diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c03daf9 Binary files /dev/null and b/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore index ba28150..b9601a4 100644 --- a/.gitignore +++ b/.gitignore @@ -1 +1,4 @@ -images/ \ No newline at end of file +lib/ +bin/ +include/ +images/ diff --git a/ada/index.html b/ada/index.html index 16977f2..643f149 100644 --- a/ada/index.html +++ b/ada/index.html @@ -9,59 +9,98 @@

Backplaces

-

Hi.
+

adadesign.nl/backplaces
+Hi.
I made this play for you. It is a question, for us to hold together.

Is all intimacy about bodies? What is it about our bodies that makes intimacy? What happens when our bodies distance intimacy from us? This small anthology of poems and short stories lives with these questions—about having a body without intimacy and intimacy without a -body.This project is also a homage to everyone who has come before and +body. This project is also a homage to everyone who has come before and alongside me, sharing their vulnerability and emotions on the Internet. I called the places where these things happen backplaces. They are small, tender online rooms where people experiencing societally -uncomfortable pain can find relief, ease, and transcendence.

+uncomfortable pain can find relief, ease, and transcendence.
+

I made three backplaces for you to see, click, and feel: Solar -Sibling, Hermit Fantasy, and Good Pie. Each of these is the result of -its own unique performance or project. Some of the stories I will share -carry memories of pain—both physical and emotional. As you sit in the -audience, know I am with you, holding your hand through each scene. If -the performance feels overwhelming at any point, you have my full -permission to step out, take a break, or leave. This is not -choreographed, and I care deeply for you.

-

Solar Sibling is an online performance of shared loss and the complex -pain that siblings can sometimes bring. This project uses comments -people left on TikTok poetry. I extracted the emotions from these -comments, mixed them with my own, and crafted them into poems. It is an -ongoing performance, ending only when your own feelings are secretly -whispered to me.

+Sibling, Hermit Fantasy, and Cake Intimacies. Each of these is the +result of its own unique performance or project. Some of the stories I +will share carry memories of pain—both physical and emotional. As you +sit in the audience, know I am with you, holding your hand through each +scene. If the performance feels overwhelming at any point, you have my +full permission to step out, take a break, or leave. This is not +choreographed, and I care deeply for you.
+

+

Solar Sibling is an online performance of shared loss about leaving +and siblings. This project used comments people left on TikTok poetry. I +extracted the emotions from these comments, mixed them with my own, and +crafted them into poems. It is an ongoing performance, ending only when +your feelings are secretly whispered to me. When you do, by typing into +the comment box, your feelings are sent to me and the first act closes +as the sun rises.
+

Hermit Fantasy is a short story about a bot who wants to be a hermit. Inspired by an email response from a survey I conducted about receiving emotional support on the Internet, this story explores the contradiction -of being online while wanting to disconnect. It is a web play inviting -you to navigate both of these feelings.

+of being online while wanting to disconnect. As an act it’s a series of +letters, click by click.
+

+

The first letter.

Cake Intimacies is a performance that took a year to bring together. It is a small selection of stories people told me and I held to memory -and rewrote here. The stories come from two perfomances I hosted. In the -first, I asked participants to eat cake, sitting facing or away from +and rewrote here. The stories come from two performances I hosted. +First, I asked participants to eat cake, sitting facing or away from each other and sharing their stories about cake and the Internet. The -second perfomance was hosted at the Art Meets Radical Openness Festival, -as part of the Turning of the Internet workshop. For this performance I -predicted participants’ future lives on the Internet using felted -archetypes and received stories from their Internet past in return. Now -the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling that tells a -story, merging the bodily with the digital and making a mess of it -all.

-

I love you and hope you see what I saw in these stories.

-

Safe dreams now. I will talk to you soon.

+second performance was hosted at the Art Meets Radical Openness +Festival, as part of the Turning of the Internet workshop. For this +performance, I predicted participants’ future lives on the Internet +using felted archetypes and received stories from their Internet past in +return. Now the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling +that tells a story, merging the bodily with the digital and making a +mess of it all.
+

+

+

The play ends as all plays do. The curtains close, the website stays +but the stories will never sound the same. For the final act, I give you +the stories. It’s one last game, one last joke to ask my question again. +Digital intimacies about the digital, our bodies and the cakes we eat. +For the last act, I ask you to eat digital stories. To eat a comment, to +eat a digital intimacy. Sharing an act of physical intimacy with +yourself and with me, by eating sweets together. Sweets about digital +intimacies that never had a body. There is no moral, no bow to wrap the +story in. A great big mess of transcendence into the digital, of +intimacy and of bodies. The way it always is. Thankfully.
+

\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/ada/index.md b/ada/index.md index d52a8f4..35dcf88 100644 --- a/ada/index.md +++ b/ada/index.md @@ -5,30 +5,39 @@ author: Ada --- # Backplaces + adadesign.nl/backplaces\ + + Hi.\ I made this play for you. It is a question, for us to hold together. Is all intimacy about bodies? What is it about our bodies that makes intimacy? What happens when our bodies distance intimacy from us? This small anthology of poems and short stories lives with these questions---about having a body without intimacy and intimacy without a body. This project is also a homage to everyone who has come before and alongside me, sharing their vulnerability and emotions on the Internet. I called the places where these things happen backplaces. They are small, tender online rooms where people experiencing societally uncomfortable pain can find relief, ease, and transcendence.\ I made three backplaces for you to see, click, and feel: Solar Sibling, Hermit Fantasy, and Cake Intimacies. Each of these is the result of its own unique performance or project. Some of the stories I will share carry memories of pain---both physical and emotional. As you sit in the audience, know I am with you, holding your hand through each scene. If the performance feels overwhelming at any point, you have my full permission to step out, take a break, or leave. This is not choreographed, and I care deeply for you.\ + ![This is the Index, the stage of my play. Each felted item is an act.](index.png) Solar Sibling is an online performance of shared loss about leaving and siblings. This project used comments people left on TikTok poetry. I extracted the emotions from these comments, mixed them with my own, and crafted them into poems. It is an ongoing performance, ending only when your feelings are secretly whispered to me. When you do, by typing into the comment box, your feelings are sent to me and the first act closes as the sun rises.\ + ![The initial comment shaped poems and their sun count. ](solar-1.png) + ![The fillable comment where you can whisper your feelings to me.](solar-2.png) Hermit Fantasy is a short story about a bot who wants to be a hermit. Inspired by an email response from a survey I conducted about receiving emotional support on the Internet, this story explores the contradiction of being online while wanting to disconnect. As an act it's a series of letters, click by click.\ ![The first letter.](one.png) + ![The second letter.](two.png) Cake Intimacies is a performance that took a year to bring together. It is a small selection of stories people told me and I held to memory and rewrote here. The stories come from two performances I hosted. First, I asked participants to eat cake, sitting facing or away from each other and sharing their stories about cake and the Internet. The second performance was hosted at the Art Meets Radical Openness Festival, as part of the Turning of the Internet workshop. For this performance, I predicted participants' future lives on the Internet using felted archetypes and received stories from their Internet past in return. Now the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling that tells a story, merging the bodily with the digital and making a mess of it all.\ ![The first two stories and their memory illustrations.](pie.png) + ![The second stories in the way they were meant to be experienced.](phone-pie.png) The play ends as all plays do. The curtains close, the website stays but the stories will never sound the same. For the final act, I give you the stories. It's one last game, one last joke to ask my question again. Digital intimacies about the digital, our bodies and the cakes we eat. For the last act, I ask you to eat digital stories. To eat a comment, to eat a digital intimacy. Sharing an act of physical intimacy with yourself and with me, by eating sweets together. Sweets about digital intimacies that never had a body. There is no moral, no bow to wrap the story in. A great big mess of transcendence into the digital, of intimacy and of bodies. The way it always is. Thankfully.\ -![Accept My Cookies, biscuits and bows for the performance.](biscuits.png) \ No newline at end of file + +![Accept My Cookies, biscuits and bows for the performance.](biscuit.png) diff --git a/ada/thesis.html b/ada/thesis.html index 564438f..4399afd 100644 --- a/ada/thesis.html +++ b/ada/thesis.html @@ -9,19 +9,37 @@

<?water bodies>

A narrative exploration of divergent digital intimacies

-

Water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hide -and show what’s hidden. (Rumi, 1995 translation)

+
+

Water, stories, the body,
+all the things we do, are
+mediums
+that hide and show what’s
+hidden.
+(Rumi, 1995 translation)

+

꙳for you

All intimacy is about bodies. Is this true? Does it matter? I doubt it. Do you know? Let’s find out, maybe.

@@ -70,13 +88,24 @@ choreographed and I care deeply for you.

I love you and hope you see what I saw in these stories.

Safe dreams now, I will talk to you soon.

0. DIGITAL BODIES

-

I think the worst must be finished. Whether I am right, don’t tell -me. Don’t tell me. No ringlet of bruise, no animal face, the waters salt -me and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season of still tongues, of -roses on nightstands beside crushed beer cans. I leave you white sand -and scraped knees. I leave this myth in which I am pig, whose death is -empty allegory. I leave, I leave— At the end of this story, I walk into -the sea and it chooses not to drown me. (Yun, 2020)

+
+

“I think the worst must be finished.
+Whether I am right, don’t tell me.
+Don’t tell me.
+No ringlet of bruise,
+no animal face, the waters salt me
+and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season
+of still tongues, of roses on nightstands
+beside crushed beer cans. I leave you
+white sand and scraped knees. I leave
+this myth in which I am pig, whose
+death is empty allegory. I leave, I leave—
+At the end of this story,
+I walk into the sea
+and it chooses
+not to drown me.”
+(Yun, 2020)

+

a. what is a digital body?

A digital body is a body on the Internet. A body outside the internet is simply a body. On the internet, discussions about corporeality @@ -153,9 +182,9 @@ legitimacy of his connections, finding no way to do so except by emphasizing their tangible bodily experiences. The community’s claim to authenticity thus had to lie in the physical experiences of its members— the visible bodies and hearable voices, the weddings, births, and -funerals (1993). You’re dreaming again, -good.
Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice?
Is -my voice a sound? Could it be a feeling?.

+funerals (1993).You’re dreaming again, +good. Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice?
Is my +voice a sound? Could it be a feeling?

Even then, and even by people with no interest in undermining the value of the virtual, the distinction between physical and virtual was confusing. Rheingold himself reinforces the boundary of body relations @@ -163,7 +192,11 @@ and computer relations by referring to his family as a “flesh-and-blood family’ and his close online friends as “unfamiliar faces” (1993). Constantly interplaying digital connections with the physical characteristics of the kind of connections people valued before the -internet. (2)

+internet.I will be honest with you, I +have little patience for this recurring line of thought that seeks to +distinguish people’s noses from their hearts, as if there was a physical +love that is the valuable one and a virtual imaginary one that is feeble +and unworthy.

In any case, his primary interest seemed to be to emphasize computer relations as valid forms of connection between bodies, not to talk of any distinction quite yet. It’s the eighties, the internet is still @@ -199,13 +232,20 @@ with whom he had had a publicly turbulent relationship, flew to California to marry him. The community was a witness and is now an archive of his declining wit as cancer spread to his brain and his famously articulate and scathing comments got shorter, fearful, and more -tender. (3)

+tender.Initially, when a member he often +argued with offered to pray for him Mandel had replied: “You can shovel +your self-aggrandizing sentiments up you wide ass sideways for the +duration as far as I’m concerned.” Later, as the cancer progressed: “I +ain’t nearly as brave as you all think. I am scared silly of the pain of +dying this way. I am not very good at playing saint. Pray for me, +please.

Before he posted his final goodbye, he chose to do one last thing. Together with another member, they programmed a bot that posted randomly characteristic comments from Mandel on The Well—the Mandelbot. In the topic he had opened to say goodbye, he posted this message about the bot:

-

I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the truth, one +

+

“I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the truth, one that winds its way through almost everything I’ve done online in the five months since my cancer was diagnosed. I figured that, like everyone else, my physical self wasn’t going to survive forever and I guess I was @@ -213,13 +253,18 @@ going to have less time than actuarials allocateus [actually allocated]. But if I could reach out and touch everyone I knew on-line… I could toss out bits and pieces of my virtual self and the memes that make up Tom Mandel, and then when my body died, I wouldn’t really have to leave… -Large chunks of me would also be here, part of this new space. (Hafner, +Large chunks of me would also be here, part of this new space.” (Hafner, 1997)

+

With the Mandelbot, Mandel found a way to deal with what he later called his grieving for the community, with which he could not play anymore once his own body died. By doing so, he was starting to blend the boundaries of intimacy through computers and bodies, driven by his -love and grief. (4)

+love and grief.It’s out of care and not +lack of relevance that I am not showing you Mandel’s goodbye message. +It’s enough to know he was deep in the grief of having to leave a +community he loved and cared for and that pain was felt in every +word.

When he talked about the bot in previous messages, it sounded almost like a joke. A caring haunting of the platform, to keep his persona alive for the community in a way that could be quite horrific for those @@ -231,9 +276,11 @@ persona.

In a tribute posted after his death, fellow Well member and journalist Andrew Leonard tried to convey his own sense of blended physicality and emotion.

-

Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online community, but on +

+

“Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online community, but on this night, as tears stream down my face for the third straight evening, -it feels all too real. (Andrew Leonard, 1995)

+it feels all too real.” (Andrew Leonard, 1995)

+

c. bot-feelings

An internet body has bot-feelings if allowed to. Let me explain.

A bot functions as a different entity from a cyborg, as it does not @@ -241,8 +288,14 @@ attempt to emulate a human body but rather human action and readiness. Its role is to mirror human behavior online, simulating how a physical body might act, what it would click on, and what would it say. On social media, bots engage in a kind of interpretative dance of human -interaction, performing based on instructions provided by humans. -(5)

+interaction, performing based on instructions provided by +humans.The first bot communities on the +internet are now born, half- mistakenly. They are always spiritual +communities posting religious images created by artificial intelligence, +all the comments echoing choirs of bots praising. Amen, amen, amen. I am +not naive, I know they are built by humans but it is this performance of +religiosity that I am interested in, and how little humanity is shown in +it. It is something else.

Unlike an internet body, which represents the virtual embodiment of a person, a bot doesn’t seek to be a person. It comments under posts alongside many other bots, all under a fake name and photo but nothing @@ -271,7 +324,8 @@ even more, blurring as he shows the already virtual in physical intimacies. Applying this to a body, rather than an affective experience, works just the same.

McGlotten uses a conceptualization of the virtual based on the -philosopher Deleuze’s, (6) which can be used to refer to a virtual body +philosopher Deleuze’s,A step in a step in +a step, sorry. which can be used to refer to a virtual body as well. The virtual is in this case a cluster of waiting, dreaming, and remembering, embodying potential. Something that is constantly becoming, an object and also the subject attributed to it (2001). An internet body @@ -311,9 +365,12 @@ possibility inherent in the human experience.

The only laws: Be radiant. Be heavy. Be green.

Tonight, the dead light up your mind like an image of your mind on a scientist’s screen. ‘The scientists don’t know – and too much.’

-

In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy like the heart -of an artichoke), a man dances cheek-to-cheek with the infinite blue. +

+

“In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy like the heart +of an artichoke), a man dances cheek-to-cheek with the infinite +blue.”
(Schwartz, 2022)

+

a. comfort care

Let’s care for this digital body. I’ll feed it virtual vegetables while you wipe away the wear of battery fatigue. And why not encourage @@ -338,7 +395,14 @@ culturally uncomfortable, no nurse will come to check on it.

If care is offered, it’s often only with a desire to assimilate the divergent body back into expected standards of normalcy and ability. This leaves those with non-conforming bodies isolated, ashamed, and -yearning for connection and acceptance (7)

+yearning for connection and acceptance.I +am talking here about the distress caused by mental health issues that +have direct connections to physicality—self- injuring in any direct +form; food, drugs, pain. The culturally uncomfortable diseases, the +it’s- personal- responsibility, and just-stop disorders. This is a +hidden topic of this text because I cared more about the pain +surrounding them and the reasons to hide rather than the grim +physicality of them all.

In the depths of isolation and confusion, marginalized bodies often look for belonging and understanding online. Gravitating towards one another with a hunger born of desperation, forming intimate bonds @@ -390,14 +454,22 @@ specificities in atypicality, of course, but also the distinctions between me as the writer and them as the writer. You as the reader and you as the community. Me and you, as a whole. Both exist, both separate but in what is not of such importance.

-

Though many of these systems are different, fundamentally, we can see -similarities in the structure of their data. It’s very easy to find -differences. What’s more interesting is to find out what’s similar. (Chu -& Dunkel , 2021)

+
+

“Though many of these systems are different, fundamentally, we can +see similarities in the structure of their data. It’s very easy to find +differences. What’s more interesting is to find out what’s +similar.”
+(Chu & Dunkel, 2021)

+

Individuals who forge and inhabit these communities, fostering tender, intimate connections amongst themselves, are not deviant but rather divergent. Deviance involves bifurcation, a split estuary from -the river of appropriate cultural behavior. (8)

+the river of appropriate cultural behavior.Of course, the river itself is not a river; it’s +many confused streams that believe themselves both the same and +separate. I don’t know where I’m going with this, I just don’t love the +river of normativity and I’d rather go swim in the ocean of dreams with +you.

Divergence can be so much more than that. In mathematics, a divergent series extends infinitely without converging to a finite limit. A repetition of partial sums with no clear ending, never reaching zero. @@ -440,7 +512,15 @@ unstainable forms devoid of comfort, nourishment, or thriving. What does comfort mean for a body whose whole existence is uncomfortable? Moreover, what if the comfort care performed for these divergent bodies makes them too comfortable being in their pained state of self? Could -they be? (9)

+they be?I heard the idea of living +questions for the first time in “Letters to A Young Poet” by Rainer +Maria Rilke and then again on the podcast On Being with Krista Tippet. +It may be a bit transparent but this entire text is informed by the +concept of keeping the unsolved in your heart and learning to love it. +Not searching for the answers for we cannot live them yet. The point is +to live it all. It could be that at some point we will live our way to +an answer but it is feeling the questions alive within us that is +important. Do you?

Caring for a digital body involves providing it with space to live, giving its experimental bot-feelings tender attention, and revealing your own vulnerable digital body in response. It’s about giving it an @@ -526,8 +606,10 @@ the context of a public surrounding a cultural phenomenon, the author Lauren Berlant denotes that intimacy itself always requires hopeful imagination. It requires belief in the existence of an ideal other who is emotionally attuned to one’s own experiences and fantasies, -conditioned by the same longings and with willing reciprocity (2008). -(10)

+conditioned by the same longings and with willing reciprocity +(2008).If we were to be honest, the +entire exercise of writing this for you requires this very +faith.

In the context of the intimacy of a Backplace, where divergent digital bodies have formed a community around existing outside the healthy and standard, longing and hopeful intimacy becomes a heavy- @@ -562,63 +644,14 @@ stand it. It ruins both of us to be seen this way and we need it so desperately. It has to exist and yet it can’t for long.

I leave even though I love all of your digital bodies. I leave because I love you, little digital body and you are me.

-

2. A LIFE TO BE HAD 11

-

sidenotes

-
    -

  1. You’re dreaming again, good. Would you feel closer to me if you -could hear my voice? Is my voice a sound? Could it be a -feeling?

    2. -

  2. I will be honest with you, I have little patience for this -recurring line of thought that seeks to distinguish people’s noses from -their hearts, as if there was a physical love that is the valuable one -and a virtual imaginary one that is feeble and unworthy.

    3. -

  3. Initially, when a member he often argued with o ered to pray for -him Mandel had replied: “You can shovel your self- aggrandizing -sentiments up you wide ass sideways for the duration as far as I’m -concerned.” Later, as the cancer progressed: “I ain’t nearly as brave as -you all think. I am scared silly of the pain of dying this way. I am not -very good at playing saint. Pray for me, please.

    4. -

  4. It’s out of care and not lack of relevance that I am not showing -you Mandel’s goodbye message. It’s enough to know he was deep in the -grief of having to leave a community he loved and cared for and that -pain was felt in every word.

    5. -

  5. The first bot communities on the internet are now born, half- -mistakenly. They are always spiritual communities posting religious -images created by artificial intelligence, all the comments echoing -choirs of bots praising. Amen, amen, amen. I am not naive, I know they -are built by humans but it is this performance of religiosity that I am -interested in, and how little humanity is shown in it. It is something -else.

    6. -

  6. A step in a step in a step, sorry.

    7. -

  7. I am talking here about the distress caused by mental health -issues that have direct connections to physicality—self- injuring in any -direct form; food, drugs, pain. The culturally uncomfortable diseases, -the it’s- personal- responsibility, and just-stop disorders. This is a -hidden topic of this text because I cared more about the pain -surrounding them and the reasons to hide rather than the grim -physicality of them all.

    8. -

  8. Of course, the river itself is not a river; it’s many confused -streams that believe themselves both the same and separate. I don’t know -where I’m going with this, I just don’t love the river of normativity -and I’d rather go swim in the ocean of dreams with you.

    9. -

  9. I heard the idea of living questions for the first time in -“Letters to A Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke and then again on the -podcast On Being with Krista Tippet. It may be a bit transparent but -this entire text is informed by the concept of keeping the unsolved in -your heart and learning to love it. Not searching for the answers for we -cannot live them yet. The point is to live it all. It could be that at -some point we will live our way to an answer but it is feeling the -questions alive within us that is important. Do you?

    10. -

  10. If we were to be honest, the entire exercise of writing this for -you requires this very faith.

    11. -

  11. Was this the end of this story? In the epilogue, you sit your -body down and enter your computer. The air coming in from the window -smells wet and earthy, new. The sun shines low on the horizon. You log -in to the internet and realize you are being told a story. You start to -listen, carefully and, full of love, touch the story to let it know you -are there. Delicate-fingered, curious like a child holding a fallen -bird. I hold you and the story tentatively.

    12. -
+

2. A LIFE TO BE HAD

+

Was this the end of this story? In the +epilogue, you sit your body down and enter your computer. The air coming +in from the window smells wet and earthy, new. The sun shines low on the +horizon. You log in to the internet and realize you are being told a +story. You start to listen, carefully and, full of love, touch the story +to let it know you are there. Delicate-fingered, curious like a child +holding a fallen bird. I hold you and the story tentatively.

I don’t know if I am touching you, to tell you the truth. Digital bodies are stories, like physical bodies are, like dreams are, and like water is.

@@ -655,13 +688,13 @@ body, is yet to be told.

each other stories just outside the room. We don’t have so much time left. I have made you something, to tell your digital body the stories of the leaving and loving body. It is a webpage, the address is -adadesign.nl/backplaces.

+https://vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/backplaces/.

You open the page, and you are asked to write the characters you see in a captcha. E5qr7. eSq9p. 8oc8y. Fuck. You try not to panic, but you know you have been detected.

You pack up your things: the pie I made you, a love letter, two hands made out of felt, a star, a door, a stuffed animal; and you leave -again.

