After fear, revenge might be the new paradigm of Johannesburg.
Joburg Paradigms:
-1994: Greed
1994-: Fear
Now: Revenge
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Joburg saga
I didn’t make the homeless project because I exploited the subjects. This is entirely wrong. I also could have made a project on casino, or shopping mall, or office. But I made a project on the homeless. I did try to understand the city. I did try to think about it. And I did try to contribute to it. I succeeded, but after that, I also decided to leave the city. There is no other explanations than what I knew very well since years-
I don’t want other people to be my infrastructure.
I don’t want to feel guilty (for the deeds I didn’t do).
I don’t want to live in fear.
Mrs. Deckler was attacked in a squatter camp in Honey Dew, Johannesburg. She sensed revenge in the atmosphere of the city. ‘Someone has to pay for what happened’, she said. She sensed that S. African people are not so friendly any more. Some don’t react when you greet them on the street.
Julie’s movers arrive at 9:30pm at the gated, wanting to move her stuff to her dormitory 1.5 hours away from Joburg. Mama was scared and freaked out. When the movers’ truck arrived at the door, mama switched all the lights, waited in silence, did not dare to pick up ringing phones. She only could call Lihwen to come home quickly and wait outside somewhere hidden until the movers’ truck goes away. When this kind of things happens, you can only think, luckily nothing happened. The thought a possibility of something could have happened makes one made. What have the movers been doing since noon? Why do they come anyway since Julie had already cancelled today’s appointment with the company manager? Have the movers got other plans when they come at 9:30pm, to expect to work until late in the night? More creepy than what could have happened is the fear to communicate. Mama did not dare to open the door and talk to the movers.
In Rotterdam we’d just open the door and talk about it with the movers.
I don’t want other people to be my infrastructure.
I don’t want to feel guilty (for the deeds I didn’t do).
I don’t want to live in fear.
Mrs. Deckler was attacked in a squatter camp in Honey Dew, Johannesburg. She sensed revenge in the atmosphere of the city. ‘Someone has to pay for what happened’, she said. She sensed that S. African people are not so friendly any more. Some don’t react when you greet them on the street.
Julie’s movers arrive at 9:30pm at the gated, wanting to move her stuff to her dormitory 1.5 hours away from Joburg. Mama was scared and freaked out. When the movers’ truck arrived at the door, mama switched all the lights, waited in silence, did not dare to pick up ringing phones. She only could call Lihwen to come home quickly and wait outside somewhere hidden until the movers’ truck goes away. When this kind of things happens, you can only think, luckily nothing happened. The thought a possibility of something could have happened makes one made. What have the movers been doing since noon? Why do they come anyway since Julie had already cancelled today’s appointment with the company manager? Have the movers got other plans when they come at 9:30pm, to expect to work until late in the night? More creepy than what could have happened is the fear to communicate. Mama did not dare to open the door and talk to the movers.
In Rotterdam we’d just open the door and talk about it with the movers.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Simulacrum
Shopping mall is a simulacrum.
It is a copy of a copy of a copy.
A second-hand copy which becomes something else on its own right.
Something different from the original.
Something creative.
It is a copy of a copy of a copy.
A second-hand copy which becomes something else on its own right.
Something different from the original.
Something creative.
Behind walls
There are liberating shopping malls and imprisoning shopping malls.
We were at the Century City/Canal Walk (Cape Town, South Africa) today. It felt stressful and depressing.
From the N1 highway and the map I saw a prison next to the mall.
Behind walls people shop; behind walls people are jailed.
Irony.
We were at the Century City/Canal Walk (Cape Town, South Africa) today. It felt stressful and depressing.
From the N1 highway and the map I saw a prison next to the mall.
Behind walls people shop; behind walls people are jailed.
Irony.
Becoming less
I am in the process of becoming less South African.
Opposite of Deleuze’s becoming/flight towards something.
Instead I am on the way to becoming less of something, away from something.
What is the opposite of becoming?
When I see people’s eyes I see myself.
I see how I am identified.
I don’t belong here.
The wall is in the eyes
Opposite of Deleuze’s becoming/flight towards something.
Instead I am on the way to becoming less of something, away from something.
What is the opposite of becoming?
When I see people’s eyes I see myself.
I see how I am identified.
I don’t belong here.
The wall is in the eyes
Monday, December 25, 2006
Inside-Outside
In Johannesburg people are always inside.
When you are always inside, you are actually only always outside- of a community, of nature, of a richer and more complex world.
Was I ever part of Johannesburg/south Africa? I thought I was, and maybe I was, but I am not so sure now. I was judged; my work was judged on the basis of my skin- not because I was black, or white, but because I was either black or white. I was not part of the old South Africa, so I am not part of the new South Africa.
I left, not because of fear of crime or economic instability, but because I didn’t feel part of it. I tried through my projects. Through one’s work, one can fully understand how one is truly being judged.
South Africans were not able to see that non-South-Africans can produced deep and sharp works on South Africa. They are very narrow-minded. The ‘becoming’, which Deleuze valued so much, was not yet a known concept. Imagine the enormous effort of ‘transformation’ and becoming put into making the homeless project. This project should have been appreciated particularly because it was done by a foreigner.
When you are always inside, you are actually only always outside- of a community, of nature, of a richer and more complex world.
Was I ever part of Johannesburg/south Africa? I thought I was, and maybe I was, but I am not so sure now. I was judged; my work was judged on the basis of my skin- not because I was black, or white, but because I was either black or white. I was not part of the old South Africa, so I am not part of the new South Africa.
I left, not because of fear of crime or economic instability, but because I didn’t feel part of it. I tried through my projects. Through one’s work, one can fully understand how one is truly being judged.
South Africans were not able to see that non-South-Africans can produced deep and sharp works on South Africa. They are very narrow-minded. The ‘becoming’, which Deleuze valued so much, was not yet a known concept. Imagine the enormous effort of ‘transformation’ and becoming put into making the homeless project. This project should have been appreciated particularly because it was done by a foreigner.
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