The Reader
The Humans Alexandre Singh 26.05.2012 — 06.01.2013 Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Editor Amira Gad Design A Practice for Everyday Life, Alexandre Singh and Kristin Metho Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art is supported by the City of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Culture. Research document, not intended for commercial purposes or distribution / Onderzoek document, niet voor commerciële doeleinden of distributie.
Content
I
The Creation: On Cosmogony and Cosmology.
03 The Bible; 15 Ovid, Metamorphoses; 23 The Upanishads; 35 Hesiod, Theogny; 51 The Epic of Gilgamesh.
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Pictorial Satire: On Hogarth, Daumier and South Park.
67 Honoré Daumier: Bruce Laughton, Honoré Daumier, Yale University Press New Haven and London, 1996; Daumier, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec, La vie au quotidien, Catalogue de l’exposition au Palais Lumière, Ville d’Evian, Somogy Editions d’Art, Paris, 2011; 79 William Hogarth: Engravings by Hogarth, edited by Sean Shesgreen, 101 prints, Dover publications, Inc., New York, 1973; Hogarth, Mark Hallett, Phaidon, Art&Ideas, 2000; 93 South Park, www.southparkstudios.com
III
Theatrical Costumes.
115 Phyllis Hartnoll, The Theatre: A Concide History, Thames & Hudson wold of art, 3rd edition, updated by Enoch Brater, 1998; 125 A.M. Nagler, Chapter 9, ‘Skeptical View of the Commedia Masks’, A Source Book in Theatrical History. Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more than 300 basic documents and other primary material, Yale University School of Drama, Dover Publications, 1952; 131 John Russel Brown, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre, Oxford University Press 2001.
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Aristophanes.
137 Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays, Penguin Classics, 2003; 153 Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Penguin Classics, 2007.
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The Mountain in Art and Literature.
229 Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory. The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite.
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Literary Satire.
345 Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings; 381 Lucian, Chattering Courtesans and Other Sardonic Sketches; 399 P.G. Wodehouse, Summer Lightning; 423 P.G. Wodehouse, The Mating Season.
VII
The Voice and the Chorus.
449 Reynaldo Hahn, On Singers and Singing; 473 Wagner on Music and Drama. A compendium of Richard Wagner’s prose writings.
VIII
Artificial Moons (Lighting in Theater).
485 A.M. Nagler, A Source Book in Theatrical History. Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more than 300 basic documents and other primary material, Yale University School of Drama, Dover Publications, 1952.
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Introduction
Inleiding
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art presents the on-site realization of The Humans, a theatrical performance creating and staging a ‘new world’ by visual artist and writer Alexandre Singh.
Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art presenteert de totstandkoming van de productie The Humans, een toneelstuk dat ‘de schepping van een nieuwe wereld’ nastreeft, van beeldend kunstenaar en schrijver Alexandre Singh.
Set before the Earth’s beginning in a proto-world populated by spirits, gods, artisans and men of clay and plaster, The Humans—with ‘creation’ as its central theme—is modeled after the ancient Greek plays of Aristophanes. Whilst the theatrical references are ancient, the satire is utterly modern: religion, morality and human hubris are all mocked with an irreverent and biting tone. These selected texts provide an insight into different themes the artist explores over the course of the project. The Reader thus functions as an in depth source of information and inspiration.
Met ‘schepping’ als centraal thema en de antieke Griekse komedies van Aristophanes als inspiratiebron speelt The Humans zich af in een tijd voor het ontstaan van de Aarde, in een protowereld bevolkt door geesten, goden, ambachtslieden en mannen van klei en gips. De theatrale verwijzingen mogen dan naar de klassieke oudheid zijn, de satire is absoluut van deze tijd: religie, moraliteit en menselijke hybris worden op bijtende toon bespot. Deze geselecteerde teksten bieden inzicht in de verschillende thema’s die de kunstenaar verkent. The Reader vormt zo een fundamentele bron van informatie en inspiratie.
Defne Ayas, Director Defne Ayas, Director
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I The Creation: On Cosmogony and Cosmology. 03 The Bible. 15 Ovid, Metamorphoses. 23 The Upanishads. 35 Hesiod, Theogny. 51 The Epic of Gilgamesh.