+again.

references

Adler, P.A. and Adler, P. (2008) ‘The Cyber Worlds of self-injurers: Deviant communities, relationships, and selves’, Symbolic Interaction, diff --git a/ada/thesis.md b/ada/thesis.md index cf783b9..be58bac 100644 --- a/ada/thesis.md +++ b/ada/thesis.md @@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ author: Ada ### A narrative exploration of divergent digital intimacies -Water, stories, the body, -all the things we do, are -mediums -that hide and show what’s -hidden. -(Rumi, 1995 translation) +> Water, stories, the body, +> all the things we do, are +> mediums +that hide and show what’s +> hidden. +> (Rumi, 1995 translation) ## ꙳for you @@ -83,22 +83,22 @@ Safe dreams now, I will talk to you soon. ## 0. DIGITAL BODIES -I think the worst must be finished. -Whether I am right, don’t tell me. -Don’t tell me. -No ringlet of bruise, -no animal face, the waters salt me -and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season -of still tongues, of roses on nightstands -beside crushed beer cans. I leave you -white sand and scraped knees. I leave -this myth in which I am pig, whose -death is empty allegory. I leave, I leave— -At the end of this story, -I walk into the sea -and it chooses -not to drown me. -(Yun, 2020) +> "I think the worst must be finished. +> Whether I am right, don’t tell me. +> Don’t tell me. +> No ringlet of bruise, +> no animal face, the waters salt me +> and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season +> of still tongues, of roses on nightstands +> beside crushed beer cans. I leave you +> white sand and scraped knees. I leave +> this myth in which I am pig, whose +> death is empty allegory. I leave, I leave— +> At the end of this story, +> I walk into the sea +> and it chooses +> not to drown me." +> (Yun, 2020) ### a. what is a digital body? @@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ his connections, finding no way to do so except by emphasizing their tangible bodily experiences. The community’s claim to authenticity thus had to lie in the physical experiences of its members— the visible bodies and hearable voices, the weddings, births, and -funerals (1993).You’re dreaming again, good.
Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice?
Is my voice a sound? Could it be a feeling? +funerals (1993).You’re dreaming again, good. Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice? Is my voice a sound? Could it be a feeling? Even then, and even by people with no interest in undermining the value of the virtual, the distinction @@ -297,19 +297,8 @@ comments from Mandel on The Well—the Mandelbot. In the topic he had opened to say goodbye, he posted this message about the bot: -I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the -truth, one that winds its way through almost everything -I've done online in the five months since my cancer was -diagnosed. I figured that, like everyone else, my -physical self wasn't going to survive forever and I guess -I was going to have less time than actuarials allocateus -[actually allocated]. But if I could reach out and touch -everyone I knew on-line... I could toss out bits and -pieces of my virtual self and the memes that make up -Tom Mandel, and then when my body died, I wouldn't -really have to leave... Large chunks of me would also -be here, part of this new space. -(Hafner, 1997) +> "I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the truth, one that winds its way through almost everything I've done online in the five months since my cancer was diagnosed. I figured that, like everyone else, my physical self wasn't going to survive forever and I guess I was going to have less time than actuarials allocateus [actually allocated]. But if I could reach out and touch everyone I knew on-line... I could toss out bits and pieces of my virtual self and the memes that make up Tom Mandel, and then when my body died, I wouldn't really have to leave... Large chunks of me would also be here, part of this new space." +> (Hafner, 1997) With the Mandelbot, Mandel found a way to deal with what he later called his grieving for the community, @@ -345,10 +334,8 @@ In a tribute posted after his death, fellow Well member and journalist Andrew Leonard tried to convey his own sense of blended physicality and emotion. -Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online -community, but on this night, as tears stream down my -face for the third straight evening, it feels all too real. -(Andrew Leonard, 1995) +> "Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online community, but on this night, as tears stream down my face for the third straight evening, it feels all too real." +> (Andrew Leonard, 1995) ### c. bot-feelings @@ -489,10 +476,8 @@ Tonight, the dead light up your mind like an image of your mind on a scientist’s screen. ‘The scientists don’t know – and too much.’ -In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy -like the heart of an artichoke), a man dances -cheek-to-cheek with the infinite blue. -(Schwartz, 2022) +> "In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy like the heart of an artichoke), a man dances cheek-to-cheek with the infinite blue." +> (Schwartz, 2022) ### a. comfort care @@ -629,11 +614,8 @@ writer. You as the reader and you as the community. Me and you, as a whole. Both exist, both separate but in what is not of such importance. -Though many of these systems are different, -fundamentally, we can see similarities in the structure -of their data. It’s very easy to find differences. What’s -more interesting is to find out what’s similar. -(Chu & Dunkel , 2021) +> "Though many of these systems are different, fundamentally, we can see similarities in the structure of their data. It’s very easy to find differences. What’s more interesting is to find out what’s similar." +> (Chu & Dunkel, 2021) Individuals who forge and inhabit these communities, fostering tender, intimate connections amongst diff --git a/aglaia/.DS_Store b/aglaia/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2de5316 Binary files /dev/null and b/aglaia/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/aglaia/index.html b/aglaia/index.html index 0829953..743b99f 100644 --- a/aglaia/index.html +++ b/aglaia/index.html @@ -9,21 +9,33 @@

Talking Documents

+alt="WDKA- Winjhaven Building- February 2024- reading of act0 and act1" /> +reading of act0 and act1

This project appeared as a need to explore potential bureaucratic dramaturgies within the educational institution I was part as a student. @@ -49,10 +61,20 @@ of Rotterdam I documented and archived throughout this period. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by discarding the graphic design of the initial forms, I structured and repurposed the text into a playable scenario.

-

+Act 2 “Call with the municipality about the rejection of my application” -

+ + +

+
+ + +
+

I perceive the document as a unit and as the fundamental symbolic interface of the bureaucratic network. The transformation of the materiality of a document into a scenario to be enacted collectively in @@ -99,12 +121,6 @@ of the municipality building.

collectively voiced scenario. This audio piece is a constellation of different recordings and soundscapes of these public moments, a vocal archive, published in the graduation exhibition of XPUB in 2024.

-
- - -
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/aglaia/ojection1.png b/aglaia/objection1.png similarity index 100% rename from aglaia/ojection1.png rename to aglaia/objection1.png diff --git a/aglaia/thesis.html b/aglaia/thesis.html index 0cac57f..9918de3 100644 --- a/aglaia/thesis.html +++ b/aglaia/thesis.html @@ -9,34 +9,54 @@

Performing the Bureaucratic Border(line)s

-

i n t r o d u c t i o n

-

This thesis is an assemblage(1) of thoughts, experiences, -interpretations, intuitive explorations of what borders are, attempting -to unleash a conversation concerning the entangled relation between -material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I unravel empirically the -thread of how borders as entities are manifested and (de)established. -How does the lived experience of crossing multiple borders change and -under what conditions?

-

The eastern Mediterranean borderland(2), I happened to come from, -proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders towards specific ethnic -groups. The embodied experience of borders and practices of (im)mobility -change radically depending on the various identities of the people -crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I started more actively -perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered border. I was wondering -how this situation is shifted and transformed moving towards the -European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and how it could be -perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - a camouflaged -border?

+

introduction

+

This thesis is an assemblageI live +somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations, +examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to +the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I +shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying +words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by +the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick. of +thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what +borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the +entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I +unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested +and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple +borders change and under what conditions?

+

The eastern Mediterranean borderlandI +use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit zone in +the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe., I +happened to come from, proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders +towards specific ethnic groups. The embodied experience of borders and +practices of (im)mobility change radically depending on the various +identities of the people crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I +started more actively perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered +border. I was wondering how this situation is shifted and transformed +moving towards the European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and +how it could be perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - +a camouflaged border?

But what is my starting point and where does my precarious body fit within the borders that I am touching? The language of the administrative document is rigid and hurtful but myself lies between the @@ -48,18 +68,29 @@ choose to structure my argument and talk through a personal process that is being unfolded in parallel with the writing period. Accordingly, these words are dynamically being reshaped due to the material constraints of the bureaucratic timeline. A more distant approach became -personal and tangible with auto-ethnographical(3) elements as I was -trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these thresholds and fit -the A4 document lines.

+personal and tangible with auto-ethnographicalI perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place +myself, my lived experiences, my identities, reflections in the +(artistic) research and talk through them about structures and within +the structures of social, cultural, political frameworks. +elements as I was trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these +thresholds and fit the A4 document lines.

I would like at this point to acknowledge and state explicitly my privilege recognizing the different levels of otherness produced by the several bordering mechanisms. My European machine-readable passport as a designed artifact dictates and facilitates the easiness of my mobility. In other (many) cases the lack of it creates profoundly a severe -barrier(4). I do not intend in any respect to compare my case to the -lived experiences and struggles of migrants and refugees. I utilize the -paperwork interface of my smaller-scale story in order to unravel and -foreground the aforementioned questions.

+barrier“Passports still function as a +technology to control movement. Technologies like RFID chips and face +recognition are part of a control system for digital state surveillance. +Designing a passport is relative to design a surveillance tool. The +analysis of passport designs rarely looks at the social consequences of +identification, control, and restriction of movement, which can have +violent consequences.” (Ruben Pater, 2021). I do not intend +in any respect to compare my case to the lived experiences and struggles +of migrants and refugees. I utilize the paperwork interface of my +smaller-scale story in order to unravel and foreground the +aforementioned questions.

This thesis is very much indebted to some text-vehicles that mobilized my reflections and nourished the writing process. “Illegal Traveller, an autoethnography of borders” and “Waiting, a Project in @@ -99,18 +130,20 @@ through performative readings. The intention is to underline how the vocalization of bureaucracies as a tool can potentially reveal their territorial exclusive function and provide space for the invisible vulnerability.

-
-

“on the other side is the river and I cannot cross it on the other -side is the sea I cannot bridge it” (Parra, cited by Anzaldua, 1987, -p.139)

-

b o r d e r s

+
+

“on the other side is the river
+and I cannot cross it
+on the other side is the sea
+I cannot bridge it”
+(Anzaldua, 1987)

+
+

borders

How a border is defined? How, as an entity, does it define? How is it performed? I used to think of borders in a material concrete way, coming from a country of the European South that constitutes a rigid, violent border that repulses and kills thousands of migrants and refugees. In the following chapter, I will attempt to explore the terrain of material borders in relation to bureaucracy as another multi-layered filter.

-

[Front-facing camera at self-counter in LIDL]

What constitutes a border? Is it a wall, a line, a fence, a machine, a door, an armed body or a wound on the land? When somebody crosses a border are they consciously aware of the act of crossing? I am crossing @@ -139,8 +172,7 @@ bordering device that demonstrates in a way itself. Crossing and borders are inherently defined in relation to each other. “Where there is a border, there is also a border crossing, legal as well as illegal” (Khosravi, 2010).

-

c o n d i t i o n a -l h o s p i t a l i t y

+

conditional hospitality

I started thinking about hospitality as a cultural behavior and as an inseparable term in the context of borders due to a recent personal bureaucratic experience. Hospitality can be instrumentalized to describe @@ -164,13 +196,21 @@ permission for a short-term postal address while declaring the addresses of my current hosts [4/02/2024]. I gathered the required documents, I processed a 9-page-text and another one with the personal data of my hosts and myself and answered questions about:

-

why don’t I have a house, who are the people who host me, what is my -relationship with them, where do I sleep, where do I store my -belongings, how many people are hosting me and accordingly their -personal data, for how long, why I cannot register there, what days of -the week do I stay in the one house and what days do I stay in the other -house, whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and what is -the tangible proof of my search?

+
+

why don’t I have a house,
+who are the people who host me,
+what is my relationship with them,
+where do I sleep,
+where do I store my belongings,
+how many people are hosting me and accordingly their personal +data,
+for how long,
+why I cannot register there,
+what days of the week do I stay in the one house and
+what days do I stay in the other house,
+whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and
+what is the tangible proof of my search?

+

All these questions provoked thinking around the concept of conditional hospitality as a behavior of the state towards strangers. I can see that on a smaller scale it is being applied to the hospitality I @@ -183,10 +223,12 @@ seems that forms of knowledge are inseparably related to forms of power. It will take 8 weeks for my request to be processed and for the government to approve or reject if I deserve my friends’ hospitality.

+

“Today as yesterday, her land and her time are stolen, only because -she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late” (Khosravi, -2021)

-

w a i t i n g

+she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late”
+(Khosravi, 2021)

+
+

waiting

Waiting can be considered as a dramaturgical means embedded in bureaucratic procedures that camouflage power relations through the manipulation of people’s time. When people are in the middle of a @@ -227,8 +269,10 @@ Greek context portrayed as an “ideal” intertwined with the nation-building narrative and as a foundational quality - product by the Greek tourist industry. However, the Greek sea has been an endless refugee graveyard and the eastern Aegean islands a “warehouse of -souls”(6) for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality -applies primarily to those who invest in and consume.

+souls”For further reading: +https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ +for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality applies +primarily to those who invest in and consume.

Hospitality can function as a filtration mechanism that permits access – lets in – the ones who deserve it, those who have “passports, valid visas, adequate bank statements, or invitations” (Khosravi, 2010). @@ -243,8 +287,7 @@ unconditionally accepted, only at this moment, we are able to imagine the “political and ethical survival of humankind” (Agamben, 2000). Hospitality does not seem a matter of choice but a profound urgency, if humanity desires to foster a future together.

-

“ t h e r i g h t t o h -a v e r i g h t s ”

+

“the right to have rights”

(Arendt, as cited by Khosravi, 2010, p.121) What about the crossers who managed to travel and reach the desirable “there”, the ones who transcended the borders and the control checks of the ministries of @@ -270,19 +313,28 @@ essentially citizens’ rights, human rights are tied to the nation-state system. Consequently, human rights can be materialized only in a political community. “Loss of citizenship also means loss of human rights” (Khosravi, 2010)

-

“…(9) I am here for the rights of the children which haven’t be in -the taking part in the education since they have undocumented mothers -and they are more than (10) years. I am here to represent mothers -who are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are -you trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here -to express my frustration with IND(11). So frustrated. And I will not -stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law where -everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where everybody -feels We, undocumented people, we don’t feel a sense of belonging -from the system.”

-
-

b u r -e a u c r a c y a s i m m a t e r i a l b o r d e r

+
+

“…This is a transcribed recording of +my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I +insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter +of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023, +15:05. I am here for the rights of the children which +haven’t be in the taking part in the education since they have +undocumented mothers and they are more than +“” means +undecipherable years. I am here to represent mothers who +are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you +trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to +express my frustration with INDImmigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch +Immigration and Naturalisation Service. So frustrated. And +I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law +where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where +everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don’t feel a sense of +belonging from the system.”

+
+

bureaucracy as immaterial +border

Apart from the rigid visible borders, bureaucracy related to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can also constitute an in-between less visible borderland. I used to perceive bureaucracy as an immaterial @@ -307,18 +359,26 @@ otherness. Accordingly, I see bureaucracy as a practice that raises material and symbolic walls for specific groups of people who are rendered unwanted and unwelcome because they dared to cross the borders of the Global North. It is as if they could never manage to eventually -arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”(12). “In -these bordering processes, we can detect the “coloniality of asylum”(13) +arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”I am referring to the desirable potential +destinations of migrants and refugees corresponding mainly to Global +North countries.. “In these bordering processes, we can +detect the “coloniality of asylum”In this +text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” introduced +by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are intertwined with +colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are often colonial +structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and reproducing +patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, asylum is not +just about offering protection but also about regulating and managing +populations in a way that reflects colonial relationships. (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). Bureaucracies in practice act as filters, determining who, from an institutional standpoint, deserves to receive protection and who does not. They operate as systems that classify non-citizens and place them in a social hierarchy of disproportionate unequal obligations, lack of rights and access to institutional support.

-

h -i g h e r e d u c a t i o n ’s e x p a n d i n g b u r e a u c r a c -y

+

higher education’s +expanding bureaucracy

While I had this inherent concern about borders and bureaucratic structures in relation to migration, I decided to start zooming in and explore my own bureaucratic surroundings through my personal lens. As a @@ -339,6 +399,7 @@ institutions lies in the level of unawareness regarding surveillance via multiple bureaucratic rituals that (re)produce docile behaviors. How these mechanisms are masked and standing in the margins of the visible nonvisible sphere.

+

“This is what makes it possible, for example, for graduate students to be able to spend days in the stacks of university libraries poring over Foucault-inspired theoretical tracts about the declining importance @@ -346,7 +407,9 @@ of coercion as a factor in modern life without ever reflecting on that fact that, had they insisted their right to enter the stacks without showing a properly stamped and validated ID, armed men would have been summoned to physically remove them, using whatever force might be -required.”, (Graeber, 2015)

+required.”
+(Graeber, 2015)

+

The genuine essence of education is not bureaucratic at all, neither does it have to fit and ground its foundations under a bureaucratic roof. “The pedagogical process runs counter to the hierarchical, @@ -358,41 +421,12 @@ other.“Students and staff are treated as human capital” (Cunningham, 2017). This determination can dehumanize people involved, like when “faculty-as-labor” and “students-as-consumers” are marginalized and treated as just variables.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|…………………*…………………|
|………………………………………|
|………………………………………|
|………………………………………|
|………………………………………|
|………………………………………|
|………………………………………|
| |
| … + |
-

“t h e r e i s n o D O C U M E N T o f c i v i l i s a t i o n w h i -c h i s n o t a t t h e s a m e t i m e a d o c u m e n t o f b a r b a -r i s m” -Walter Benjamin- (Pater, 2021)

-

t h e d o c u m e n t

+
+

“there is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time a +document of barbarism”
+Walter Benjamin

+
+

the document

From fences and armed police to nation-state mechanism of less-material bordering to bureaucracy to the elements of bureaucracy to the document itself as the minimum unit of an apparatus. Understanding @@ -405,8 +439,8 @@ bureaucratic apparatus is something more than a metaphor it is also a symbol. It is hard to see that there are many more layers beneath the purpose it propagates. A metaphor that is so perfectly materialized as well as naturalized that you cannot even see it.

-

b -u r e a u c r a c y a s t e x t u a l i n s t i t u t i o n

+

bureaucracy as textual +institution

The bureaucratic apparatus can be considered as something more than an infrastructure that organizes institutions, markets, states, etc. It can constitute itself an institution, a textual institution. As the @@ -421,8 +455,7 @@ element of bureaucracy. Language can become a shroud to conceal the violence and reinforce hierarchical structures and simultaneously can be transformed into the rigid rational cell itself. They shape their own narratives, they reflect the institutional narratives.

-

t h e m y t h o f u n -i v e r s a l i t y

+

the myth of universality

One of the great powers of bureaucracies is their ability to render themselves transparent. It seems that bureaucracy does not have to say anything more beyond itself, is self-referential and self-contained. It @@ -436,11 +469,16 @@ order to complete organizational tasks with maximum efficiency” (Weber, as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p. 307).

I had to open a discussion with students from non-EEA (non European Economic Area) countries in order to understand that they have to -conduct tuberculosis x-rays(14) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It -seems that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening -than bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the -quality and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” -of applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the +conduct tuberculosis x-rays“To keep the +Residence Permit, some non-European students need to visit the Dutch +Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the Netherlands. +They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). This is a +requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. (Introduction +days, 2021) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It seems +that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening than +bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the quality +and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” of +applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the universality of the bureaucratic form.

Undoubtedly the success of bureaucracy is drawn from its efficiency in relation to schematization as an efficient material quality. “Whether @@ -451,8 +489,8 @@ define them under specific perspectives. Why do they ask for this information instead of others? “Why place of birth and not, say, place where you went to grade school? What’s so important about the signature?” (Graeber, 2015)

-

m a -t e r i a l i t y - u n d e r l y i n g v i o l e n c e

+

materiality-underlying +violence

There is a great materiality in bureaucracies. Bureaucratic procedures are often compared to a labyrinth which appears as a similarly complex structure constituted by simple geometrical shapes @@ -468,10 +506,13 @@ administrative objects that the design aspect of these artifacts appears to be invisible? The material decisions applied as well as the material constraints attributed to the document can transform or produce different textual meanings and consequently understandings.

+

“This does not mean that constraints limit meaning, but on the contrary, constitute it; meaning cannot appear where freedom is absolute -or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised freedom”, +or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised +freedom”
(Roland Barthes, 1983)

+

When I encountered the green logo of the municipality of Rotterdam I did not cultivate any feelings of enthusiasm or even boredom. A big calligraphic “R” with the flawless green ribbons that penetrate it on @@ -489,6 +530,7 @@ biscuit. She used the same color blue scheme and she placed the biscuit form inside the same standardized dimension folder 229x162 mm with the same transparent layer that reveals my name and surname. According to literary critic and theorist Katherine Hayles:

+

“to alter the physical form of the artifacts is to change the act of reading and understanding but mostly you transform the metaphoric and symbolic network that structures the relation of world to world. To @@ -496,7 +538,9 @@ change the material artifacts is to transform the context and circumstances for interacting with the words, which inevitably change the meaning of the word itself. This transformation of meaning is especially possible when the words interact with the inscription -technologies that produce them” (Hayles, 2002).

+technologies that produce them”
+(Hayles, 2002)

+

In the latter case, the inscription technology used is the sugar blue paste and the handwriting of Chae. The text in the white-blue government document forces a different reading from the white-blue biscuit @@ -507,14 +551,21 @@ relation to the case, the identities of the holder, the state, the context, etc. There is no room for negotiation in bureaucracy and this is the omnipresent underlying violence. The threat of violence shrouded within its structures and foundations does not permit any questioning -but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards them(15). -Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they manage and coerce -processes that reproduce docile and stupid behaviors.

-

[ The birthday biscuit that Chae made, re-creating the Dutch -government form ]

-
-

v o c -a l a r c h i v e s – t a l k i n g d o c u m e n t s

+but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards themI am referring to those people subjecting others to +bureaucratic circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well +as people in positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these +facts.. Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they +manage and coerce processes that reproduce docile and stupid +behaviors.

+
+ + +
+

vocal archives-talking +documents

This chapter is mainly a constellation of some prototypes I created while writing and coping with personal bureaucratic challenges. I provided some further space for my anxiety by unpacking and exploring @@ -532,13 +583,24 @@ Bureaucratic official documents are inherently performative. These texts regulate and bring situations into being.

My intention in transforming bureaucratic texts into “playable” scenarios is to explore how embodying these texts in public through -collective speech(16) can provoke different forms of interpretations and -open tiny conceptual holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be -found in this apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, -1997). The performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - -attempt to bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, -acting- the discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly -condemned into private individual spheres.

+collective speechI imagine the theatrical +play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech amplification device. A group +of people performs the bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the +corridor of the school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right +across, outside of the municipality building. The term is borrowed from +the protests of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were +gathered around the speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in +order to ensure that everyone could hear the announcements during large +assemblies. Human bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden +technology. In New York it is required to ask for permission from +authorities to use “amplified sound” in public space. can +provoke different forms of interpretations and open tiny conceptual +holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be found in this +apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, 1997). The +performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - attempt to +bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, acting- the +discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly condemned into +private individual spheres.

How performing a collection of small bureaucratic stories can function as an instant micro intervention and potentially produce a public discourse. Where do we perform this speech, where and when does @@ -569,10 +631,13 @@ experiments - closely related to language as well as the performative “nature” of these texts themselves. I was intrigued by how transforming the material conditions of a piece of text could influence the potential understandings and perceptions of its meaning.

-

p r o t o t y p e s

+

prototypes

1.

-

Title: “Quality Assurance Questionnaire Censoring” When: October 2023 -Where: XPUB studio wall Who: myself

+

Title: “Quality Assurance Questionnaire +Censoring”
+When: October 2023
+Where: XPUB studio wall
+Who: myself

Description: Some months ago my classmates and I received an email with a questionnaire aimed at preparing us for the upcoming quality assurance meeting within the school. Ada and I had a meeting, in an @@ -601,12 +666,19 @@ these metrics are twofold: they play a role in the marketing sphere, attracting potential students to the university as well as they are utilized in interactions and negotiations with the government, which increasingly cuts budgets allocated to universities.

-

[ The linguistic experiment of the Quality Assurance Questionnaire -Document ]

+
+ + +

2.

-

Title: “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration Customs -Enforcement” When: November 2023 Where: Leeszaal(17) Who: XPUB peers, -tutors, friends, alumni

+

Title: “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration +Customs Enforcement”
+When: November 2023
+Where: LeeszaalCommunity +Library in Rotterdam West
+Who: XPUB peers, tutors, friends, alumni

Description: During the first public moment at Leeszaal, I decided to embody and enact the traditional role of a bureaucrat in a graphic and possibly absurd way performing a small “theatrical play”. I prepared a @@ -630,13 +702,27 @@ such acts are not expected to be performed, evoked contradictory feelings or thoughts. Over-identifying with a role was being instrumentalized as an “interrogation” of one’s own involvement in the reproduction of social discourses, power, authority, hegemony.

-

[Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuing(18) to -receive their documents and sign ]

-

[ One of the forms that the audience had to fill out during the -Lesszaal event ]

+
+ + +
+
+ + +

3.

-

Title: “Passport Reading Session” When: January 2024 Where: XML – -XPUB studio Who: Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph

+

Title: “Passport Reading Session”
+When: January 2024
+Where: XML – XPUB studio
+Who: Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph

Description: This prototype is a collective passport reading session. I asked my classmates to bring their passports or IDs and sitting in a circular set up we attempted to “scan” our documents. Every contributor @@ -646,15 +732,20 @@ from various perspectives. The three passports and one ID card were all coming from European countries.

Reflections-Thoughts: For the first time I observed this object so closely. The documentation medium was a recording device, Ada’s mobile -phone. The recording was transcribed by vosk(19) and myself and a small -booklet of our passport readings was created.

