David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
.
Museums Australia Magazine currently features on its cover a Puppet Culture Framing System component from a 1980 exhibition at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
That exhibition began on April Fools Day 1980 ...
... with only one full set of its exhibition components formally on display :
one Work Of Art (Painting)
one (red) Puppet Culture Framing System
one sheet of Art Titles and daily newspaper headlines
one photograph of peoples in action
one newspaper banner SCREAMING TEENS MOB PAINTINGS
red fluorescent lights inside
red filters on the windows
Twenty-nine more of these component sets
- Thirty days hath September, April June and November -
were stacked assembly-line ready opposite the presentation of April 1.
After that
with each new day
another set of world events
another something on display ...
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