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II Pictorial Satire: On Hogarth, Daumier and South Park. 67 Honoré Daumier Bruce Laughton, Honoré Daumier, Yale University Press New Haven and London, 1996. Daumier, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec, La vie au quotidien, Catalogue de l’exposition au Palais Lumière, Ville d’Evian, Somogy Editions d’Art, Paris, 2011. 79 William Hogarth Engravings by Hogarth, edited by Sean Shesgreen, 101 prints, Dover publications, Inc., New York, 1973. Mark Hallett, Hogarth, Phaidon, Art&Ideas, 2000. 93 South Park www.southparkstudios.com
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Honoré Daumier, PARISIANS IN THE COUNTRY. My aren’t we brave going on this little adventure … now that’s something rather disturbing … I believe it might be wise to hold back. — I think they’re only haystacks … — I feared they might be the huts of some fierce savages! (Parisiens à la Campagne: Nous sommes imprudents de nous aventurer de la sorte… voilà là-bas quelque chose qui m’inquiète … je ne sais pas s’il est prudent d’avancer — Mais, ce sont, je crois, des meules de blé… — Je craignais que ce ne soient des huttes de sauvages !), 1857
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Above: Honoré Daumier, I think I detect some water in this wine. — Oh no I quite disagree, it’s obviously water with perhaps a little hint of wine about it. (Voilà du vin qui sent l’eau ! — Non je trouve que c’est plutôt de l’eau qui sent le vin.), 1856; Below: Honoré Daumier, In Bercy: Here we are doing everything possible to keep the Seine from overflowing … and there are still some people who question our good intentions! (À Bercy: Nous faisons tout ce que nous pouvons pour empêcher que le Seine déborde jamais et il y a pourtant encore des gens qui ne nous savent pas gré de notre bonne intention !), 1856 Opposite page: Above: Honoré Daumier, Ah, the smell of jasmine! — It doesn’t smell of roses! (Ça sent le jasmin ! — Ça ne sent pas la violette !), 1853; Below: Honoré Daumier, Don Quichotte courant sur les moutons, 1867 – 75
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Above: Honoré Daumier, La parade, 1867 – 70; Below: Honoré Daumier, Le Malade Imaginaire, 1858 – 63 Opposite page: Honoré Daumier, Un amateur, 1847
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HonorÊ Daumier, A gentleman who gets aroused in any season. (Un monsieur qui s’enflamme en toute saison.), 1852
Above: Honoré Daumier, A lawyer who is quite clearly impregnated with the very deepest of convictions … that his client will pay him well! (Un avocat qui évidement est rempli de la conviction la plus intime … que son client le paiera bien !), 1845; Below: Honore Daumier, Masks of 1831 published in La Caricature
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Honoré Daumier, The greatest tarts, don’t always wear the smallest skirts. (Des dames d’un demi-monde mais n’ayant pas n’ayant pas de demi-jupes.)
HonorĂŠ Daumier, The Connoisseur
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Honoré Daumier, The Past, the Present, and the Future (Le passé – Le présent – L’Avenir), from La Caricature, no. 166, Jan. 9, 1834
HonorĂŠ Daumier, The Legislative Belly, 1834
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William Hogarth, Characters and Caricaturas
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William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753
William Hogarth, Scholars at a Lecture
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William Hogarth, After Marcellus Laroon, The Cully Flaug’d, ca. 1700
William Hogarth, Beer Street, 1751
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William Hogarth, Breakfast, 1732 Opposite page: William Hogarth, Credulity Superstition and Fanaticism, A Medley, 1762
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William Hogarth, Gin Lane, 1751 Opposite page: Above: William Hogarth, Marriage Ă la Mode, 1745; Below: William Hogarth, Self-Portrait as Serjeant Painter to His Majesty, ca. 1758
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William Hogarth, The First Stage of Cruelty, 1751
Above: William Hogarth, The Idle ‘Prentice betray’d by his Whore & taken in a Night Cellar with his Accomplice, 1747 Below: William Hogarth, The Industrious ‘Prentice grown rich & Sheriff of London, 1747
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Above: William Hogarth, The Laughing Audience, 1733; Below: William Hogarth, Serjeant Painter to His Majesty, 1758 Opposite page: Above: William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress (3), 1733 – 5; Below: William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress (2), 1733 – 5
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Paparazzi photo of Britney Spears “Britney’s New Look”, Episode 1202
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Britney Spears “Britney’s New Look”, Episode 1202
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Britney Spears “Britney’s New Look”, Episode 1202
Man: We like to think we’re more civilized now, but the truth is our lust for torture and death is no different than it was in “Britney’s New Look”, Episode 1202 gladiator times. 96
Stan: Chef - I think we’re in a repeat! “Cancelled”, Episode 701
Nagix: Earth! The greatest universal reality show of all time! “Cancelled”, Episode 701 97
Joozian Network Executive: I’m sorry earthlings, but you have to realize the universe is a business.
