Bring it Down by Marpalarm

Bring it Down 105 New Things

MARÍA PALACIOS ARMESTO

Bring it Down 105 New Things

2022 Progetto grafico a cura di María Palacios Armesto Studio Space Professori: Bartolini Massimo, Trevisani Luca, MetznerSzigeth Andreas Stampato presso Libera Università di Bolzano-Bozen Piazza Università, 1, 39100 Bolzano BZ

Comb my hair with the left hand. I feel muscles ache that I didn’t know I used to comb my hair. Reaching the hair at the back of my neck calls for effort. Done.

Trace an invisible X on my bathroom mirror with the tip of my finger and leave the more so inconspicuous trace present all throughout the night and day. From the top left corner to the bottom right corner and then from the bottom left to the top right. It burns, it slides by force, force of will. Hard fingertip.

Freshness and mint. I took my toothbrush and polished my nails with my every-day toothpaste. Toothpaste is denser and less liquid than nail polish, so it is to be applied in moderated quantities taking the time to cover the nail bed for good. Once a layer has been applied to all nails, trace the skin border that surrounds them to remove any excess. Finally, blow on your nails to accelerate the required drying time.

Page 68 upside down. It’s incredible how your physical position in front of the page is one, yet your mentally imagined position is another one. One that sets the word the right way around to be able to read the writing as efficiently as possible.

A mirroring happens while I read. I read by memory. Shapes are remembered. I, a passive observer to the mental process broken down into fragments. Steps to follow. Otherwise, there is a reading taking place that doesn’t attach emotional meaning to the word. Just a sound. Blank. A call to aliveness.

Mi sono alzata col piede sbagliato. Getting up from the wrong side of bed feels more right side than wrong side. Foot I play football with, foot I stabilize myself with. Truth is, I get up and I feel stronger. Mi sono alzata col piede sbagliato. Statement dismissed.

I braided my own hair into a braid. Sizes, rhythm, constancy. Precision, perseverance, and strength; a new conception of a sport. Braid your own hair daily and you will maintain all your arm muscles healthily strong.

I decided to separate all the rubbish into its recyclable components quite meticulously, inside the apartment, instead of going outside and spending time doing so in a communal area.

Placement test here,

placement test a few centimeters closer to my body.

A forward swinging motion, like a child in a swing, slides me onto the windowsill. Automatically my legs are curled up behind me. Childhood memories of stepping into the forest at night rush through my mind. The wind blows and I become an arch on the windowsill. Steady, steady. Keep it steady. There’s no ground below.

Carefully take out the pajama, consciously turn it inside out. All the times I recall right now, tell me that the thought, following the realization of having been wearing a clothing piece inside out, is that of It shouldn’t be like this. The right way to wear it is the other way around. The right way around now, is inside out. I, decide what is the right way around.

Neatly fold the clothing implemented throughout the day. I feel hugged by the outside of my pajama. Is there really a relationship between outside and inside? Feel

Stop on your tracks! Remember what your uncle told you last time, don’t beat the eggs too much.

Okay, I am adding all the ingredients while I avoid beating them up, although there’s a tendency to do so, vaguely replaying different settings in reference memories that all add up to the same muscle movement sequence when executing the task. -

Got to keep an eye on yourself now.

Slip

Slip Not beating the eggs too much == close to making the alarm go off 23

Stick to it whatever happens. Yes, also if there’s turbulence, and if you get a headache from pressure changes or from continuously having your head lowered.

Time doesn’t seem to exist when I draw. It doesn’t stop or change speed; the thought time is just not there until I lift the pen.

I’m doing it! Oh… nooo… There we go with the turbulence… Now, it’s going to get hard to draw straight lines which is the core of the assignment really. Last time I gave up because of this. There’s no way you can draw well on a plane. 24

I keep on it. If I don’t pay attention to all those thoughts, the actual experience is not that bad. I can draw straight lines just fine. There are way worse scenarios where one doesn’t manage to draw straight.

I am enjoying it

and we land.

