A Contribution to Statistics,
by Wislawa Szymborska, English version by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak. (1845)
Out of a hundred people
those who always know better
— fifty-two
doubting every step
— nearly all the rest,
glad to lend a hand
if it doesn’t take too long
— as high as forty-nine,
always good
because they can’t be otherwise
— four, well maybe five,
able to admire without envy
— eighteen,
suffering illusions
induced by fleeting youth
— sixty, give or take a few,
not to be taken lightly
— forty and four,
living in constant fear
of someone or something
— seventy-seven,
capable of happiness
— twenty-something tops,
harmless singly, savage in crowds
— half at least,
cruel when forced by circumstances
— better not to know
even ballpark figures, wise after the fact
— just a couple more
than wise before it,
taking only things from life
— thirty
(I wish I were wrong),
hunched in pain,
no flashlight in the dark
— eighty-three sooner or later,
righteous
— thirty-five, which is a lot,
righteous
and understanding
— three,
worthy of compassion
— ninety-nine,
mortal
— a hundred out of a hundred.
Thus far this figure still remains unchanged.
listening balconies
becoming roots
inviting bees to de-concrete paths
to last no more than five years
wide-eyed seedlings
human dramatics
summoning storks to gorilla garden
yet not for becoming ancient
small spaced elephants
overgrown abandonment
daffodils rooting networks
to futures already told
(thoughts in the post by kjc.)
What else am i reading ..
1. Who Fears Death,
by Nnedi Okorafor (2010).
A haunting and beautiful story where the author Nnedi Okorafor has crafted a superbly realised world, that of post-apocalyptic Sudan, where technology is obsolete and sandstorms ravage the land. The Nuru people oppress and ravage the Okeke people. One surviving member manages to escape and gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue. The main character, Onyesonwu, stands out amongst the rest for many reasons. Across this book is her journey to self-discovery and fight for restitution for wrongs done to her people, her mother specifically.
In our becoming of armchair epidemiologists, paying lip service on flattening curves, and fancying ourselves to be the next quarantined Shakespeare, it is ever more important that the voices of artists and cultural practices get heard. Comparing statistics, mortality statistics, having statistics only insofar make for an exploration of truth. Meaning-making in artistic knowledge continues to move us, for what statistics can no longer solve.
(thoughts in the post by kjc.)
2. Hospitality
Hosting Relations in Exhibitions (2016)
Contributions by BEATRICE VON BISMARCK, NANNE BUURMAN, ALICE CREISCHER, ANDREA FRASER, LORENZO FUSI, WIEBKE GRONEMEYER, ERIK HAGOORT, ANTHONY HUBERMAN, THOMAS LOCHER, BENJAMIN MEYER-KRAHMER, DIETER ROELSTRAETE, STEFAN RÖMER, JÖRN SCHAFAFF, ANDREAS SIEKMANN, RUTH SONDEREGGER, MAJA ĆIRIĆ
A curatorial situation is always one of hospitality. It implies invitations to artists, artworks, curators, audiences, and institutions; people and objects are received, welcomed, and temporarily brought together. It offers resources for material and physical support while also responding to a need for recognition, respect, or attention. Finally, and very importantly, a curatorial situation operates in the space between an unconditional acceptance of the other and exclusions legitimized through various rules and regulations.
This publication analyzes, from the perspective of hospitality, the curatorial within the current sociopolitical context through key topics concerning immigration, conditions along borders, and accommodations for refugees. The contributions in this volume, by international curators, artists, critics, and theoreticians, deal with conditions of decontextualization and displacement, encounters between the local and the foreign, as well as the satisfaction of basic human needs. Hospitality: Hosting Relations in Exhibitions is the third volume in the Cultures of the Curatorial book series.
3. Flowers for Algernon
Short story by Daniel Keyes (1960)
The story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?