Appropriations of Literary Modernism in Media Art: Cultural Memory and the Dynamics of Estrangement

248 Pages·2021·2.427 MB·English

by  Lau, Jordis

JordisLau
AppropriationsofLiteraryModernisminMediaArt
Media and Cultural Memory/
Medien und kulturelle
Erinnerung
Edited by
Astrid Erll · Ansgar Nünning
EditorialBoard
AleidaAssmann·MiekeBal·VitaFortunati·RichardGrusin·UdoHebel
AndrewHoskins·WulfKansteiner·AlisonLandsberg·ClausLeggewie
JeffreyOlick·SusannahRadstone·AnnRigney·MichaelRothberg
WernerSollors·FrederikTygstrup·HaraldWelzer
Volume 33
Jordis Lau
Appropriations
of Literary Modernism
in Media Art
Cultural Memory and the Dynamics of Estrangement
ISBN978-3-11-072088-4
e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-072990-0
e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-072998-6
ISSN1613-8961
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2021948484
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie;
detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de.
©2022WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston
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artistandRodeoGallery
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who accompanied the
creationofthisbook.
My supervisor Claudia Benthien for her guidance and trust in my project;
mysecondsupervisorAstridErllforsharinghervastknowledgewithmeanden-
couragingmyunderstandingofmediaart,estrangement,andculturalmemory.
AstridBöger,JessicaPressman,andDoerteBischofffortheirvaluablefeed-
backduringdifferentstagesofthisproject.ChristopherS.Woodforinvitingme
toNewYork.
Theartistsfortheirenthusiasmandkindsupportofmypublication:Janis
Crystal Lipzin, Mark Aerial Waller, Paweł Wojtasik, Tom Kalin, and William
Kentridge.ThanksarealsoduetoRobinScherandCamillavanHoogstratenat
GoodmanGallery,Johannesburg;AliceLeaandMattCarteratLUX,London;the
archivistsanddistributorsatCanyonCinema,SanFrancisco.
Iwouldliketothankmyacademiccompanionsandcolleaguesatthecollo-
quium Literaturwissenschaft und Kulturtheorie in Hamburg and The Study
Group in Interdisciplinary Memory Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt:
MaraikeM.Marxsenforherastuteobservations,generosity,andeloquence–
andforjoyfulcocktailshoursandresearchtripstoBarcelona,NewYork,Liver-
pool,Göttingen,andevenErfurt.AnneBenteler,SonjaDickow,MariaDorr,So-
phie König, Catrin Prange, Henrik Wehmeier, and Christian Wobbeler for their
feedback,inspiration,andfriendship.
CristieStrongmanforopeningherhometomeinNewYork.
Myfamilyandfriendsforsharingtheupsanddownsof academiclife:Ca-
tharinaVogler,PiaWichmann,andJohannaFischer.MypartnerHendrikvon
Bültzingslöwen for his patience. Iamespecially grateful to my parents Petra
andHans-JochenLaufortheirunconditionalandlovingsupporteverystepof
theway.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110729900-202

Contents
Acknowledgements V
1 Introduction 1
2 Appropriation,Estrangement,Memories:TheoreticalConfigurations
2.1 TheStrangenessofAppropriation 13
TamingAdaptation 14
AppropriationasIntertextualDialogism 20
TheSubversivePotentialofAppropriationArt 27
TheRevelatoryPowerofAppropriation 32
2.2 EstrangementasComparativeTool 36
