bLOGOS/HA HA: on Naming a Body of Water

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.

09 September 2016

on Naming a Body of Water

Among the swell of TAR gathered in curiosity around Jean-Luc Godard and his crew that day, standing together opposite Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii (1784), was the Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies.

Jean-Luc Goddard, 'Bande à part' (Band of Outsiders) running past David's 'Oath of the Horatii', 1964

Afterwards, he joked to Dame Pattie :
"I did but see them rushing by..."
Sir Robert Menzies
The Louvre, 1964

Sir Robert Menzies officially opens Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra,
1964.

Later that year, Sir Robert on Naming a Body of Water :

"When the time came to give the lake a name, I remember my then minister for the Interior, Gordon Freeth, coming to me and saying, 'There is a widespread feeling that, as you have been in a material sense the father of this lake, it should be named after you.' My reply was prompt. 'Gordon,' I said, 'that is a characteristically pleasing thought on your part, but the lake is not going to be named after me. Do you remember that the original designer of this city and the original creator of the whole notion of a lake was Walter Burley Griffin. So far as I know, he has no memorial in this place. He must have one. I want to have the lake called Lake Burley Griffin.' It was so named and has given Griffin a memorial which no man ever more handsomely deserved."

- R G Menzies The Measure of the Years, 1970 p 147-8.

From the National Capital, Spare Room 33 has alerted us to the cover of The Oath on the cover of the 2005 catalog by the German artists Konsortium.

Members of Konsortium are exhibiting in Melbourne at the moment, at the Justin Art House Museum in the group exhibition Infinite Loop.