The right sock is the same I wore yesterday, the left one is straight out of my wardrobe. Will it make a difference? I am determined to wear them all throughout the day, only to take them off at night before going to sleep. The right sock is hotter, the left kind off slides better.

Nevertheless, I don’t spot much of a difference.

Right before going to sleep instead of sitting down: I roll onto my bed, parallel to rolling onto the mat, then start analyzing the situation, almost obsessively trying to control the space, my position, Solution = none

I roll onto my bed and, right after, I realize that I’ve done this particular movement so many times between the ages of 5 and 10 that there’s barely a need to even think about having to carry it out It’s autonomous

I end up in a cuddled-up position because of the reduced space, yet I feel renewed, stable Stabler after a somersault, than when firmly standing on solid ground

Giving a helping hand Slowly, meticulously extending every corner of the spelt dough It sticks, it twists, it folds back onto itself, but with care and dedication it gives in, it takes the shape. Don’t take shape

I decide to take my shoes off on the plane As if the missing of the shoes would spontaneously call for doubts to flare up, a hard sole, a chock-full of them, forms around my head You just read a while ago that it’s way better to be wearing shoes in a plane crash As if

But the plane keeps trembling, twisting, and turning

I start to make out their silhouettes as we drive on. Incredible how one’s senses become sharper in training.

They don’t have to be very closed, the opened ones are better tasting, not too opened though, they are going bad. We’ll cook them with onion and pepper.

I pick them up. I slide them out with care. I squish them with the shoes’ hard sole, otherwise, they could go through my skin. The birds are singing, the sun is falling, tree branches blow gently in the wind There’s peace

And I’m called to stop filling up the bag and keep walking on

Determined to finish off the whole packet of crisps I slide them out. I barely ate on a plane before there even was a covid situation, let alone now.

Always passed by, went straight and right. Let’s confront it. This time I’m in.

It’s kinda nice actually.

I parted the leaves and slightly tucked my head under, tilting it to the right. Yeah, I had finally decided to go into the open space on the other side. There’s the river rushing by, while the sand gives in underneath my feet. I’m used to this effect though, so I don’t pay much attention to it. Besides, I’m on the phone talking to my roommate. Some appointments just got to be sorted. The chatter, my engagement, the sand turns to pebbles. It’s like being on vacation. Being home is like being on vacation. I skip, and keep the balance, playing around as the conversation is lead on. From rock to stone, on the other side, by the river.

I can’t sleep. Let’s turn the bed the other way round. Let’s change perspective. Whole new point of view. I feel more like at home. But my head feels strange. No perfectly comfortable position, really. What happens when I wake up, you ask? What were the memories of the night?

Alertness.

I’ve made us both switch beds.

Determination. And I just block the exits. Where can sound be sneaking through… Just cover every corner connecting to the outside. I have but I haven’t done this before, am I my mother doing this while I observe her snuggled up in bed as a kid?

One thing no adult that saw me would stand by and allow me to do. Sit on a central heating radiator. I’m doing so.

Yet I somehow expected it to be just as comfortable as a table or a chair. Actually, when I was younger it seemed even more comfortable due to their typically rounded shape off the edge. But no,

now that I come to think of it, possibly that is the reason I slide off.

Keeping is a call for effort.

Inside-Out with the jacket. It’s cold, but I thought it’d be way more difficult and uncomfortable to turn it Inside-Out and wear it like so. It’s warmer because the wool is now on the inside, but I keep on searching for “non-existent” pockets. The bottoms clip just fine.

Invece di buttarlo nel sacco della spazzatura hygienically disposed

Drink a full glass of red wine. A palo seco

The sky, … the sunset, Tuscany

Mum says flat paper underneath. Now that’s where I had gone wrong every time before. She’s going around in circles very quickly… Up and down, left to right Skillfully from window to windowsill, open to the air In a rush

Oh right! Let’s bind them both together, two locks, two chains. Quite like a domino, connecting all parts, we avoid robbery.

