machine like that once on the Essex coast. I watched it for hours. Dredging mud. The clanging noise it made. Water slipping through its metal teeth.
The problem with my memory theater was that it was a theater of death and it would die with me. What was the point of that? The new machine would continue forever. Forever repeating. Forever innovating. Not just the same. It would be an artifice, sure, a simulacrum, undoubtedly, but infinite and autonomous.Its autonomy, not mine. Not the same mistake again. It would be the perfect work of art. It would continue without me, in perpetuity. Endlessly. Eventually, it would be indistinguishable from life. It would become life itself.
I had to begin again .
Somewhere else . Somewhere remote. This place was no good. Isolation. An island, perhaps. But which one? There are so many (wasn’t I from an island?). At the very least I would need a contained environment. Somewhere small. It would involve a huge amount of work. This would not be another static memory theater, but a living machine whose power would be generated by the constant ebb and flow of tides. Moon powered. I began to make little drawings in crayon for a kind of cinematic projection system. I needed to find visual, moving analogues to the entirety of world history that could be projected onto a specially prepared landscape. This would be a kind of garden, but with all the trees stripped down to expose their roots and a specially prepared black grass on a series ofnarrow terraces that would progressively soak up the projected images. And then project them back. Paradise. But in reverse. An Eden containing all that falls. Long after my death, all the elements of world history would combine with this garden and form an artificial but living organism. I could see it very clearly. A machine that would use history to generate nature. It would be like a second fictional sun in the universe. Finally, it would become the true sun.
It was dawn. Light rain. Dull. I rode my bicycle into Den Bosch and waited for the local library to open. 5:00 a.m. Four hours to wait. I needed to consult tidal charts.
a partial glossary of potential obscurities
A1124
An “A” category, single carriageway road that connects the towns of Colchester and Halstead, both in Essex, England.
JEAN BEAUFRET (1907–1982)
French philosopher, notable for his prominent role in the French reception of Heidegger’s thought.
JAMES BROWN (1680–1748)
Citizen of Earls Colne, Essex, England.
GIULIO DELMINIO CAMILLO (1480–1544)
Italian philosopher, known widely for his memory theater, which was described in the posthumously published
l’Idea del Theatro
.
TOMMASO CAMPANELLA (1568–1639)
Important Italian philosopher best known for his utopian treatise
The City of the Sun
.
THOMAS CARLYLE (1795–1881)
Hugely influential Scottish philosopher.
Sartor Resartus
(1836) is a scathing and immensely funny satire on German idealism and a fascinating philosophy of clothes.
CARNEADES (214–129/8 BCE )
Skeptical philosopher and head of Plato’s Academy. He was known for his very loud voice.
CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (1150–1224)
Christina Mirabilis from Sint-Truiden (now in Belgium), who was miraculously revived at her funeral and continued to perform wonders, such as levitating, surviving fire, and surviving drowning. She lived for nine weeks by drinking only the milk from her own breasts.
C.H.Z .
Continuously Habitable Zones
(2011), an artwork by French artist Philippe Parreno (1964–) that figures subliminally in
Memory Theater
.
JOHN DEE (1527–1609)
Mathematician, navigator, proponent of English expansionism, adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, and Hermetic philosopher.
DUNDONIAN
Inhabitant of Dundee, Scotland.
THE FALL (1976–)
A mighty pop combo from Manchester, England, led by Mark E. Smith (1957–).
MARSILIO FICINO (1433–1499)
Founder of the Platonic Academy in Florence, translator into Latin of the complete works of Plato and
The problem with my memory theater was that it was a theater of death and it would die with me. What was the point of that? The new machine would continue forever. Forever repeating. Forever innovating. Not just the same. It would be an artifice, sure, a simulacrum, undoubtedly, but infinite and autonomous.Its autonomy, not mine. Not the same mistake again. It would be the perfect work of art. It would continue without me, in perpetuity. Endlessly. Eventually, it would be indistinguishable from life. It would become life itself.
I had to begin again .
Somewhere else . Somewhere remote. This place was no good. Isolation. An island, perhaps. But which one? There are so many (wasn’t I from an island?). At the very least I would need a contained environment. Somewhere small. It would involve a huge amount of work. This would not be another static memory theater, but a living machine whose power would be generated by the constant ebb and flow of tides. Moon powered. I began to make little drawings in crayon for a kind of cinematic projection system. I needed to find visual, moving analogues to the entirety of world history that could be projected onto a specially prepared landscape. This would be a kind of garden, but with all the trees stripped down to expose their roots and a specially prepared black grass on a series ofnarrow terraces that would progressively soak up the projected images. And then project them back. Paradise. But in reverse. An Eden containing all that falls. Long after my death, all the elements of world history would combine with this garden and form an artificial but living organism. I could see it very clearly. A machine that would use history to generate nature. It would be like a second fictional sun in the universe. Finally, it would become the true sun.
It was dawn. Light rain. Dull. I rode my bicycle into Den Bosch and waited for the local library to open. 5:00 a.m. Four hours to wait. I needed to consult tidal charts.
a partial glossary of potential obscurities
A1124
An “A” category, single carriageway road that connects the towns of Colchester and Halstead, both in Essex, England.
JEAN BEAUFRET (1907–1982)
French philosopher, notable for his prominent role in the French reception of Heidegger’s thought.
JAMES BROWN (1680–1748)
Citizen of Earls Colne, Essex, England.
GIULIO DELMINIO CAMILLO (1480–1544)
Italian philosopher, known widely for his memory theater, which was described in the posthumously published
l’Idea del Theatro
.
TOMMASO CAMPANELLA (1568–1639)
Important Italian philosopher best known for his utopian treatise
The City of the Sun
.
THOMAS CARLYLE (1795–1881)
Hugely influential Scottish philosopher.
Sartor Resartus
(1836) is a scathing and immensely funny satire on German idealism and a fascinating philosophy of clothes.
CARNEADES (214–129/8 BCE )
Skeptical philosopher and head of Plato’s Academy. He was known for his very loud voice.
CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING (1150–1224)
Christina Mirabilis from Sint-Truiden (now in Belgium), who was miraculously revived at her funeral and continued to perform wonders, such as levitating, surviving fire, and surviving drowning. She lived for nine weeks by drinking only the milk from her own breasts.
C.H.Z .
Continuously Habitable Zones
(2011), an artwork by French artist Philippe Parreno (1964–) that figures subliminally in
Memory Theater
.
JOHN DEE (1527–1609)
Mathematician, navigator, proponent of English expansionism, adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, and Hermetic philosopher.
DUNDONIAN
Inhabitant of Dundee, Scotland.
THE FALL (1976–)
A mighty pop combo from Manchester, England, led by Mark E. Smith (1957–).
MARSILIO FICINO (1433–1499)
Founder of the Platonic Academy in Florence, translator into Latin of the complete works of Plato and
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