Saturday, April 18, 2020
Friday, April 17, 2020
Asemic Writing on the Way to Textual Practices in Daoism
Textual practices in Daoism are, perhaps, the other side of asemic writing. The graphical texts of Daoism often constitute talismans, a text readable by divinities, but perhaps not readily readable by mortals. Indeed, this architext requires performance to make it comprehensible to those illiterate in the divine ways of reading, i.e. to make it realizable as text. Asemic writing, though post-literate and largely areligious, shares much in common with this practice.
The Cult of Spirit-Writing in the Qing: The Daoist Dimension
(The Cult of Spirit-Writing in the Qing: The Daoist Dimension by Lai Chi-Tim)
The Function of Writing in Daoism
(The Function of Writing in Daoism by Fabrizio Pregadio)
The highest gods reveal texts, teachings, and methods either directly or through their representatives. For instance, the Shangqing and Lingbao scriptures are deemed to have taken shape from self-generated graphs coagulated from Original Breath (Robinet 1993: 21–24), or from sounds generated by its vibration (Bokenkamp 1997: 386–87), in the early stages of the formation of the cosmos. They were transmitted in Heaven until a “divine being” or an “immortal” transcribed them into characters understandable to humans.
Just like the gods usually grant revelations in the form of scriptures, the typically Daoist form of communicating with the gods is by writing: as Anna Seidel remarked, the Chinese deities “neither speak nor listen, but write and read” (1997: 43). In Daoist ritual, the priest delivers a “memorial” (or “statement”, shu) to the gods in order to announce the ceremony performed in their honor, declare its purpose, specify its program, and list the names of those who sponsor it (Schipper 1974). The so-called talismans (fu, a word almost exactly corresponding to the original meaning of Greek symbolon) are traced on paper or other supports in graphs hardly comprehensible to humans but intelligible to the gods (Despeux 2000; Mollier 2003). Like the revealed scriptures—some of which, in fact, are deemed to have evolved from them—talismans have counterparts in Heaven, and thus serve to identify and authenticate their possessors in front of the gods. They confer the power to summon certain deities and to control demons, but also protect space and heal illnesses; they are worn on one’s body, affixed at the four directions, placed along the path that leads to one’s dwelling, or made into ashes and drunk with water.
The highest gods reveal texts, teachings, and methods either directly or through their representatives. For instance, the Shangqing and Lingbao scriptures are deemed to have taken shape from self-generated graphs coagulated from Original Breath (Robinet 1993: 21–24), or from sounds generated by its vibration (Bokenkamp 1997: 386–87), in the early stages of the formation of the cosmos. They were transmitted in Heaven until a “divine being” or an “immortal” transcribed them into characters understandable to humans.
Just like the gods usually grant revelations in the form of scriptures, the typically Daoist form of communicating with the gods is by writing: as Anna Seidel remarked, the Chinese deities “neither speak nor listen, but write and read” (1997: 43). In Daoist ritual, the priest delivers a “memorial” (or “statement”, shu) to the gods in order to announce the ceremony performed in their honor, declare its purpose, specify its program, and list the names of those who sponsor it (Schipper 1974). The so-called talismans (fu, a word almost exactly corresponding to the original meaning of Greek symbolon) are traced on paper or other supports in graphs hardly comprehensible to humans but intelligible to the gods (Despeux 2000; Mollier 2003). Like the revealed scriptures—some of which, in fact, are deemed to have evolved from them—talismans have counterparts in Heaven, and thus serve to identify and authenticate their possessors in front of the gods. They confer the power to summon certain deities and to control demons, but also protect space and heal illnesses; they are worn on one’s body, affixed at the four directions, placed along the path that leads to one’s dwelling, or made into ashes and drunk with water.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Monday, April 13, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Post-Asemic Press has a new primary Wordpress site!
Check it out here: https://postasemicpress.wordpress.com/
The Post-Asemic Press blog was getting a little overcrowded, so I went ahead and built out the new Wordpress site yesterday. This will make the books stand out more so they don't get lost in the clutter. Asemic writing is still the primary focus of PAP but I do have some experimental poetry projects in the works: Code Poems 2010-2019 by Francesco Aprile, and Hei Kuu by Michael Jacobson. These 2 projects fit in to the "poetry" category. But the next book to drop from PAP is GLITCHASEMICS by Marco Giovenale. This book is a one-of-a-kind romp through glitch art and asemics and will take asemic writing/publishing to a whole new experience. So check out the new website, and pick up an asemic book if you are able to!
Sunday, April 5, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
"scrivere disegnando": exhibition time extended until Aug. 23rd
SCRIVERE DISEGNANDO @ Centre d'Art Contemporain, Genève
>>> EXHIBITION time EXTENDED: it will be open until the 23rd of August
https://slowforward.net/2020/04/02/recensioni-a-scrivere-disegnando-ginevra-proroga-della-mostra/
Curators : Andrea Bellini and Sarah Lombardi
Section documentaire : Sara De Chiara
En collaboration avec la Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne
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recent reviews:
Daniel Horn @ Artforum
https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/202004/writing-by-drawing-82570
Harry Burke @ Frieze
https://frieze.com/article/modernity-history-unwritten
Ginevra Bria @ domus
https://www.domusweb.it/it/arte/2020/01/21/ginevra-quando-la-lingua-cerca-il-suo-altro.html
Andrea Cortellessa @ doppiozero
https://www.doppiozero.com/materiali/scrivere-disegnando-incontri-ravvicinati-ginevra
Riccardo Venturi @ Flash Art
https://flash—art.it/article/on-view-riccardo-venturi/
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