Wait. Not turning the light off tonight. I snuggle in, I make myself comfortable, set the alarm, set aside the phone Ormai è un’abitudine 1,

It’s light at night

Ma non spegnerla!

At first, just another object to disturb my sleeping pattern However, it charges me up It’s less of an object, but an overwhelming energy which flows through body 66 It’s bringing the fairytale back to life.

Smooth

The language is Italian, yet as I read on I realize that there’s no particular change of point of view because of this I’m brought back to a story just like any other I read as a child

A fairytale

I go back down. Twist, backwards and down. A monotone repetition, a mirrored walk. I’m walking down the stairs parallel to my walking them up.

Slower.

The autonomy of going up, head in the clouds, transforms into baffling concentration on correct foot placement.

By the last steps it’s become the new norm.

As I approach the window, I place my attention on the tense hips. What a better stretch before going to sleep than opening the window with the foot. Balance A bit of measuring skills Stop, stretch, relax, and retry Patience Flexibility Relaxation and controlled directional movement Visualization Disparity Slide/Pull Freshness

air

They support me quite often, so I decided to support them Gratitude Coziness

Thank you being

Fresh air could do good between online lessons. You know, lifting your head from the computer screen and exercising the eyesight a bit. Some fresh air as well.

Openness and a pull to go back inside

Anguish hinders me from waking up relaxed. After a ten-hour sleep, I wake up relaxed.

Like when you watch a movie, like when you read a book, they are doing. They create the atmosphere. They cover th over their heads and use the torch to light up the cozy littl Like that, I read on

Book reclined on to the bed, my hands, nevertheless, beco As that, lights off.

and the character is really into what hemselves up with the bedcovers le space to their comfort.

oming stiff

My head at 90º, I can’t gulp down. Like the game of balancing the egg on a spoon while horse riding, inverted. It seems to not be useful. As I keep going I realise the many interesting characteristics of all the ceilings within my apartment, paying attention to them as if they were the walls all around me. Cracks, light shadows, objects hanging from it, at arm length = vertical walls Gratitude grows

It’s barely wearable, covering only the tip of the fingers. The front is warm, the heel is cool. The feet need to be dragged along the floor, to wear the shoes. Attention is, therefore, on keeping the fit, and not, on quality of performance.

I go in with the toothbrush first to the front then back, to the left and right, down then up, what recalls the fact is that by the end, I brush through like I do with my hair.

Went out for a walk with summer high heels in socks The fresh air and a bit of exercise, my bearing

Lightly, gently lever the weight Was told that shelves were not for bodies

Gently with the weight Clarity shoots out while a floating feeling evidences itself Is the weight weighted? Or heavy?

I flash back to my childhood; experience my room back home from the perspective of a book on the shelve Unlimited

Well, relaxation settles in, as I slide into the position I take up before falling asleep each night.

And I keep it

Electrical Slowly, softly, we’ve just been talking about horses

Each chock at a time,

at it’s time,

keep up the pace

With this questionable appearance… Proven to be effectively combed?

It’s humid, it’s sticky, it’s an internal body I relate to, yet an external I don’t feel as my own As the blind box where you insert your hand to feel Mum-like Cozy

I’m both the chair and the person All parts of the body engaged as one

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As I start a dialogue with her, I realize that embarrassment actually drifts away. I’m brought back to my childhood, as I played and interacted with my figurines, dolls, and stuffed animals A wave of relaxation flourishes

A new friend and a sense of change

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The size is perfect, unlike that of the hair drying towel. I lace it under and flip back my hair. It’s not what I’m used to, yet it’s cute The characteristic friction-based texture makes for a perfectly non-sliding hair band. A hair picnic back in the 80s

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The supporting backbone that allows us to be in a sitting position I’m the chair, I’m the person All the parts of my body are engaged

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I swim, flowing precisely, executing the steps, but the synchronised swimming nose clip just recommends water not to find it’s way in A clothespin is just efficient in blocking. It’s sharp with it’s message, clear in communicating

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A helmet is not safe if it’s loose, if it slides from side to side, if it’s not being held tight to your head under your chin, if it’s not comfortably soft under the outer hardness, if it doesn’t adapt almost perfectly to your head dimensions A helmet is meant to be light. Check. Shapeshifter

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The balls of my feet gradually get cooler. Vast, open, free it melts Until the sense of full awareness of my feet drifts and an unclear line is drawn that questions where my body ends What is foot, what is air space.

