Signatures of the Vanishing (ATOPIA no. 2 - 04/2003)
Vanishing, fading, fainting, evaporating... these are slow phenomena, often overlooked for their subtlety and ineffability. What then should writing in the key of vanishing look like? What could it mean to testify facing the vanishing? All contributions of this edition assume that no vanishing can be total, that everything leaves the mark of its own disappearance. These 'signatures of the vanishing' are the inevitable rest which enables to retrace the the vanishing while on the other hand it bears testimony to the resistance to ultimate annihilation.
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“Vanishing Utopias“ An interview with Helmut Willke |
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Written by Helmut Willke (Bielefeld)
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As the German sociologist from the University of Bielefeld argues, though the great utopias are relicts of the past, the ruling model of the open market bears itself the characteristics of an utopia. In his trilogy “Atopia, Dystopia, Heterotopia”, Willke aims at describing the different aspects of this new ‘atopic’ society. |
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Written by Cecilia Gondard (Paris)
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Inmidst of the Indian Ocean, the tiny Chagos archipelago was once a blossoming paradise. Eventually, the site was chosen as the biggest US army base outside America and the population was exiled by force. The story of how a no-place could become the strategic junction point in times of "anti-terror" wars. |
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Scrittura d'ombra. Primo Levi - Paul Celan |
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Written by Ulisse Dogà (Venezia/Berlin)
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Dopo Auschwitz, concluse Adorno, scrivere poesia non è più possibile. Eppure, di fronte all'indicibile, sia Primo Levi che Paul Celan scelsero la via poetica, sebbene - come lo mostra Ulisse Dogà - con concezioni molto diverse se non antinomiche a riguardo della possibile "chiarezza" del linguaggio. |
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Written by Estela Schindel (Buenos Aires/Berlin)
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The sociologist Estela Schindel clarifies the juridic definition of what is meant when we speak of a desaparecido, a victim of Latin American military regimes. Besides, she investigates some of the ways of commemorating those who have left no physical remains. In Argentina, the families of the desparecidos invented the so-called tumbas de papel or "paper tombs". |
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Das Verschwinden erzählen. Von einer anderen Oralkultur in Paris |
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Written by Fabian Goppelsröder (Berlin)/Matthias Zielfeld (Konstanz)
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Die einstige Oralkultur ist fast vollständig aus unserer heutigen Gesellschaft verschwunden. Bis auf Charles, einem Strassenerzähler, der in den Strassen und Kneipen von Paris versucht, dieses Gedächtnis aufrecht zu erhalten. |
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Written by Javier Salgueiro (La Paz/Berlin)
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The Bolivian multimedia artist risks a glance into embers and ashes (Shockwave required) |
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2-SIGNATURES OF THE VANISHING 