#274 Jump

The work contains two panels placed on oak stands on the floor.

"I say - Jump, and you answer - How high?" is an expression of the authoritarian military logic. Note that the reply is a question. When you answer an ideological call, it's of lesser important what you respond than the fact that you do. The response, in whatever form, is still a sign of your submission. This is what philosopher Louis Althusser calls interpellation, a hailing that unconsciously transforms individuals to subjects of ideology. It may sound bad, but language itself always carries some set of rules, and without submitting ourselves to it, communication would not be possible. There would be no way to get any interactive work done.

To be just another cog in the machine may strip the individual of its very subjectivity. But apart from efficiency, there is another temptation - to lose yourself to a grander purpose, and be part of something bigger. It triggers the desire to bridge the gap between the alienated self and the outside world by identifying it as the big other, ideology as an organism, and surrender body and mind to a higher, external will. It doesn't mean one can't live a pleasurable life, but one can't doubt or question the overall system that links the group together. It creates limits for one's individuality and defines its space in the ideological structure.

To the mind, a word is always also an image. In that sense, understanding words function no different than normal perception. When we see, images are constructed inside the mind. We never perceive reality objectively or in itself. Perception is an interpretation and thus consist of language, in the same manner as understanding words.
However, to use language, we have to speak or write it. We have to realize it. Nothing ever communicates without being inscribed into a matter of some sort. But how words are inserted into reality affects how we perceive them. Thus reality itself seeps into language. There exists no clear or unmediated communication. Matter adds to the message. Because which matter we choose to communicate through, and how we shape it, reflects on who we are, it can reveal unconscious or hidden meanings.
 
Humans inscribed the first written words in stone or clay. One of the purposes was to save them for the future, to protect them from the volatility of time. To speak, or to write, is always to some extent, an act of power. The receiver must initially submit his or her attention to the message. No matter how insignificant, its meaning will always in some way change the receiver forever.

There is a constant tension between language and reality as matter. The human subject is defined by an individual will, as opposed to the strict causality of nature. This will strive to be expressed through language. Maybe self-awareness is a result of language at use. Language as a way for the ego to invent itself, to inscribe itself into the world. It is no coincident that many of the first examples of texts are curses, prayers, laws or inventories — different ways of trying to influence and master reality.

Tablet series is part of Template, a compilation of works made by using pieces of wooden plates as templates. They function as a mould or matrix for the finished work.

Reminiscent of Richard Serra's Verb List I try to use simple and clearly defined actions to shape the filler in my works. This method ensures there is always non-cognitive aspects of the production process.