TheTransmedialPotentialofEstrangement 37
EstrangementasTechniqueandEffect 41
ThePalpableMaterialityofArt 44
Appropriation:SeeingasiffortheFirstTime 53
AppropriationasEstrangement 56
2.3 TheAfterlivesofModernism 58
TheDiachronicPotentialofEstrangement 60
EstrangementandtheDynamicsofCulturalMemory 64
ModernismasMnemonicDevice 72
ProstheticModernism 77
3 ActualizingModernism:CaseStudies
3.1 MakingAmericaStrangeAgain 83
JanisCrystalLipzin’sexperimentalfilmVisibleInventory6:
MotelDissolve(1978)indialogwithGertrudeStein’sessays
“ICameandHereIAm”and“AmericanFoodandAmerican
Houses“(both1935)
Aside:OnViewingVisibleInventory6:MotelDissolve 83
RememberingAmerica:LandoftheFree,Homeofthe
Strange 85
AreYouWhatYouEat? 91
AtHomeinaStrangePlace 96
FoodMatters 101
VIII Contents
3.2 RewritingModernMemory 108
WilliamKentridge’sexpertimentalfilmZenoWriting(2002)
defamilarizingItaloSvevo’snovelZeno’sConscience(1923)
RememberingZeno 110
ForegroundingtheBackground 116
LimpingModernism 120
ZenoBetweenTriesteandJohannesburg 127
3.3 MummifiedModernism 134
MarkAerialWaller’sinstallationPhantomAvantgarde(2010)
summoningLouis-FerdinandCéline’snovelJourneytotheEnd
oftheNight(1932)
SummoningtheDead 136
ConversingwiththeAvant-garde 141
ModernismasMonumentalFetish 146
CallingforReflection 149
3.4 TheStrangenessoftheBody 154
PawełWojtasik’svideoNineGates(2012)makingstrange
GuillaumeApollinaire’spoem“TheNineGatesofYourBody”
(1915)
DeclaringtheFemaleBodyaBattlefield 154
SilencingApollinaire 158
TheFemaleBodyasNoMan’sLand 159
WorldWarI:SensingtheGapinMemory 163
3.5 QueeringCulturalMemory 169
TomKalin’svideoTheyAreLosttoVisionAltogether(1989)
appropriatingRobertMusil’snovelYoungTörless(1906)and
VirginiaWoolf’snovelTheWaves(1931)
AWarofMemory 171
SensuousCounterstrike 177
ConfusingTörless 184
OvercomingSeparation 189
4 Conclusion 194
WorksCited 203
ListofFigures 221
Index 235
1 Introduction
Weshouldseetheseemotionsminglingtogetherandaffectingeachother.Weshouldsee
violentchangesofemotionproducedbytheircollision.Themostfantasticcontrastscould
beflashedbeforeuswithaspeedwhichthewritercanonlytoilafterinvain.Thepast
couldbeunrolled,distancescouldbeannihilated.1
With these wordsBritish author Virginia Woolf imagines the potential of the
newartofcinemain1926.Asistypicalofthistime,sheaddressestheadvan-
tagesthat filmholdsoverthe literary arts, her visioncolored by rivalriesbe-
tween film and literature. Recommending that film should refrain from
parasiticallyadapting literarytexts,she drawsanimageofwhatcinemaasin-
dependentartcoulddothatliteratureisincapableof.2Cinema’sforce,soher
wordssuggest,issensuousandemotional.Sheenvisagesaformofviolencere-
sulting fromemotions collidingwith each other. Woolf’swords then become
strangelyambiguous,as“contrasts”seemtorefertobothemotionalimpactand
aestheticform:Suggestiveofabstractpatterns,shedescribescinemaasatech-
nologythatwithspeedpresentscontraststothespectator,whose“eyelicksit
allupinstantaneously.”3Thefinalsentenceopensupyetanotherdimension,
alludingtothematerialfilmreelthathasthepowertounroll,tounpack,and
detanglethepast.Film,sheimplies,isanartofmemorythatovercomestime
andspace.
