Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ma
Japanese spatiality is experienced progressively through intervals of spacial designation. This word is termed ma.
Ma can be defined as negative space - the interval between two or more phenomena. It is only recognised in relation to time and time's continuum. Ma represents a 'consciousness' of place. It is not a type of space or three-dimensional entity, as the West commonly views it.
Ma is an awareness within a person of both form and non-form existing simultaneously . This awareness also encapsulates an acknowledgment of both form and non-form surrounding the person in space and time.
Ma can be termed an experiential place, recognised and understood only in relation to time flow.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
wall-space
The work I will create for "We Are Hidden And We Can See You" began as an experiment in my studio.
Over the past two years I have created a number of participatory artworks where an object is played with: Artworks where the physical act of interacting with the work acts as a metaphor for cognitive, meaning-finding activities. At some point over the past year I have had the idea to make a work where the exhibiting space itself would become the play-object. More specifically, making a wall an object to be played with.
I've often contemplated the idea of a wall as projection screen. When an image is placed onto a wall the actual physicality - the bricks, plasterboard or mdf and paint finish - disappear for a moment as the it becomes a screen for an imaginary space. The wall doubles as a void. With an interest in games, I am likewise attracted to how some external walls at schools, sometimes with the help of a few sporting markings, are used as a medium for targets, a tennis net (as the one player hits the wall the ball it goes from serve to receive and back again) or cricket stumps with 'automatic wicketkeeper'. For me, this kind of magic transformation acts as a allegory for a semiotic ability to see beyond the practicalities of a given situation (lets call it 'poetic transcendence') yet also simultaneously acknowledge the blatant reality of the scene (it is just a wall). Or something like that.
This leads me to a situation where about a year ago I circular-drilled a couple of holes in my studio wall (see image) - the intention being an art-activity where small super-bouncy balls would be bounced off the floor through the hole where it would then bounce around in the inside of the wall before settling at the bottom of the void. I considered having an exhibition where the piece would involve a giant tub of bouncy-balls and this interaction. The exhibition would finish when all the balls had been lodged forever in the gap. After spending a significant amount of time attempting to bounce the ball into the holes unsuccessfully in the studio I decided that the art-piece wasn't really going to work.
When curator Shae mentioned this exhibition I realised that it was a chance to resurrect the project. This time I re-imagined the work as a hole up the top of the wall (out of reach) and a hole some distance away to the left or right at the absolute bottom of the wall (like a mouse hole). The 'work' would then consist of a ball being thrown into the top hole, disappearing for a few moments then rolling out back into the gallery space via the bottom hole. The title has eluded me until I began writing this blogpost. I have stumbled upon "Wall-space".
More soon. Nick.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Swiss Banking
Swiss bankers are under obligation to keep any information about you or your account strictly confidential.
This bank secrecy is among the strictest in the world and stems from an age-old historical tradition. It is established in Swiss law. Any banker who reveals information about you without your consent risks several months in prison.
The only exceptions to this rule concern serious crimes such as gun smuggling and drug trafficking.
Bank secrecy is not lifted for tax evasion. This is because failure to report income or assets is not considered a crime in Switzerland. As such, neither the Swiss government, nor any other government, can obtain information about your bank account. They must first convince a Swiss judge that you have committed a serious crime punishable by the Swiss Penal Code.
Bank secrecy will not be lifted for private matters such as inheritance or divorce if you have kept your banking information strictly confidential. It is up to plaintiffs to prove that the account exists if they wish the judge to pursue the case. In this respect, the numbered account provides the maximum degree of confidentiality.
This bank secrecy is among the strictest in the world and stems from an age-old historical tradition. It is established in Swiss law. Any banker who reveals information about you without your consent risks several months in prison.
The only exceptions to this rule concern serious crimes such as gun smuggling and drug trafficking.
Bank secrecy is not lifted for tax evasion. This is because failure to report income or assets is not considered a crime in Switzerland. As such, neither the Swiss government, nor any other government, can obtain information about your bank account. They must first convince a Swiss judge that you have committed a serious crime punishable by the Swiss Penal Code.