“Cancelled”, Episode 701
Stan: Wait a minute. This has all happened before. Kyle: Yeah. This does see, really familiar.
“Cancelled”, Episode 701
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Stan: Chef, Kenny has a picture of two green things sucking each other’s shoulders. Cartman: What is it, Chef? “Cancelled”, Episode 701
Joozian 1: Yeah, suck my jagon! Joozian 2: Oh yeah! Stick your finger in my thrusher!
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Chef: I don’t know. But something tells me this picture might be very important, children. You should hang on to it. “Cancelled”, Episode 701
Nagix, an ice cream-crapping taco, leads the boys through an alien spaceship-television studio.
“Cancelled”, Episode 701
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[Back at the space center, day. Jeff is cleaning up after the destruction left behind by the visitors] CHEF Jeff!! The aliens took the children up on their ship. JEFF Oh no! CHEF Did you find out what the aliens were up to? JEFF When I reversed the polarities, I found this: It's a message that the aliens are broadcasting throughout the entire universe. But I have no idea what it says. CHEF They took the children, Jeff! I have to know what those aliens are up to! JEFF Wait a minute! Butt sex! CHEF Butt sex? JEFF Butt sex requires a lot of lubrication, right? Lubrication. Lubruh... Chupuh... Chupacabra 's the, the goat killer of Mexican folklore. Folklore is stories from the past that are often fictionalized. Fictionalized to heighten drama. Drama students! Students at colleges usually have bicycles! Bi, bian, binary. It's binary code! CHEF Who's havin' butt sex?
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Family Guy Produceer: When FOX censored the image of Mohammad last week, it also meant that the Mohammad ball had to come out of the idea tank. This made the manatees very upset. Manatees are very ethical writers. Either everything’s okay to write about, or nothing is. “Cartoon Wars, Part II”, Episode 1004
Family Guy writing staff’s joke generator, “Cartoon Wars, Part II”, Episode 1004 102
[FOX Studios. Cartman is seated two chairs away from Bart. Muzak is playing in the background] CARTMAN So... you don't like Family Guy either, huh? BART I hate Family Guy. CARTMAN: So what's your plan? You're gonna ask the president of the network nicely to take it off the air? BART Not nicely. CARTMAN Look, kid, if you hate a TV show, all you have to do is get an episode pulled. Pretty soon the show is compromised and it goes off the air. BART Cool, man. CARTMAN Yes. So my plan is to use this whole Mohammad thing as a way to scare the network into pulling tonight's show. I'm going to use fear to get them to do what I want. BART Isn't that like, terrorism? CARTMAN ...No, it isn't like terrorism. It IS terrorism. BART I could do that. CARTMAN This is manipulation at its highest lever; you should let me handle this. BART I'm a pretty bad kid. CARTMAN Really? What's the worst thing you've ever done? BART I stole the head off a statue once.
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CARTMAN Wow, that's pretty hardcore. Geez. That's like this one time, when I didn't like a kid, so I ground his parents up into chili and fed it to him.
