colourful vocabularies

Museums are nice because they're quiet enough to let your mind wander and full of things to inspire thought and emotion. One thing that I spend most of my time doing on these museum voyages is, surprisingly, reading. That sounds so strange at the outset because the average person goes to observe, in an almost drone-like pattern. The blueprint is usually: walk up to a piece, scan it for a few seconds or more, make an audible or mental comment, and continue on their merry way. Of course, if you're not an art enthusiast then this repetition is totally fine. You might even get to an exhibit that you spend more than 10 seconds on to gape and admire the handiwork.



But I think the way to maximize these museum visits is by trying to immerse more of your senses and being receptive to learn through the art. This doesn't mean touching or smelling or tasting the art, although all the power to you if you can get away with such debauchery. What I mean is: you can extend your sense of sight by paying attention to the context clues that are conveniently located right beside the pieces. In a way, part of the beauty of the art is tapping into the psyche of the artist. How did they choose a certain technique or style? What emotions were they hoping to evoke? What cultural and historical significance does the piece symbolize, relative to the artist's point-of-view? Then, the exciting part is playing with the colourful vocabularies used by the artists and curators — you'd be shocked at how elegant these descriptions are crafted!



Recently I saw a perfect opportunity to exercise my chaotic creativity muscles, by visiting Le Centre Pompidou in central Paris. In what became a 3-hour artistic exploration in one of my newfound favourite museums, I wanted to carve out special attention towards the language tied to each art piece. The end product is a Frankenstenien stitching of random words into a mosaic of phrases: abstract by nature, artificial by practice, aesthetic by design.



Exhibit I: Sam's Colourful Museum Run

Emptiness is as important as fullness. Surrealist research into dreams and poetry. The principle of object figure: the human is no longer considered in an emotional manner, but as artistic at the service of modernity. The principle of inner necessity: the harmony of colours must be based on the principle of its corresponding effect on the human soul. The principle of narrative figuration: the power of images and social transformation through art. The symbolism of the butterfly, traditionally associated with vanity through its ephemeral existence, reinforces the feeling of decrepitude.Domesticating the dragons that have always sprung from the work.
Contrast. Counterpoint. Binary rhythm. Visual energy produced by the schematization of the forms. Broken brushstrokes of the Neo-Impressionists and the fragmented space of the Cubists. Parisian avant-gardes. Motifs. Dynamized compositions. Luminous and poetic qualities. Austere and prosaic materials. Tending towards abstraction. Tumultuous orchestration. Rectilinear order. Shake the psyche. Intimate sense of the sacred.
Reality rubs shoulders with a magical world. Metaphysical character of this abstract landscape. The meditative character specific to contemplation and the tumult of human passions. Everything hides in me, writhes and floats like your memory. Sculptural silhouette. Fantastical theatricality. A theatre of sensation. A form of genius loci. A visual grammar of metamorphosis. A mosaic of overlapping planes. A reservoir for unique combinatory systems. This triumphant hymn to life, to joy, and to love is underscored by a palette of extraordinary vivacity. Cast a nostalgic eye. 
THE GYRATORY POWER OF COLOUR. The chromatic saturation with opposing complementary colours gives all its power to this astral form. The law of simultaneous contrast. Elliptic figuration. Nascent cybernetics. Collective consciousness. Dada movement. From Neo-Primitivism to Cubo-Futurism. Supremacism. Art Nouveau. Nouveau Réalisme. Constructivism. Spatiodynamism. Gradually dissolve forms through reflections of light, while expressing the simultaneity of urban rhythms in syncopated play with bright colours. Observe the pleasant world with tender attention, capturing its poetry and picturesque nature. Reconnect with a primitive creativity. Multiplicity of corporal measurements. Seductive synthesis. Economy of means. 
Shapes and colours move away from their descriptive function and begin to translate rhythms and tempos. The sculpture became a matter of equilibria between fundamental volumes. Movement is the element common to all sensations, whether luminous audible or tactile. The curves and colours burst from the darkness like meteorites, to converge on a centre point evocative of the eye of a cyclone. The dialogue between cylinders, parallelograms, cross and diamond shapes acts as equivalents of the spiritual dimension of modernity. Offered a microscopic observation of the infinitely small or an invitation on a cosmic journey. 
An architectural form capable of conjugating the values of technology and the life force of primitive art.  A work of art ought to be a complex whole, an organism with its own specific existential properties, living a life of its own. Art is good only when it signifies nothing, represents nothing, has no content or sense. Art is a philosophical meditation in plastic form.



