On Sisyphus Work and Other Visual Essays

“Likewise and during every day of an unillustrious life, time carries us. But a moment always comes when we have to carry it. We live on the future: “tomorrow,” “later on,” “when you have made your way,” “you will understand when you are old enough.” Such irrelevancies are wonderful, for, after all, it’s a matter of dying. Yet a day comes when a man notices or says that he is sixty. Thus he asserts his (pased) youth. But simultaneously he situates himself in relation to time. He takes his place in it. He admits that he stands at a certain point on a curve that he acknowledges having to travel to its end. He belongs to time, and by the horror that seizes him, he recognizes his worst enemy. Tomorrow, he was longing for tomorrow, whereas everything in him ought to reject it….There is no longer a single idea explaining everything, but an infinite number of essences giving a meaning to an infinite number of objects. The world comes to a stop, but also lights up…"

Having again collected fragments of audio-visual moments and assembled them into a chronological vine-compilation, Sam Renseiw, in an existential(ist) Sisyphusian mood, paraphrases Albert Camus for this blogpost entry… continuing the completely futile re-trospective body of work(s) in a world of 1:1 real-image live streamings… Enjoy a moment of digital nostalgia by activating the footage. [Vine compilation # 12, 473MB, 09'44'', Quicktiome/mov > vimeo ]  

On unwinding the clue of tao

"the way is like walking aimlessly" from sam renseiw on Vimeo.

"We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the Equable.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the Inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and obtain The One. Its upper part is not bright, and its lower part is not obscure. Ceaseless in its action, it yet cannot be named, and then it again returns and becomes nothing. This is called the Form of the Formless, and the Semblance of the Invisible; this is called the Fleeting and Indeterminable. We meet it and do not see its Front; we follow it, and do not see its Back. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the beginning, this is called (unwinding) the clue of Tao."

With a quote from Lao-Tzu, Sam Rensiew presents a rare piece of docu-video; While embedded in an recent exercise in a distant Norwegian Fjord, Sam Renseiw (undercover as his alter-ego) captured footage of the way of walking aimlesly, following a prescribed text from a young korean explorer. View the ensuing audio-visual amalgam by cliking here or on the icon above. [" walking aimlesly // DL 16 " 07'34'', 266MB, Quicktime/mov, vimeo]

Of basic distortions and the sublime

"..It is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it affecting to the imagination. If I make a drawing of a palace, or a temple, or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; but then (allowing for the effect of imitation which is something) my picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape, would have affected in the reality. On the other hand, the most lively and spirited verbal description I can give raises a very obscure and imperfect idea of such objects; but then it is in my power to raise a stronger emotion by the description than I could do by the best photographic image. This experience constantly evinces. The proper manner of conveying the affections of the mind from one to another is by Voodles; there is a great insufficiency in all other methods of communication; and so far is a clearness of imagery from being absolutely necessary to an influence upon the passions, that they may be considerably operated upon, without presenting any image at all, by certain sounds adapted to that purpose; of which we have a sufficient proof in the acknowledged and powerful effects of instrumental music.[…] In reality, a great clearness helps but little towards affecting the passions, as it is in some sort an enemy to all enthusiasms whatsoever."

Paraphrasing the young Burke, Sam Renseiw ponders on the nature of clarity and the sublime while on a recent visual assigment to a sublime site. View the compressed wabi-sabi voodle footage from an interior space by cliking on the icon above. [patafilm # 861, 03'12'', 46MB, Qicktime/mov - other versions at Blip.tv)