the text and images below are posted from beijing, berlin, buenos aires, hong kong, los angeles, new york, sado island, shanghai, tokyo and zürich. there are a few of us, and this is the space in between.
subscribe | Log in


terminating or sonnet lxxv or “lass meine schmerzen nicht verloren sein” or ambivalence

kushner remix: she always glances at the clock and comments on how quickly the time is passing. always with a tinge of disbelief and slight panic in her voice. a train barreling past that she cannot ever seem to catch. how ironic that running would be futile. and sitting still amidst the storm of rage, frustration, sadness and uncertainty our only hope. saying goodbye, the squeeze before letting go.

Posted by r | reply »


not-yet-expired activity

bestbefore_BW.jpg[readings for Best Before; this is what we’re up to; arnhem, boston and beijing in new york, August-October 2006]

“The separation between a thing and its environment cannot be absolutely definite and clear-cut; there is a passage by insensible gradations from the one to the other; the close solidarity which binds all the objects of the material universe, the perpetuality of their reciprocal actions and reactions, is sufficient to prove that they have not the precise limits which we attribute to them. Our perception outlines, so to speak, the form of their nucleus; it terminates them at the point where our possible action upon them ceases, where, consequently, they cease to interest our needs. Such is the primary and the most apparent operation of the perceiving mind: it marks out divisions in the continuity of the extended, simply following the suggestions of our requirements and the needs of practical life.” —from Matter and Memory, Bergson

“We ought to think of the historical world according to this model. Why ask if history is made by men or by things, since it is obvious that human initiatives do not annul the weight of things, and the ‘force of things’ always acts through men? It is just this failure of analysis, when it tries to bring everything down to one level, which reveals history’s true milieu. There is no ‘last analysis,’ because there is a flesh of history in which (as in our own body) everything counts and has a bearing — the infrastructure, our idea of it, and above all the perpetual exchanges between the two in which the weight of things becomes a sign as well, thoughts become forces, and the balance of the two becomes events. It is asked, ‘Where is history made? Who makes it? What is this movement which traces out and leaves behind the figures of the wake?’ It is of the same order as the movement of Thought and Speech, and, in short, of the perceptible world’s explosion within us. Everywhere there are meanings, dimensions, and forms in excess of what each ’consciousness‘ could have produced, and yet it is men who speak and think and see. We are in the field of history as we are in the field of language or existence.”These transformations of private into public, of events into meditations, of thought into spoken words and spoken words into thought, this echo coming from everywhere makes it such that in speaking to others we also speak to ourselves, and speak of what exists. This swarming of words behind words, thoughts behind thoughts–this universal substitution is also a kind of stability.” —from Signs, Merleau-Ponty

“Take, for example, a small drawer, which the carpenter has made for the convenience of some housefold. With the passage of time, the actual form of this drawer is surpassed by time itself and, after the decades and centuries have elapsed, it is as though time had become solidified and had assumed that form. A given small space, which was at first occupied by the object, is now occupied by solidified time. It has, in fact, become the incarnation of a certain form of spirit. —from Kinkakuji, Mishima

Posted by secretary | reply »


to inhabit an empty time

swings

Posted by f | more »


before lunch, february 7, five months, twenty minutes

kyoto_sky.jpg

today’s lesson (best with headphones): wake up, turn off the alarm clock, turn over in bed, get up, get out of bed, turn on the heater, go to the toilet, flush the toilet, wash your hands, dry your hands, open the window, wake up my husband, turn on the tv, make the bed, brush my teeth, rinse out my mouth, gargle, shave, wash my face, dry my face, take off my pyjamas, put on my shirt, dress my child, comb my hair, boil water, go get the newspaper, read the newspaper, make my lunch, grind the coffee beans, make coffee, get the milk out of the fridge, drink the milk, put on some lotion, put on makeup, put on my tie, see my husband off, feed the dog, water the plants, lock the doors, turn off the light, put on my shoes, close the door, take out the trash, cross at the crosswalk, wait for the light to change, cross against the light, show my train pass at the ticket wicket, climb up the stairs in the station, wait for the train, get on the train, by a newspaper at the newstand, doze off on the train, hang on the strap, bump into someone, get pushed by someone, step on someone’s foot, change trains, run onto the train, go out of the ticket wicket, get on the elevator, push the elevator button, punch my time card, take my seat, light a cigarette, smoke, put out my cigarette, look for some documents, go through the documents, make a phone call, answer a phone call, take a note, hang up the phone, give someone a message, input text into the word processor, work with the calculator, hand in the documents, organize my material, make copies, send a fax, attend a meeting, speak at the meeting, take notes at the meeting, open my drawer, open a letter, write a letter and send it, meet a client, exchange business cards, go out for lunch, pay the bill, receive the change, get a receipt, write up an invoice, clear the table, wash the dishes, dry the dishes, do laundry, put the laundry in the dryer, iron the clothes, vacuum the floor, tidy up the room, mop the floor, clean the yard, mow the lawn, watch a tv drama, take a nap, look for the discount store in the flyer, go shopping, gossip with the next-door neighbour, go pick up the kids, meet my friend at a café, stand and read in the bookstore, wait in line at the cashier, rent a video, catch a taxi, walk home, unlock the door, turn on the lights, take off my tie, hang my coat, take off my makeup, take a shower, take a bath, shampoo my hair, put conditioner on my hair, wash myself, dry myself, dry my hair, open a beer, play with the kids, tell the kids a fairytale, put the kids to bed, set the alarm clock for 7 o’clock, get into bed, go fishing by boat, go for a picnic, go cycling, go for a drive, get gas, fill up the tank, check the route on the map, look out of the window, take a rest, get lost, jump in the lake, read a book under a tree, take pictures of the kids, prepare a barbecue, carve a pumpkin, light candles, give treats to the kids, wear a witch costume, watch a horror film, have a nightmare.

Posted by 丫 | more »


growing pains

in the past 22 years i have taken millions of surveys, and each time was asked to choose some certain age group i belong to. answering this question reminds me of growing up and old more than doing anything else. by the time i choose the third option, i probably won’t be noticing i’m in an age my mom considers “too late for marriage” thus “toooo late for having a child”, my dad thinks “it’s the time for career formation”. i won’t be noticing the changes in my face and my life just like i didn’t notice it has been five years since i came to beijing, two years since i graduated, one year since i started living in this lovely apartment. and i just live like this, and time just flies.

Posted by haxi | more »