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Well I have to get out of here like right now, so I might as well just scrape the bottom of the pot, as I carry myself outwards. Mix and dilute as we move along Cold to the touch, shiny, but burning inside Easy and quick 112

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We go through the process twice She hops back on Everything steady, is going unsteady The walking, carrying body slows itself down, while the other is unstable and suspicious Perception of time and space bends

Fatigue hits

Firm ground and she slides off

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It’s optimizing the time I have at my disposal, actually Being recorded while depilating It’s nice and useful to pay attention to an online lesson and depilate at the same time

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I carefully place them on top of my head. As I simultaneously lift the stack of books, already my shoulders fall back before I notice

already keeping the right posture,

They’re going to fall she says, but it doesn’t filter through I’m relaxed, I’m sitting in front of the computer in quarantine, I’m walking along the corridor in the cellar, I’m playing along acting out my favourite character years ago, I’m a dancer And those blinking shoes are kind of nice

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Weight falls away, share.

the spoon is a weight taken for granted which actually does weight it’s

I feel like my dog licking the water away after lunch Eating the yogurt away after a substantial meal Apart from the sense of taste, that of touch is now way more the centre of attention than the former It’s compelling

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As I drift, it mentally materializes A geographical song. place at the right time.

That comes down purely to culture, and to being in the right

Clear as water, strong, persistent. Never letting go

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I’m freezing, it’s too much of a temperature shock. It’s impossible for me. I feel. I become aware of the different degrees of temperature coming in contact with each part of my skin, at different time intervals. I have to wait, and it all adds up, until I’m breathing heavily It dissipates, and it’s gone, there. 124

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Again, too much of a temperature difference. What if my skin burns. Turn it down like you always do when it’s too hot. Turn it off to cool down. Break away! Let the thought flow order you what to do, just keep going, it’s normal. My mind does it throughout the day anyway, but who is it talking to? Hot water and vapour

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A wet unabsorbing furry, blue towel, an extension of my own body only myself with myself now Humid belly

means awareness of it until I drift away into the realm of sleep

As I go into bed and snuggle with the humid stuffed animal Like crying onto the pillow when I hide away, when it hides,

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when hiding is taking place

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It’s just a different point of view on the subject matter It takes getting used to it, to accommodate what I’m feeling, physical pain

Commitment until the very end End of the discussion

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I gently lay my head on your back listening for the beat of your life Was I the profession? Did I really have to endure that weight?

No.

But maybe I chose to, and maybe, I’m free from letting it go, or keeping it

Diverse head positioning, unique feel to each Changefulness plays in sink

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I plug it in. Although I know it’s already plugged in. So much so that it’s a part of my body. So I lift it closer to my left ear, just like DJs do, you know? Pulling the strings It’s cold

the feeling is two sided, equal in its nuances

It fades out into what What is a what, I hear you play in your mind. What is what?

I hit play, while surprisingly, the melody comes out of the headset

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It’s about subconscious control, or surrendering to a thought combined with deep sleep A voluntary letting go of thought patterns Selective trust

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Flip it up and back, while the strings press against the ears, a new hat is born A doctor hat a chirurgical, aseptic hat Will it cure my head, or does it not need curing?

I, an ice-cream maker

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An energy-conducting belt, both ends connected around my waist.

