To quote Jason quoting Andre Breton: “The imagination is perhaps on the point of reasserting itself, of reclaiming its rights.”
The very idea of ‘surrealism’ is surreal in itself. The paintings, videos, photos and displays I viewed seemed in some ways meaningful, at least to the artist if not to me. In other ways, they seemed totally random, a hodgepodge of ideas, things, images, that may or may not have been related. Some seemed like they were not surreal at all, but almost conventional and recognizable (ie. the painting of Bush holding Saddam’s disembodied head in one hand, a machete in the other) while others seemed totally random and without purpose (ie. repeated photos of a faucet, a computer, some birth control pills, etc etc, in a line on the wall).
As well, there were some exhibits that seemed random at first, but the artist’s statement gave it meaning and showed the relationship between object and thought. Being aware of that relationship allowed to examine the relationship between objects in a different way. I am thinking specifically of the pig’s ear exhibit, which at first glance seemed meaningless to me; the artist saw in the shapes a reflection of sex and fetishism, which I could understand and began to see the longer I thought about it. Part of it meant examining my own ideas of the subject, and part of it was being allowed to see the artist’s view on it in a very removed and yet concrete way. I was forced to consider connotations concerning others’ view of my sex life, and my view of my own desires. All this in the form of some dried pork and a bucket. Amazing!
I found Stuart Ross’s poetry reading at the end of the night to be another interesting part of the evening. I think the most intriguing part about it was the experience of being able to visualize as he read aloud. Words that seem incongruous on the page transformed themselves into whimsical, dreamlike images as I listened. I was able to see connotations, connections in the images that perhaps might not have been apparent if seen visually. Because I was visualizing his spoken words, they came together in my head in such a way that, if not particularly meaningful, was at least coherent. To me, that sums up the importance of the imagination that Andre Breton describes in his Surrealist Manifesto. He discusses the relationship between insanity and the imagination, concluding at one point that insanity is merely honesty; those we call “insane” merely enjoy their own imaginations so much that they do not attempt to restrain it, while most of us attempt to repress and “normalize” ourselves into a tamed, socially acceptable version. In contrast, the so-called “realistic attitude” is “hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement”.
I don’t remember the name of Ross’s poem that affected me the most. He spoke about a swimming pool (right in his own living room!), his neighbours, a watch, the home shopping network. Sounds ridiculous, and yet it reminded me of those times when I’ve woken up in the dark and my clock says 6:00 and I can’t figure out whether it’s six am or six pm. Or those days when things that seem so insane in my head are taken for granted and accepted by everyone else, and I’m the only one who’s overwhelmed.
The one “modern” theme I see in all of these readings so far is individual self-awareness – seeing the relationship between the self and others, the self and society, the self and established laws, codes, rules, the self and material goods, the overt self and the secret, repressed self of the Id. The Beaver Ball, Andre Breton and Stuart Ross showed me another relationship – the self vs. reality. Or the accepted reality, agreed upon by everyone else, versus one’s own private reality, one’s own interpretation of objects, events and images, one’s own narrative of what life is about and what in it is meaningful.
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