Katharinas

1) Describe the texts (text, media, art).

3) Why are these texts is of interest to you?

4) What is its relation to your self-directed research?

5) How can the questions and issues these texts raise become work?

6) List research strands suggested by your peers

-- 1)

1. video

Veronika Moser, an iconic austrian scat porn actress is interviewed on how she started her practice and what she loves about eating other peoples' shit. It's set in a private kind of setting, Veronika speaks with a very thick viennese accent and smokes cigarettes while talking.

2)

Veronika speaks of her work so unapologetically, it's just what she does and she gives - or at least appears to give - zero fucks. It's not easy to actually swallow shit, and she speaks about how she had to train for years to be able to actually do it. That's pretty much the definition of skill, no? There is occult power in the deviance of her porn practice, which I find fascinating.

3)

The theme of occultism, maybe even humor, and the idea of a life practice instead of a work practice, all of which I find a relation to through looking at Veronika's porn practice.

4)

Eat poo.

2. text A short excerpt from this book I found online, called "Life Breaks In, A Mood Almanack" by Mary Cappello. It describes a child's drawing in simple, staight forward language, i.e. "an entirely blue woman in an entirely green doorway", which in it's directness is actually quite poetic. It speaks about how letters are something we learn o draw, and pictures are something we learn to read. 2) I came across the text/book while I was researching the term "spiral eyes" online. What came up was this bit "A figure with an overly large head and spiral eyes could be a self-portrait cartoon", but when I read the paragraphs around it, I realized that the way it speaks about pictures and language/letters is potentially very interesting in my exploration of the spiral symbol. 3) The way in which the text looks at symbols through the uninhibitedness of a child's drawing, and changes the names of the shapes, "half moon", "an animal's horns" by rotating them in space is a nice way to approach material. Being able to make connection between seemingly unrelated things. Ideas of hypnosis, spiraling eyes, loss of self, sharing matter... It's just a nice text. 4) Ummmmmmm

3. artwork Paintings by the french artist Rosa Bonheur, who supposedly was (one of) the first women who worked successfully as an independent artist in the 19th century. She painted mostly animals and did so in a way that depicted her subjects as emotional and vulnerable in a way that one would maybe see in human facial expression. Rosa Bonheur grew up in a Saint Simonian household, a french political and social movement based on the belief that industrial progress and scientific discovery would restructure society and eventually lead to "true equality". She also made a mad painting of a white horse with a really long mane. 2) Similar to Veronika Moser, Rosa Bonheur seems to have been an independent, zero-fucks-given woman. What is of interest for me here is more an attitude towards making than what is actually made, in this case painting. Furthermore, Rosa is interesting in terms of looking at feminist movement happening within the larger framework of a male dominated social movement. 3) Again, similar to video example 1. 4) Again, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm