.
I would die.
Passive resistance.
"Your noise is disturbing us.
We can not talk"
"You wanted a 24 / 7 process." I would reply.
Through the noise of bullets and explosions that I had downloaded from the internet and playing 20 all at the same time.
Through these noises of war that shattered the comfort of controlled order, I went on with my reasoning.
""Shutting the door is removing me from the life of the building. I make noise but I disturb you so you silence me.
It was you who set the rule that I would live with the door open at all times but not when I disturb you?"
Where are the boundaries and the borders in a country that accepts the liberty of the individual, to take what drugs they wish, to carry a high powered revolver, to commit suicide, to be at liberty . . .
Where are the borders to cross, disturb, when everything is sustained, when everything is "Ok", contained in a predetermined order.
"Who are we?"
How am I to find out who or what the 'we' is but by pushing the boundaries of the supposed collective - I am not part of the 'We'.
I am invited to explore the notion of 'we', to ask what 'we' is, to get beneath the 'we' and expose it. experience it, live within the 'we'.
It wasn't "who are we as a human race?"
It was an isolated introverted reflection and like the Swiss Guard who act as a mercenary security force around the Pope,
I was like an arts mercenary brought in to dig, fight someone else fight, surgically reveal the soft under belly and get people to "feel."
It seemed to be a dirty job.
It seemed to be a cruel thing to do.
The human complexity was as delicate and intricate of fresh snow flakes.
I had been positioned and I had shaped myself into Frankenstein's Creature.
The book was a reference, a starting point, a tragedy of humanity.
The position of neutrality seemed to be a position of human tragedy.
Involved yet not involved.
Part of
a part from.
There was the pleasure of guilt displayed yet hidden.
The hidden seemed more of value than what could be seen
Nothing seemed real, it was a wonderland I had fallen into ~
Crystal clean dream.
At times I was a character in the Prisoner.
I was working in Russia at the time /
Another project / another part of / another immersion beyond the cold iron of historical propaganda and paranoia.
I'd travel between up to four nations / Leaving one cultural clime to another.
In the spring of 2001 I experienced 4 separate springs, it was beautiful yet unnerving,
everything on a roller coaster of heightened reality, re-birthing again and again and . . .
I'd leave the winter beaten streets of Saint Petersburg and find myself on a train flowing along the edge of Lac Leman.
Beauty suspended in the air that you breath.
It was shocking to the sensibilities and as unreal to me as Russia could be to most.
"Who are we?"
"I want people to feel."
These opened ended and seemingly naive question
(To Be Continued)