+phone. The recording was transcribed by voskVosk is an offline open-source speech recognition +toolkit. and myself and a small booklet of our passport +readings was created.

+

“So the object here is like not by random it comes from the history of nation-states and how nation-states and nationalities created like a form of identity. So nation-state is actually a recent invention that came into existence over the last two hundred fifty years in the form as we know it nowadays, in the form of democratic capitalism, before like monarchies and so on and each citizen of such a nation-state got also -kind of a particular identity”, Joseph says about his ID card.

+kind of a particular identity”,
+Joseph says about his ID card.

+

We read the embedded signs, symbols, categories, texts, magical numbers in our passports that construct our profiles. Seeing someone’s passport, ID cards, visas, travel documents might mean that you are able @@ -663,12 +754,14 @@ paths, how departure or arrival is smooth or cruel. Are there emotions along the way? For some people these are documents “that embody power — minimal or no waiting, peaceful departure, warm and confident arrival” (Khosravi, 2021).

-

[ Part of the A6 booklet of the transcription of the passport -readings session ] x2

+

Part of the A6 booklet of the +transcription of the passport readings session

+

4.

-

Title: “Postal Address Application Scenario” When: February 2024 -Where: Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor Who: XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, -Leslie

+

Title: “Postal Address Application Scenario”
+When: February 2024
+Where: Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor
+Who: XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, Leslie

Description: This scenario is the first part of a series of small episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of my communication with the government. The body of the text of the @@ -706,15 +799,13 @@ unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative elements of these processes.

-

[ A6 booklet of the first chapter of the “theatrical” scenario -created out of the Postal Address Application documents and performed by -XPUB peers ] x2

-
-

(instead of) c o n c l u s i o -n

-

(next -chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188)

+

A6 booklet of the first chapter of the +“theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application +documents and performed by XPUB peers

+

conclusion

+

next +chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188

I expanded the “play” by incorporating additional “scenes” sourced again from the documents accompanying the ongoing “conversation with the government”. Two weeks after submitting my application for a short-term @@ -751,9 +842,8 @@ future applicants, traumatized students, injured bearers, bureaucratic border crossers, stressed expired document holders or just curious people to share, vocalize, talk through, read out loud, amplify, (un)name, unplace, dismantle the injurious words of these artifacts.

-

[ Part of A6 booklet scenarios of the next chapters of my -bureaucratic story aimed to be performed ] x2

-
+

“we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us”(20)

As I sit in the waiting area at the gate B7 in the airport preparing @@ -766,141 +856,59 @@ multifaceted borders and get crossed and entrenched by them, but on the contrary we start interrogating and shouting at the contexts and the frameworks that construct them and render them invisible, natural and powerful.

-

s i d e n o t e s

-
    -
  1. I live somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, -citations, examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to -myself, to the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to -the text. I shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented -thoughts, flying words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and -inspiration given by the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine -McKittrick.
    2. -
  2. I use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit -zone in the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe.
    3. -
  3. I perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place myself, my lived -experiences, my identities, reflections in the (artistic) research and -talk through them about structures and within the structures of social, -cultural, political frameworks.
    4. -
  4. “Passports still function as a technology to control movement. -Technologies like RFID chips and face recognition are part of a control -system for digital state surveillance. Designing a passport is relative -to design a surveillance tool. The analysis of passport designs rarely -looks at the social consequences of identification, control, and -restriction of movement, which can have violent consequences.” (Ruben -Pater, 2021)
    5. -
  5. Working title of the project
    6. -
  6. For further reading: -https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/
    7. -
  7. One of the tactics for regulating or preventing the so-called -unproductive hospitality is border control checks. According to the -website of the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, “the Royal -Netherlands Marechaussee (RNLM) combats cross-border crime and makes an -important contribution to national security. Checks are still performed -at the external borders of the Schengen area. In the Netherlands, this -means guarding the European external border at airports and seaports, -and along the coast. By participating in Frontex, the European border -control agency, the RNLM makes an important contribution to the control -of Europe’s external borders in other EU member states. There is one -single EU external border.” (Border Controls, 2017)
    8. -
  8. I would like to refer to the practice of Harragas introduced by my -friend Rabab as a counter-act of dealing or breaking or burning the -multilayered borders. The burners or Harragas is a term alluding to the -migrants’ practice of burning their identity papers and personal -documents in order to prevent identification by authorities in Europe. -Crucially this moving out is in defiance of the bureaucratic rules and -their elaborate visa systems. Those who engage in harraga, ‘burn’ -borders to enter European territories. “They do not, however, burn the -bridges to the people and places they depart from. To these, they keep -all kinds of links. For, as they burn borders, they don’t move away from -their place of origin. Harraga is about expanding living space” -(M’charek, 2020).
    9. -
  9. This is a transcribed recording of my phone during a protest on -migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I insert part of the speech of a -Palestinian woman addressing the matter of undocumentedness. Date and -time of the recording 18th of June 2023, 15:05.
    10. -
  10. “*” means undecipherable
    11. -
  11. Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch Immigration and -Naturalisation Service
    12. -
  12. I am referring to the desirable potential destinations of migrants -and refugees corresponding mainly to Global North countries.
    13. -
  13. In this text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” -introduced by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are -intertwined with colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are -often colonial structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and -reproducing patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, -asylum is not just about offering protection but also about regulating -and managing populations in a way that reflects colonial -relationships.
    14. -
  14. “To keep the Residence Permit, some non-European students need to -visit the Dutch Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the -Netherlands. They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). -This is a requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. -(Introduction days, 2021)
    15. -
  15. I am referring to those people subjecting others to bureaucratic -circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well as people in -positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these facts.
    16. -
  16. I imagine the theatrical play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech -amplification device. A group of people performs the bureaucratic -scenario in chorus, out loud, in the corridor of the school’s building, -in the main hall, at the square right across, outside of the -municipality building. The term is borrowed from the protests of the -Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were gathered around the -speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in order to ensure that -everyone could hear the announcements during large assemblies. Human -bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden technology. In -New York it is required to ask for permission from authorities to use -“amplified sound” in public space.
    17. -
  17. Community Library in Rotterdam West
    18. -
  18. I was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by -(bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line -waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze -in an efficiently defined area.
    19. -
  19. Vosk is an offline open-source speech recognition toolkit
    20. -
  20. US Immigrant Rights Movement Slogan (Keshavarz, 2016)
    21. -
-
-

r e f e r e n c e s

+

references

Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis, -MN: University of Minnesota Press. Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la -Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books. -Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. -Oxford University Press, pp.83-93. Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. -Translated by M. Ward and R. Howard. Hill & Wang. Border controls -(2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: -https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls Borelli, C., Poy, A., -and Rué, A. (2023). “Governing Asylum without ‘Being There’: Ghost -Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of the State.” -Social Sciences, 12(3), 169. [DOI: -https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169] Butler, J. (1997) Excitable -speech: A politics of the performative. London, England: Routledge. -Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: +MN: University of Minnesota Press.

+

Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd +ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.

+

Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. +Oxford University Press, pp.83-93.

+

Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. Translated by M. Ward and R. +Howard. Hill & Wang.

+

Border controls (2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: +https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls

+

Borelli, C., Poy, A., and Rué, A. (2023). “Governing Asylum without +‘Being There’: Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of +the State.” Social Sciences, 12(3), 169. [DOI: +https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169]

+

Butler, J. (1997) Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. +London, England: Routledge.

+

Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: Migrants’ Lived Experience of Paperwork, Clerks and Other Immigration -Intermediaries”, University of Victoria Cunningham, J. (2017), -“Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic University”, University of -Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On -technology, stupidity, and the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: -Melville House Publishing Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, -England: MIT Press. Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of -Applied Sciences. Available at: +Intermediaries”, University of Victoria

+

Cunningham, J. (2017), “Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic +University”, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

+

Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On technology, stupidity, and +the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House +Publishing

+

Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, England: MIT +Press.

+

Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. +Available at: https://www.rotterdamuas.com/study-information/practical-information/international-introduction-days/Tuberculosis-test/ -(Accessed: April 8, 2024). Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An -Inquiry into Passports, Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of -Culture and Society. Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An -auto-ethnography of borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave -Macmillan. Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in -Conversation. transcript Verlag. M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning -borders, navigating colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), -pp. 418–434. doi: 10.1177/0038026120905491. Malichudis, S. (2020) How -the Aegean islands became a warehouse of souls, Solomon. Available at: +(Accessed: April 8, 2024).

+

Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An Inquiry into Passports, +Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society.

+

Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An auto-ethnography of +borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

+

Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in Conversation. +transcript Verlag.

+

M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning borders, navigating +colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), pp. 418–434. doi: +10.1177/0038026120905491.

+

Malichudis, S. (2020) How the Aegean islands became a warehouse of +souls, Solomon. Available at: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ -(Accessed: April 7, 2024). McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other -stories. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and -Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public -Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4 Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took -hold of graphic design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, -Netherlands: Valiz. Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : -mobility, autonomy and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee -crisis. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

+(Accessed: April 7, 2024).

+

McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other stories. Durham, NC: +Duke University Press.

+

Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic +Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4

+

Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took hold of graphic +design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.

+

Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : mobility, autonomy +and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee crisis. London: Rowman +& Littlefield Publishers.

