Archive for January, 2009

You have developed a new theory about the human ego?

Yes. We have observed that there are two types of egos in people: the fluid ego and the stagnant ego. The stagnant ego is an ego that never changes, irrelevant from its size. It can be either a big ego or a small ego, it’s main characteristic is that it’s always the same. The fluid ego, on the other hand, is an ego that is always changing its size.

Why would it be better for an ego to change its size?

The ego is like a plant or any other living thing: as soon as it stops growing it is dead. Stagnant is just another word for dead. The stagnant ego is the major psychological problem of these times. There are countless people with stagnant egos and the stagnant ego by nature is a product of and can only survive in a propagandized environment.

Why can the stagnant ego only survive in a propagandized environment?

Because it was bred in such environment and thus its inventory is build out of exactly the same ingredients. Take an example, it is clear from various comments on the web that Israel can’t do anything wrong for some people. The interesting thing about that position is that it’s so blatantly unethical that one cannot possible draw any other conclusion than that the ego who utters such mindlessness is both dead and dependant on the propagandistic environment it was bred in. Fact of the matter is that the stagnant or dead ego is actually made up of that propaganda and would cease to exist if it wouldn’t repeat it. For this reason the stagnant ego is bound to the very thing that created it, and it need to endlessly repeat it’s formula over and over again.

Isn’t it crude however to declare these people dead?

These people aren’t dead, their egos are. As soon as something stops growing it is dead. We are, however, pretty sure their bodily functions are otherwise still in order.

So what exactly is the ego according to you?

The ego is the island of the known. It is all that we are. It is not the thing that separates us from reality, as a lot of people think. What separates us from reality is the stagnant ego that cannot adopt to circumstances. This stagnancy is very problematic, for it needs falsities by definition to survive. Thus, the world gets more and more corrupted by stagnant egos that can only survive by means of a constant bombardment with propaganda and lies.

So what can we do with our own ego to make it fluid?

First of all you need to understand that the ego is a chain of events, that it encompasses all we know. From that point of view onward it is a question of seeing every phenomenon in the world as a part of ones own being. That’s why the fluid ego takes responsibility for everything it does, while the stagnant ego sees everything in passive mode. As the ego is all that we are, anything we do to the outside is something we also do to ourselves. Hence, it becomes important to take very good care of ourselves as well as the world.

The masses/ the herd, however, constantly fling accusations towards the fluid ego, since the herd is dependant upon the stagnancy of its inhabitants. Once the size of the egos becomes unpredictable the herd loses its functionality.

Isn’t such a fluctuating ego rather a sign of madness?

Mad people are simply normal people who chitchat in an alternative direction. They chitchat vertically instead of horizontally, for example. Both are equally uninteresting and there is in fact very very little difference between either. It’s senseless chitchat, just not horizontal/social.

Josefina Muslera is a painter from Argentina, who makes interesting drawing and paintings. She writes about her own work:

I grew up in La Rioja (Northwest Argentina), next to an ancient olive wood , close to the “powerful” Andes mountain chain. An area of high temperature, surrounded by generous nature in its raw nakedness, unpredictable, contrasting and heartbreaking; I lived and interacted with their wild “worlds “organic and inorganic, their myths, sharing with people in love with their land. Earth full of spirituality. Since then, I can not express myself and create but from the relationship between the body lived sensation (sensory body), the conscience and dramatic emotion of things, and their reciprocal influence on me. I believe in the idea of love as a force and energy alive, joining and separating incessantly, and within that, becoming incessant the power of instant creation, “Instant strengthening the real moment.”

More work can be seen on her weblog, posted below the images. These are two works I liked:

Visit Josefina Muslera’s weblog

Comments by Loosenut from Amazon:

I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger’s shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger’s scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said “that’s the worst security ever!”. But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital.
The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillence System set for Christmas. I’ve heard that the CC TV cameras on that thing are pretty worthless in terms of quality and motion detection, so I think I’ll get him the Playmobil Abu-Gharib Interogation Set instead (it comes with a cute little memo from George Bush).

Novo Universalis wants to present a new theory about the birth of the Universe, why?

We are a think-tank of poets, artists and philosophers and our goal is to solve all world problems, including problems of scientific and religious nature. The birth of the Universe is one of the significant events to solve.

Why would we need a new theory about the birth of the Universe?

In December scientists have finally discovered evidence for the theory that the Universe is expanding at accelerating speed. This is strange, since the Big Bang in explosion model would not produce a Universe that expands at accelerating speed. Space has little resistance, but the debris we call stars would eventually slow down. That they do not slow down but accelerate is strange, because accelerating requires energy. Where is that energy coming from? The current generation of scientists invented ‘dark matter’ to explain this acceleration but this explanation does not satisfy us. A new theory is needed.

So what new theory do you want to present?