I did take creative liberty to reposition phrases through a mixing and matching process. Not only to make the general mush of words more legible, but also to create a sense of lyricism. In a way, this is a bionically-constructed art form pulled from the heart of the contemporary museum. Splicing together this almost non-sensical collection of flowery phrases reminds me of the most impressionable book I‘ve ever read, titled Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann. The unencumbered conviction to take such a far-fetched concept — the whole book being just one long sentence — yet being able to execute with such grace and style. Just like what I attempted above, Ellmann's text is all about contrast, exploring deep domestic themes through a sharply refined voice. I aspire to get to a point where my writing can be just as colourful.



During my recent pitstop in Rome, I had the good fortune to come across another genius exhibit by Italian artist Riccardo Benassi in the modern museum MACRO. Dancefloorensick is an HD mixtape-like video essay, featuring a custom word alchemized from Dancefloor + Forensic + Sick. Benassi's take on invented words is both playful and thoughtful. Music is strategically used to create a type of background "buzz", which he poetically equates to the buzz of speakers, the buzz of conflicting ideas, the buzz of big data & AI, the buzz of standardized online language, and the buzz of voice. Masterful stuff. Here's the breakdown, keeping in true fashion with its symmetrical poetic layout:



Exhibit II: Dancefloorensick

I told myself that in an online dancefloor
the visual representation of the dancing body 
is the only form of participation, 
and it is exactly the opposite 
of what happens in IRL clubs,
where at the entrance the bouncers
apply small stickers
to the front and back
cameras of the phones.

But preventing
one of the phone's core functions 
 — taking photos —
in no way dethrones it from its centrality,
and the device continues, undaunted,
to adminster bodies on the dancefloor.
To blind someone
it is essential to first  
convince them
to open their eyes wide.

Thus,
the absence of retinal representation
creates a kind of anonymity that,
IRL, allows the club to function
as the catalyst of the event
or even ensures
a safe architectural space
for a transient community
that inhabits
the dancefloor.

On the other hand,
in the online dance party,
the retinal representation is exactly
what allows a safe architectural space — 
like the room at home from which
each of us connects —
to become a place
for the transient community
that inhabits
the dancefloor.

My participation
in the online party
is directly proportional
to my ultimate surrendering
of any form of privacy protection,
but isn't privacy itself, 
after all, both
a luxury for the few
and the fate of the forgotten?

Thinking about TikTok
and the whirlwind of imitative dancers
dedicated exclusively to
the camera and the algorithm,
I tell myself that
— once I have introjected the disciplinary
gaze of techno-retinal surveillance — 
the central question is: 
how does a body that does not know
it is being filmed dance?



Benassi on the juxtaposition between being seen and being blinded:

"I think about how, during political demonstrations, there is often a desire to blind the CCTVs or repel journalists and their crews, when in reality the reason one is there, has written signs or banners, has chosen one's specific clothes (a uniform) is nothing more than to be seen, and thus through retinal representation we are allowed to exist, to manifest an ideal through a role that we choose to play."

To speak so intellectually about the intersection of dance, community, and modern culture — yet again a masterclass in contrast and diction. As someone who adores the physical dance floor, the metaphor is well-received. This comparison is also a raw reflection of what it means to be a participant of today's digitalized world. Pulling from comedy legend Bo Burham: “Participating in the internet and being in it robs you of the ability to articulate something longform”. This echoes the sentiment of transience in the online dance party, the neverending craving to be seen and be heard. “My participation in the online party is directly proportion to my ultimate surrendering” drills down to privacy, but the enjambment in the text opens up a whole new can of worms of what we sacrifice in the battle of Being Online.

That's the power of language for you. That's the reason why I continue to buff up my vocabulary in all the domains I participate in, whether it's technology or comedy or art.



Here's to making all of our vocabularies more colourful, one vibrant descriptor at a time :)