#408 XCIX

The title is 99 in Roman numbers. I drew 99 short lines in the wet filler with a long stick. Repeating one simple movement many times creates a complex and various whole.

99 to me means 99% which refers to the famous slogan of the Occupy movement - "We are the 99%". I like to interpret it as a unity of interest more than wealth. The large majority are united through their relation to labour, or employment as opposed to the minority owners of capital - the employers. We should use this common ground instead of being divided by our different occupations and tasks within the capitalist system. It is important to notice that 99% means most, but not all. We are united not by any universality but through the struggle for a common goal or against a common opponent.

99% can also represent the fact that universality is an abstract concept. There is never a complete answer, there is always a rest that will remain unknown. In real life, any happiness always contains a stain of sorrow, any victory a shadow of defeat.

Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.

Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.