1. On The Lightfall steppes.
This scene begins with the legend of the young film director Werner Herzog walking from Munich, his hometown, to Paris in the winter of 1971. He undertakes this journey in order to "save" the film critic Lotte Eisner, who is dying. He believes the act of walking this distance to his friend's bedside has the power to save her. What is it with these German Romantics, and their questing journeys? Like the madman Lenz chronicled by Georg Büchner, or the spurned lover of Franz Schubert's Winterreise, Herzog meets harsh weather and the elements, Nature mirroring the ravages in his heart. He encounters villagers distrustful of his ragged circumstance, and many, many crows, waiting for ... something. If he doesn't watch himself, the will o' wisps, or the village wench, will lure him to his doom.
This scene begins with the legend of the young film director Werner Herzog walking from Munich, his hometown, to Paris in the winter of 1971. He undertakes this journey in order to "save" the film critic Lotte Eisner, who is dying. He believes the act of walking this distance to his friend's bedside has the power to save her. What is it with these German Romantics, and their questing journeys? Like the madman Lenz chronicled by Georg Büchner, or the spurned lover of Franz Schubert's Winterreise, Herzog meets harsh weather and the elements, Nature mirroring the ravages in his heart. He encounters villagers distrustful of his ragged circumstance, and many, many crows, waiting for ... something. If he doesn't watch himself, the will o' wisps, or the village wench, will lure him to his doom.
I've transplanted Herzog's quest into the video game Demon's Souls. The in-game hero, a Wanderer-class character named HERZOG, seeks to burnish the legend of his namesake, but in the virtual lands of Boletaria rather than the French-German winterscape. On his quest he is aided by the Maiden in Black. The trials. The triumphs. The crows and the rotting horse carcasses. Never does HERZOG's demeanor betray his internal anguish. The Maiden in Black leads him to the Old One, whom HERZOG finishes off joylessly, completing his quest. Incidentally, the real Herzog does manage to find his way to Paris, saving his princess.
2.
The word scene to describe the form of the work is preferred over less specific terms like virtual space or virtual world, as there are a couple usages of scene which draw out important characteristics of the work.
The word scene to describe the form of the work is preferred over less specific terms like virtual space or virtual world, as there are a couple usages of scene which draw out important characteristics of the work.
+ A staged scene, to set the scene: There is a bit of theater to the work, a contemporary baroque, characterized by multiple perspectives, expansion beyond the frame, an "architecture of vision", collisions of narrative.
+ A scene of incident or scene of aftermath: The viewer travels through documents of a collective memory — incorporeal ruins built from media fragments and ghost topographies.
3.
Image fragments in the scenes come from the following sources.
Image fragments in the scenes come from the following sources.
Escape from New York, dir. John Carpenter, 1981 /
Hiroshima Mon Amour, dir. Alain Resnais, 1959 /
Das Boot, dir. Wolfgang Petersen, 1981 /
Jack Goldstein, The Jump, 1978 /
"Nusaiba - Surah Al Qalam - Women only please" [link], 08 Feb 2007, accessed 24 Apr 2008 /
Lessons of Darkness, dir. Werner Herzog, 1995 /
Giotto di Bondone, The Lamentation, c. 1306 /
Joanna Newsom, live footage by shlacking, Philadelphia, PA, 16 Nov 2006 /
Apocalypse Now, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1979 /
Sans Soleil, dir. Chris Marker, 1982 /
Guernica, dir. Alain Resnais, 1950 /
Children of Men, dir. Alfonso Cuaron, 2006 /
"Aerial Hunting of Wolves in Alaska (short version)" [link], 19 Sep 2007, accessed 23 Jan 2008 /
"The Truth About Aerial Hunting of Wolves in Alaska" [link], 19 Sep 2007, accessed 23 Jan 2008 /
The Passenger, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975 /
The Thing, dir. John Carpenter, 1982 /
Muriel, dir. Alain Resnais, 1963 /
Piet Mondrian, Chrysanthemum, 1900 /
Piet Mondrian, Red Amaryllis with Blue Background, c. 1907 /
Piet Mondrian, Chrysanthemum, c. 1908 /
Piet Mondrian, Red Dahlia, 1907 /
Night and Fog, dir. Alain Resnais, 1955 /
Taste of Cherry, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997 /
Chocolat, dir. Claire Denis, 1988 /
Live footage of the Minutemen from We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen, dir. Tim Irwin, 2005 /
Assault on Precinct 13, dir. John Carpenter, 1976 /
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, dir. Philip Kaufman, 1978 /
The Lives of Others, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2007 /
F for Fake, dir. Orson Welles, 1973 /
The Battle of Algiers, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966 /
Live footage of Grigory Sokolov from Grigory Sokolov: Live in Paris, dir. Bruno Monsaingeon, 2004 /
"Cool Cellular Automata Step 1: Matlab simulation" [link], 12 May 2007, accessed 12 Jan 2009 /
"Color Game Of Life Visual Exhibition" [link], accessed 16 Jan 2009 /
"AI Civilian Panic Simulation" [link], 02 Feb 2007, accessed 12 Jan 2009 /
Jack Goldstein, Shane, 1974 /
