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.


18 April 2015

The Charge of the Light Regard : from Logos to Lenin's Lamps and now the Light Show

     
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12  The Bible, English Standard Version

Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
16 April - 5 July 2015
            

 Lenin the Lamp and the Light : the cover of 'We Build' (1929)
                 
"Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country."
Vladimir Lenin (1920)
Our Foreign and Domestic Position and Party Tasks. Moscow
GOELRO (State Commission for Electrification of Russia)

*These images come from the excellent article 'Lenin's Lamps' by Eric Laursen.
                
Below : Arkady Shaikhet (photographer), Lenin’s Lamp, 1925
     

Theatre of the Actors of Regard 
 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something... 

 LOGOS/HA HA