word & image

Summer project:

1, The Text:

IMRE MADÁCH - THE TRAGEDY OF MAN

translation: George Szirtes

https://mek.oszk.hu/00900/00918/html/index.htm#:~:text=TRANSLATED%20BY%20GEORGE%20SZIRTES

Scene 1

quote:

(...)

THE LORD
I merit praise alone, not condemnation.

LUCIFER
I only render what is in my nature.
Pointing to the angels
This wretched crew will serve to flatter You,
Not surprisingly since they’re Your creatures.
You begat them as light begets a shadow
But I had pre-existence, and am ageless.

THE LORD
Such impudence! Were you not born of matter?
What power had you before? What sphere? What realm?

LUCIFER
I might perhaps enquire the same of You.

(...)

2, SOUNDSCAPE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SM_cFvf-DnvZnJO8MxM-E6RR__LNcozT/view?usp=sharing

3, ABSTRACT IMAGE:

I have made various versions.

Main project:

1, chosen text:

MRS FAUST - CAROL ANN DUFFY

Interpretation-

approach:

a, Why this text?

To make sense of the underlying mystery; solve the puzzle: theological language + genre in a postmodern context - what is the morality tale about in this setting? What is the real message given the context (atheistic worldview)?

What is the meaning of "evil" in the text? Why does selfishness, greed, materialism, consumerism, meritocracy etc. feel like approaches to be criticized, where the basis for any value system is arbitrarily defined? Are Mr Faust and Mrs Faust wrong to make satanic deals? Why? Also - what do they want? What are they trying to achieve OR what drives them?

b, Why the three characters?

A 3 tier hierarchy/ 3 parties in a deal;

where Mr Faust relates to Mephistopheles the same way Mrs Faust relates to Mr Faust. (both by a legal contract)

Begs the question: On whom does Mephistopheles depend on? in the text: "the Devil" - then, who does the Devil depend on?

->God (=good. The largest of powers; the one being defied but only if we place the text within a larger theological context)

God is latent; missing (as an active role). Perhaps the point of the text?

c, What is the SOUL?

The invisible/latent/missing "thing"; currency.

Being traded within the hierarchical structure (the payment is irrelevant: it is whatever desired).

It is owed upwards in the hierarchy. A mysterious, elusive currency. (WHAT is it?)

MR Faust trades his soul to Mephistopheles. Does this mean Mrs Faust's soul belongs to Mr Faust?

Does the Devil have a soul?

Problem in contemporary/post-modern context: does it even exist? (same way: does GOD exist?) last line of the poem: "didn't have a soul to sell"

c, What is gained in the trade?

The poem = a list of things and experiences. Piling on and on. Seemingly, the sum of these are worth eternal damnation=the soul?

it is to try and see WHAT was worth it from the list: trial and error approach - if everything is possible (by the deal) then one of the things gained may well be valuable, even if initially sceptical about the outcome of the experiment.

Mr and Mrs Faust (being smart enough: they met at university) already assume the lack of a metaphysical reality; no God, no soul.

Therefore the deal is meaningless; ironically made OR an experiment as to how far they can go in life OR a spiritual cry for help? (defy God, the non-existent, same as Satan).

Nothing to lose:

either there is no God-> at least their lives were as fulfilling as possible;

or there is a God -> at least order in the universe is restored (their punishment will serve an example).

Initial research (WORKSHOP):

Sketchbook:

Narratology workshop:

Visual research 1 - imagery in the text:

"flew faster than the speed of sound"

"lit a fat Havana on the Sun"

"invested in smart bombs"

"walked on the moon,

golfed, holed in one"

"Bought farms,

cloned sheep."

"spun gold from hay"

"the Lear jet, the helipad"

"I bought a kidney

with my credit card"

Visual research 1 - illustration

a, the contract

- made of paper = thin =superficiality

- volumeless

- symbol of material goods, property exchange, bank transactions

-also associated with law and religious documents

- calligraphy: the signature = individual identity =soul?

----Calligrapher/scribe/scrivener/notary/secretary

has and understanding of suitable style, individual occasion; immortalises spoken word.

