UK / BR 2009
2009
Katherine Bash & Camila Sposati Katherine Bash is artist and founder and Principal Investigator of the Itinerant Laboratory for Perceptual Inquiry. Camila Sposati is artist with M.A. Fine Arts at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. She currently lectures at the Instituto Europeo de Design, in São Paulo.
own relationship to the concepts of roots and radicality, which served as partial inspiration to this paper.
Revolution
Introduction
Revolution as a return to roots
Background This paper is the result of several conversations between the authors that took place in Sao Paulo, Manchester and London from April to August 2009. Sposati is currently engaged in a crystal growing project that prompted her to revisit these concepts and to propose a deeper investigation into their relationships. Bash is very interested in the relationships between practices and the generation of concepts that can be utilised as analysis and observation tools. She creates what she calls ‘thought diagrams’ that serve as starting point to be further developed into an ‘observation tool’. Both Sposati and Bash attended the Manchester International Festival in July and were inspired by the Marina Abramovic and Gustav Metzger talk/interview, moderated by Hans Ulrich Obrist. In this talk they presented their 86
In this paper we propose a new view of the concept of Revolution. We do this by first set¬ting out a diagram containing the following concepts: research, radical, revolt, and roots. Subsequently, we activate the diagram by placing each of the terms in a dynamic relationship through etymological archaeology. We call this rela¬tionship dynamic because, by placing each term next to the other, we are forced to draw connections between them and that feeds back into our original understanding of the term. Once the process is set off, it has a natural continuity. What we present is a foundation to which further future reflection can be added. Specifically, we perform an etymological archaeology of each term and present our own new understanding of it. Then we ask you, the reader, to use the diagram to establish relationships between these terms and the foundation we propose. The process of engaging these terms in this way is a trope, as we perform and demonstrate the concept of revolution in the act of doing it. In this way we seek to demonstrate concepts of revolution we believe are fundamental: they are at once generative and interactive. We propose that, by taking the concept of revolution, and in a sense dusting it off and re¬purposing its meaning, we can make it both a critical and a generative tool for contemporary interdisciplinary practices.
III. Root Root comes from the Scandinavian rot, coming from both radix (see above) and wort. One use of the term wort is related to the concept of swine digging up the earth or the roots. One contempo¬rary use of the term root refers to crystals: and is the ‘muddy’ base of a crystal. Root is the act of unearthing the basal part of a generative system, such as crystals.
I. Research Research comes from the French rechercher, re and chercher. While re is a Latin prefix indicating back, again. Chercher corresponds to the Italian cercare, to seek and also the later circare, to go around, to circle. One contemporary use of the term search indicates, to look through, to examine internally. Research is to see again by circling back and to examine internally. II. Radical Radical comes from the root word radix, meaning root of a plant and the root of a plant used in a medicinal preparation, ancestral root or stock. A now rare use of the term Radical is a fundamental quality, attribute or feature inherent to the nature or essence of a person or thing. Radical is quality given by the medicinal properties inherent in the fundamental qualities of a person or thing.
IV. Revolt Revolt comes from re (see above) and volutare, to roll and to revolve. A Portuguese cognate is voltar, to return, to go back. A rare use of the term revolt is to return to a place. Revolt is also commonly used as a state of rebellion. Revolt is the state of rebellion that seeks to turn again to a place. References “radical, adj. and n.” OED Online. June 2009. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50196101. “radix, n.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50196244. “re-, prefix” OED Online. June 2009. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50198271. “research, v.1” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary. oed.com/cgi/entry/50203832. “revolt, n.1” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50205559. “revolt, n.2” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50205560. “root, n.1” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50208696. “revolt, v.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50205561. “search, v.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50217756. “wort, v.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 20 August, 2009 http://dictionary.oed. com/cgi/entry/50287345.
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