Bank secrecy will not be lifted for private matters such as inheritance or divorce if you have kept your banking information strictly confidential. It is up to plaintiffs to prove that the account exists if they wish the judge to pursue the case. In this respect, the numbered account provides the maximum degree of confidentiality.
Participation
The Swiss people vote around four times a year on about 20 issues at a national level. There may be even more referendums in cantons and communes, touching on very local matters, such as whether to buy particular pictures for the city museum, when local shops can open, or a change in land use. Local authorities try to combine their own votes with the national ones, so that electors do not have to turn out too often.
In a few cantons, voters still vote on every new law or amendment passed by the cantonal government, whether or not it is controversial.
Only about half of all proposals are accepted by the people in referendums and only one tenth in popular initiatives.
Voter participation is usually around 40 per cent. Moves are now underway to experiment with electronic voting, in the hope that this will raise participation.
A few cantons have granted long-term resident foreigners the right to vote, mainly only at communal level.
In a few cantons, voters still vote on every new law or amendment passed by the cantonal government, whether or not it is controversial.
Only about half of all proposals are accepted by the people in referendums and only one tenth in popular initiatives.
Voter participation is usually around 40 per cent. Moves are now underway to experiment with electronic voting, in the hope that this will raise participation.
A few cantons have granted long-term resident foreigners the right to vote, mainly only at communal level.
Neutrality and isolationism
The advice of Switzerland's popular saint, Nicholas of Flüe (1417-87), "Don't get involved in other people's affairs" has been the hallmark of Swiss policy for nearly 500 years. The country has in effect been neutral since 1515, a status formally recognised and guaranteed by the great powers of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
Swiss neutrality thus has deeper roots than any of Europe's other major neutral states: Sweden (1815), Eire (1921), Finland (1948) and Austria (1955).
Neutrality is defined as non-participation in a war between other states. The rights and duties of neutral countries in time of war were laid down by the international community in 1907. In times of peace neutral states define their own rules, but take it for granted that they should stay outside military blocs, like NATO.
The status of neutrality has not only protected Switzerland from war, but has helped prevent the country from being torn apart when its different language communities might have been tempted to side with different belligerents in cases of conflict.
Since the end of the Cold War Switzerland has had to redefine its understanding of neutrality. It signed up to NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1996, stressing that it was motivated by the desire to promote peace and security and reserving the right to withdraw if it believed its neutrality was threatened.
The despatch of unarmed Swiss volunteers to Kosovo as part of peace keeping troops there after the 1999 war kept alive the debate over whether neutrality can be combined with an international role.
A referendum in June 2001 approved two key changes to the army's role. One allows Swiss soldiers to be fully armed when taking part in international peacekeeping missions, and the other permits them to take part in military training exercises with other countries. However, the bitter campaign showed the country was deeply divided on the issues, and the margin of victory was only two per cent.
Swiss neutrality thus has deeper roots than any of Europe's other major neutral states: Sweden (1815), Eire (1921), Finland (1948) and Austria (1955).
Neutrality is defined as non-participation in a war between other states. The rights and duties of neutral countries in time of war were laid down by the international community in 1907. In times of peace neutral states define their own rules, but take it for granted that they should stay outside military blocs, like NATO.
The status of neutrality has not only protected Switzerland from war, but has helped prevent the country from being torn apart when its different language communities might have been tempted to side with different belligerents in cases of conflict.
Since the end of the Cold War Switzerland has had to redefine its understanding of neutrality. It signed up to NATO's Partnership for Peace in 1996, stressing that it was motivated by the desire to promote peace and security and reserving the right to withdraw if it believed its neutrality was threatened.
The despatch of unarmed Swiss volunteers to Kosovo as part of peace keeping troops there after the 1999 war kept alive the debate over whether neutrality can be combined with an international role.
A referendum in June 2001 approved two key changes to the army's role. One allows Swiss soldiers to be fully armed when taking part in international peacekeeping missions, and the other permits them to take part in military training exercises with other countries. However, the bitter campaign showed the country was deeply divided on the issues, and the margin of victory was only two per cent.
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