----The association: not only precise, artful, but an abstract representation of individuality, discipline, respect for tradition, formality;

----religious texts: handwritten and illuminated

----the ritual of signing= legal action-> a symbol for a commitment->like its uttered version: a promise (->magic word) but even more binding, as physical evidence exists.

-Thereby: a contract is a bridge between reality and the metaphysical world

-one of the possible origins for the name Faust is J. Gutenberg's business partner->a printmaker; maybe some association for printed words being inherently more soulless?

front piece of Historia von D. Johann Fausten, the first "Faust book" (a chapbook, 1587)

Depiction of a calligrapher:

Depiction of a notary:

Depiction of scribes:

Book 1

Book 2

b, soul

or lack thereof

-volumeless:

---soap bubble

---vacuum formed shapes (superficiality, emptiness)

---condom (also to depict: Mr and Mrs Faust are desensitized/apathetic to pleasure and pain)

---stamp/sigil: a personal signature but also used in magic rituals in renaissance occultism

-round shape, circle

---soap bubble

---hole

---ball (cue ball, golf ball etc)

---circumference of planets, Sun, Moon

---symbol of perfection/whole

---symbol of eternity

---symbol of cyclicals (->Sisyphus)

---one aspect of a cylinder (-> cigar, bombs)

---fingerprint

---cigarette burn

---ring(-> feudalism, marriage, magic)

---simplified shape of a stone

-stone:

---Sisyphus' punishment

---philosopher's stone

---symbol for guilt/sin (being stoned to death; weight on the soul)

---conscience/scruples (scrupus=sharp stone; 1/24 of an ounce in weight; 1.14 g)

---"stoned" (or "high")=intoxicated (alcohol, drugs->hallucinations)

---can develop in kidney (painful)

---diamond/gems->riches

---weight measurement (->weightlessness=innocent or happy)

---monolith/menhir (->ancient, mysterious monument)

-------devil's pulpit (naturally formed monument)

-------cairn

-------stupa

-------gravestone

-------road marker(->crossroads->deal with the Devil)

c, Occult practices

-Stages of the creation of the Philosopher's Stone (in the oldest traditions of Alchemy):

---nigredo, the blackening or melanosis
---albedo, the whitening or leucosis
---citrinitas, the yellowing or xanthosis
---rubedo, the reddening, purpling, or iosis

Squared circle, symbolizing the Philosopher's Stone

Sigillum Dei / seal of God (magical diagram)

"The Ordering of Paradise" by Michelangelo Caetani

The Magician, from the Rider–Waite tarot deck

Magnum Chaos, from Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy

Magic circle, in Pseudo-Peter de Abano's grimoire Heptameron

from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia

Anima Mundi, from Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi Maioris Scilicet et Minoris Metaphysica

William Blake - Albion

storytelling with composition WORKSHOP

Give it up - Franz Kafka

jacket & badge of police in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

1st person:

3rd person:

2nd person:

Visual research 2 - abstract art

I was especially looking for :

-effective colour

-circles

-drama

-grandiose

-sublime

Klinom Krasnim - El Lisitskiy

Black circle - Kazimir Malevich

Ilya G Chashnik - Suprematist composition

Robert Delaunay - Premier Disque

John Hoyland - Elegy for Terry Frost

Mark Rothko - No 14

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Black Panel with Red

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Meditation East No. 4

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - End of day, Porthmeor

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham - Lanzarote

text & image WORKSHOP

type as image WORKSHOP

visual language & manifesto WORKSHOP

opposing forces WORKSHOP with Till Lukat

Michelangelo Buonarroti VS Leonardo da Vinci

additional prep work

Selection of photos for potential use in the project & visual exploration with Laura in her interpretation of Mrs Faust.

Faust signatures:

Faust tile

Mephistopheles' mark

Mr Faust's coat of arms

Contract

Diplomas

The box for the hexaflexagons

FINAL OUTCOME

(click on images for larger size)

The 12 image narrative

These explore one of the 6 planned hexaflexagons, namely S for Seal (meaning signature, stamp etc.) A written, stamped representation of a person's identity in a legal context. I chose the many various "official" ways a person's name can represent their status too: in print, engraved, embossed and heraldry that might come with earned titles.

The 12 stages of Mr Faust's career thus becomes the narrative. The last pages are how Mr Faust is remembered, his "epitaph".