Alaskan field recordings 2009 _ Robin Watkins

Anode-globe _ fig259 _ Birkeland

Building 57 _ Cockatoo Island 2012 _ Robin Watkins

ELF/VLF excerpt _ Robin Watkins

1 I how electrons experience the world (Karen Barad, in: Energy Connections) I R 2
2 I Ce qui est à lire reste toujours à lire (Jabès, Le Livre des Ressemblances, p. 21) R 3 …

d-1 I wie Elektronen die Welt erfahren (Karen Barad) I L d-2
d-2 I Was zu lesen ist, bleibt immer zu lesen (Jabès, Das Buch der Ähnlichkeiten) I L d-3 …

Barbara Ellmerer

don’t ask me why the shallow end exists
unless it is to crack your head wide open

or what makes the meshing
of our arms and legs
so intricate

or if those are indeed
chicken feet in the rafters

ask me what makes ink on ice
such a delicate thought

or why ‘hard’ and ‘soft’
when found in the same sentence
are sensual

or whether biting down the words
‘shame’ ‘genital’ ‘taxonomy’
might make them easier
to wear

interchangeability
that too
go ahead
ask me

as for the question you’ve saved
for another day:
could the answer be longing for the other shore?

throw-ng the i overboard
she found herself stutter-ng
sink-ng
becom-ng once again
an unreliable boat

and what if on another day—
stop
don’t ask
ask don’t stop
asking

1 (asking: what makes a vehicle move?) I (inside: mariners (shipping men, shipping women)) I (outside: wind, water, its currents)  R 2
2 (how are women, men moved?) I (inside) I (outside) R 3
3 (magnetic mode) I (our inner organs are sensitive to the electromagnetic field) I (our outer organs work with instruments which are sensitive to the electromagnetic field) R 4
4 (manyness mode) I (our inner organs are sensitive to many impulses) I (our outer organs work are sensitive to a manifold of passions) R 5
5 (GAU) I stop

I Man gesteht, dass sich schwerlich reine Erde, reines Wasser, reine Luft etc. finde … (I. Kant)

1 I (the ship, the boat) I (I am a ship, a boat) R 2
2 I (a ship, a boat, a dinghy, a barch  has inner side and an outer side) I (insight, outsight) R 3
3 (in former times: Leibniz’ times) I (inside: soul /Seele; outside: body/Körper) I (marble/Marmor) R 4
4 I (Die Seele/soul gleicht /equals Marmor/marble) I (Die Materie gleicht Marmor) R 5
5 I (Die Materie gleicht Marmor) I (magnetische Kraft/magnetic force durchdringt/* Marmor) R 6
6 I (magnetische Kraft durchdringt Marmor) I ( magnetic force * matter) R 1

[Question for another day: What makes the ship, vehicle move?]

*:

to interfuse            durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to penetrate sth.            etw.Akk. durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to percolate            durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to permeate sth.            etw.Akk. durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to pervade sth.            etw.Akk. durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to pierce            durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to saturate            durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to soak sth.            etw.Akk. durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to thrill            durchdringen | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to inform sth. [form.]   – pervade, permeate            etw.Dat. durchdringen [fig.] | drang durch, durchgedrungen |
to interpenetrate            gegenseitig durchdringen
to interpenetrate sth.            etw. Akk. völlig durchdringen
to thrust one’s way through sth.            sich Akk. durch etw. Akk. drängen
to thrust oneself through sth.            sich Akk. durch etw. Akk. drängen
to edge one’s way through   – a crowd            sich Akk. durchdrängen
to force one’s way through sth.            sich Akk. durch etw.Akk. durchdrängen

Barbara Ellmerer (Ink on Ice)

1 I (translating) I (Ich als Schiff) I (I as a ship or a boat) R 2
2 (relating) I (split in two I am one) I (the ship which I am building is made of splitting planks) R 1
1 (translating) I (the ark….) I (die Arche, die f (x) baut, besteht aus splitternden Planken) R 3 (Peinlichkeiten vermeiden) I (die Arche) I (der Kahn) R 1