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Easter Bunny “Fantastic Easter Special”, Episode 1105
Satan and Saddam Hussein “Do the Handicapped Go To Hell?”, Episode 410 104
[Town meeting in one of the rooms in City Hall. Everyone is talking all at once] Mayor McDaniels People! People, quiet, please! [the crowd quiets down] We must not panic! Randy Well what are we gonna do, Mayor?! Part 2 of the Family Guy episode airs in six days! Mayor McDaniels I believe that Professor Thomas from the University has come up with a solution. Professor Thomas [steps up to the podium] Thank you, Mayor. [everyone sits] Now look, everyone, Muslim terrorists and extremists are threatening us for what Family Guy is going to do... because they've wrongly grouped us together. Our only hope is to make the Muslim extremists know... that we had no part in the Mohammad episode. That even though the episode aired, we didn't watch it, we didn't hear it, and we didn't talk about it. Jimbo So how do we do that? Professor Thomas We bury our heads. In sand. [flips a board over to reveal his plan for disavowing any knowledge of the episode] We take twenty to twenty-five dump trucks, fill them with sand from Monarch Lake, and then dump the sand along South Park Avenue. By using approximately eighteen dozen shovels, we can each dig a hole in the sand, stick our heads in the holes, and then have the person to our left bury them. If we can manage to get every person's head buried deep, deep in sand before the Mohammad episode airs, we could avoid looking like we're responsible for any part of this at all. Stephen No, no, wait a minute, [Mrs. Garrison looks at him] it's ridiculous. [Gerald looks at him] What we need to do is just the opposite. Freedom of speech is at stake here, don't you all see? [makes his way to the board] If anything, we should ALL make cartoons of Mohammad, and show the terrorists and the extremists that we are all united in the belief that every person has a right to say what they want! Look, people, it's... been real easy for us to stand up for free speech lately. For the past few decades we haven't had to risk anything to defend it. But those times are going to come! And one of those times is right now. And if WE... aren't willing to RISK... what we have, then we just believe in free speech, but we don't defend it. [the other people there mull this speech over...] Randy I like the sand idea! Mr. Mackey Yeah, me too,
Gerald Yeah. The sand thing sounds a lot simpler. [everyone else agrees] Mayor McDaniels We’re gonna need eight dozen shovels and sixteen tons of sand! Let’s move, people!
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Richard Dawkins “Go God Go”, Episode 1012
Mrs. Garrison explaining evolution: And then one day a couple of fish had a retard baby.
“Go God Go”, Episode 1012
Mrs. Garrison hurling shit at Richard Dawkins “Go God Go”, Episode 1012
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Moses “Jewbilee”, Episode 309
God “Probably”, Episode 411 107
The Snuke and Hillary Clinton “Snuke”, Episode 1104
Mr. Garrison: Every idea’s been done, Butters, even before The Simpsons. “Simpsons Already Did It”, Episode 607 108
Mel Gibson “The Passion of the Jew”, Episode 803
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Super Best Friends: Laozi, Joseph Smith, Mohammad, Jesus Christ, Sea Man, Buddha and Krishna
“Super Best Friends”, Episode 503
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III Theatrical Costumes. 115 Phyllis Hartnoll, The Theatre: A Concide History, Thames & Hudson wold of art, 3rd edition. Updated by Enoch Brater, 1998. 125 A.M. Nagler, Chapter 9 ‘Skeptical View of the Commedia Masks’, A Source Book in Theatrical History. Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more than 300 basic documents and other primary material, Yale University School of Drama, Dover Publications, 1952. 131 John Russel Brown, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre, Oxford University Press, 2001.
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IV Aristophanes. 137 Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays, Penguin Classics, 2003.
153 Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Penguin Classics, 2007.
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V The Mountain in Art and Literature. 229 Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory. The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite.
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VI Literary Satire. 345 Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings. 371 Lucian, Chattering Courtesans and Other Sardonic Sketches. 399 P.G. Wodehouse, Summer Lightning. 423 P.G. Wodehouse, The Mating Season.
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VII The Voice and the Chorus. 449 Reynaldo Hahn, On Singers and Singing. 473 Wagner on Music and Drama. A compendium of Richard Wagner’s prose writings.
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VIII Artificial Moons (Lighting in Theater). 485 A.M. Nagler, A Source Book in Theatrical History. Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more than 300 basic documents and other primary material, Yale University School of Drama, Dover Publications, 1952.
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