Constant

Feel electrical Energy loaded artificially

Getting to grips with the subtlety of a snake

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Fixed in that position, Time management shifts What usually goes in an orderly fashion, is thrown off its feet Readjusting to a chosen perspective takes altering a presumed reality

And so I type upside down, I readjust, as I go about, in dialogue… no longer stand my ground

I throw myself off

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Snow and mirrors. It’s really smoke and mirrors, what they are showing us

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All crystal-clear, with a snap of my fingers I’m into it Up the spiral stairs, crossing the doorway, swaying to the left, before I rock back on my heels

Here you go. It’s 19 euros please I settle down and pick my way through Time stands still as I do so,

all do.

What difference does it make? None, if I’m honest.

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Go out with the bike on the snow

Quiet, careful, hesitating… I pay attention to my usual way of going around something I have never done before Better safe than sorry, they say. I say. And I take it back. For there is nothing, to fear.

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Approach an element of nature as if it were a human body, a subject in question to contextualize, to overthink, to form an idea about, because there is danger in not doing so? Right?

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Feel the earache and don’t try to get around it. There’s no better position, there’s no running away from it. It’s just something that’s happening to your body. Are you touched by it though?

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Back in primary school, creativity is very present. What difference does the age make. None. Except if you think about it… Play with everything There’s no difference between the thousandth time you do an action and the very first time of another one when the adult wears off to let the child peek around the corner So I playfully take the straps and force them tight around my fingers with the surrender of life depending on it

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An hour from now and there’s no excuse, there’s no skipping the rule Do what you normally would do Stick to it, don’t overthink it Bleib locker

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Two beer caps, one on each eye Metal-cold A crippling over the caps together with triangular light out of the corners.

I am the pirate and sounds are more prominent

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I chew on and on and on and on and oooonnnn … A chewing motion proportional to a change in pressure

Even just the imagination of it does the job

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Como si nada lo saco de su bolsita Como si estuviera en la playa I start playing with cane sugar

A sticky situation Back to being a child

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Look pain in the eyes

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seye eht ni niap kooL

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I lay down into the so-called “perfect position”, motionless for fifteen minutes

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A hard, flat, squared teddy bear to sleep with. All teddy bears have a story, but this one is thick with it.

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The head is harder than a hand, so I open the bathroom door just by using my head

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I open and close the water bottle with teeth instead of hands

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I hid a stone as if it were a very valuable thing which I wouldn’t

There’s a fault in the system, a crack, through which you can enter or leave it 174

want anyone finding

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They balance my body out, they cancel each other out A channel I keep my attention on them as I sleep. Halfway in sleep, halfway in the waking state to not let them slip

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Without eyes, I put on a watch in the dark and slept with it throughout the night

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One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Each has its own place aligned to the shape of the human body occasioning a whirlpool A whirlpool

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I turn 20 Tirar de la oreja como si fuera mi cumpleaños

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¡Abrazafarolas!

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I sit with them and swirl their hair with both my hands.

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My little puppies

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These days the phone is the new teddy bear

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Stay in control of the mind while I sleep. Hug my teddy throughout the whole night.

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I lied to myself and crossed the fingers behind my back

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I ask you for help, I ask for directions, yet what I am I am already Who asks for help? Who wants to escape and what Maybe the escaper is trying to escape itself. The chicken and the egg, all over Can the circle escape its circularity? No, but it knows its circularity, subtly neither free from it, nor trapped by it

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A new dimension I avoided before, now I let my emotions flow, buried beliefs resurface. Let them be what they are, an intense burst of energy Sing on, it frees them

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Face them up. Slice a habit in half Take down the barrier, and let it be I free myself and others with it, like going to sleep.

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When do you wear perfume?

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Reading on transport systems leaves me dizzy, but one which does not depend on a solid base? NO No dizziness present, much more like a drifting

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Imagine that the plane is actually a car driving on the highway It feels and looks real I have just built a “false” memory

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The bodyguard of a university lift Feeling possessive, in control, gives a solid meaning to life Compassion, understanding, love diffuses you into vastness

Apparently

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Watch people Watch my idea about individuals I surrender right now, although it happens before me I love and accept it all right now I disappear

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I made a mess without wanting to, why refuse the situation I disappear

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A routine well done I disappear

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