The Universe was not produced by a ‘Big Bang’ in the classical sense. It was the result of two ‘meta particles’ colliding and producing a super collision reaction. The idea that the Big Bang is a singular phenomenon is largely based on monotheistic thought patterns. What happened here is that two meta-particles (from now on called ‘Novounitrons’) collided at massive speed and produced what we know now as ‘The Universe’. We are, therefore, all living in a giant collision reaction. Because of this the particles do not expose behaviour as expected, and hence they can accelerate rather than slow down because the reaction is still taking place.

We all live inside a massive collision reaction?

Yes. Caused by the Novounitrons, which collided at incredible speed. This also explains the conditions necessary to form black holes. We stimulate scientists to investigate the accelerating speed at different parts of the universe. They will find that the Universe expands much more faster into some directions than into other ones. This is because the Big Bang was not a classical explosion but a high speed collision one.

So what exactly are these Novounitrons and why have we never seen one?

We are living inside of the debris of two Novounitrons. The reason we can’t see any other ones is that they are so incredibly huge and incredibly far away. There is no need for parallel universes as there is with more classic black hole theory. But in our opinion every sun is a black hole in a parralel universe, and vice versa. Stars therefore don’t die, as these scientists seem to think, but they rather fase in and out of different parallelities.

So what is the purpose of these Novounitrons?

They are the particles of one Meta-atom of the Meta-Universe.

One of my favorite artists at this moment is Alexandra Crouwers. Her work is fantastic, actually, no matter if it’s her drawings, installation works or animations. Here are four examples of an installation artwork she did, more work of her and drawings/animations can be directly viewed on her website through the link below the images:

Visit the website of Alexandra Crouwers

The American sound artist Charles Goff III, known from the Taped Rugs initiative, has turned two of my older poems into sound works/songs. Both are very interesting and I encourage Loewak readers to freely download both. The first one is based on the poem ‘Classical Music’ and the second one is based on the poem ‘I am the law’. I will possibly do a future collaboration with Mr Goff III and I will keep you all informed about those efforts.

Download (Right click – save as)

Classical Music

I am the Law

More work of Charles Goff III on the Taped Rugs site

Triple channel video that is part of “The Nature of being” by Scanner and Olga Mink.

This video is based on the idea how we memorise and connect data stored in parts of our brain. Intercontextual information is created within moments, memories, images sounds, that have occured in the past. The video touches the subject of how people share a single event together, yet experience “reality” completely different. Subjective.

trespassing [part of Nature of Being] from Olga Mink on Vimeo.

Eva Mouton is a Belgian artist and poet, this is her work ‘Tuin’ (garden) which I find very effective in its simplicity:

Eva also has her own website here: Evamouton.be, with drawings and funny anecdotes in Dutch.

This month we move more in the direction of Avant-garde music. Please note that the mentioned records aren’t (necessarily) records that have been published in 2008; they are merely records I have discovered and listened to in this month and which I find special enough to recommend.

1. Fausto Rometelli – Professor Bad Trip

Fausto Rometelli is an Italian avant-garde composer that, unfortunately, died at the age of 41. This record, which appeared in 2003 is the piece ‘Professor Bad Trip’ played by the Belgian Ensemble Ictus from Brussels with Georges-Elie Octors, conductor. This work was inspired by the Belgian poet Henri Michaux and is a fantastic listening experience! Hybridation, mixing contemporary and rock music, distortion, saturation, psychedelic inspiration, “dirty” harmonies are the main words to describe his non-formalist musical universe. It is one of the most interesting works I have heard lately.

2. Jean Michel Jarre – La Cage / Erosmachine (EMI Pathé)

I think this was the first single of Jarre and I think it’s pretty hard to find. It is a great work, I like it much better than most of his later works. Both tracks are fabulous: hypnotic rhythm patterns made with concrete sounds, dark vibes, early synth waves, progressive layers of weird sounds, tape manipulations. Definitely a collectors item.

3. Bernard Gerard- Tempo (Unidisc)

This is a fantastic record with funky, minimalist psychosomatic avant-garde music. Unfortunately its even harder to find than the previous record so I doubted about mentioning it, but if you have the chance to lay your hands on it you sure should, especially if you are into weird 70′s soundscapes! It appeared on the Unidisk label.

4. The Art Ensemble of Chicago – Reese & The Smooth Ones

This is experimental jazz, but really good one! The entire record is one big improvisation. The Art Ensemble of Chicago is one of the most inventive, funny and creative groups that was out there around these times. Must have for any avant-garde jazz lover, and a very good listen for anyone else too, really.

5. Funkfu – Psycho Funk vs Rare Grooves 1970-1976

This isn’t really avant-garde but it’s one of the best funk records ever! It contains rare to find and forgotten tracks of several 70′s masterpieces of funk: The Lords of Percussion, Hippy Skippy Moon Street and other bands – one of the most played records in my collection! It appeared in 2001 on the Big Cheese records label.