Hot Rod Biology

I've mentioned previously that I've been enjoying reading Greil Marcus's 'Lipstick Traces' ñ the way he makes sense of seemingly random connections. Reading Blauvelt's piece I immediately thought of Marcus's writing . . .

"The introduction of new information into a system disrupts its existing pattern, thereby changing that system. It is randomness, a mutation, that interupts the pattern. The mutation is an important event or defining moment when a system is undergoing change because it marks the threshold from one state to another: 'Mutation is crucial because it names the bifurcation point at which the interplay between pattern and randomness causes the system to evolve in a new direction. Mutation implies both the replication of pattern ñ the morphological standard against which it can be measured and understood as a mutation ñ and the interjection of randomness ñ the variations that mark it as a deviation so decisive it can no longer be assimilated into the same'."

I guess I like the idea that you can force seemingly unrelated things together to see what happens . . . can you disrupt a system, a convention . . . in Marcus's case he kind of mutates history, forcing seemingly unrelated moments together, making them make sense, therefore altering our recognition of the pattern of history.

I have mentioned, much earlier, in this project my interest in the book 'The Dice Man' by Luke Reinhardt, in fact I included it as part of the manifesto I wrote for 'Hot Rod Biology'. What I liked about this book was the central idea that we are confined by our ego, our sense of ourself ñ I can or can't do this because I'm this type of person ñ and that by introducing chance (randomness) into our daily lives we can break free from our ego and experience 'more'.

Since returning from Melbourne three weeks ago I've been really stuck with the Elvis Presley project. Basically I haven't been happy with what I'm doing with Elvis ñ I guess it's primarily a formal exercise, but I seem to need content!? The latest pieces involved me having Elvis visit other designers and musicians who I thought might be 'Hybrid Practitioners'. My concern with this was that I was closing down possible readings of the images, and personalising the project too much . . . also, I wasn't making connections through the work, I was just picking someone and sticking them together with Elvis. While this worked with some people, there were others, especially designers, who didn't really 'get much' by being placed in a room or at a table with Elvis.

So my idea now . . . to make random connections with Elvis, and then to try and disrupt the patterns associated with the myth, to reveal something, to eventually make sense of the connection through making the work?

To introduce this random element I'm planning to use dice to choose entries (from A to Z) from and the 'Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopedia'. This was something I used to spend ages reading when I was a kid, and links to my interest in Elvis ñ nostalgia, and memories of my grandparents.

The image I've included with this post is a book Anna gave me for my birthday, 'Tarzan Presley' by New Zealand writer Nigel Cox. I haven't read it yet but it is a conflation (hybrid/mutation) of the legend of Tarzan and the myth of Elvis Presley. It's set in the Rainforests of New Zealand where there are Gorillas and Giant Wetas. Apparently, through the combination of the two myths, Cox explores the nature of fame and wealth, and changing circumstance. I wonder if the dice landed on Tarzan?