\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/aglaia/thesis.md b/aglaia/thesis.md index 2412731..6294452 100644 --- a/aglaia/thesis.md +++ b/aglaia/thesis.md @@ -7,17 +7,17 @@ author: Aglaia # Performing the Bureaucratic Border(line)s -### i n t r o d u c t i o n +## introduction -This thesis is an assemblage(1) of thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple borders change and under what conditions? +This thesis is an assemblageI live somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations, examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick. of thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple borders change and under what conditions? -The eastern Mediterranean borderland(2), I happened to come from, proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders towards specific ethnic groups. The embodied experience of borders and practices of (im)mobility change radically depending on the various identities of the people crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I started more actively perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered border. I was wondering how this situation is shifted and transformed moving towards the European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and how it could be perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - a camouflaged border? +The eastern Mediterranean borderlandI use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit zone in the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe., I happened to come from, proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders towards specific ethnic groups. The embodied experience of borders and practices of (im)mobility change radically depending on the various identities of the people crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I started more actively perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered border. I was wondering how this situation is shifted and transformed moving towards the European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and how it could be perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - a camouflaged border? But what is my starting point and where does my precarious body fit within the borders that I am touching? The language of the administrative document is rigid and hurtful but myself lies between the margins of these lines. -This thesis does not consist of an excessive inquiry about the profoundly complex concepts of borders and bureaucracy. On the contrary, it is initiated by personal concerns, awareness and my positioning. I choose to structure my argument and talk through a personal process that is being unfolded in parallel with the writing period. Accordingly, these words are dynamically being reshaped due to the material constraints of the bureaucratic timeline. A more distant approach became personal and tangible with auto-ethnographical(3) elements as I was trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these thresholds and fit the A4 document lines. +This thesis does not consist of an excessive inquiry about the profoundly complex concepts of borders and bureaucracy. On the contrary, it is initiated by personal concerns, awareness and my positioning. I choose to structure my argument and talk through a personal process that is being unfolded in parallel with the writing period. Accordingly, these words are dynamically being reshaped due to the material constraints of the bureaucratic timeline. A more distant approach became personal and tangible with auto-ethnographicalI perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place myself, my lived experiences, my identities, reflections in the (artistic) research and talk through them about structures and within the structures of social, cultural, political frameworks. elements as I was trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these thresholds and fit the A4 document lines. -I would like at this point to acknowledge and state explicitly my privilege recognizing the different levels of otherness produced by the several bordering mechanisms. My European machine-readable passport as a designed artifact dictates and facilitates the easiness of my mobility. In other (many) cases the lack of it creates profoundly a severe barrier(4). I do not intend in any respect to compare my case to the lived experiences and struggles of migrants and refugees. I utilize the paperwork interface of my smaller-scale story in order to unravel and foreground the aforementioned questions. +I would like at this point to acknowledge and state explicitly my privilege recognizing the different levels of otherness produced by the several bordering mechanisms. My European machine-readable passport as a designed artifact dictates and facilitates the easiness of my mobility. In other (many) cases the lack of it creates profoundly a severe barrier“Passports still function as a technology to control movement. Technologies like RFID chips and face recognition are part of a control system for digital state surveillance. Designing a passport is relative to design a surveillance tool. The analysis of passport designs rarely looks at the social consequences of identification, control, and restriction of movement, which can have violent consequences.” (Ruben Pater, 2021). I do not intend in any respect to compare my case to the lived experiences and struggles of migrants and refugees. I utilize the paperwork interface of my smaller-scale story in order to unravel and foreground the aforementioned questions. This thesis is very much indebted to some text-vehicles that mobilized my reflections and nourished the writing process. "Illegal Traveller, an autoethnography of borders" and "Waiting, a Project in conversation" both written by Shahram Khosravi as well as "The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy" by the anarchist anthropologist David Graeber. Graeber initiated his research utilizing the horrendous prolonged bureaucratic processes he had to follow in order to place his sick mother in a nursing home. In parallel, Khosravi’s work is itself the outgrowth of his own 'embodied experience of borders', of ethnographic fieldwork among undocumented migrants. I found valuable and inspiring in both texts the personal filter through which they articulate their positioning and develop critique. @@ -29,56 +29,47 @@ In the second chapter, I unpack bureaucracy and focus on its bordering function. In the third and last chapter, I bridge the written text with the ongoing project that runs simultaneously as part of my graduation work in Experimental Publishing, where I mainly speak through my prototypes. Talking documents(5) are performative bureaucratic text inspections, vocal and non-vocal, that intend to create temporal public interventions through performative readings. The intention is to underline how the vocalization of bureaucracies as a tool can potentially reveal their territorial exclusive function and provide space for the invisible vulnerability. ------------------------------------------ +> “on the other side is the river +> and I cannot cross it +> on the other side is the sea +> I cannot bridge it” +> (Anzaldua, 1987) -“on the other side is the river -and I cannot cross it -on the other side is the sea -I cannot bridge it” -(Parra, cited by Anzaldua, 1987, p.139) - -### b o r d e r s +## borders How a border is defined? How, as an entity, does it define? How is it performed? I used to think of borders in a material concrete way, coming from a country of the European South that constitutes a rigid, violent border that repulses and kills thousands of migrants and refugees. In the following chapter, I will attempt to explore the terrain of material borders in relation to bureaucracy as another multi-layered filter. -![Front-facing camera at self-counter in LIDL] - What constitutes a border? Is it a wall, a line, a fence, a machine, a door, an armed body or a wound on the land? When somebody crosses a border are they consciously aware of the act of crossing? I am crossing the pedestrian street and walking on the white stripes to reach the pedestrian route right across. Are the white stripes a border or a territory to be crossed to reach another situation? Does the way I perform my walking when I step onto the white stripes change? Is there any embodied knowledge about what could be classified as border? Under which circumstances does this knowledge become canonical? I hop over a fence that separates one garden from another. What if instead of assuming that the fence is a device or a furniture or a material of enclosure, it is just part of the same land? The process or act of jumping a fence can be itself a moment of segregation and a moment of re-establishing or demonstrating the bordering function of it. Borders could be considered as devices of both exclusion and inclusion that filter people and define forms of circulation and movement in ways no less violent than those applied in repulsive measures. Closure and exclusion are only one function of the nation-state borders. Of course, borders are not always that visible or treated and perceived as borders, as Rumford argues they are “designed not to look like borders, located in one place but projected in another entirely” (Rumford, cited by Keshavarz, 2016, p.298) As institutions, they seem to be much more complex, flexible, or even penetrable in comparison with the traditional image of a wall as a bordering device that demonstrates in a way itself. Crossing and borders are inherently defined in relation to each other. “Where there is a border, there is also a border crossing, legal as well as illegal” (Khosravi, 2010). -#### c o n d i t i o n a l h o s p i t a l i t y +### conditional hospitality I started thinking about hospitality as a cultural behavior and as an inseparable term in the context of borders due to a recent personal bureaucratic experience. Hospitality can be instrumentalized to describe an individual's as well as a nation's response towards strangers within their enclosed territory - a property, a home, a land, a country. What does hospitality mean and how hospitality under specific circumstances can be a tool in the hands of a state? I will share a personal story related to hospitality and bureaucracy. I was recently evicted from my previous house [31/01/2024] due to a trapping contract situation. My former roommates and I were forced to terminate our previous contract and sign a new one that further limited our rights. The bureaucratic free market language of the contract, the foreign law language barrier, the threats of the agent and the precarity of being homeless in a foreign country forced us to sign the new rental agreement which was the main reason for our eviction. Currently, I am hosted temporarily by friends until I find a more permanent accommodation. Meanwhile, the government requires me to declare the new address which I do not have within five days of my moving. Consequently, I have to follow another bureaucratic path. This involves requesting permission for a short-term postal address while declaring the addresses of my current hosts [4/02/2024]. I gathered the required documents, I processed a 9-page-text and another one with the personal data of my hosts and myself and answered questions about: -why don’t I have a house, -who are the people who host me, -what is my relationship with them, -where do I sleep, -where do I store my belongings, -how many people are hosting me and accordingly their personal data, -for how long, -why I cannot register there, -what days of the week do I stay in the one house and -what days do I stay in the other house, -whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and what is the tangible proof of my search? +> why don’t I have a house, +> who are the people who host me, +> what is my relationship with them, +> where do I sleep, +> where do I store my belongings, +> how many people are hosting me and accordingly their personal data, +> for how long, +> why I cannot register there, +> what days of the week do I stay in the one house and +> what days do I stay in the other house, +> whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and +> what is the tangible proof of my search? All these questions provoked thinking around the concept of conditional hospitality as a behavior of the state towards strangers. I can see that on a smaller scale it is being applied to the hospitality I receive from my friends in the middle of an emergency. I am wondering, though, whether is it that important for the government to know on whose couch I sleep or where I store my belongings. The omnipresent gaze of a state who has the right to know every small detail about myself while at the same time questioning people's hospitality in case of emergency. It seems that forms of knowledge are inseparably related to forms of power. It will take 8 weeks for my request to be processed and for the government to approve or reject if I deserve my friends' hospitality. -“Today as yesterday, -her land and -her time are stolen, -only because -she is told that -she has arrived too late. -Much too late” -(Khosravi, 2021) +> “Today as yesterday, her land and her time are stolen, only because she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late” +> (Khosravi, 2021) -#### w a i t i n g +### waiting Waiting can be considered as a dramaturgical means embedded in bureaucratic procedures that camouflage power relations through the manipulation of people’s time. When people are in the middle of a bureaucratic process and waiting for the government’s decision on their case or just waiting for their turn. “The neoliberal technologies of citizenship enacted through keeping people waiting for jobs, education, housing, health care, social welfare or pensions turn citizens into patients of the state” (Khosravi, 2021). I waited two weeks for a response from the municipality only to discover that my request was rejected [16/02/2024]. @@ -88,220 +79,213 @@ When someone opens their house to a guest, a stranger, someone in need, means th Conditional hospitality is tied to a sense of offering back to the home-land-nation-state-country as a way to win or trade your permission to enter and enjoy the hospitality of a place. Coming from specific places in comparison to others, having to offer some special skills or your labor - if it is asked for - can be possible conditions that may allow somebody to receive hospitality. I would say that an efficient check of these conditions is regularly facilitated through bureaucratic channels. The concept of unconditional-conditional hospitality is closely related to exchange. When you do not have something to offer according to the needs or expectations of a “household”, you may not receive the gift of hospitality. -The notion of hospitality is excessively instrumentalized within the Greek context portrayed as an “ideal” intertwined with the nation-building narrative and as a foundational quality - product by the Greek tourist industry. However, the Greek sea has been an endless refugee graveyard and the eastern Aegean islands a “warehouse of souls”(6) for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality applies primarily to those who invest in and consume. +The notion of hospitality is excessively instrumentalized within the Greek context portrayed as an “ideal” intertwined with the nation-building narrative and as a foundational quality - product by the Greek tourist industry. However, the Greek sea has been an endless refugee graveyard and the eastern Aegean islands a “warehouse of souls”For further reading: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality applies primarily to those who invest in and consume. Hospitality can function as a filtration mechanism that permits access – lets in – the ones who deserve it, those who have “passports, valid visas, adequate bank statements, or invitations” (Khosravi, 2010). By doing this, unproductive hospitality is being avoided due to sovereign state’s border regulations and checks. Conditional hospitality, is about worthiness, is directed towards migrants deemed good and productive – skilled and capable for assimilation- or a tiny minority of vulnerable and marginalized asylum seekers who lack representation. Only in a world where the nation-state’s boundaries have been dismantled and where the undocumented, stateless, non-citizens are unconditionally accepted, only at this moment, we are able to imagine the “political and ethical survival of humankind” (Agamben, 2000). Hospitality does not seem a matter of choice but a profound urgency, if humanity desires to foster a future together. -#### “ t h e r i g h t t o h a v e r i g h t s ” +#### “the right to have rights” (Arendt, as cited by Khosravi, 2010, p.121) What about the crossers who managed to travel and reach the desirable “there”, the ones who transcended the borders and the control checks of the ministries of defense(7), the ones who enter but do not own papers, the paperless? What does it mean to be documented and what is inefficiently documented within a territory? They are threatened if they get caught by authorities and also according to the official narrative, they threaten. Since the physical mechanisms of bordering did not succeed in repulsing them, the bureaucratic border appears as an additional layer of filtration. The undocumented are non-citizens, they might be crossers or burners(8), both, or even none. “Undocumented migrants and unauthorized border crossers are polluted and polluting because of their very unclassifiability” (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). The loss of citizenship, denaturalisation, makes somebody denaturalised, they are rendered unnatural. “Citizenship has become the nature of being human” (Koshravi, 2010). According to Hannah Arendt, the right to have rights and claim somebody else’s rights is the only human right (Arendt, as cited by Khosravi, 2010, p. 121). The foundational issue with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is its dependence on the nation-state system. Since human rights are grounded on civil rights, which are essentially citizens’ rights, human rights are tied to the nation-state system. Consequently, human rights can be materialized only in a political community. “Loss of citizenship also means loss of human rights” (Khosravi, 2010) -“…(9) I am here for the rights of the children which haven't be in the taking part in the education since they have undocumented mothers and they are more than *(10) years. I am here to represent mothers who are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to express my frustration with IND(11). So frustrated. And I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don't feel a sense of belonging from the system." +> “…This is a transcribed recording of my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023, 15:05. I am here for the rights of the children which haven't be in the taking part in the education since they have undocumented mothers and they are more than *“*” means undecipherable years. I am here to represent mothers who are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to express my frustration with INDImmigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service. So frustrated. And I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don't feel a sense of belonging from the system." ------------------------------------------ +## bureaucracy as immaterial border -### b u r e a u c r a c y a s i m m a t e r i a l b o r d e r Apart from the rigid visible borders, bureaucracy related to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can also constitute an in-between less visible borderland. I used to perceive bureaucracy as an immaterial and intangible entity. However, now I can claim that this assumption is not true. Bureaucracy is material and spatial and can be seen as an apparatus, a machine, a circuitry, an institution, a territory, a borderland, a body, a zone – a “dead zone of imagination” as Graeber claims. It can be inscribed on piles of papers, folders, drawers, booklets, passports, IDs, documents, screens, tapes, bodies, hospital corridors, offices, permissions to enter, stay, work, travel, exist, come and go, leave, visit family, bury a friend. Bureaucratic documents especially those related to migration, can become territories or should be interpreted “as sites where social interactions happen, where power relations unfold and are contested” (Cretton, Geoffrion, 2021). When these bureaucratic objects are used and manipulated, they can constitute sites of “confrontation, reproduction, negotiation and performance” (Cretton, Geoffrion, 2021) shaping social relations and producing meaning. -Bureaucracy related to asylum seekers reveals the profound bordering nature of these practices, as a continuous process of producing otherness. Accordingly, I see bureaucracy as a practice that raises material and symbolic walls for specific groups of people who are rendered unwanted and unwelcome because they dared to cross the borders of the Global North. It is as if they could never manage to eventually arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”(12). “In these bordering processes, we can detect the “coloniality of asylum”(13) (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). Bureaucracies in practice act as filters, determining who, from an institutional standpoint, deserves to receive protection and who does not. They operate as systems that classify non-citizens and place them in a social hierarchy of disproportionate unequal obligations, lack of rights and access to institutional support. +Bureaucracy related to asylum seekers reveals the profound bordering nature of these practices, as a continuous process of producing otherness. Accordingly, I see bureaucracy as a practice that raises material and symbolic walls for specific groups of people who are rendered unwanted and unwelcome because they dared to cross the borders of the Global North. It is as if they could never manage to eventually arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”I am referring to the desirable potential destinations of migrants and refugees corresponding mainly to Global North countries.. “In these bordering processes, we can detect the “coloniality of asylum”In this text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” introduced by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are intertwined with colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are often colonial structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and reproducing patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, asylum is not just about offering protection but also about regulating and managing populations in a way that reflects colonial relationships. (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). Bureaucracies in practice act as filters, determining who, from an institutional standpoint, deserves to receive protection and who does not. They operate as systems that classify non-citizens and place them in a social hierarchy of disproportionate unequal obligations, lack of rights and access to institutional support. + +### higher education's expanding bureaucracy -#### h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n ‘s e x p a n d i n g b u r e a u c r a c y While I had this inherent concern about borders and bureaucratic structures in relation to migration, I decided to start zooming in and explore my own bureaucratic surroundings through my personal lens. As a student, I was eager to understand and dig into the educational institutions’ bureaucratic mechanisms being driven by smaller-scale bureaucratic struggles and peers’ narratives, stories and experiences. How can higher education in a European country reflect policies around migration and border control less profoundly. How can education filter and distinguish, how it can reproduce efficiently itself? I gradually started perceiving the bureaucratic apparatus as an omnipresent immaterial border - a ghost infrastructure - that one always encounters but does not really see, a borderland that lies in the gray zone between visibility and invisibility. Bureaucracy renders us “stupid” and vulnerable in front of it. It is rarely questioned but it should be performed efficiently for people to exist properly. The contradiction embedded in many cultural and educational institutions lies in the level of unawareness regarding surveillance via multiple bureaucratic rituals that (re)produce docile behaviors. How these mechanisms are masked and standing in the margins of the visible nonvisible sphere. -“This is what makes it possible, for example, for graduate students to be able to spend days in the stacks of university libraries poring over Foucault-inspired theoretical tracts about the declining importance of coercion as a factor in modern life without ever reflecting on that fact that, had they insisted their right to enter the stacks without showing a properly stamped and validated ID, armed men would have been summoned to physically remove them, using whatever force might be required.”, (Graeber, 2015) +> “This is what makes it possible, for example, for graduate students to be able to spend days in the stacks of university libraries poring over Foucault-inspired theoretical tracts about the declining importance of coercion as a factor in modern life without ever reflecting on that fact that, had they insisted their right to enter the stacks without showing a properly stamped and validated ID, armed men would have been summoned to physically remove them, using whatever force might be required.” +> (Graeber, 2015) The genuine essence of education is not bureaucratic at all, neither does it have to fit and ground its foundations under a bureaucratic roof. “The pedagogical process runs counter to the hierarchical, impersonal qualities of bureaucracy” (Cunningham, 2017). However, people working in educational institutions acknowledge the fact that entrenched bureaucratic systems impose their material constraints on teaching structures and on how these actors in this process interact with each other.“Students and staff are treated as human capital” (Cunningham, 2017). This determination can dehumanize people involved, like when "faculty-as-labor" and "students-as-consumers" are marginalized and treated as just variables. +> “there is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time a document of barbarism” +> Walter Benjamin -“there is no -document -of civilisation -which is not -at the same time -a document -of barbarism” --Walter Benjamin- -(Pater, 2021) - +### the document -#### t h e d o c u m e n t From fences and armed police to nation-state mechanism of less-material bordering to bureaucracy to the elements of bureaucracy to the document itself as the minimum unit of an apparatus. Understanding and unhiding the violence of a form -violence materialized and at the same time camouflaged by the language structure, the vocabulary, the graphic design, their ability to render subjectivities that fit and don’t fit within the controlled territory of the lines of the form. A language that fragments, classifies, places and un-places. Thus bureaucratic apparatus is something more than a metaphor it is also a symbol. It is hard to see that there are many more layers beneath the purpose it propagates. A metaphor that is so perfectly materialized as well as naturalized that you cannot even see it. -#### b u r e a u c r a c y a s t e x t u a l i n s t i t u t i o n +#### bureaucracy as textual institution + The bureaucratic apparatus can be considered as something more than an infrastructure that organizes institutions, markets, states, etc. It can constitute itself an institution, a textual institution. As the factory generates commodities and sets them within a circuit of motion, bureaucracy generates documents and sets them throughout a communicative circuitry (Cunningham, 2017). An institution that organizes and (infra)structures other institutions and similarly reproduces itself through text. The materiality of a text document reflects the ideology of the interconnected institutions and their underlying bureaucratic systems. Language occupies a dual contradictory role as the foundational element of bureaucracy. Language can become a shroud to conceal the violence and reinforce hierarchical structures and simultaneously can be transformed into the rigid rational cell itself. They shape their own narratives, they reflect the institutional narratives. -#### t h e m y t h o f u n i v e r s a l i t y +#### the myth of universality + One of the great powers of bureaucracies is their ability to render themselves transparent. It seems that bureaucracy does not have to say anything more beyond itself, is self-referential and self-contained. It is boring or most likely is supposed to be boring. “One can describe the ritual surrounding it. One can observe how people talk about or react to it” (Graeber, 2015). The supposed universality of the form which is carefully constructed can be partly attributed to the individuality and impersonality of many bureaucratic processes. “Bureaucracies operate through an assemblage of hierarchy, impersonality, and procedure in order to complete organizational tasks with maximum efficiency” (Weber, as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p. 307). -I had to open a discussion with students from non-EEA (non European Economic Area) countries in order to understand that they have to conduct tuberculosis x-rays(14) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It seems that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening than bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the quality and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” of applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the universality of the bureaucratic form. +I had to open a discussion with students from non-EEA (non European Economic Area) countries in order to understand that they have to conduct tuberculosis x-rays“To keep the Residence Permit, some non-European students need to visit the Dutch Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the Netherlands. They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). This is a requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. (Introduction days, 2021) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It seems that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening than bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the quality and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” of applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the universality of the bureaucratic form. Undoubtedly the success of bureaucracy is drawn from its efficiency in relation to schematization as an efficient material quality. “Whether it’s a matter of forms, rules, statistics, or questionnaires, it is always a matter of simplification (Cunningham, 2017)”. Bureaucracies ignore the social existence of a person and fragment, classify and define them under specific perspectives. Why do they ask for this information instead of others? “Why place of birth and not, say, place where you went to grade school? What’s so important about the signature?” (Graeber, 2015) -#### m a t e r i a l i t y - u n d e r l y i n g v i o l e n c e +#### materiality-underlying violence + There is a great materiality in bureaucracies. Bureaucratic procedures are often compared to a labyrinth which appears as a similarly complex structure constituted by simple geometrical shapes (Weber, as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p.310). Bureaucratic documents can be complicated and multiple due to this infinite accumulation of really simple but at the same time contradictory elements. A constant juxtaposition of letters, symbols, stamps, signatures, paper, ink, barcodes, QR codes within a circuit of workers, interweaved and interconnected offices, repetitive performative tasks and rituals. Underneath every bureaucratic document, there is a good amount of graphic design labor. What kind of visual strategy is embedded in administrative objects that the design aspect of these artifacts appears to be invisible? The material decisions applied as well as the material constraints attributed to the document can transform or produce different textual meanings and consequently understandings. -“This does not mean that constraints limit meaning, but on the contrary, constitute it; meaning cannot appear where freedom is absolute or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised freedom”, (Roland Barthes, 1983) +> “This does not mean that constraints limit meaning, but on the contrary, constitute it; meaning cannot appear where freedom is absolute or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised freedom” +> (Roland Barthes, 1983) When I encountered the green logo of the municipality of Rotterdam I did not cultivate any feelings of enthusiasm or even boredom. A big calligraphic “R” with the flawless green ribbons that penetrate it on the left corner of a 229x162 mm standardized dimension folder with a transparent rectangle that reveals my inscribed name and surname from the inside part. I did not put any aesthetic critique over this but I rather felt this rush of stress for the expected response to my objection letter or a fine or a tax to be paid within a specific timeline cause another fine would come if I did not comply with this. One month ago (from the writing present), my friend Chae made for my birthday this amazing Dutch-government-like biscuit forms, recreating the entire layout of the document using the interface of a crunchy biscuit. She used the same color blue scheme and she placed the biscuit form inside the same standardized dimension folder 229x162 mm with the same transparent layer that reveals my name and surname. According to literary critic and theorist Katherine Hayles: -“to alter the physical form of the artifacts is to change the act of reading and understanding but mostly you transform the metaphoric and symbolic network that structures the relation of world to world. To change the material artifacts is to transform the context and circumstances for interacting with the words, which inevitably change the meaning of the word itself. This transformation of meaning is especially possible when the words interact with the inscription technologies that produce them” (Hayles, 2002). +> “to alter the physical form of the artifacts is to change the act of reading and understanding but mostly you transform the metaphoric and symbolic network that structures the relation of world to world. To change the material artifacts is to transform the context and circumstances for interacting with the words, which inevitably change the meaning of the word itself. This transformation of meaning is especially possible when the words interact with the inscription technologies that produce them” +> (Hayles, 2002) -In the latter case, the inscription technology used is the sugar blue paste and the handwriting of Chae. The text in the white-blue government document forces a different reading from the white-blue biscuit document, even if they carry the same bits of information. If I do not read carefully the text in the folder and if I do not act according to the suggested actions there is a threat. The level of threat varies in relation to the case, the identities of the holder, the state, the context, etc. There is no room for negotiation in bureaucracy and this is the omnipresent underlying violence. The threat of violence shrouded within its structures and foundations does not permit any questioning but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards them(15). Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they manage and coerce processes that reproduce docile and stupid behaviors. +In the latter case, the inscription technology used is the sugar blue paste and the handwriting of Chae. The text in the white-blue government document forces a different reading from the white-blue biscuit document, even if they carry the same bits of information. If I do not read carefully the text in the folder and if I do not act according to the suggested actions there is a threat. The level of threat varies in relation to the case, the identities of the holder, the state, the context, etc. There is no room for negotiation in bureaucracy and this is the omnipresent underlying violence. The threat of violence shrouded within its structures and foundations does not permit any questioning but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards themI am referring to those people subjecting others to bureaucratic circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well as people in positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these facts.. Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they manage and coerce processes that reproduce docile and stupid behaviors. ![The birthday biscuit that Chae made, re-creating the Dutch government form](../aglaia/chae_form.jpg) - -### v o c a l a r c h i v e s – t a l k i n g d o c u m e n t s +## vocal archives-talking documents This chapter is mainly a constellation of some prototypes I created while writing and coping with personal bureaucratic challenges. I provided some further space for my anxiety by unpacking and exploring the material conditions that nourished it within this timeline. An administrative decision on a case may not seem necessarily hurtful in linguistic terms. However, it can be injurious and severely threatening. By performing the bureaucratic archival material of my interactions with the government, I aim to draw a parallel narrative highlighting the bordering role of bureaucracy and the concealed underlying violence it perpetuates. A bureaucratic text does not just describe a reality, a decision, a case or an action, but on the contrary, it is capable of changing the reality or the order of things that is described via these words. Bureaucratic official documents are inherently performative. These texts regulate and bring situations into being. -My intention in transforming bureaucratic texts into “playable” scenarios is to explore how embodying these texts in public through collective speech(16) can provoke different forms of interpretations and open tiny conceptual holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be found in this apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, 1997). The performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - attempt to bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, acting- the discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly condemned into private individual spheres. +My intention in transforming bureaucratic texts into “playable” scenarios is to explore how embodying these texts in public through collective speechI imagine the theatrical play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech amplification device. A group of people performs the bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the corridor of the school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right across, outside of the municipality building. The term is borrowed from the protests of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were gathered around the speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in order to ensure that everyone could hear the announcements during large assemblies. Human bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden technology. In New York it is required to ask for permission from authorities to use “amplified sound” in public space. can provoke different forms of interpretations and open tiny conceptual holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be found in this apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, 1997). The performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - attempt to bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, acting- the discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly condemned into private individual spheres. How performing a collection of small bureaucratic stories can function as an instant micro intervention and potentially produce a public discourse. Where do we perform this speech, where and when does the “theater” take place? Who is the audience? I am particularly interested in the site-specificity of these “acts”. How can these re-enactments be situated in an educational context and examine its structures? Is it possible for this small-scale publics to provoke the emergence of temporal spaces of marginal vulnerable voicings? According to the agonistic approach of the political theorist Chantal Mouffe, critical art is art that provokes dissensus, that makes visible what the dominant narrative tends to undermine and displace. “It is constituted by a multiplicity of artistic practices aiming at giving a voice to all those who are silenced within the framework of the existing hegemony” (Mouffe, 2008). I started working and engaging more with different bureaucratic material that my peers and I encountered regularly or appeared in our (e)mail (in)boxes and are partly related to our identities as foreign students coming from different places. I chose to start touching and looking for various bureaucracies that surround me as a personal filter towards it. From identification documents and application forms to rental contracts, funding applications, visa applications, quality assurance questionnaires related to the university, assessment criteria, supermarket point gathering cards, receipts. A sequence of locked doors to be unlocked more or less easily via multiple bureaucratic keys. The methods and tools used to scrutinize the administrative artifacts are not rigid or distinct. It is mainly a “collection” of small bureaucratic experiments - closely related to language as well as the performative “nature” of these texts themselves. I was intrigued by how transforming the material conditions of a piece of text could influence the potential understandings and perceptions of its meaning. -#### p r o t o t y p e s +## prototypes #### 1. -Title: “Quality Assurance Questionnaire Censoring” -When: October 2023 -Where: XPUB studio wall -Who: myself +**Title:** “Quality Assurance Questionnaire Censoring” +**When:** October 2023 +**Where:** XPUB studio wall +**Who:** myself -Description: Some months ago my classmates and I received an email with a questionnaire aimed at preparing us for the upcoming quality assurance meeting within the school. Ada and I had a meeting, in an empty white room with closed doors, with an external collaborator of the university. The main request was to rate and answer the pre-formulated questions covering issues about performance, different and multiple topics related to the course, the teaching staff, the facilities, the tools provided. The micro linguistic experiment of highlighting, censoring and annotating this document aimed for an understanding of what a quality assurance meeting is within an educational institution. +**Description:** Some months ago my classmates and I received an email with a questionnaire aimed at preparing us for the upcoming quality assurance meeting within the school. Ada and I had a meeting, in an empty white room with closed doors, with an external collaborator of the university. The main request was to rate and answer the pre-formulated questions covering issues about performance, different and multiple topics related to the course, the teaching staff, the facilities, the tools provided. The micro linguistic experiment of highlighting, censoring and annotating this document aimed for an understanding of what a quality assurance meeting is within an educational institution. -Reflections-Thoughts: This experiment was my first attempt to start interrogating and observing the language and the structure of a bureaucratic document. How these “desired” standards propagated through text. What is the role of the student-client in these processes as an esoteric gaze of control over the course and their teachers? My focus was to locate and accumulate all the wording related to measurements, rate, quantity, assessments, statistics. Highlighting the disproportionate amount of metrics-related vocabulary was enough to craft the narrative around this process. +**Reflections-Thoughts:** This experiment was my first attempt to start interrogating and observing the language and the structure of a bureaucratic document. How these “desired” standards propagated through text. What is the role of the student-client in these processes as an esoteric gaze of control over the course and their teachers? My focus was to locate and accumulate all the wording related to measurements, rate, quantity, assessments, statistics. Highlighting the disproportionate amount of metrics-related vocabulary was enough to craft the narrative around this process. These 'rituals' are components of a larger “culture of evidence”, serving as a tool that blurs the distinction between discourse and reality (Cunningham, 2017). This culture of evidence influences how people perceive and understand information. The primary purposes of these metrics are twofold: they play a role in the marketing sphere, attracting potential students to the university as well as they are utilized in interactions and negotiations with the government, which increasingly cuts budgets allocated to universities. ![The linguistic experiment of the Quality Assurance Questionnaire Document](../aglaia/quality.jpg) - #### 2. -Title: “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration Customs Enforcement” -When: November 2023 -Where: Leeszaal(17) -Who: XPUB peers, tutors, friends, alumni +**Title:** “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration Customs Enforcement” +**When:** November 2023 +**Where:** LeeszaalCommunity Library in Rotterdam West +**Who:** XPUB peers, tutors, friends, alumni -Description: During the first public moment at Leeszaal, I decided to embody and enact the traditional role of a bureaucrat in a graphic and possibly absurd way performing a small “theatrical play”. I prepared a 3-page and a 1-page document incorporating bureaucratic-form aesthetics and requesting applicants’ fake data and their answers for questions related to educational bureaucracy. People receiving an applicant number at the entrance of Leeszaal, queuing to collect their documents from the administration “office”, filling forms, waiting, receiving stamps, giving fingerprints and signing, waiting again were the main components of this act. +**Description:** During the first public moment at Leeszaal, I decided to embody and enact the traditional role of a bureaucrat in a graphic and possibly absurd way performing a small “theatrical play”. I prepared a 3-page and a 1-page document incorporating bureaucratic-form aesthetics and requesting applicants’ fake data and their answers for questions related to educational bureaucracy. People receiving an applicant number at the entrance of Leeszaal, queuing to collect their documents from the administration “office”, filling forms, waiting, receiving stamps, giving fingerprints and signing, waiting again were the main components of this act. -Reflections-Thoughts: Beyond the information gathered through my bureaucratic-like questionnaires, the most crucial element of this experiment was the understanding and highlighting of the hidden performative elements that entrench these “rituals”. It was amazing seeing the audience becoming instantly actors of the play enacting willingly a administrative ritualistic scene. +**Reflections-Thoughts:** Beyond the information gathered through my bureaucratic-like questionnaires, the most crucial element of this experiment was the understanding and highlighting of the hidden performative elements that entrench these “rituals”. It was amazing seeing the audience becoming instantly actors of the play enacting willingly a administrative ritualistic scene. The provided context of this “play” was a social library hosting a masters course public event on graduation projects. I am wondering whether this asymphony between the repetitive bureaucratic acts within the space of Leeszaal, where such acts are not expected to be performed, evoked contradictory feelings or thoughts. Over-identifying with a role was being instrumentalized as an “interrogation” of one’s own involvement in the reproduction of social discourses, power, authority, hegemony. -![Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuing(18) to receive their documents and sign](../aglaia/queue.jpg) +![Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuing to receive their documents and sign. I was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area.](../aglaia/queue.jpg) ![One of the forms that the audience had to fill out during the Lesszaal event](../aglaia/mitsi.jpg) #### 3. -Title: “Passport Reading Session” -When: January 2024 -Where: XML – XPUB studio -Who: Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph +**Title:** “Passport Reading Session” +**When:** January 2024 +**Where:** XML – XPUB studio +**Who:** Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph -Description: This prototype is a collective passport reading session. I asked my classmates to bring their passports or IDs and sitting in a circular set up we attempted to “scan” our documents. Every contributor took some time to browse, annotate verbally, interpret, understand, analyze, vocalize their thoughts on these artifacts, approaching them from various perspectives. The three passports and one ID card were all coming from European countries. +**Description:** This prototype is a collective passport reading session. I asked my classmates to bring their passports or IDs and sitting in a circular set up we attempted to “scan” our documents. Every contributor took some time to browse, annotate verbally, interpret, understand, analyze, vocalize their thoughts on these artifacts, approaching them from various perspectives. The three passports and one ID card were all coming from European countries. -Reflections-Thoughts: For the first time I observed this object so closely. The documentation medium was a recording device, Ada’s mobile phone. The recording was transcribed by vosk(19) and myself and a small booklet of our passport readings was created. +**Reflections-Thoughts:** For the first time I observed this object so closely. The documentation medium was a recording device, Ada’s mobile phone. The recording was transcribed by voskVosk is an offline open-source speech recognition toolkit. and myself and a small booklet of our passport readings was created. -“So the object here is like not by random it comes from the history of nation-states and how nation-states and nationalities created like a form of identity. So nation-state is actually a recent invention that came into existence over the last two hundred fifty years in the form as we know it nowadays, in the form of democratic capitalism, before like monarchies and so on and each citizen of such a nation-state got also kind of a particular identity”, Joseph says about his ID card. +>“So the object here is like not by random it comes from the history of nation-states and how nation-states and nationalities created like a form of identity. So nation-state is actually a recent invention that came into existence over the last two hundred fifty years in the form as we know it nowadays, in the form of democratic capitalism, before like monarchies and so on and each citizen of such a nation-state got also kind of a particular identity”, +> Joseph says about his ID card. We read the embedded signs, symbols, categories, texts, magical numbers in our passports that construct our profiles. Seeing someone's passport, ID cards, visas, travel documents might mean that you are able to understand how easy or not is for them to move, what are their travel paths, how departure or arrival is smooth or cruel. Are there emotions along the way? For some people these are documents “that embody power — minimal or no waiting, peaceful departure, warm and confident arrival” (Khosravi, 2021). -[Part of the A6 booklet of the transcription of the passport readings session](../aglaia/passport1.png) +![Part of the A6 booklet of the transcription of the passport readings session](../aglaia/passport1.png) -[ ](../aglaia/passport2.png) +![ ](../aglaia/passport2.png) #### 4. -Title: “Postal Address Application Scenario” -When: February 2024 -Where: Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor -Who: XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, Leslie +**Title:** “Postal Address Application Scenario” +**When:** February 2024 +**Where:** Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor +**Who:** XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, Leslie -Description: This scenario is the first part of a series of small episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of my communication with the government. The body of the text of the “theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents as well as recordings of the conversation I had with the municipality throughout this process. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by discarding the graphic design of the initial form, I structured and repurposed the text into a scenario. The main actors were two bureaucrats vocalizing the questions addressed in the form, in turns and sometimes speaking simultaneously like a choir, three applicants answering the questions similarly while a narrator mainly provided the audience with the context and the storyline constructing the scenery of the different scenes. +**Description:** This scenario is the first part of a series of small episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of my communication with the government. The body of the text of the “theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents as well as recordings of the conversation I had with the municipality throughout this process. I preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by discarding the graphic design of the initial form, I structured and repurposed the text into a scenario. The main actors were two bureaucrats vocalizing the questions addressed in the form, in turns and sometimes speaking simultaneously like a choir, three applicants answering the questions similarly while a narrator mainly provided the audience with the context and the storyline constructing the scenery of the different scenes. The first and the last moment of the performance was during a semi-public tryout moment where XPUB peers performed the distributed scenario in a white room on the 4th floor of the Winjhaven building. They were seated having as a border a black long-table. A border furniture between the bureaucrats and the applicants. The narrator was standing still behind them while they were surrounded by the audience. The main documentation media of the act were a camera on a tripod, a recorder in the middle of the table and myself reconstructing the memory of the re-enactement at that present - 6 days later. -Reflections-Thoughts: Vocalizing and embodying the bureaucratic questions was quite useful in acknowledging the government’s voice and presence as something tangible rather than a floating, arbitrary entity. It was interesting observing the bureaucrats performing their role with confidence and entitlement, contrasting with the applicants who appeared to be more stressed to respond convincingly and promptly. There is a notable distinction between performativity and performance. Performing consciously and theatrically amplifying real bureaucratic texts by occupying roles and overidentifying with them can constitute a diffractive moment, a tool itself. From bureaucratic text to performative text scenarios to speech. The embedded (but rather unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative elements of these processes. +**Reflections-Thoughts:** Vocalizing and embodying the bureaucratic questions was quite useful in acknowledging the government’s voice and presence as something tangible rather than a floating, arbitrary entity. It was interesting observing the bureaucrats performing their role with confidence and entitlement, contrasting with the applicants who appeared to be more stressed to respond convincingly and promptly. There is a notable distinction between performativity and performance. Performing consciously and theatrically amplifying real bureaucratic texts by occupying roles and overidentifying with them can constitute a diffractive moment, a tool itself. From bureaucratic text to performative text scenarios to speech. The embedded (but rather unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative elements of these processes. -[A6 booklet of the first chapter of the “theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application documents and performed by XPUB peers](../aglaia/postal.png) +![A6 booklet of the first chapter of the “theatrical” scenario created out of the Postal Address Application documents and performed by XPUB peers](../aglaia/postal.png) +## conclusion -### c o n c l u s i o n +### next chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188 -#### next chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188 I expanded the “play” by incorporating additional “scenes” sourced again from the documents accompanying the ongoing “conversation with the government”. Two weeks after submitting my application for a short-term postal address [16/02/2024], I received a letter from the municipality stating their rejection of my request and warning me of potential fines if I fail to declare a valid address and provide a rental contract. After extensive communication with the municipality, I decided to respond to this decision by writing and sending an objection letter [19/02/2024]. The objections committee received my letter [21/02/2024], and after some days, they issued a confirmation letter outlining the following steps of the objection process which involves hearings with municipality lawyers and further investigation of my case. The textual components collaged for the next “episodes” are sourced from the transcribed recordings of my actual conversations with the municipality clerks, my objection letter, the confirmation documents including the steps I am required to take. My case has finished by this time. I withdrew my objection [7/03/2024] and I de-registered [11/03/2024] after a good amount of stress and precarity. My bureaucratic literature is meant to be read and voiced collectively. People’s bureaucratic literatures should be read and voiced collectively. My intention is to facilitate a series of collective performative readings of bureaucratic scenarios or other portable paperwork stories as a way of publishing and inspecting bureaucratic bordering infrastructures. The marginal voices of potential applicants are embodying and performing a role. “The speech does not only describe but brings things into existence” (Austin, 1975). I would like to stretch the limits of dramaturgical speech through vocalizing a document in public with others and turn an individual administrative case into a public one. How do the inscribed words in the documents are not descriptive but on the contrary “are instrumentalized in getting things done” (Butler, 1997). Words as active agents. I am inviting past and future applicants, traumatized students, injured bearers, bureaucratic border crossers, stressed expired document holders or just curious people to share, vocalize, talk through, read out loud, amplify, (un)name, unplace, dismantle the injurious words of these artifacts. -[ ](../aglaia/objection1.png) -[ ](../aglaia/objection2.png) +![ ](../aglaia/objection1.png) +![ ](../aglaia/objection2.png) #### “we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us”(20) + As I sit in the waiting area at the gate B7 in the airport preparing to come back to the Netherlands, I am writing the last lines of this text. I am thinking of all these borders and gates that my body was able to pass through smoothly, carrying my magical object through which I embody power- at least within this context. However, I yearn for a reality where we stop looking at those bodies that cross the multifaceted borders and get crossed and entrenched by them, but on the contrary we start interrogating and shouting at the contexts and the frameworks that construct them and render them invisible, natural and powerful. +## references +Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. + +Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books. + +Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. Oxford University Press, pp.83-93. + +Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. Translated by M. Ward and R. Howard. Hill & Wang. + +Border controls (2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls + +Borelli, C., Poy, A., and Rué, A. (2023). "Governing Asylum without 'Being There': Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of the State." *Social Sciences*, 12(3), 169. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169] + +Butler, J. (1997) Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. London, England: Routledge. + +Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: Migrants’ Lived Experience +of Paperwork, Clerks and Other Immigration Intermediaries”, University of Victoria + +Cunningham, J. (2017), “Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic University”, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA + +Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On technology, stupidity, and the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing + +Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, England: MIT Press. + +Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Available at: https://www.rotterdamuas.com/study-information/practical-information/international-introduction-days/Tuberculosis-test/ (Accessed: April 8, 2024). + +Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An Inquiry into Passports, Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society. + +Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An auto-ethnography of borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan. + +Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in Conversation. transcript Verlag. + +M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning borders, navigating colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), pp. 418–434. doi: 10.1177/0038026120905491. + +Malichudis, S. (2020) How the Aegean islands became a warehouse of souls, Solomon. Available at: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ (Accessed: April 7, 2024). -### s i d e n o t e s -1. I live somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations, examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick. -2. I use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit zone in the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe. -3. I perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place myself, my lived experiences, my identities, reflections in the (artistic) research and talk through them about structures and within the structures of social, cultural, political frameworks. -4. “Passports still function as a technology to control movement. Technologies like RFID chips and face recognition are part of a control system for digital state surveillance. Designing a passport is relative to design a surveillance tool. The analysis of passport designs rarely looks at the social consequences of identification, control, and restriction of movement, which can have violent consequences.” (Ruben Pater, 2021) -5. Working title of the project -6. For further reading: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ -7. One of the tactics for regulating or preventing the so-called unproductive hospitality is border control checks. According to the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, “the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (RNLM) combats cross-border crime and makes an important contribution to national security. Checks are still performed at the external borders of the Schengen area. In the Netherlands, this means guarding the European external border at airports and seaports, and along the coast. By participating in Frontex, the European border control agency, the RNLM makes an important contribution to the control of Europe’s external borders in other EU member states. There is one single EU external border.” (Border Controls, 2017) -8. I would like to refer to the practice of Harragas introduced by my friend Rabab as a counter-act of dealing or breaking or burning the multilayered borders. The burners or Harragas is a term alluding to the migrants’ practice of burning their identity papers and personal documents in order to prevent identification by authorities in Europe. Crucially this moving out is in defiance of the bureaucratic rules and their elaborate visa systems. Those who engage in harraga, ‘burn’ borders to enter European territories. “They do not, however, burn the bridges to the people and places they depart from. To these, they keep all kinds of links. For, as they burn borders, they don’t move away from their place of origin. Harraga is about expanding living space” (M’charek, 2020). -9. This is a transcribed recording of my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023, 15:05. -10. “*” means undecipherable -11. Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service -12. I am referring to the desirable potential destinations of migrants and refugees corresponding mainly to Global North countries. -13. In this text they insert the concept of the "coloniality of asylum" introduced by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are intertwined with colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are often colonial structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and reproducing patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, asylum is not just about offering protection but also about regulating and managing populations in a way that reflects colonial relationships. -14. “To keep the Residence Permit, some non-European students need to visit the Dutch Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the Netherlands. They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). This is a requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. (Introduction days, 2021) -15. I am referring to those people subjecting others to bureaucratic circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well as people in positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these facts. -16. I imagine the theatrical play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech amplification device. A group of people performs the bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the corridor of the school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right across, outside of the municipality building. -The term is borrowed from the protests of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were gathered around the speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in order to ensure that everyone could hear the announcements during large assemblies. Human bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden technology. In New York it is required to ask for permission from authorities to use “amplified sound” in public space. -17. Community Library in Rotterdam West -18. I was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area. -19. Vosk is an offline open-source speech recognition toolkit -20. US Immigrant Rights Movement Slogan (Keshavarz, 2016) - - - -### r e f e r e n c e s -Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. -Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books. -Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. Oxford University Press, pp.83-93. -Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. Translated by M. Ward and R. Howard. Hill & Wang. -Border controls (2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls -Borelli, C., Poy, A., and Rué, A. (2023). "Governing Asylum without 'Being There': Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of the State." *Social Sciences*, 12(3), 169. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169] -Butler, J. (1997) Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. London, England: Routledge. -Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: Migrants’ Lived Experience of Paperwork, Clerks and Other Immigration Intermediaries”, University of Victoria -Cunningham, J. (2017), “Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic University”, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA -Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On technology, stupidity, and the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing -Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, England: MIT Press. -Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Available at: https://www.rotterdamuas.com/study-information/practical-information/international-introduction-days/Tuberculosis-test/ (Accessed: April 8, 2024). -Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An Inquiry into Passports, Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society. -Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An auto-ethnography of borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan. -Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in Conversation. transcript Verlag. -M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning borders, navigating colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), pp. 418–434. doi: 10.1177/0038026120905491. -Malichudis, S. (2020) How the Aegean islands became a warehouse of souls, Solomon. Available at: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ (Accessed: April 7, 2024). McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other stories. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. -Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4 -Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took hold of graphic design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz. -Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : mobility, autonomy and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee crisis. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. \ No newline at end of file + +Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4 + +Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took hold of graphic design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz. + +Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : mobility, autonomy and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee crisis. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. diff --git a/backplaces/.DS_Store b/backplaces/.DS_Store index 739c954..99039f6 100644 Binary files a/backplaces/.DS_Store and b/backplaces/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/backplaces/README.html b/backplaces/README.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e1db5e --- /dev/null +++ b/backplaces/README.html @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

