Tuesday October 24, 2006
Psycho-Geography #2:Graf Novels
by The Mullah
The streets of London have provided inspiration to authors for centuries. Now graffiti artists are transforming the city itself into a piece of text. But does it make any sense? In the post-modern world, should we be looking for sense anyway?
These thoughts were first prompted by seeing a series of word poems pasted around Shoreditch and environs. At first I took them to be self-contained. But after a while I began to wonder -- what if they were fragments of a much larger work?
One composed by the observer themselves -- the patterns of their walking creating the order. If order is the right word, of course. Which is why I've only reproduced one; it is not my place to impose my interpretation upon the work. If you want to see it for yourself, good hunting.
People walking through urban environments typically walk quickly and avoid looking at the environment as they concentrate on their destination. But if we adopt a more relaxed pace, very quickly we start to see strange textual artifacts. A mysterious alleyway with graffiti saying 'Doctor here won't charge' but no doorway or any other evidence of a surgery.
The word 'Hitler' written in blood red on a Brick Lane flyposter. Around the corner, a dirty window with a smiley faced Hitler etched into the dust. Coincidence? Primal atavisms that stalk the streets?
We will be investigating further the bloody psychogeography of the East End in the next installment, provisionally entitled 'Mithras Hole'.
Posted in: Esoterics by bubblejam at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | Email This Entry
