Friday, April 06, 2007

what's happening...

stonecircles2

stonecircles1

text and images of stone ceremony, by milan knizak, from source magazine issue 11, 1971:

on a bottom of an abandoned rock-quarry stone circles are compiling. everybody works on his own circle. after finishing it people get into their circles and silently stand there, sit there and finally draw on the ground inside their magic sighns. after that they leave stone circles and with a monothony buzzing climb up to the rock cliff above the quarry from where they watch their stone circles left alone down on the bottom.

been thinking a lot about happenings and how such things could exist more on the side of ritual than theatre. a group of people simply and quietly making circles of stones, all in the pit of a landscape and then all at different paces making their way up to a ridge until everyone is out of the pit, and the circles are quiet and distant - like small drops of rain hitting the surface of water.

it reminds me a little of improvised music, being in kind of a mental listening space together, and coming out of it though various pauses individually.

as an alternative to the fussy sculpture in nature photo ops of andy goldsworthy, knizak's work feels less calculated, and more genuine (i.e. it doesn't smell like art.). it's more communal, and it somehow feels distanced from the irreverent actions of most fluxus activities, as well as knizak's more well known works. it's introverted, more poetic, and potentially quite beautiful.

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5 Comments:

Blogger the art of memory said...

the best thing about land art and performance art from that time period is the documentation.
those black&white photos are just so great.
like beuys coyote, etc.

12:26 PM  
Blogger gd said...

those source magazines are really something.
i used to look at them all the time at the new england conservatory library.
id love to own a set of them sometime.

1:26 PM  
Blogger sroden said...

yeah, the photos are pretty darn great. indeed i've been trying to complete my set of source mags for years!!! the first time i saw one my mind was blown... and it's been many vintage book fairs, flea markets, used bookstores, etc. and of course finding them for less than an arm and a leg has been brutal and tough... but i only need a few more...! the best was getting the warhol aspen box from a vintage toy dealer in trade for absolute garbage :-)

7:12 PM  
Blogger gd said...

i think i have almost the complete set of 10" records that came with the source magazines, but not one issue of the magazine unfortunately. i may have a complete photocopy of one or two of the magazines though. (i worked at the music library with free access to copy machine at NEC. YAY!)

9:31 AM  
Blogger sroden said...

that's cool you found the records. if you ever come across the mags missing records they tend to be way cheaper...

9:00 AM  

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