backplaces

+

hi

+
+ + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/desktop b/desktop new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04536d4 Binary files /dev/null and b/desktop differ diff --git a/img/blue.png b/img/blue.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..63858aa Binary files /dev/null and b/img/blue.png differ diff --git a/img/green.png b/img/green.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..210d590 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/green.png differ diff --git a/img/purple.png b/img/purple.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd5497b Binary files /dev/null and b/img/purple.png differ diff --git a/img/red.png b/img/red.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ca8244 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/red.png differ diff --git a/img/yellow.png b/img/yellow.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cee343 Binary files /dev/null and b/img/yellow.png differ diff --git a/index.html b/index.html index 11fe65c..2ec1b0f 100644 --- a/index.html +++ b/index.html @@ -1,8 +1,91 @@ + + - vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl 2 + + + vulnerable interfaces + + + - Experimental Publishing 2024 - The index for the website - test - \ No newline at end of file + + +
+

xpub 22–24

+

vulnerable interfaces

+
+ + +
+

Introduction

+

Act 1.

+

Scene 1.

+

Internal. A visitor holds a website in their hands. The first page of + the website is opened, the visitor holds it to their face and smells the + paper, touches it. The website touches them back.

+

the website (whispering in the visitor’s ear): Being + vulnerable means being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to + handle stories with care. By publicly sharing and processing our + narratives, we take ownership of our experiences while contributing to a + collective voice. Even when we incorporate stories from others, our + names remain attached to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, + Stephen. We have created interfaces highlighting the balance between + communal sharing, individual responsibility and awareness.

+

the visitor: Interfaces?

+

the website: Interfaces are boundaries that connect and + separate. They’re the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface + can be an act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be + vulnerable together, to share our stories with and through each other. I + am a collection of these interfaces.

+

the visitor (confused): What do you mean a + collection, like a catalogue?

+

the website: Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the + works we created during…

+

the visitor: we?

+

the website: …I mean the four of us, the students of + Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until + today, June 2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote + four theses and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and + cut it and grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, + we brewed muddy coffee and bootlegged books.

+

(The website tears up).

+

Finishing a Master’s is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this website + is a gentle archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to + us.

+

the visitor (sarcasm): do you have a tissue, im soooo + touched.

+

the website: malaka, just read me.

+
+
+ + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/introduction/index.html b/introduction/index.html index 123f97c..d4237f4 100644 --- a/introduction/index.html +++ b/introduction/index.html @@ -9,48 +9,64 @@ -

Act 1. Scene 1.

-

Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of the -book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the paper, -touches it. The book touches them back.

-

the book (whispering in the reader’s ear): Being vulnerable means -being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to handle stories -with care. By publicly sharing and processing our narratives, we take -ownership of our experiences while contributing to a collective voice. -Even when we incorporate stories from others, our names remain attached -to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, Stephen. We have -created interfaces highlighting the balance between communal sharing, -individual responsibility and awareness.

-

the reader: Interfaces?

-

the book: Interfaces are boundaries that connect and separate. -They’re the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface can be an -act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be vulnerable -together, to share our stories with and through each other. I am a -collection of these interfaces.

-

the reader (confused): What do you mean a collection, like a -catalogue?

-

the book: Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the works we created -during…

-

the reader: we?

-

the book: …I mean the four of us, the students of Experimental -Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until today, June -2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote four theses -and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and cut it and -grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, we brewed -muddy coffee and bootlegged books. (The book tears up) Finishing a -Master’s is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book is a gentle -archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to us.

-

the reader (sarcastically): do you have a tissue, im soooo +

Introduction

+

Act 1.

+

Scene 1.

+

Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of +the book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the +paper, touches it. The book touches them back.

+

the book (whispering in the reader’s ear): Being +vulnerable means being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to +handle stories with care. By publicly sharing and processing our +narratives, we take ownership of our experiences while contributing to a +collective voice. Even when we incorporate stories from others, our +names remain attached to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, +Stephen. We have created interfaces highlighting the balance between +communal sharing, individual responsibility and awareness.

+

the reader: Interfaces?

+

the book: Interfaces are boundaries that connect and +separate. They’re the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface +can be an act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be +vulnerable together, to share our stories with and through each other. I +am a collection of these interfaces.

+

the reader (confused): What do you mean a +collection, like a catalogue?

+

the book: Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the +works we created during…

+

the reader: we?

+

the book: …I mean the four of us, the students of +Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until +today, June 2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote +four theses and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and +cut it and grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, +we brewed muddy coffee and bootlegged books.

+

(The book tears up).

+

Finishing a Master’s is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book +is a gentle archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to +us.

+

the reader (sarcasm): do you have a tissue, im soooo touched.

-

the book: malaka, just read me already!

+

the book: malaka, just read me.

\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/introduction/index.md b/introduction/index.md index d0f3d2a..c87138b 100644 --- a/introduction/index.md +++ b/introduction/index.md @@ -3,35 +3,40 @@ title: Introduction author: --- -Act 1. -Scene 1. +# Introduction +## Act 1. +### Scene 1. -Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of the book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the paper, touches it. The book touches them back. +*Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of the book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the paper, touches it. The book touches them back.* -the book (whispering in the reader's ear): +**the book (whispering in the reader's ear):** Being vulnerable means being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to handle stories with care. By publicly sharing and processing our narratives, we take ownership of our experiences while contributing to a collective voice. Even when we incorporate stories from others, our names remain attached to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, Stephen. We have created interfaces highlighting the balance between communal sharing, individual responsibility and awareness. -the reader: +**the reader:** Interfaces? -the book: +**the book:** Interfaces are boundaries that connect and separate. They're the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface can be an act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be vulnerable together, to share our stories with and through each other. I am a collection of these interfaces. -the reader (confused): +**the reader (confused):** What do you mean a collection, like a catalogue? -the book: +**the book:** Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the works we created during... -the reader: +**the reader:** we? -the book: -...I mean the four of us, the students of Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until today, June 2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote four theses and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and cut it and grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, we brewed muddy coffee and bootlegged books. (The book tears up) Finishing a Master's is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book is a gentle archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to us. +**the book:** +...I mean the four of us, the students of Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until today, June 2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote four theses and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and cut it and grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, we brewed muddy coffee and bootlegged books. -the reader (sarcastically): +(The book tears up). + +Finishing a Master's is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book is a gentle archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to us. + +**the reader (sarcasm):** do you have a tissue, im soooo touched. -the book: -malaka, just read me already! +**the book:** +malaka, just read me. diff --git a/irmak/fictionfriction.CR3 b/irmak/fictionfriction.png similarity index 61% rename from irmak/fictionfriction.CR3 rename to irmak/fictionfriction.png index 3c69d53..474f5ba 100644 Binary files a/irmak/fictionfriction.CR3 and b/irmak/fictionfriction.png differ diff --git a/irmak/index.html b/irmak/index.html index e08cddf..6009576 100644 --- a/irmak/index.html +++ b/irmak/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

Wink!

A Prototype @@ -28,16 +40,13 @@ consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for elementary school children.

-
A tag made by a participant in the public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches to certain emotions/states for a bee - From the event at Leeszaal West, experimenting with knots and poetry. How can we see movement in text? - From the event at Leeszaal West. Some of the results of knotting text. - -
+

Working as a children’s literature editor for years, I came to a realisation that picture books were turning into another object that kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed @@ -48,13 +57,11 @@ for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But moreover a “book” that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with. So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and named it, “Bee Within”.

-
Example page from the print version of the picture book. - Example page from the print version of the picture book. - -
+

Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences @@ -64,39 +71,30 @@ to the fear of forgetting which I now think is a great and sweet battle between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the world.

-
Example page from the print version of the picture book. - Example page from the print version of the picture book. - -
-

Over the past two years, I've been experimenting with storytelling techniques, - interactivity options and workshops with children and adults, around - reading and doing various exercises on Bee Within. I improved the story - to be a more playful and interactive one which can be re-read, re-played - and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all children. It - serves as a beginning for a longer research.

-
- Over the past two years, experimenting with storytelling techniques, +interactivity options and workshops with children and adults, around +reading and doing various exercises on Bee Within, I improved the story +to be a more playful and interactive one which can be re-read, re-played +and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all children. +

+

The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within by clicking to hear more about Gray the tree. -

Click game story of the Queen Bee that is reachable within Maya's main storyline. - -
+

-Here is some more documentation from the beggining of this journey towards +Here is some documentation from the beggining of this journey towards making accesible interactive narratives…

-
- A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within. - Fiction Friction cards from SI20, working on storytelling of collective traumas. - -
+

\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/irmak/index.md b/irmak/index.md index c6a6886..972f340 100644 --- a/irmak/index.md +++ b/irmak/index.md @@ -9,22 +9,33 @@ author: Irmak ### A Prototype for Interactive Children's Literature Wink is a prototype for an interactive picture book platform. This platform aims to make reading into a mindfull and thought provoking process by using interactive and playful elements, multiple stories within one narrative and sound elements. Especially today where consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for elementary school children. -!["a tag made by a participant in the public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches to certain emotions/states for a bee"](../irmak/'improvJPG'.jpg) + +!["a tag made by a participant in the public moment at XPUB studio. Trying to understand different approaches to certain emotions/states for a bee"](../irmak/improv.JPG) + !["From the event at Leeszaal West, experimenting with knots and poetry. How can we see movement in text?"](../irmak/leeszaalknotpoems.jpg) + !["From the event at Leeszaal West. Some of the results of knotting text"](../irmak/knotpoems2.jpg) + Working as a children's literature editor for years, I came to a realisation that picture books were turning into another object that kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed in Turkey. Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new books constantly or were tired of rereading the same book. As a young person in the publishing sector, I believe there should be more options for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But moreover a "book" that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with. So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and named it, "Bee Within". + !["Example page from the print version of the picture book."](../irmak/print3.jpg) + !["Example page from the print version of the picture book."](../irmak/print4.jpg) Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences of loss. In the end, I believe the story turned out to be an ode to remembering or might I say an ode to not being able to forget or an ode to the fear of forgetting which I now think is a great and sweet battle between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the world. -!["example page from the picture book"](../irmak/print1.jpg) -!["example page from the picture book"](../irmak/print2.jpg) + +!["example page from the picture book"](../irmak/print1p.jpg) + +!["example page from the picture book"](../irmak/printp2.jpg) Over the past two years, experimenting with storytelling techniques, interactivity options and workshops with children and adults, around reading and doing various exercises on Bee Within, I improved the story to be a more playful and interactive one which can be re-read, re-played and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all children. !["The twine map of text based story, reachable from Bee Within by clicking to hear more about Gray the tree."](../irmak/twine.png) + !["Click game story of the Queen Bee that is reachable within Maya's main storyline."](clickgame.png) Here is some more documentation from the beggining of this journey towards making accesible interactive narratives... + !["A small sequence of onclick animation for Bee Within"](../irmak/animationseq.png) + !["Fiction Friction cards from SI20, working on storytelling of collective traumas"](../irmak/fictionfriction.CR3) diff --git a/irmak/leeszaal knot poems.jpg b/irmak/leeszaalknotpoems.jpg similarity index 100% rename from irmak/leeszaal knot poems.jpg rename to irmak/leeszaalknotpoems.jpg diff --git a/irmak/thesis.html b/irmak/thesis.html index a712ddd..9578156 100644 --- a/irmak/thesis.html +++ b/irmak/thesis.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

Fair Leads

@@ -45,7 +57,8 @@ invention of flying -which required a wing that was supported using certain types of knotswas initiated with the knowledge of how to use strings to make things, why wouldn’t a research paper make use of this wonderful art as an inspiration for writing and interactive reading?

-

KNOTS AS OBJECTS TO THINK WITH

+

KNOTS AS OBJECTS TO THINK +WITH

There is a delicate complexity of thinking of and with knots, which ignites layers of simultaneous connections to one’s specific experience; where one person may associate the knots with struggles they face, @@ -55,7 +68,7 @@ when they think of knots. There were some words in common like strong, chaotic, confusing and anxious. On the other hand, there were variations of connection, binding, bridge and support. Keeping these answers in mind or by coming up with your words on knots and embodying them in the -practice of reading would make a difference in how you understand the +practice of reading would make a diff erence in how you understand the same text.

Seeing how these words, interpretations of a physical object were so -different to each other was transcendental. In this thesis, I am +diff erent to each other was transcendental. In this thesis, I am excited to share my understanding of knots with you. My three words for knots are resistance, imagination and infinity. Keeping these in mind, I experimented with certain reading modes as you will see later on.

@@ -175,7 +188,6 @@ ownexperiences/motivations. Hitches which are knots that are formed around a solid object, such as a spar, post, or ring will be representing the evidence or data I have collected on the subject. We move on now with the working end and make some loops!

-

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR STRING?

This map will reveal your mode of reading. The order of reading will be indicated with a loop sign Please hold a string in your hand as you read the text and make knots or loops as you weave through the reading @@ -188,6 +200,7 @@ order, according to their color/mode.

knot words from Leeszaal +can follow to read the thesis.

Working End

Why am I doing this?

My desire to write a children’s book about grief and memory ignited diff --git a/irmak/thesis.md b/irmak/thesis.md index 3cf52b3..7c3a13d 100644 --- a/irmak/thesis.md +++ b/irmak/thesis.md @@ -503,8 +503,8 @@ the bees were buzzing all around. “The kid” usually sat near the tree, on th performers’ lap or hugged them). Overall only 2 groups used the option to say a sentence which were, -“I want to go on an adventure” -“I don’t wanna leave Gray(the tree)” +> “I want to go on an adventure” +> “I don’t wanna leave Gray(the tree)” This was a good feedback for me because I realized they are very perceptive of actions and facial expressions rather than words. diff --git a/print/.DS_Store b/print/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab78faf Binary files /dev/null and b/print/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/print/booklet.template.html b/print/booklet.template.html index 6d93f49..4708f5a 100644 --- a/print/booklet.template.html +++ b/print/booklet.template.html @@ -10,29 +10,28 @@

+

Contents

    {% for title in titles %} {% if loop.index > 0 %}
  • {{ title }}
    • + {% if (loop.index == 1) or (loop.index == 9) %} +
    +
    + {% endif %} {% endif %} {% endfor %}
-
- {{ content[0] }} - - {% for section in content %} - {% if loop.index > 1 %} - -
- {{ section }} -
- {% endif %} + {% for section in content %} + {% if loop.index > 0 %} +
+ {{ section }} +
+ {% endif %} {% endfor %}
- \ No newline at end of file + diff --git a/print/images.css b/print/images.css index 0599804..07b6757 100644 --- a/print/images.css +++ b/print/images.css @@ -2,8 +2,24 @@ img{ width: 100%; } +figcaption{ + font-size: 7pt; + width: 85mm; + margin-left: 0mm; + line-height: 3mm; + font-weight: 500; + position: absolute; + bottom: 0mm; + margin-top: 1.5mm; +} figure{ - margin: 5mm 0; + width: 110mm; + margin: 0 0 0 -15mm; + break-before: page; + break-after: page; + height: 155mm; +} +figure img{ } .full-image{ break-before: right; @@ -61,4 +77,4 @@ figure{ .centered-text > *{ width: 100%; text-align: center; -} \ No newline at end of file +} diff --git a/print/index.html b/print/index.html index 42abdb5..1c3bc29 100644 --- a/print/index.html +++ b/print/index.html @@ -10,198 +10,146 @@
+

Contents

-
-

Act 1. Scene 1.

-

Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of the -book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the paper, -touches it. The book touches them back.

-

the book (whispering in the reader’s ear): Being vulnerable means -being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to handle stories -with care. By publicly sharing and processing our narratives, we take -ownership of our experiences while contributing to a collective voice. -Even when we incorporate stories from others, our names remain attached -to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, Stephen. We have -created interfaces highlighting the balance between communal sharing, -individual responsibility and awareness.

-

the reader: Interfaces?

-

the book: Interfaces are boundaries that connect and separate. -They’re the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface can be an -act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be vulnerable -together, to share our stories with and through each other. I am a -collection of these interfaces.

-

the reader (confused): What do you mean a collection, like a -catalogue?

-

the book: Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the works we created -during…

-

the reader: we?

-

the book: …I mean the four of us, the students of Experimental -Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until today, June -2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote four theses -and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and cut it and -grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, we brewed -muddy coffee and bootlegged books. (The book tears up) Finishing a -Master’s is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book is a gentle -archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to us.

-

the reader (sarcastically): do you have a tissue, im soooo + + +

+

Introduction

+

Act 1.

