Thinking about something Australian filmmaker David Cox said at the T-10 video festival last Thursday, about the rise of video-capable cellphones as a way to democratize filmmaking and a way to remain outside of the spectacle. Not to mention the greater availability of cheap-ish video camera (nevermind that I remain skeptical about being able to remain outside of the spectacle and about this utopian thought about technology. $199 is still a lot of money for some). Technique and (video) resolution is not what matters. What matters is that everyone can do it.

Thinking about the prospect irate letters regarding the flarf/conceptual issue of Poetry and the various reactions against flarf/conceptual poetry in various listserv (e.g., accusation of elitism etc.). All of which misses the point. One of the possibilities of flarf is that everyone can write poetry. Style and talent do not matter. Access to Google is not even necessary.

Think of Gary Sullivan's comic book Elsewhere.
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Having a look at Paul Celan's translation output. He threw himself into the Seine around 50, having translated 45 poets from French, German, English, Romanian and Russian. Some of whom might not have been lifelong commitments (Shakespeare).

I'm not even close to that.

Comments

Sasha said…
On the capability of remaining outside of the spectacle, I am reminded of something Debord said in his follow up to Society of the Spectacle. Something about not being a pro and being the only one ready and willing to try the format he was using. His point was that elitist professionalism would have engineered a totally different form of documentary.

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