The Vanguard of Progress

I find To Have Done with the Judgement of God a really unsettling piece of work. Part of this discomfort is purely aesthetic; the delivery on the recordings is harsh and aggressive. Artaud and the other performers, make the full use of range, pitch and expression (even to the point where it sounds absurd). The whole delivery of the text reminds me of the scene in My Life and Times with Antonin Artaud, where Prevel is watching through the window as Artaud makes Colette, an actress, repeatedly recite 'there once was a King of Thule', whilst he shouts 'NO..the sound must squirt out' and 'make it vibrate until the fibre of life squeals'. The directions are obscure and hard to imagine, but i get the sense that if these commands were realised, even partially, the result would be similar to the performers deliveries in To Have Done with the Judgement of God.

In contrast, i find the content less unsettling, but i am almost certain that this a contextual issue. The themes that Artaud were dealing with, such as anti-religion, anti-state and anti-America, are sentiments that feature heavily in even our pop culture: we have grown desensitised to claims such as 'God is shit'. This said, i find it interesting that it seemed to be Artaud himself (and also the director of the station) who found it 'obscene, inflammatory and blasphemous', to the point where Artaud echoed the directors very words. Perhaps the broadcast is not a shocking as Artaud would have wanted? The themes are still relevant today however, and some quotes could even be directly applicable,

'I didn't know the Americans were such a warlike people'
'I tell you that they have reinvented microbes in order to impose a new idea of god'

Whether it is shocking or not, with it's clever mix of biblical and epic imagery such as the 'crosses of the earth' and 'the kingdom of black night' contrasting the more pedestrian and base images of 'coal' and 'shit', To Have Done with the Judgement of God, is a fantastically distorted piece of writing. What i find most interesting is this interview at the end with the unnamed man asking Artaud questions. A conclusion of this sort gives the entire piece of writing context, but it is important, in my opinion to remember that has to be taken as a character rather than Artaud himself- similar to the end of a Bright Eyes song (this time done more tongue in cheek and perhaps as a slight self parody?).

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/An-Attempt-To-Tip-The-Scales-lyrics-Bright-Eyes/D55A7C5807C5205448256C7D0007ABD2

Sorry for waffling on.

Matt

Lightning Bolt

Sorry also probably the band most worth checking out in relation to Artaud that I can think of are a band called lightning bolt. They use microphone distortion and play noise muic with elements of thrash n hardcore without falling into a cliche trap. It's very very fast and aggressive and knocks your socks off. It however is not hard to listen to and after a while kinda seeps into you creating a driving force.
x

Music

This is just a small response to the electronic/noise artist we heard on wednesday and possible artists to look at that are in some way or other in a similar vain to the viceral experiance of Artaudian theatre.

Firstly I would suggest listening to all Sonic Youth Albums at very high volume but particularly Confusion is Sex/Kill YR Idols and Daydream nation. Both albums use a huge amount of feedback and dischordal noise. The feeling gets into your gut and moves tension and pace forward with no remorse. The experiance is un apologetic but also quite uplifting. I'd recomend starting with Daydream Nation as a departure point, then onto the earlier works for a harsher more uncontrolled experiance. Plus this band are prety sweet in general.

Next I'd say look at the artist Venetian Snares. He's a break/thrashcore DJ who uses loads of samples from films to create a very unsettling atmosphere. Often it's very course and violent in it's approach and at points brutal. (he actually made an album from sounds souly taken from wound fucking....true) that aside, the music knocks you back and makes you pay attention always ready for what happens next. It may not be clever but its very affective. another dj in a similar but slightly more serious is Aaron Spectre/Drumcorps.

other bands that I think encapsulate the tone and approach of Artaudian theatre are SHELLAC, DON CABELLERO, OXES, MOGWAI, MINOR THREAT, BLACK FLAG, MILES DAVIS. Anyway I'll stop there or i'll just end up listening my favourite bands.

Nick.
x

Intellectual Madness

This won't be as linguistically profound as some of the other posts, but I have to mention something which has been in my head since the debate.

A speaker on the 'against' side of the argument pointed out that in order to make art, there needs to be an intellectual input or message, and therefore was suggesting this as a reason for L'art Brut to be a void concept.

1. This is hugely offensive in its implication that people with symptoms of 'madness' cannot be intellectual,

and

2. This speaker was implying that art is an elitist activity to be made and shared only by intellectuals.

Both of these points I refute, as Artaud himself was a very intelligent man, and indeed if we are to say that all art should be met with an intellectual eye, should there not be some kind of humiliating I.Q. test to take upon entry to an art gallery?

Emma