+

Scene 1.

+

Internal. A reader holds a book in their hands. The first page of +the book is opened, the reader holds it to their face and smells the +paper, touches it. The book touches them back.

+

the book (whispering in the reader’s ear): Being +vulnerable means being transparent, open and brave, trusting others to +handle stories with care. By publicly sharing and processing our +narratives, we take ownership of our experiences while contributing to a +collective voice. Even when we incorporate stories from others, our +names remain attached to this collective creation: Ada, Aglaia, Irmak, +Stephen. We have created interfaces highlighting the balance between +communal sharing, individual responsibility and awareness.

+

the reader: Interfaces?

+

the book: Interfaces are boundaries that connect and +separate. They’re the spaces that fill the void between us. An interface +can be an act, a story, a keyboard, a cake; It allows us to be +vulnerable together, to share our stories with and through each other. I +am a collection of these interfaces.

+

the reader (confused): What do you mean a +collection, like a catalogue?

+

the book: Yeah I guess. I weave the words and the +works we created during…

+

the reader: we?

+

the book: …I mean the four of us, the students of +Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute. From 2022 until +today, June 2024, we published three special issues together. We wrote +four theses and made four graduation projects. We grew our hair out and +cut it and grew it again and dyed it. We cared and cried for each other, +we brewed muddy coffee and bootlegged books.

+

(The book tears up).

+

Finishing a Master’s is a bit of a heavy moment for us and this book +is a gentle archive, a memory of things that have been beautiful to +us.

+

the reader (sarcasm): do you have a tissue, im soooo touched.

-

the book: malaka, just read me already!

- -
- - - - - -
-

Backplaces

-

adadesign.nl/backplaces
-Hi.
-I made this play for you. It is a question, for us to hold together.

-

Is all intimacy about bodies? What is it about our bodies that makes -intimacy? What happens when our bodies distance intimacy from us? This -small anthology of poems and short stories lives with these -questions—about having a body without intimacy and intimacy without a -body. This project is also a homage to everyone who has come before and -alongside me, sharing their vulnerability and emotions on the Internet. -I called the places where these things happen backplaces. They are -small, tender online rooms where people experiencing societally -uncomfortable pain can find relief, ease, and transcendence.
-

-

I made three backplaces for you to see, click, and feel: Solar -Sibling, Hermit Fantasy, and Cake Intimacies. Each of these is the -result of its own unique performance or project. Some of the stories I -will share carry memories of pain—both physical and emotional. As you -sit in the audience, know I am with you, holding your hand through each -scene. If the performance feels overwhelming at any point, you have my -full permission to step out, take a break, or leave. This is not -choreographed, and I care deeply for you.
-

-

Solar Sibling is an online performance of shared loss about leaving -and siblings. This project used comments people left on TikTok poetry. I -extracted the emotions from these comments, mixed them with my own, and -crafted them into poems. It is an ongoing performance, ending only when -your feelings are secretly whispered to me. When you do, by typing into -the comment box, your feelings are sent to me and the first act closes -as the sun rises.
-

-

Hermit Fantasy is a short story about a bot who wants to be a hermit. -Inspired by an email response from a survey I conducted about receiving -emotional support on the Internet, this story explores the contradiction -of being online while wanting to disconnect. As an act it’s a series of -letters, click by click.
-

-

The first letter.

-

Cake Intimacies is a performance that took a year to bring together. -It is a small selection of stories people told me and I held to memory -and rewrote here. The stories come from two performances I hosted. -First, I asked participants to eat cake, sitting facing or away from -each other and sharing their stories about cake and the Internet. The -second performance was hosted at the Art Meets Radical Openness -Festival, as part of the Turning of the Internet workshop. For this -performance, I predicted participants’ future lives on the Internet -using felted archetypes and received stories from their Internet past in -return. Now the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling -that tells a story, merging the bodily with the digital and making a -mess of it all.
-

-

-

The play ends as all plays do. The curtains close, the website stays -but the stories will never sound the same. For the final act, I give you -the stories. It’s one last game, one last joke to ask my question again. -Digital intimacies about the digital, our bodies and the cakes we eat. -For the last act, I ask you to eat digital stories. To eat a comment, to -eat a digital intimacy. Sharing an act of physical intimacy with -yourself and with me, by eating sweets together. Sweets about digital -intimacies that never had a body. There is no moral, no bow to wrap the -story in. A great big mess of transcendence into the digital, of -intimacy and of bodies. The way it always is. Thankfully.
-

+

the book: malaka, just read me.

-
+ + - - - -
-

<?water bodies>

+ +
+

<?water bodies>

A narrative exploration of divergent digital intimacies

-

Water, stories, the body, all the things we do, are mediums that hide -and show what’s hidden. (Rumi, 1995 translation)

+
+

Water, stories, the body,
+all the things we do, are
+mediums
+that hide and show what’s
+hidden.
+(Rumi, 1995 translation)

+

꙳for you

All intimacy is about bodies. Is this true? Does it matter? I doubt it. Do you know? Let’s find out, maybe.

@@ -250,13 +198,24 @@ choreographed and I care deeply for you.

I love you and hope you see what I saw in these stories.

Safe dreams now, I will talk to you soon.

0. DIGITAL BODIES

-

I think the worst must be finished. Whether I am right, don’t tell -me. Don’t tell me. No ringlet of bruise, no animal face, the waters salt -me and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season of still tongues, of -roses on nightstands beside crushed beer cans. I leave you white sand -and scraped knees. I leave this myth in which I am pig, whose death is -empty allegory. I leave, I leave— At the end of this story, I walk into -the sea and it chooses not to drown me. (Yun, 2020)

+
+

“I think the worst must be finished.
+Whether I am right, don’t tell me.
+Don’t tell me.
+No ringlet of bruise,
+no animal face, the waters salt me
+and I leave it barefoot. I leave you, season
+of still tongues, of roses on nightstands
+beside crushed beer cans. I leave you
+white sand and scraped knees. I leave
+this myth in which I am pig, whose
+death is empty allegory. I leave, I leave—
+At the end of this story,
+I walk into the sea
+and it chooses
+not to drown me.”
+(Yun, 2020)

+

a. what is a digital body?

A digital body is a body on the Internet. A body outside the internet is simply a body. On the internet, discussions about corporeality @@ -334,8 +293,8 @@ emphasizing their tangible bodily experiences. The community’s claim to authenticity thus had to lie in the physical experiences of its members— the visible bodies and hearable voices, the weddings, births, and funerals (1993).You’re dreaming again, -good.
Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice?
Is -my voice a sound? Could it be a feeling?

+good. Would you feel closer to me if you could hear my voice? Is my +voice a sound? Could it be a feeling?

Even then, and even by people with no interest in undermining the value of the virtual, the distinction between physical and virtual was confusing. Rheingold himself reinforces the boundary of body relations @@ -395,7 +354,8 @@ Together with another member, they programmed a bot that posted randomly characteristic comments from Mandel on The Well—the Mandelbot. In the topic he had opened to say goodbye, he posted this message about the bot:

-

I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the truth, one +

+

“I had another motive in opening this topic to tell the truth, one that winds its way through almost everything I’ve done online in the five months since my cancer was diagnosed. I figured that, like everyone else, my physical self wasn’t going to survive forever and I guess I was @@ -403,8 +363,9 @@ going to have less time than actuarials allocateus [actually allocated]. But if I could reach out and touch everyone I knew on-line… I could toss out bits and pieces of my virtual self and the memes that make up Tom Mandel, and then when my body died, I wouldn’t really have to leave… -Large chunks of me would also be here, part of this new space. (Hafner, +Large chunks of me would also be here, part of this new space.” (Hafner, 1997)

+

With the Mandelbot, Mandel found a way to deal with what he later called his grieving for the community, with which he could not play anymore once his own body died. By doing so, he was starting to blend @@ -425,9 +386,11 @@ persona.

In a tribute posted after his death, fellow Well member and journalist Andrew Leonard tried to convey his own sense of blended physicality and emotion.

-

Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online community, but on +

+

“Sneer all you want at the fleshlessness of online community, but on this night, as tears stream down my face for the third straight evening, -it feels all too real. (Andrew Leonard, 1995)

+it feels all too real.” (Andrew Leonard, 1995)

+

c. bot-feelings

An internet body has bot-feelings if allowed to. Let me explain.

A bot functions as a different entity from a cyborg, as it does not @@ -512,9 +475,12 @@ possibility inherent in the human experience.

The only laws: Be radiant. Be heavy. Be green.

Tonight, the dead light up your mind like an image of your mind on a scientist’s screen. ‘The scientists don’t know – and too much.’

-

In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy like the heart -of an artichoke), a man dances cheek-to-cheek with the infinite blue. +

+

“In the town square, in the heart of night (a delicacy like the heart +of an artichoke), a man dances cheek-to-cheek with the infinite +blue.”
(Schwartz, 2022)

+

a. comfort care

Let’s care for this digital body. I’ll feed it virtual vegetables while you wipe away the wear of battery fatigue. And why not encourage @@ -598,10 +564,13 @@ specificities in atypicality, of course, but also the distinctions between me as the writer and them as the writer. You as the reader and you as the community. Me and you, as a whole. Both exist, both separate but in what is not of such importance.

-

Though many of these systems are different, fundamentally, we can see -similarities in the structure of their data. It’s very easy to find -differences. What’s more interesting is to find out what’s similar. (Chu -& Dunkel , 2021)

+
+

“Though many of these systems are different, fundamentally, we can +see similarities in the structure of their data. It’s very easy to find +differences. What’s more interesting is to find out what’s +similar.”
+(Chu & Dunkel, 2021)

+

Individuals who forge and inhabit these communities, fostering tender, intimate connections amongst themselves, are not deviant but rather divergent. Deviance involves bifurcation, a split estuary from @@ -829,7 +798,7 @@ body, is yet to be told.

each other stories just outside the room. We don’t have so much time left. I have made you something, to tell your digital body the stories of the leaving and loving body. It is a webpage, the address is -adadesign.nl/backplaces.

+https://vulnerable-interfaces.xpub.nl/backplaces/.

You open the page, and you are asked to write the characters you see in a captcha. E5qr7. eSq9p. 8oc8y. Fuck. You try not to panic, but you know you have been detected.

@@ -877,135 +846,151 @@ doi:10.1177/1440783313486220.

University of Nebraska Press.

<?/water bodies>

-
- +
+ - - -
-

Talking Documents

-

+ +
+

Backplaces

+

adadesign.nl/backplaces
+

+

Hi.
+I made this play for you. It is a question, for us to hold together.

+

Is all intimacy about bodies? What is it about our bodies that makes +intimacy? What happens when our bodies distance intimacy from us? This +small anthology of poems and short stories lives with these +questions—about having a body without intimacy and intimacy without a +body. This project is also a homage to everyone who has come before and +alongside me, sharing their vulnerability and emotions on the Internet. +I called the places where these things happen backplaces. They are +small, tender online rooms where people experiencing societally +uncomfortable pain can find relief, ease, and transcendence.
+

+

I made three backplaces for you to see, click, and feel: Solar +Sibling, Hermit Fantasy, and Cake Intimacies. Each of these is the +result of its own unique performance or project. Some of the stories I +will share carry memories of pain—both physical and emotional. As you +sit in the audience, know I am with you, holding your hand through each +scene. If the performance feels overwhelming at any point, you have my +full permission to step out, take a break, or leave. This is not +choreographed, and I care deeply for you.
+

- - + +
-

This project appeared as a need to explore potential bureaucratic -dramaturgies within the educational institution I was part as a student. -I was curious about educational bureaucratic mechanisms being driven by -smaller-scale paperwork struggles and peers’ narratives, stories and -experiences. However, unexpected emergencies - due to my eviction on the -31st of January 2024 - placed centrally my personal struggles unfolded -in parallel with the making period. I ended up conducting accidentally -auto-ethnography as the project was dynamically being reshaped due to -the material constraints of the bureaucratic timeline.

-

Talking Documents are performative bureaucratic text inspections that -intend to create temporal public interventions through performative -readings. I utilized the paperwork interface of my smaller-scale story -in order to unravel and foreground questions related to the role of -bureaucracy as less material border and as a regulatory mechanism -reflecting narratives, ideologies, policies.

-

Central element of this project is a seven-act scenario that -construct my personal paperwork story, unraveling the actual struggles -of my communication with the government. The body of the text of the -“theatrical” script is sourced from the original documents, email -threads as well as recordings of the conversations with the municipality -of Rotterdam I documented and archived throughout this period. I -preserved the sequence of the given sentences and by discarding the -graphic design of the initial forms, I structured and repurposed the -text into a playable scenario.

+

Solar Sibling is an online performance of shared loss about leaving +and siblings. This project used comments people left on TikTok poetry. I +extracted the emotions from these comments, mixed them with my own, and +crafted them into poems. It is an ongoing performance, ending only when +your feelings are secretly whispered to me. When you do, by typing into +the comment box, your feelings are sent to me and the first act closes +as the sun rises.
+

- - + +
-

- - + +
-

-

I perceive the document as a unit and as the fundamental symbolic -interface of the bureaucratic network. The transformation of the -materiality of a document into a scenario to be enacted collectively in -public aims to examine these artifacts and highlight the shrouded -performative elements of these processes.

-

I see the collective readings of these scenarios as a way of instant -publishing and as a communal tool of inspecting bureaucratic bordering -infrastructures. How can these re-enactments be situated in different -institutional contexts and examine their structures? I organized a -series of performative readings of my own bureaucratic literature in -different spaces and contexts, pubic and semi-public WDKA, Art Meets -Radical Openness Festival in Linz, the City Hall of Rotterdam where I -invited people to perform the play together, like a tiny theater.

+

Hermit Fantasy is a short story about a bot who wants to be a hermit. +Inspired by an email response from a survey I conducted about receiving +emotional support on the Internet, this story explores the contradiction +of being online while wanting to disconnect. As an act it’s a series of +letters, click by click.
+

+
+The first letter. + +
+
+The second letter. + +
+

Cake Intimacies is a performance that took a year to bring together. +It is a small selection of stories people told me and I held to memory +and rewrote here. The stories come from two performances I hosted. +First, I asked participants to eat cake, sitting facing or away from +each other and sharing their stories about cake and the Internet. The +second performance was hosted at the Art Meets Radical Openness +Festival, as part of the Turning of the Internet workshop. For this +performance, I predicted participants’ future lives on the Internet +using felted archetypes and received stories from their Internet past in +return. Now the stories are here, each of them a cake with a filling +that tells a story, merging the bodily with the digital and making a +mess of it all.
+

- - + +
-

- - + +
+

The play ends as all plays do. The curtains close, the website stays +but the stories will never sound the same. For the final act, I give you +the stories. It’s one last game, one last joke to ask my question again. +Digital intimacies about the digital, our bodies and the cakes we eat. +For the last act, I ask you to eat digital stories. To eat a comment, to +eat a digital intimacy. Sharing an act of physical intimacy with +yourself and with me, by eating sweets together. Sweets about digital +intimacies that never had a body. There is no moral, no bow to wrap the +story in. A great big mess of transcendence into the digital, of +intimacy and of bodies. The way it always is. Thankfully.
+

-The garden of Gemeente - + +
-

The marginal voices of potential applicants are embodying and -enacting a role. “The speech does not only describe but brings things -into existence”(Austin, 1975). My intention was to stretch the limits of -dramaturgical speech through vocalizing a document and turn individual -administrative cases into public ones. How do the inscribed words in the -documents are not descriptive but on the contrary “are instrumentalized -in getting things done”(Butler,1997). Words as active agents. Bodies as -low-tech “human microphones”. A group of people performs the -bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the corridor of the -school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right across, outside -of the municipality building.

-

I documented and recorded these public acts and I re-created the -collectively voiced scenario. This audio piece is a constellation of -different recordings and soundscapes of these public moments, a vocal -archive, published in the graduation exhibition of XPUB in 2024.

-
+
+ - - - -
-

Performing the + +
+

Performing the Bureaucratic Border(line)s

-

i n t r o d u c t i o n

-

This thesis is an assemblage(1) of thoughts, experiences, -interpretations, intuitive explorations of what borders are, attempting -to unleash a conversation concerning the entangled relation between -material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I unravel empirically the -thread of how borders as entities are manifested and (de)established. -How does the lived experience of crossing multiple borders change and -under what conditions?

-

The eastern Mediterranean borderland(2), I happened to come from, -proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders towards specific ethnic -groups. The embodied experience of borders and practices of (im)mobility -change radically depending on the various identities of the people -crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I started more actively -perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered border. I was wondering -how this situation is shifted and transformed moving towards the -European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and how it could be -perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - a camouflaged -border?

+

introduction

+

This thesis is an assemblageI live +somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, citations, +examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to myself, to +the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to the text. I +shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented thoughts, flying +words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and inspiration given by +the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine McKittrick. of +thoughts, experiences, interpretations, intuitive explorations of what +borders are, attempting to unleash a conversation concerning the +entangled relation between material injurious borders and bureaucracy. I +unravel empirically the thread of how borders as entities are manifested +and (de)established. How does the lived experience of crossing multiple +borders change and under what conditions?

+

The eastern Mediterranean borderlandI +use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit zone in +the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe., I +happened to come from, proves to be one of Europe’s deadly borders +towards specific ethnic groups. The embodied experience of borders and +practices of (im)mobility change radically depending on the various +identities of the people crossing them. As I moved to the Netherlands I +started more actively perceiving bureaucracy as another multi-layered +border. I was wondering how this situation is shifted and transformed +moving towards the European North. What is the role of bureaucracy and +how it could be perceived as a mechanism of repulsion for some bodies - +a camouflaged border?

But what is my starting point and where does my precarious body fit within the borders that I am touching? The language of the administrative document is rigid and hurtful but myself lies between the @@ -1017,18 +1002,29 @@ choose to structure my argument and talk through a personal process that is being unfolded in parallel with the writing period. Accordingly, these words are dynamically being reshaped due to the material constraints of the bureaucratic timeline. A more distant approach became -personal and tangible with auto-ethnographical(3) elements as I was -trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these thresholds and fit -the A4 document lines.

+personal and tangible with auto-ethnographicalI perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place +myself, my lived experiences, my identities, reflections in the +(artistic) research and talk through them about structures and within +the structures of social, cultural, political frameworks. +elements as I was trying to squish myself and my urgencies under these +thresholds and fit the A4 document lines.

I would like at this point to acknowledge and state explicitly my privilege recognizing the different levels of otherness produced by the several bordering mechanisms. My European machine-readable passport as a designed artifact dictates and facilitates the easiness of my mobility. In other (many) cases the lack of it creates profoundly a severe -barrier(4). I do not intend in any respect to compare my case to the -lived experiences and struggles of migrants and refugees. I utilize the -paperwork interface of my smaller-scale story in order to unravel and -foreground the aforementioned questions.

+barrier“Passports still function as a +technology to control movement. Technologies like RFID chips and face +recognition are part of a control system for digital state surveillance. +Designing a passport is relative to design a surveillance tool. The +analysis of passport designs rarely looks at the social consequences of +identification, control, and restriction of movement, which can have +violent consequences.” (Ruben Pater, 2021). I do not intend +in any respect to compare my case to the lived experiences and struggles +of migrants and refugees. I utilize the paperwork interface of my +smaller-scale story in order to unravel and foreground the +aforementioned questions.

This thesis is very much indebted to some text-vehicles that mobilized my reflections and nourished the writing process. “Illegal Traveller, an autoethnography of borders” and “Waiting, a Project in @@ -1068,18 +1064,20 @@ through performative readings. The intention is to underline how the vocalization of bureaucracies as a tool can potentially reveal their territorial exclusive function and provide space for the invisible vulnerability.

-
-

“on the other side is the river and I cannot cross it on the other -side is the sea I cannot bridge it” (Parra, cited by Anzaldua, 1987, -p.139)

-

b o r d e r s

+
+

“on the other side is the river
+and I cannot cross it
+on the other side is the sea
+I cannot bridge it”
+(Anzaldua, 1987)

+
+

borders

How a border is defined? How, as an entity, does it define? How is it performed? I used to think of borders in a material concrete way, coming from a country of the European South that constitutes a rigid, violent border that repulses and kills thousands of migrants and refugees. In the following chapter, I will attempt to explore the terrain of material borders in relation to bureaucracy as another multi-layered filter.

-

[Front-facing camera at self-counter in LIDL]

What constitutes a border? Is it a wall, a line, a fence, a machine, a door, an armed body or a wound on the land? When somebody crosses a border are they consciously aware of the act of crossing? I am crossing @@ -1108,8 +1106,7 @@ bordering device that demonstrates in a way itself. Crossing and borders are inherently defined in relation to each other. “Where there is a border, there is also a border crossing, legal as well as illegal” (Khosravi, 2010).

-

c o n d i t i o n a -l h o s p i t a l i t y

+

conditional hospitality

I started thinking about hospitality as a cultural behavior and as an inseparable term in the context of borders due to a recent personal bureaucratic experience. Hospitality can be instrumentalized to describe @@ -1133,13 +1130,21 @@ permission for a short-term postal address while declaring the addresses of my current hosts [4/02/2024]. I gathered the required documents, I processed a 9-page-text and another one with the personal data of my hosts and myself and answered questions about:

-

why don’t I have a house, who are the people who host me, what is my -relationship with them, where do I sleep, where do I store my -belongings, how many people are hosting me and accordingly their -personal data, for how long, why I cannot register there, what days of -the week do I stay in the one house and what days do I stay in the other -house, whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and what is -the tangible proof of my search?

+
+

why don’t I have a house,
+who are the people who host me,
+what is my relationship with them,
+where do I sleep,
+where do I store my belongings,
+how many people are hosting me and accordingly their personal +data,
+for how long,
+why I cannot register there,
+what days of the week do I stay in the one house and
+what days do I stay in the other house,
+whether and how am I searching for a permanent place and
+what is the tangible proof of my search?

+

All these questions provoked thinking around the concept of conditional hospitality as a behavior of the state towards strangers. I can see that on a smaller scale it is being applied to the hospitality I @@ -1152,10 +1157,12 @@ seems that forms of knowledge are inseparably related to forms of power. It will take 8 weeks for my request to be processed and for the government to approve or reject if I deserve my friends’ hospitality.

+

“Today as yesterday, her land and her time are stolen, only because -she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late” (Khosravi, -2021)

-

w a i t i n g

+she is told that she has arrived too late. Much too late”
+(Khosravi, 2021)

+
+

waiting

Waiting can be considered as a dramaturgical means embedded in bureaucratic procedures that camouflage power relations through the manipulation of people’s time. When people are in the middle of a @@ -1196,8 +1203,10 @@ Greek context portrayed as an “ideal” intertwined with the nation-building narrative and as a foundational quality - product by the Greek tourist industry. However, the Greek sea has been an endless refugee graveyard and the eastern Aegean islands a “warehouse of -souls”(6) for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality -applies primarily to those who invest in and consume.

+souls”For further reading: +https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ +for the last many years. In this case, conditional hospitality applies +primarily to those who invest in and consume.

Hospitality can function as a filtration mechanism that permits access – lets in – the ones who deserve it, those who have “passports, valid visas, adequate bank statements, or invitations” (Khosravi, 2010). @@ -1212,8 +1221,7 @@ unconditionally accepted, only at this moment, we are able to imagine the “political and ethical survival of humankind” (Agamben, 2000). Hospitality does not seem a matter of choice but a profound urgency, if humanity desires to foster a future together.

-

“ t h e r i g h t t o h -a v e r i g h t s ”

+

“the right to have rights”

(Arendt, as cited by Khosravi, 2010, p.121) What about the crossers who managed to travel and reach the desirable “there”, the ones who transcended the borders and the control checks of the ministries of @@ -1239,19 +1247,28 @@ essentially citizens’ rights, human rights are tied to the nation-state system. Consequently, human rights can be materialized only in a political community. “Loss of citizenship also means loss of human rights” (Khosravi, 2010)

-

“…(9) I am here for the rights of the children which haven’t be in -the taking part in the education since they have undocumented mothers -and they are more than (10) years. I am here to represent mothers -who are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are -you trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here -to express my frustration with IND(11). So frustrated. And I will not -stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law where -everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where everybody -feels We, undocumented people, we don’t feel a sense of belonging -from the system.”