ConsideringWoolf’swordsalmostahundredyearslater,itisclearthather
hopesthatcinematicartsrefrainfromadaptingliterarytextshavenotbeenful-
filled:adaptationsofnovelsstillcontinuetomakepopularfeaturefilms.Also
beyond the mainstream, even Woolf’s texts themselves have become part of
audio-visual art, as this book argues. This study investigates five media art-
worksthatquotefromoralludetopoetryandprosefromAmericanandEuro-
peanmodernismwrittenbetween1906and1935:TheexperimentalfilmsVisible
Inventory6:MotelDissolve(1978)byAmericanartistJanisCrystalLipzinand
Zeno Writing (2002) by William Kentridge; British artist Mark Aerial Waller’s
mixed-media installation Phantom Avantgarde (2010); the videos Nine Gates
(2012)byPolish-AmericanartistPawełWojtasikandTheyAreLosttoVisionAl-
together (1989) by American artist Tom Kalin. Considering these artworks, it
seemsasifWoolf’svisionsforfilmhavecometruedespite–or,asIwillclaim,
becauseof–theircontinueddialogwithliterature.AsIwillexplore,mediaart
1 VirginiaWoolf,“TheCinema,”[1926],inSelectedEssays,ed.DavidBradshaw(Oxfordand
NewYork:OxfordUP,2008),175.
2 Cf.ibid.,174.
3 Ibid.,172.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110729900-001
2 1 Introduction
isnotonlyemotionally,sensuously,andaestheticallyrichbutevenusesthis
qualitytonegotiateculturalmemoryacrosstimeandspace.Despitewhatthe
wordsofWoolfwithwhichIopenedthisintroductionsuggest,mystudyisthus
notprimarilyinterestedinthecompetitionofliteratureandaudio-visualarts
butratherinthedialogbetweenthemandtheirpowerto,asitwere,unrollthe
past.Iproposethatwethinkofmediaart‘appropriations’ofliterarymodernism
asagentsofculturalmemorythatusetheirsensuousandemotionalforcetoad-
dressspectatorsandmakethemrevisitthepast.
Theterms‘appropriation,’‘estrangement,’‘prostheticmodernism’andthe
‘modernistafterlife’arecentraltomyargumentthroughoutthisstudy.First,al-
thoughitwouldbecommontocalltheseartworks‘adaptations,’Iproposethat
wethinkofthemas‘appropriations.’Especiallycomparedtowhatviewershave
cometoacceptasfeaturefilmadaptationsofliterarytexts,theseappropriations
aresomewhatstrange.Ingalleries,atfestivals,biennials,orartfairs,viewers
engagewithaestheticallychallengingartworksthatmayever-so-brieflyevokea
literarymodernisttextusuallywithoutfeaturingcharacters,plotlines,oreven
dialog.Evenstronger,reminiscentofWoolf’sclaimsabove,thesensuousexpe-
rienceoftheseartworksisstrikinglydifferentfromthatofmainstreamadapta-
tion.Whenresearchingforthisproject,theartworks’attimesevenaggressive
forceliterallyhadmeleavingexhibitionspaceswithheadaches.AsIwillargue,
theterm‘appropriation’theoreticallyenclosesthisaestheticforceintermsofan
aestheticofestrangement.
Withthenotionsofstrangenessandestrangement,IrefertoRussianFor-
malism,aschoolofRussiancritics,whointheearlytwentiethcenturysetoutto
revolutionizeliteraryandfilmcriticismbyfocusingontheformofartandits
effects.4 Of primary interest to my investigation is the OPOJAZ branch of the
movementbasedinSt.Petersburg,withkeymemberssuchasViktorShklovsky,
BorisEikhenbaum,andJurijTynjanov.However,Iwillalsodiscussnotionsre-
latingtoestrangementbytheMoscowLinguisticCircleandFormalism’scontin-
uation and development in Prague School Structuralism, primarily Jan
Mukařovský’s notion of foregrounding. Informed by Shklovsky’s notion of
estrangement,Iwillproposereadingestrangementasthematerialityofartthat
has sensuously palpable effects on the spectator. I will use the notion of
estrangementtoaddressthefollowingquestions:Howismodernismappropri-
ated in media art? How do text and artwork relate? What do the artworks
4 Foraperspectivediscussingthenotionofestrangementanditsaffectiveaddressofthe
readercf.DouglasRobinson,TheSomaticsofLiterature:Tolstoy,Shklovsky,Brecht(Baltimore:
JohnHopkinsUP,2008).