up the long slide
even jack black
TL; DR: below the surface & to the sun (Verticality, Part Two)
The original “Verticality” image arrangement (post) became concrete because of a synchronicity. I’d selected a series of photos of ephemeral moments — of disparate content, and taken with separate intents — which were captured over the course of a year, and then grouped them by elevation (how far the subject was from the ground). A vertical visual poem.
Just after I’d curated that grouping, by chance, I came across the poem “High Windows” by Philip Larkin. Here’s its last stanza:
Rather than words comes the thought of high windows: / The sun-comprehending glass, / And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows / Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.
The poem’s last stanza resonates with the themes of The Window (continuity, infinity, with hints perhaps of both despair and transcendence… ). And, of course, the main hook was that all the photos in this series (of series) are, literally, taken from a high window.
So I used the poem as the connecting thread for that first post some time ago, but for a while now I’ve wanted to do a Verticality sequel. (Or… or maybe a franchise, at some point merchandising the IP with toys, maybe a gin or a tequila line, and possibly a cologne or a perfume — one with signature top notes of transcendence, and base notes of despair). But I’ve held off for dittophobia.
Then a few days ago, out of nowhere, this famous line popped into my head:
“They fuck you up, your mum and dad”, so I googled it to find out who the poet was… and it was Philip Larkin, again.
Then two days later I randomly saw the new film “Speak No Evil” — where, about 20 minutes in, the lead character (James McAvoy) synchronistically does a lil soliloquy and recites, out of nowhere (but portentously) the very same poem I’d just looked up: “This Be the Verse”.
Some would say it’s just determinism*. Others might say it’s proof of the simulation theory**. Still others would say it is just a coincidence***. But synchronicities are my found cologne: they are in the air, atomized (just like in the perfume section of Bloomingdale’s right before the holidays — and as if Carl Jung and The Police were employees on the sales floor, sprayer-fingers cramping as they compete for commissions), and I walk right through those ephemeral, inevitable, inexplicable scented clouds of transcendence and despair, and emerge, smelling like wonder.
HIGH WINDOWS by Phillip Larkin, full five stanzas, (to accompany the final ascending photos):
When I see a couple of kids
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,
I know this is paradise
Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives—
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide
To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark
About hell and that, or having to hide
What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide
Like free bloody birds. And immediately
Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.
In the works for The Window: an every-hour-for-24 hours grouping; a nested time visual poem (year inside of a second); eclipsees (the watchers); a massing of diverse public dancing (and more)…
NOTES:
yes that’s jack black; a sun dog (ice crystals forming a rainbow ring around the sun); a tiny flag
secretlyflying from a tall condo; and the recent once-in-120-years eclipse (see the shadow of it on the clouds)*Determinism: 1) all our thoughts, actions, and decisions are determined by prior causes — biological, neurological, environmental — processes we don’t consciously control (genetics, place of birth, an eclipse etc) 2) we lack control over our thoughts — they arise in our minds without us choosing them like a line from a poem popping into your head for no reason 3) there is only the illusion of choice; our brain makes decisions before we are even aware of them (according to neuroscience research sez the internet…)
**Simulation Theory: reality is an artificial experience created by a more advanced civilization, just like an immersive video game so realistic that we don’t notice it except when there are glitches, like deja vu or a synchronicity. If a civilization reaches the point where it can make a realistic virtual reality, then it will create many; and inside those realities, more realities will be created… and so on, so statistically, it’s more likely we are living in a simulation than not.
***Coincidence vs Synchronicity, as AIxplained by ChatGPT, which (who?) has experienced neither: coincidences are seen as random and meaningless, while synchronicities are perceived as meaningful and purposefully connected, inspiring introspection and a sense of wonder. (Duh, and Yup).
for new or future readers/lookers: The Window is a 24/7/365 long-look at these times, all photos of unplanned ephemeral moments, a multiplicity of perspectives from one view (a single window); the images grouped later as visual poems and ultimately combined into a nested interconnected evolving recombinant installation (whew!)… with a hint of despair, and a lotta wonder.
BONUS IMAGE: a different “sitter” option, (but also a callback to the last post Balenciaga Winners):