-
-

b u r -e a u c r a c y a s i m m a t e r i a l b o r d e r

+
+

“…This is a transcribed recording of +my phone during a protest on migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I +insert part of the speech of a Palestinian woman addressing the matter +of undocumentedness. Date and time of the recording 18th of June 2023, +15:05. I am here for the rights of the children which +haven’t be in the taking part in the education since they have +undocumented mothers and they are more than +“” means +undecipherable years. I am here to represent mothers who +are looking for a place to have a sense of belonging or how long are you +trying to continue humiliating them and the female gender. I am here to +express my frustration with INDImmigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch +Immigration and Naturalisation Service. So frustrated. And +I will not stop talking about democracy. Democracy is the rule of law +where everybody feels included. Democracy is a rule of law where +everybody feels * We, undocumented people, we don’t feel a sense of +belonging from the system.”

+
+

bureaucracy as immaterial +border

Apart from the rigid visible borders, bureaucracy related to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can also constitute an in-between less visible borderland. I used to perceive bureaucracy as an immaterial @@ -1276,18 +1293,26 @@ otherness. Accordingly, I see bureaucracy as a practice that raises material and symbolic walls for specific groups of people who are rendered unwanted and unwelcome because they dared to cross the borders of the Global North. It is as if they could never manage to eventually -arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”(12). “In -these bordering processes, we can detect the “coloniality of asylum”(13) +arrive and shelter their lives within the desirable “there”I am referring to the desirable potential +destinations of migrants and refugees corresponding mainly to Global +North countries.. “In these bordering processes, we can +detect the “coloniality of asylum”In this +text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” introduced +by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are intertwined with +colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are often colonial +structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and reproducing +patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, asylum is not +just about offering protection but also about regulating and managing +populations in a way that reflects colonial relationships. (Borelli, Poy, Rué, 2023). Bureaucracies in practice act as filters, determining who, from an institutional standpoint, deserves to receive protection and who does not. They operate as systems that classify non-citizens and place them in a social hierarchy of disproportionate unequal obligations, lack of rights and access to institutional support.

-

h -i g h e r e d u c a t i o n ’s e x p a n d i n g b u r e a u c r a c -y

+

higher education’s +expanding bureaucracy

While I had this inherent concern about borders and bureaucratic structures in relation to migration, I decided to start zooming in and explore my own bureaucratic surroundings through my personal lens. As a @@ -1308,6 +1333,7 @@ institutions lies in the level of unawareness regarding surveillance via multiple bureaucratic rituals that (re)produce docile behaviors. How these mechanisms are masked and standing in the margins of the visible nonvisible sphere.

+

“This is what makes it possible, for example, for graduate students to be able to spend days in the stacks of university libraries poring over Foucault-inspired theoretical tracts about the declining importance @@ -1315,7 +1341,9 @@ of coercion as a factor in modern life without ever reflecting on that fact that, had they insisted their right to enter the stacks without showing a properly stamped and validated ID, armed men would have been summoned to physically remove them, using whatever force might be -required.”, (Graeber, 2015)

+required.”
+(Graeber, 2015)

+

The genuine essence of education is not bureaucratic at all, neither does it have to fit and ground its foundations under a bureaucratic roof. “The pedagogical process runs counter to the hierarchical, @@ -1327,9 +1355,12 @@ other.“Students and staff are treated as human capital” (Cunningham, 2017). This determination can dehumanize people involved, like when “faculty-as-labor” and “students-as-consumers” are marginalized and treated as just variables.

+

“there is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time a -document of barbarism” -Walter Benjamin- (Pater, 2021)

-

t h e d o c u m e n t

+document of barbarism”
+Walter Benjamin

+
+

the document

From fences and armed police to nation-state mechanism of less-material bordering to bureaucracy to the elements of bureaucracy to the document itself as the minimum unit of an apparatus. Understanding @@ -1342,8 +1373,8 @@ bureaucratic apparatus is something more than a metaphor it is also a symbol. It is hard to see that there are many more layers beneath the purpose it propagates. A metaphor that is so perfectly materialized as well as naturalized that you cannot even see it.

-

b -u r e a u c r a c y a s t e x t u a l i n s t i t u t i o n

+

bureaucracy as textual +institution

The bureaucratic apparatus can be considered as something more than an infrastructure that organizes institutions, markets, states, etc. It can constitute itself an institution, a textual institution. As the @@ -1358,8 +1389,7 @@ element of bureaucracy. Language can become a shroud to conceal the violence and reinforce hierarchical structures and simultaneously can be transformed into the rigid rational cell itself. They shape their own narratives, they reflect the institutional narratives.

-

t h e m y t h o f u n -i v e r s a l i t y

+

the myth of universality

One of the great powers of bureaucracies is their ability to render themselves transparent. It seems that bureaucracy does not have to say anything more beyond itself, is self-referential and self-contained. It @@ -1373,11 +1403,16 @@ order to complete organizational tasks with maximum efficiency” (Weber, as cited by Cunningham, 2017, p. 307).

I had to open a discussion with students from non-EEA (non European Economic Area) countries in order to understand that they have to -conduct tuberculosis x-rays(14) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It -seems that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening -than bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the -quality and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” -of applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the +conduct tuberculosis x-rays“To keep the +Residence Permit, some non-European students need to visit the Dutch +Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the Netherlands. +They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). This is a +requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. (Introduction +days, 2021) when they arrive in the Netherlands. It seems +that for the Dutch state, their bodies might be more threatening than +bodies coming from a European country. The relativization in the quality +and the quantity of paperwork requested from different “groups” of +applicants in a specific context deconstructs the myth of the universality of the bureaucratic form.

Undoubtedly the success of bureaucracy is drawn from its efficiency in relation to schematization as an efficient material quality. “Whether @@ -1388,8 +1423,8 @@ define them under specific perspectives. Why do they ask for this information instead of others? “Why place of birth and not, say, place where you went to grade school? What’s so important about the signature?” (Graeber, 2015)

-

m a -t e r i a l i t y - u n d e r l y i n g v i o l e n c e

+

materiality-underlying +violence

There is a great materiality in bureaucracies. Bureaucratic procedures are often compared to a labyrinth which appears as a similarly complex structure constituted by simple geometrical shapes @@ -1405,10 +1440,13 @@ administrative objects that the design aspect of these artifacts appears to be invisible? The material decisions applied as well as the material constraints attributed to the document can transform or produce different textual meanings and consequently understandings.

+

“This does not mean that constraints limit meaning, but on the contrary, constitute it; meaning cannot appear where freedom is absolute -or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised freedom”, +or nonexistent: the stem of meaning is that of a supervised +freedom”
(Roland Barthes, 1983)

+

When I encountered the green logo of the municipality of Rotterdam I did not cultivate any feelings of enthusiasm or even boredom. A big calligraphic “R” with the flawless green ribbons that penetrate it on @@ -1426,6 +1464,7 @@ biscuit. She used the same color blue scheme and she placed the biscuit form inside the same standardized dimension folder 229x162 mm with the same transparent layer that reveals my name and surname. According to literary critic and theorist Katherine Hayles:

+

“to alter the physical form of the artifacts is to change the act of reading and understanding but mostly you transform the metaphoric and symbolic network that structures the relation of world to world. To @@ -1433,7 +1472,9 @@ change the material artifacts is to transform the context and circumstances for interacting with the words, which inevitably change the meaning of the word itself. This transformation of meaning is especially possible when the words interact with the inscription -technologies that produce them” (Hayles, 2002).

+technologies that produce them”
+(Hayles, 2002)

+

In the latter case, the inscription technology used is the sugar blue paste and the handwriting of Chae. The text in the white-blue government document forces a different reading from the white-blue biscuit @@ -1444,17 +1485,21 @@ relation to the case, the identities of the holder, the state, the context, etc. There is no room for negotiation in bureaucracy and this is the omnipresent underlying violence. The threat of violence shrouded within its structures and foundations does not permit any questioning -but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards them(15). -Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they manage and coerce -processes that reproduce docile and stupid behaviors.

+but on the contrary creates “willful blindness” towards themI am referring to those people subjecting others to +bureaucratic circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well +as people in positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these +facts.. Bureaucracies are not stupid inherently rather they +manage and coerce processes that reproduce docile and stupid +behaviors.

The birthday biscuit that Chae made, re-creating the Dutch government form
-

v o c -a l a r c h i v e s – t a l k i n g d o c u m e n t s

+

vocal archives-talking +documents

This chapter is mainly a constellation of some prototypes I created while writing and coping with personal bureaucratic challenges. I provided some further space for my anxiety by unpacking and exploring @@ -1472,13 +1517,24 @@ Bureaucratic official documents are inherently performative. These texts regulate and bring situations into being.

My intention in transforming bureaucratic texts into “playable” scenarios is to explore how embodying these texts in public through -collective speech(16) can provoke different forms of interpretations and -open tiny conceptual holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be -found in this apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, -1997). The performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - -attempt to bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, -acting- the discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly -condemned into private individual spheres.

+collective speechI imagine the theatrical +play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech amplification device. A group +of people performs the bureaucratic scenario in chorus, out loud, in the +corridor of the school’s building, in the main hall, at the square right +across, outside of the municipality building. The term is borrowed from +the protests of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were +gathered around the speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in +order to ensure that everyone could hear the announcements during large +assemblies. Human bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden +technology. In New York it is required to ask for permission from +authorities to use “amplified sound” in public space. can +provoke different forms of interpretations and open tiny conceptual +holes. “The meaning of a performative act is to be found in this +apparent coincidence of signifying and enacting” (Butler, 1997). The +performative bureaucratic utterances - the vocal documents - attempt to +bring into existence -by overidentifying, exaggerating, acting- the +discomfort, the threat, the violence which is mainly condemned into +private individual spheres.

How performing a collection of small bureaucratic stories can function as an instant micro intervention and potentially produce a public discourse. Where do we perform this speech, where and when does @@ -1509,10 +1565,13 @@ experiments - closely related to language as well as the performative “nature” of these texts themselves. I was intrigued by how transforming the material conditions of a piece of text could influence the potential understandings and perceptions of its meaning.

-

p r o t o t y p e s

+

prototypes

1.

-

Title: “Quality Assurance Questionnaire Censoring” When: October 2023 -Where: XPUB studio wall Who: myself

+

Title: “Quality Assurance Questionnaire +Censoring”
+When: October 2023
+Where: XPUB studio wall
+Who: myself

Description: Some months ago my classmates and I received an email with a questionnaire aimed at preparing us for the upcoming quality assurance meeting within the school. Ada and I had a meeting, in an @@ -1548,9 +1607,12 @@ alt="The linguistic experiment of the Quality Assurance Questionnaire Document" Assurance Questionnaire Document

2.

-

Title: “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration Customs -Enforcement” When: November 2023 Where: Leeszaal(17) Who: XPUB peers, -tutors, friends, alumni

+

Title: “Department of Bureaucracy and Administration +Customs Enforcement”
+When: November 2023
+Where: LeeszaalCommunity +Library in Rotterdam West
+Who: XPUB peers, tutors, friends, alumni

Description: During the first public moment at Leeszaal, I decided to embody and enact the traditional role of a bureaucrat in a graphic and possibly absurd way performing a small “theatrical play”. I prepared a @@ -1576,9 +1638,13 @@ instrumentalized as an “interrogation” of one’s own involvement in the reproduction of social discourses, power, authority, hegemony.

+alt="Leeszaal West Rotterdam - November 2023 – People queuingI was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined area. to receive their documents and sign" /> +People queuingI was thinking of queues as +a spatial oppressive tool used often by (bureaucratic) authorities. The +naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line waiting for “something” to happen +at “some point” under the public gaze in an efficiently defined +area. to receive their documents and sign
One of the forms that the audience had to fill out during the Lesszaal even fill out during the Lesszaal event</figcaption> </figure> <h4 id=3.

-

Title: “Passport Reading Session” When: January 2024 Where: XML – -XPUB studio Who: Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph

+

Title: “Passport Reading Session”
+When: January 2024
+Where: XML – XPUB studio
+Who: Ada, Aglaia, Stephen, Joseph

Description: This prototype is a collective passport reading session. I asked my classmates to bring their passports or IDs and sitting in a circular set up we attempted to “scan” our documents. Every contributor @@ -1598,15 +1666,20 @@ from various perspectives. The three passports and one ID card were all coming from European countries.

Reflections-Thoughts: For the first time I observed this object so closely. The documentation medium was a recording device, Ada’s mobile -phone. The recording was transcribed by vosk(19) and myself and a small -booklet of our passport readings was created.

+phone. The recording was transcribed by voskVosk is an offline open-source speech recognition +toolkit. and myself and a small booklet of our passport +readings was created.

+

“So the object here is like not by random it comes from the history of nation-states and how nation-states and nationalities created like a form of identity. So nation-state is actually a recent invention that came into existence over the last two hundred fifty years in the form as we know it nowadays, in the form of democratic capitalism, before like monarchies and so on and each citizen of such a nation-state got also -kind of a particular identity”, Joseph says about his ID card.

+kind of a particular identity”,
+Joseph says about his ID card.

+

We read the embedded signs, symbols, categories, texts, magical numbers in our passports that construct our profiles. Seeing someone’s passport, ID cards, visas, travel documents might mean that you are able @@ -1615,13 +1688,18 @@ paths, how departure or arrival is smooth or cruel. Are there emotions along the way? For some people these are documents “that embody power — minimal or no waiting, peaceful departure, warm and confident arrival” (Khosravi, 2021).

-

Part of the A6 booklet of the -transcription of the passport readings session

-

+
+ + +
+

4.

-

Title: “Postal Address Application Scenario” When: February 2024 -Where: Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor Who: XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, -Leslie

+

Title: “Postal Address Application Scenario”
+When: February 2024
+Where: Room in Wijnhaven Building, 4th floor
+Who: XPUB 1,2,3, tutors, Leslie

Description: This scenario is the first part of a series of small episodes that construct a bureaucratic story unfolding the processes of my communication with the government. The body of the text of the @@ -1659,13 +1737,17 @@ unconscious) performativity of “real” bureaucratic rituals establishes and empowers (bureaucratic) institutions through repetitive acts. These theatrical moments attempt to highlight the shrouded performative elements of these processes.

-

A6 booklet of the first chapter of the +

+ +
+

conclusion

+

next -chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188

+chapters of the case with reference number A.B.2024.4.03188

I expanded the “play” by incorporating additional “scenes” sourced again from the documents accompanying the ongoing “conversation with the government”. Two weeks after submitting my application for a short-term @@ -1702,8 +1784,8 @@ future applicants, traumatized students, injured bearers, bureaucratic border crossers, stressed expired document holders or just curious people to share, vocalize, talk through, read out loud, amplify, (un)name, unplace, dismantle the injurious words of these artifacts.

-

+

“we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us”(20)

As I sit in the waiting area at the gate B7 in the airport preparing @@ -1716,143 +1798,62 @@ multifaceted borders and get crossed and entrenched by them, but on the contrary we start interrogating and shouting at the contexts and the frameworks that construct them and render them invisible, natural and powerful.

-

s i d e n o t e s

-
    -
  1. I live somewhere in the margins of scattered references, footnotes, -citations, examinations embracing the inconvenience of talking back to -myself, to the reader and to all those people whose ideas gave soul to -the text. I shelter in the borderlands of the pages my fragmented -thoughts, flying words, introspections, voices. Enlightenment and -inspiration given by the text “Dear Science” written by Katherine -McKittrick.
    2. -
  2. I use the word borderland to refer to Greece as a (mostly) transit -zone in the migrants’ and refugees’ route towards Europe.
    3. -
  3. I perceive auto-ethnography as a way to place myself, my lived -experiences, my identities, reflections in the (artistic) research and -talk through them about structures and within the structures of social, -cultural, political frameworks.
    4. -
  4. “Passports still function as a technology to control movement. -Technologies like RFID chips and face recognition are part of a control -system for digital state surveillance. Designing a passport is relative -to design a surveillance tool. The analysis of passport designs rarely -looks at the social consequences of identification, control, and -restriction of movement, which can have violent consequences.” (Ruben -Pater, 2021)
    5. -
  5. Working title of the project
    6. -
  6. For further reading: -https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/
    7. -
  7. One of the tactics for regulating or preventing the so-called -unproductive hospitality is border control checks. According to the -website of the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, “the Royal -Netherlands Marechaussee (RNLM) combats cross-border crime and makes an -important contribution to national security. Checks are still performed -at the external borders of the Schengen area. In the Netherlands, this -means guarding the European external border at airports and seaports, -and along the coast. By participating in Frontex, the European border -control agency, the RNLM makes an important contribution to the control -of Europe’s external borders in other EU member states. There is one -single EU external border.” (Border Controls, 2017)
    8. -
  8. I would like to refer to the practice of Harragas introduced by my -friend Rabab as a counter-act of dealing or breaking or burning the -multilayered borders. The burners or Harragas is a term alluding to the -migrants’ practice of burning their identity papers and personal -documents in order to prevent identification by authorities in Europe. -Crucially this moving out is in defiance of the bureaucratic rules and -their elaborate visa systems. Those who engage in harraga, ‘burn’ -borders to enter European territories. “They do not, however, burn the -bridges to the people and places they depart from. To these, they keep -all kinds of links. For, as they burn borders, they don’t move away from -their place of origin. Harraga is about expanding living space” -(M’charek, 2020).
    9. -
  9. This is a transcribed recording of my phone during a protest on -migration at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I insert part of the speech of a -Palestinian woman addressing the matter of undocumentedness. Date and -time of the recording 18th of June 2023, 15:05.
    10. -
  10. “*” means undecipherable
    11. -
  11. Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst - Dutch Immigration and -Naturalisation Service
    12. -
  12. I am referring to the desirable potential destinations of migrants -and refugees corresponding mainly to Global North countries.
    13. -
  13. In this text they insert the concept of the “coloniality of asylum” -introduced by Picozza, which talks about how asylum systems are -intertwined with colonial legacies and power dynamics. These systems are -often colonial structures reinforcing hierarchies between nations and -reproducing patterns of domination and oppression. In this framework, -asylum is not just about offering protection but also about regulating -and managing populations in a way that reflects colonial -relationships.
    14. -
  14. “To keep the Residence Permit, some non-European students need to -visit the Dutch Public Health Authority (GGD) after they arrived in the -Netherlands. They will undergo a medical test for tuberculosis (TB). -This is a requirement from the IND (Dutch Immigration Office)”. -(Introduction days, 2021)
    15. -
  15. I am referring to those people subjecting others to bureaucratic -circles shaped by structurally violent situations as well as people in -positions of privilege who deliberately ignore these facts.
    16. -
  16. I imagine the theatrical play as a “human microphone”, a low-tech -amplification device. A group of people performs the bureaucratic -scenario in chorus, out loud, in the corridor of the school’s building, -in the main hall, at the square right across, outside of the -municipality building. The term is borrowed from the protests of the -Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011. People were gathered around the -speaker repeating what the speaker was saying in order to ensure that -everyone could hear the announcements during large assemblies. Human -bodies became a hack in order to replace the forbidden technology. In -New York it is required to ask for permission from authorities to use -“amplified sound” in public space.
    17. -
  17. Community Library in Rotterdam West
    18. -
  18. I was thinking of queues as a spatial oppressive tool used often by -(bureaucratic) authorities. The naturalized image of bodies-in-a-line -waiting for “something” to happen at “some point” under the public gaze -in an efficiently defined area.
    19. -
  19. Vosk is an offline open-source speech recognition toolkit
    20. -
  20. US Immigrant Rights Movement Slogan (Keshavarz, 2016)
    21. -
-

r e f e r e n c e s

+

references

Agamben, G. (2000) Means without end: Notes on politics. Minneapolis, -MN: University of Minnesota Press. Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la -Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books. -Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. -Oxford University Press, pp.83-93. Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. -Translated by M. Ward and R. Howard. Hill & Wang. Border controls -(2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: -https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls Borelli, C., Poy, A., -and Rué, A. (2023). “Governing Asylum without ‘Being There’: Ghost -Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of the State.” -Social Sciences, 12(3), 169. [DOI: -https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169] Butler, J. (1997) Excitable -speech: A politics of the performative. London, England: Routledge. -Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: +MN: University of Minnesota Press.

+

Anzaldua, G. (1987) Borderlands - la Frontera: The new mestiza. 2nd +ed. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.

+

Austin, J. L. (1975) “lECTURE VII”, in How to do things with words. +Oxford University Press, pp.83-93.

+

Barthes, R. (1983) Fashion system. Translated by M. Ward and R. +Howard. Hill & Wang.

+

Border controls (2017) Defensie.nl. Available at: +https://english.defensie.nl/topics/border-controls

+

Borelli, C., Poy, A., and Rué, A. (2023). “Governing Asylum without +‘Being There’: Ghost Bureaucracy, Outsourcing, and the Unreachability of +the State.” Social Sciences, 12(3), 169. [DOI: +https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030169]

+

Butler, J. (1997) Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. +London, England: Routledge.

+

Cretton, V., Geoffrion, K. (2021). “Bureaucratic Routes to Migration: Migrants’ Lived Experience of Paperwork, Clerks and Other Immigration -Intermediaries”, University of Victoria Cunningham, J. (2017), -“Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic University”, University of -Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On -technology, stupidity, and the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: -Melville House Publishing Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, -England: MIT Press. Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of -Applied Sciences. Available at: +Intermediaries”, University of Victoria

+

Cunningham, J. (2017), “Rhetorical Tension in Bureaucratic +University”, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

+

Graeber, D. (2015) The utopia of rules: On technology, stupidity, and +the secret joys of bureaucracy. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House +Publishing

+

Hayles, N. K. (2002) Writing Machines. London, England: MIT +Press.

+

Introduction days (2021) Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. +Available at: https://www.rotterdamuas.com/study-information/practical-information/international-introduction-days/Tuberculosis-test/ -(Accessed: April 8, 2024). Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An -Inquiry into Passports, Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of -Culture and Society. Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An -auto-ethnography of borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave -Macmillan. Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in -Conversation. transcript Verlag. M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning -borders, navigating colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), -pp. 418–434. doi: 10.1177/0038026120905491. Malichudis, S. (2020) How -the Aegean islands became a warehouse of souls, Solomon. Available at: +(Accessed: April 8, 2024).

+

Keshavarz, M. (2016) Design-Politics: An Inquiry into Passports, +Camps and Borders. Malmö University, Faculty of Culture and Society.

+

Khosravi, S. (2010) “illegal” traveller: An auto-ethnography of +borders. 2010th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

+

Khosravi, S. (ed.) (2021) Waiting - A Project in Conversation. +transcript Verlag.

+

M’charek, A. (2020) “Harraga: Burning borders, navigating +colonialism,” The sociological review, 68(2), pp. 418–434. doi: +10.1177/0038026120905491.

+

Malichudis, S. (2020) How the Aegean islands became a warehouse of +souls, Solomon. Available at: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-aegean-islands-became-a-warehouse-of-souls/ -(Accessed: April 7, 2024). McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other -stories. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and -Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public -Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4 Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took -hold of graphic design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, -Netherlands: Valiz. Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : -mobility, autonomy and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee -crisis. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

+(Accessed: April 7, 2024).

+

McKittrick, K. (2021) Dear science and other stories. Durham, NC: +Duke University Press.

+

Mouffe, C. (2008) ‘Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic +Internvention’. Open:14 Art as a Public Issue, No.14 (2008), p.4

+

Pater, R. (2021) Caps lock: How capitalism took hold of graphic +design, and how to escape from it. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Valiz.

+

Picozza, F. (2021). The coloniality of asylum : mobility, autonomy +and solidarity in the wake of Europe’s refugee crisis. London: Rowman +& Littlefield Publishers.

-
- + + -
-

What -do graphic designers do all day and why do they do it and what does -“graphic design” even mean?!????!!1!?

+ +
+

Wink!

+

A Prototype +for Interactive Children’s Literature

+

Wink is a prototype for an interactive picture book platform. This +platform aims to make reading into a mindfull and thought provoking +process by using interactive and playful elements, multiple stories +within one narrative and sound elements. Especially today where +consumerism and low attention span is a rising issue especially amongst +young readers, this was an important task to tackle. The thought of Wink +emerged to find a more sustainable and creative way of reading for +elementary school children.

- - + +
-

I cut my thumb so every time I type i can feel it in my nerve -endings. Not true, it’s my left thumb so I don’t type with it. Not true, -I feel it anyway. Why are most of the function keys on the left of the -keyboard. What’s so functional about pressing buttons. Stephen Kerr is a -designer and musician based in. Have you ever loved an instrument? The -Ctrl key broke like four times since I moved here. I have one more -replacement because I bought a bunch of them but at some point I gave up -and use an external keyboard. I dunno I’m more confused than ever. It -was something to do with dreams and working. It’s the middle of the -night I’m writing this on my phone. If I had a dream this is when I -would be writing it. The memory is fuzzy: either I don’t remember or it -didn’t make sense in the first place. It was something to do with -fuzziness and memory no wait. Phones don’t have keyboards in real life -this doesn’t make sense. I’m trying to type but I don’t think I can get -it on the way to the office for the weekend and I think it was a good -idea to do it and I was thinking about you and I was thinking of you and -I was thinking about you and I was in the same place as a friend of mine -and I was in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the -studio and we were in the studio and we were in the

- - + +
-

Practice-led artistic research into the 21st century phenomenon of -the graphic designer. I held graphic design in my hands using -ethnography, toolmaking and performance as research methods. I examined -how designers spend their time in everyday life, this designer, me, as -well as you, what are we doing? What are our worldviews, belief systems, -mythologies and ideologies?

- - + +
+

Working as a children’s literature editor for years, I came to a +realisation that picture books were turning into another object that +kids read and consume on daily basis. At least this is what I observed +in Turkey. Teachers and parents were finding it difficult to find new +books constantly or were tired of rereading the same book. As a young +person in the publishing sector, I believe there should be more options +for children as there is for adults; such as ebooks, audiobooks etc. But +moreover a “book” that can be redefined, reread or be interacted with. +So I revisited an old story I wrote, translated to English and named it, +“Bee Within”.

- - + +
-
-

Secondly, during my studies at XPUB, I plan to combine different -strands of my practices (design, music, programming, theatre). Being a -designer is an important part of my identity, and I am keen to make work -true to who I am.

-
-

Excerpt from xpub application letter, March 15th 2022.

- - + +
+

Bee Within, is a story about grief and it is based on my experiences +throughout the years. I erased it, rewrote it, edited it, destroyed it +multiple times over the past years, simultaneously with new experiences +of loss. In the end, I believe the story turned out to be an ode to +remembering or might I say an ode to not being able to forget or an ode +to the fear of forgetting which I now think is a great and sweet battle +between death and life. I think it is an important subject to touch +upon, especially for children dealing with trauma in many parts of the +world.

- - + +
-Where do dreams come from? - + +
+

Over the past two years, experimenting with storytelling techniques, +interactivity options and workshops with children and adults, around +reading and doing various exercises on Bee Within, I improved the story +to be a more playful and interactive one which can be re-read, re-played +and eventually re-formed non digitally to be reachable for all +children.

- - + +
- - + + +
+

Here is some more documentation from the beggining of this journey +towards making accesible interactive narratives…

+
+ + +
+
+ +
-

2023-11-24 17:52:55,103 - Key.tab
-2023-11-24 17:52:57,175 - Key.alt_l
-2023-11-24 17:52:57,368 - Key.tab
-2023-11-24 17:52:57,959 - Key.tab
-2023-11-24 17:52:58,239 - Key.tab
-2023-11-24 17:52:59,055 - Key.cmd
-2023-11-24 17:52:59,208 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:51:56,169 - Key.alt_l
-2024-06-06 15:51:56,273 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:51:57,017 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:51:58,130 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:51:58,385 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:52:04,257 - Key.alt_l
-2024-06-06 15:52:04,370 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:52:05,041 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:52:05,281 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:52:39,050 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:52:39,443 - ‘’
-2024-06-06 15:52:53,985 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:52:54,363 - ‘’
-2024-06-06 15:52:57,545 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:57,761 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:57,921 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,057 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,201 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,337 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,585 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,682 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:52:58,785 - Key.right
-2024-06-06 15:52:59,121 - Key.right
-2024-06-06 15:52:59,417 - Key.right
-2024-06-06 15:53:00,530 - ‘k’
-2024-06-06 15:53:00,626 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:00,890 - ‘y’
-2024-06-06 15:53:01,370 - ‘l’
-2024-06-06 15:53:01,546 - ‘o’
-2024-06-06 15:53:01,754 - ‘g’
-2024-06-06 15:53:01,882 - ‘g’
-2024-06-06 15:53:01,994 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:02,162 - ‘r’
-2024-06-06 15:53:02,778 - ‘.’
-2024-06-06 15:53:03,146 - ‘j’
-2024-06-06 15:53:03,394 - ‘p’
-2024-06-06 15:53:03,562 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:03,818 - ‘g’
-2024-06-06 15:53:05,569 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,079 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,110 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,140 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,172 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,203 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,235 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,282 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,313 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,344 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,374 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,405 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,436 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,467 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,499 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,545 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,578 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,609 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,641 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,672 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,702 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,733 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,765 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,795 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,841 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,872 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,904 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,934 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,964 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:06,995 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,040 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,073 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,103 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,134 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,165 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,196 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,228 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:07,250 - ‘’
-2024-06-06 15:53:08,753 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:08,881 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:08,937 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:09,058 - ‘’
-2024-06-06 15:53:10,218 - Key.up
-2024-06-06 15:53:10,441 - Key.backspace
-2024-06-06 15:53:10,970 - Key.down
-2024-06-06 15:53:11,169 - Key.down
-2024-06-06 15:53:11,577 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:53:11,777 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:11,921 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:27,769 - Key.alt_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:27,882 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:53:28,585 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:53:28,833 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:53:31,809 - ‘z’
-2024-06-06 15:53:32,090 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:32,682 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:53:32,753 - ‘o’
-2024-06-06 15:53:38,450 - Key.space
-2024-06-06 15:53:38,713 - ‘q’
-2024-06-06 15:53:38,858 - ‘u’
-2024-06-06 15:53:38,937 - ‘o’
-2024-06-06 15:53:39,082 - ‘t’
-2024-06-06 15:53:39,129 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:39,201 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:44,858 - ‘w’
-2024-06-06 15:53:44,953 - ‘i’
-2024-06-06 15:53:45,129 - ‘k’
-2024-06-06 15:53:45,250 - ‘i’
-2024-06-06 15:53:48,817 - Key.enter
-2024-06-06 15:53:55,257 - Key.ctrl_l
-2024-06-06 15:53:55,513 - ‘’
-2024-06-06 15:53:56,418 - ‘z’
-2024-06-06 15:53:56,642 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:53:56,882 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:53:56,946 - ‘o’
-2024-06-06 15:54:05,473 - Key.alt_l
-2024-06-06 15:54:05,609 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,185 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,693 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,723 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,754 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,786 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,831 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,862 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,893 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,923 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,952 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:08,983 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:09,010 - ‘A’
-2024-06-06 15:54:09,177 - Key.space
-2024-06-06 15:54:09,778 - ‘s’
-2024-06-06 15:54:09,842 - ‘a’
-2024-06-06 15:54:10,026 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:54:10,130 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:54:10,242 - Key.space
-2024-06-06 15:54:10,634 - ‘p’
-2024-06-06 15:54:10,754 - ‘e’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:14,225 - Key.left
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-2024-06-06 15:54:15,281 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:54:15,513 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:54:15,625 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:15,705 - ‘“’
-2024-06-06 15:54:16,009 - Key.right
-2024-06-06 15:54:16,514 - Key.right
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-2024-06-06 15:54:19,242 - Key.space
-2024-06-06 15:54:19,409 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:19,634 - ‘Z’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:20,034 - ‘n’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:20,336 - Key.alt_l
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-2024-06-06 15:54:22,665 - Key.left
-2024-06-06 15:54:23,177 - Key.left
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-2024-06-06 15:54:23,826 - ‘,’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:25,825 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:54:26,554 - Key.alt_l
-2024-06-06 15:54:26,617 - Key.tab
-2024-06-06 15:54:26,993 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:27,506 - Key.shift
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-2024-06-06 15:54:27,568 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:27,599 - Key.shift
-2024-06-06 15:54:27,610 - ‘“’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:28,394 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:54:28,897 -”’”
-2024-06-06 15:54:28,978 - ’t’
-2024-06-06 15:54:29,105 - Key.space
-2024-06-06 15:54:29,274 - ‘a’
-2024-06-06 15:54:29,418 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:54:29,522 - ‘a’
-2024-06-06 15:54:29,850 - ‘l’
-2024-06-06 15:54:30,090 - ‘y’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:30,394 - ‘e’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:31,458 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:54:31,633 - ‘l’
-2024-06-06 15:54:31,730 - ‘f’
-2024-06-06 15:54:32,241 - Key.alt_l
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-2024-06-06 15:54:33,737 - Key.alt_l
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-2024-06-06 15:54:34,442 - ‘,’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:34,834 - ‘d’
-2024-06-06 15:54:34,954 - ‘o’
-2024-06-06 15:54:35,090 - ‘e’
-2024-06-06 15:54:35,170 - ‘s’
-2024-06-06 15:54:35,298 - ‘n’
-2024-06-06 15:54:35,898 -”’”
-2024-06-06 15:54:35,954 - ‘t’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:36,209 - Key.space
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-2024-06-06 15:54:36,730 - ‘k’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:38,017 - ‘i’
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-2024-06-06 15:54:38,898 - ‘o’
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-2024-06-06 15:55:33,281 - Key.cmd
-2024-06-06 15:55:33,617 - ‘e’

- -
+
+ - - - -
-

⊞

+ +
+

⊞

empty title

Stephen Kerr

⊞

@@ -4228,15 +3827,526 @@ Goblet, Sixteen Essays on Typography, London: The Sylvan Press.

Capitalism”, Archiv für Sozialwissenschaften 20, no. 1 (1904), pp. 1–54; 21, no. 1 (1905), pp. 1–110.

-
- +
+ + +
+

What +do graphic designers do all day and why do they do it and what does +“graphic design” even mean?!????!!1!?

+
+ + +
+

I cut my thumb so every time I type i can feel it in my nerve +endings. Not true, it’s my left thumb so I don’t type with it. Not true, +I feel it anyway. Why are most of the function keys on the left of the +keyboard. What’s so functional about pressing buttons. Stephen Kerr is a +designer and musician based in. Have you ever loved an instrument? The +Ctrl key broke like four times since I moved here. I have one more +replacement because I bought a bunch of them but at some point I gave up +and use an external keyboard. I dunno I’m more confused than ever. It +was something to do with dreams and working. It’s the middle of the +night I’m writing this on my phone. If I had a dream this is when I +would be writing it. The memory is fuzzy: either I don’t remember or it +didn’t make sense in the first place. It was something to do with +fuzziness and memory no wait. Phones don’t have keyboards in real life +this doesn’t make sense. I’m trying to type but I don’t think I can get +it on the way to the office for the weekend and I think it was a good +idea to do it and I was thinking about you and I was thinking of you and +I was thinking about you and I was in the same place as a friend of mine +and I was in the studio and we were in the studio and we were in the +studio and we were in the studio and we were in the

+
+ + +
+

Practice-led artistic research into the 21st century phenomenon of +the graphic designer. I held graphic design in my hands using +ethnography, toolmaking and performance as research methods. I examined +how designers spend their time in everyday life, this designer, me, as +well as you, what are we doing? What are our worldviews, belief systems, +mythologies and ideologies?

+
+ + +
+
+ + +
+
+

Secondly, during my studies at XPUB, I plan to combine different +strands of my practices (design, music, programming, theatre). Being a +designer is an important part of my identity, and I am keen to make work +true to who I am.

+
+

Excerpt from xpub application letter, March 15th 2022.

+
+ + +
+
+ + +
+
+Where do dreams come from? + +
+
+ + +
+
+ + +
+ + +
+ - -
-

Special Issues

+ +
+

Special Issues

Special Issues are publications thrice released by first-year XPUB Master’s students. Each edition focuses on a specific theme or issue. The themes tie to external events and collaborations. Students and staff @@ -4272,15 +4382,12 @@ ever-changing “Exquisite Corpse Network” chasing weekly publications. Along the way, we created gestures, concrete vinyl poetry, phone stories, and much more.

-
+
+ - - - -
-

Garden Leeszaal

+ +
+

Garden Leeszaal

Special Issue XIX

Public libraries are more than just access points to knowledge. They are social sites where readers cross over while reading together, @@ -4393,15 +4500,12 @@ alt="The binding of the scans into the final book at the end of the evening." /> book at the end of the evening. -

- +
+ - - -
-

Console

+ +
+

Console

Special Issue XX

Console is an oracle; an emotional first aid kit that helps you help yourself. Console invites you to open the box and discover ways of @@ -4495,15 +4599,12 @@ launch at Page Not Found.

-
- - +
+ - -
-

TTY

+ +
+

TTY

Special Issue 21

why shd it only make use of the tips of the fingers as contact points of flowing multi directional creativity. If I invented a word placing @@ -4654,15 +4755,12 @@ three women sitting on the teletype machine thinking and performing -

- - +
+ - -
-

Colophon

+ +
+

Colophon

Vulnerable Interfaces is a catalogue of work producted within the context of the Master of Arts in Fine art and Design: Experimental Publishing (XPUB) at the Piet Zwart Insititute, Willem de Kooning @@ -4718,8 +4816,8 @@ create publics. Experimental Publishing is some experiences or feelings of being in xpub for two years. More information available at xpub.nl

-
- +
+
diff --git a/print/print_style.css b/print/print_style.css index 2696339..223169b 100644 --- a/print/print_style.css +++ b/print/print_style.css @@ -1,5 +1,6 @@ -/* @import url('https://pad.xpub.nl/p/sixx-print-css/export/txt'); */ @import "images.css"; /* Using a string */ +@import "theatre.css"; /* Using a string */ +@import "stephen.css"; /* Using a string */ :root { /* --spot-color-1: #53018e; */ @@ -42,12 +43,12 @@ notes{ @page:left { /* bleed: 3mm 0 3mm 3mm; */ - @bottom-left { + @bottom-left-corner { font-size: 7pt; - top: -3mm; position: relative; content: counter(page); - width: 5mm; + margin-left: 10mm; + text-align: left; } } @@ -58,12 +59,12 @@ notes{ @bottom-center { text-align: right; } - @bottom-right { + @bottom-right-corner { font-size: 7pt; - top: -3mm; position: relative; content: counter(page); - width: 5mm; + margin-right: 10mm; + text-align: right; } } } @@ -118,17 +119,17 @@ h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { h1 { font-size: 1.8rem; - break-after: page; + break-before: page; string-set: title content(text); - /* margin: 0; */ - /* padding: 0; */ } h1#colophon { break-after: unset; margin-bottom: 25mm; } - +h2{ + break-before: page; +} h6 { font-size: 3rem; break-before: right; @@ -141,6 +142,16 @@ h6 { text-align: center; } +#keylogger{ + color: var(--spot-color-1); + font-size: 7pt; + line-height: 3mm; +} +sup{ + color: var(--spot-color-1); + line-height: 0.1; + font-size: 7pt; +} ol, ul { padding: 0; } @@ -149,33 +160,25 @@ ol, ul { break-after: page; } -section { - break-after: page; -} - -.section { - break-before: left; - page: section; -} - -::selection { - background-color: var(--spot-color-1); - color: #ccc; -} - .toc { - break-before: right; + margin: 10mm 0 0 -10mm; + width: 100mm; +} +.toc h1{ + display: none; + break-after: none; } - .toc ul { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; + line-height: 8mm; +} +.toc-title:first-of-type, .toc-title:nth-of-type(2), .toc-title:nth-of-type(10){ +margin-left: 40mm; } .toc-title{ - font-size: 24pt; - font-weight: medium; - line-height: 8mm; + font-size: 19pt; display: inline; } @@ -183,10 +186,7 @@ section { content: target-counter(attr(href url), page); font-size: 9pt; color: var(--spot-color-1); - padding: 0 1rem; + padding: 0 0.5rem; + display: inline-block; + line-height: 0; } -#bibliography{ - page-break-before: always; - font-size: 7pt; - font-weight: lighter; -} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/print/section-order.txt b/print/section-order.txt index 63b1e1d..977077b 100644 --- a/print/section-order.txt +++ b/print/section-order.txt @@ -1,4 +1,3 @@ -contents introduction leslie ada @@ -11,4 +10,4 @@ specialissue20 specialissue21 license colophon -reviews \ No newline at end of file +reviews diff --git a/print/stephen.css b/print/stephen.css new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf31985 --- /dev/null +++ b/print/stephen.css @@ -0,0 +1,106 @@ +#section-9{ + + :root{ + --color1: #666; + --color2: #666; + --color3: #666; + --color4: #666; + --baseline: 4mm; + } + @media print{ + @page{ + size: 100mm 200mm; + bleed: 3mm; + marks: crop; + margin: 10mm; + @bottom{ + color: var(--color1); + font-weight: 600; + } + } + /* @page:right {margin-left: 20mm;} */ + /* @page:left {margin-right: 20mm;} */ + } + a{ + color: inherit; + text-decoration: none; + word-break: break-all; + } + .bibliography{ + font-size: 10px; + /* color: var(--color1); */ + line-height: 3mm; + hyphens: auto; + } + body{ + font-family: 'Work Sans', 'HK Grotesk', sans-serif; + font-weight: 500; + font-size: 11px; + line-height: var(--baseline); + counter-reset: captions; + } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6{ + color: var(--color1); + font-size: inherit; + margin: 0; + /* font-weight: bold; + border-top: 3px solid #666; + border-bottom: 3px solid #666; + padding: 5mm 0; */ + break-before: always; + } + h3, h3 + br{display: none;} + p{ + margin: 0 0 var(--baseline); + position: relative; + top: 1.2mm; + } + img{width: 100%;} + figcaption{ + font-size: 0.75em; + color: var(--color1); + counter-increment: captions; + margin: 0.75mm 0 0; + line-height: 3mm; + } + figcaption:before{ + opacity: 1; + content: counter(captions) " "; + } + figure{ + margin: 0; + break-before: always; + } + ul, ol{ + list-style: none; + color: var(--color2); + margin: 0; + padding: 0 + } + /* quote */ + li{ + margin: 0 0 var(--baseline); + color: var(--color2); + } + .indent .indent{ + margin-left: calc(var(--baseline) * 2); + } + .indent .indent .indent .indent .indent .indent .indent .indent{ + margin-left: 0; + } + /* interview */ + .bullet{ + margin-left: var(--baseline); + } + .bullet li{ + text-indent: calc(-1 * var(--baseline)); + color: var(--color3); + } + .bullet .no-indent{text-indent: 0;} + .conor li{ + text-indent: -5.9mm; + } + /* annotation */ + .number li{color: var(--color4);} + +} diff --git a/print/theatre.css b/print/theatre.css new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8c5eb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/print/theatre.css @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +#section-2{ + font-family: "Courier"; +} +#section-2 p{ + width: 55mm; + margin-left: 25mm; +} + +#section-2 h1{display: none;} +#section-2 h2, #section-2 h3{ + text-decoration: underline; + text-align: center; +} + +#section-2 strong{ +position: absolute; + margin-left: -25mm; + width: 25mm; +} + diff --git a/pyvenv.cfg b/pyvenv.cfg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df0069a --- /dev/null +++ b/pyvenv.cfg @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +home = /usr/local/opt/python@3.12/bin +include-system-site-packages = false +version = 3.12.3 +executable = /usr/local/Cellar/python@3.12/3.12.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/bin/python3.12 +command = /usr/local/opt/python@3.12/bin/python3.12 -m venv /Users/stephen/Documents/gradshow24 diff --git a/specialissue19/index.html b/specialissue19/index.html index a2991d7..6d80c10 100644 --- a/specialissue19/index.html +++ b/specialissue19/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

Garden Leeszaal

Special Issue XIX

diff --git a/specialissue20/index.html b/specialissue20/index.html index d0405b1..2a66246 100644 --- a/specialissue20/index.html +++ b/specialissue20/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

Console

Special Issue XX

diff --git a/specialissue21/index.html b/specialissue21/index.html index 6265e69..0ab4408 100644 --- a/specialissue21/index.html +++ b/specialissue21/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

TTY

Special Issue 21

diff --git a/specialissuesintro/index.html b/specialissuesintro/index.html index 0abd67d..1b57612 100644 --- a/specialissuesintro/index.html +++ b/specialissuesintro/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

Special Issues

Special Issues are publications thrice released by first-year XPUB diff --git a/stephen/index.html b/stephen/index.html index 897ba7c..ded08d3 100644 --- a/stephen/index.html +++ b/stephen/index.html @@ -9,13 +9,25 @@

What @@ -127,6 +139,7 @@ alt="Keyboard of things designers have said. Our feelings about work." /> +

2023-11-24 17:52:55,103 - Key.tab
2023-11-24 17:52:57,175 - Key.alt_l
2023-11-24 17:52:57,368 - Key.tab
@@ -506,6 +519,7 @@ Our feelings about work. 2024-06-06 15:55:30,561 - Key.tab
2024-06-06 15:55:33,281 - Key.cmd
2024-06-06 15:55:33,617 - ‘e’

+

⊞

empty title

diff --git a/style.css b/style.css new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75b4497 --- /dev/null +++ b/style.css @@ -0,0 +1,161 @@ +@font-face { + font-family: 'Platypi-Regular'; + src: url('./fonts/webfonts/Platypi-Regular.woff2'); + font-style: normal; +} + +@font-face { + font-family: 'Platypi-Bold'; + src: url('./fonts/webfonts/Platypi-Bold.woff2'); + font-style: bold; +} + +body { + background-color: #fffdfb; + font-family: 'Platypi-Regular', serif; + font-size: 41px; + line-height: 3.5rem; + margin: 0; + padding: 0 70px; + box-sizing: border-box; +} + +.content-list { + max-width: 633px; + margin: auto; + margin-right: 0; + margin-top: 50px; +} + +.content-list a { + color: black; + text-decoration: none; +} + +.content-list img { + width: 35px; + height: auto; + vertical-align: middle; + filter: saturate(2); +} + +.container { + margin: 50px 0; +} + +h1 { + font-family: 'Platypi-Bold', serif; + font-size: 50px; + max-width: 20%; + margin: 0; +} + +.container h2 { + font-family: 'Platypi-Regular', serif; + font-size: 40px; + max-width: 30%; + margin: 0; + margin-bottom: -0.5rem; +} + +#content { + font-size: 22px; + line-height: 1.7rem; + max-width: 633px; + margin: auto; + margin-right: 0; +} + +#content p { + margin-left: 25mm; +} + +#content h1 {display: none;} +#content h2, #content h3 { + text-decoration: underline; + text-align: center; +} + +#content strong { + position: absolute; + margin-left: -44mm; + width: 44mm; +} + +@keyframes wiggle { + 25% { + transform: scale(0.8, 1.3); + } + 50% { + transform: scale(1.1, 0.8); + } + 75% { + transform: scale(0.7, 1.2); + } +} + +.content-list a:hover img, +.content-list img:hover { + animation: wiggle 0.6s infinite; + cursor: pointer; +} + +@media (max-width: 768px) { + body { + font-size: 21px; + line-height: 1.5rem; + padding: 0 50px; + } + + .container { + margin-left: -20px; + line-height: 2rem; + margin: 20px 0; /* Adjusted for mobile */ + } + + .container h1 { + font-size: 30px; + max-width: 200px; + } + + .container h2 { + font-size: 20px; + max-width: 70px; + } + + .content-list { + max-width: 90%; + margin-top: 30px; + margin-right: -20px; + } + + .content-list img { + width: 25px; + } + + #content { + font-size: 15px; + line-height: 1.2rem; + max-width: -webkit-fill-available; + margin: auto; + margin-right: 0; + margin-top: 50px; + } + + #content p { + width: 220px; + margin-left: 20mm; + } + + #content h1 {display: none;} + #content h2, #content h3 { + text-decoration: underline; + text-align: center; + } + + #content strong { + position: absolute; + margin-left: -20mm; + width: 14mm; + } +} diff --git a/theatre.css b/theatre.css new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8c5eb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/theatre.css @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +#section-2{ + font-family: "Courier"; +} +#section-2 p{ + width: 55mm; + margin-left: 25mm; +} + +#section-2 h1{display: none;} +#section-2 h2, #section-2 h3{ + text-decoration: underline; + text-align: center; +} + +#section-2 strong{ +position: absolute; + margin-left: -25mm; + width: 25mm; +} + diff --git a/webpage.template.html b/webpage.template.html index 49a49ab..9c9b655 100644 --- a/webpage.template.html +++ b/webpage.template.html @@ -3,19 +3,31 @@ {{ title }} - +
{{ content }}