Personal footage taken in Mexico City, 2008 /
The Shoes of the Fisherman, dir. Michael Anderson, 1968 /
"Office Evacuation Simulation" [link], 15 Apr 2007, accessed 12 Jan 2009 /
Dune, dir. David Lynch, 1984 /
Johnny Mnemonic, dir. Robert Longo, 1995 /
Starship Troopers, dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1997 /
Personal footage taken in the Netherlands, 2008 /
2001: A Space Odyssey, dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968 /
Deep Water, dir. Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell, 2006 /
"Newly Found Bas Jan Ader film" [link], 06 Sep 2007, accessed 05 May 2009 /
Jacob's Ladder, dir. Adrian Lyne, 1990 /
Bas Jan Ader, Broken Fall Organic, 1971 /
A Poet on the Frontline: The Reportage of Ryszard Kapuscinski, dir. Gabrielle Pfeiffer, 2004 /
Pieter Saenredam, The Nave of the Buurkerk in Utrecht from North to South, 1645 /
Pieter Saenredam, View through the West Part of the Nave of the Mariakerk in Utrecht from South to North, 1638 /
Exhibition catalogue The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy, Sophie Jugie, Yale University Press, 2010 /
Albrecht Dürer, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1498 /
Footage of the video game Demon's Souls, FromSoftware, 2009 /
Dersu Uzala, dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1975 /
Music video for Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, dir. Bruce Gowers, 1975 /
Tropical Malady, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004 /
Winter Light, dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1963 /
Ugetsu, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953 /
Excalibur, dir. John Boorman, 1981 /
The Crow, dir. Alex Proyas, 1994 /
Footage of the PC game Minesweeper /
"Gucci by Gucci - Directed by David Lynch" [link] 05 Oct 2007, accessed 19 Dec 2010 /
"Kiss Kiss - Holly Valance HD" [link], accessed 30 Dec 2010 /
Vertigo, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958 /
Man on Wire, dir. James Marsh, 2008 /
Star Wars, dir. George Lucas, 1977 /
Mark Lombardi, Bill Clinton, the Lippo Group, and Jackson Stephens of Little Rock, Arkansas (5th Version), 1999 /
Mark Lombardi, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Reagan, Bush, Thatcher, and the Arming of Iraq, 1979-90 (4th Version), 1998 /
Mark Lombardi, George W. Bush, Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens, ca. 1979-90 (5th Version), 1999 /
Mark Lombardi, BCCI-ICIC & FAB, 1972-91 (4th Version), 1996-2000 /
Mark Lombardi, Oliver North, Lake Resources of Panama, and the Iran-Contra Operation, ca. 1984-86 (4th Version), 1999 /
Mark Lombardi, Bill Clinton, the Lippo Group, and China Ocean Shipping Co. a.k.a. COSCO, Little Rock - Jakarta - Hong Kong, ca. 1990s (5th Version), 1999 /
Footage of the video game Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games, 2010 /
Paul Thek, Fishman, 1969 /
Wait Until Dark, dir. Terence Young, 1967 /
Panic Room, dir. David Fincher, 2002 /
Philip Guston, Untitled (Book), 1968 /
"FireLoop.wmv" [link] 09 Dec 2010, accessed 17 Oct 2011 /
Altered States, dir. Ken Russell, 1980 /
Footage of Gordon Matta-Clark cutting Day's End [link], cam. Betsy Susler, 1975 /
The White Ribbon, dir. Michael Haneke, 2009 /
Alien, dir. Ridley Scott, 1979 /
Andrei Rublev, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966 /
The Abyss, dir. James Cameron, 1989 /
The Game, dir. David Fincher, 1997 /
Philip Guston, Poor Richard, 1971 /
"Muhammed cartoon artist Kurt Westergaard interview, Part 3/3" [link] 26 Feb 2008, accessed 14 Nov 2011 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, c. 1928-30 /
Photo of Constantin Brancusi's Maiastra in Katherine S. Dreier's garden /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Golden Bird, 1920-21 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, 1923 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Fish, 1924-33 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Maiastra, c. 1917 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of an early stage of Bird in Space atop an Endless Column, c. 1922 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Endless Column, undated /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, 1923 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, 1929-30 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, 1925 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, 1927-30 /
Studio photo of Constantin Brancusi's Bird in Space draped in cloth, 1957 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, c. 1928-30 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird in Space, c. 1928-30 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Bird, 1922-23 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Fish, 1924 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Fish, c. 1930 /
Constantin Brancusi, studio photo of Torso of a Young Girl, c. 1933 /
4.
The airlock as a stage for moments of clarity and condensation. Lifeline drifting, speaking to the heavens. Poles: individuation / enfoldment (Deleuzian germinal subject, cf. The Fold); compression / decompression (of atmospheres; of memories; of data). Dream images lingering into wakefulness, the anxieties of the insomniac, the reveries of the dying.
The airlock as a stage for moments of clarity and condensation. Lifeline drifting, speaking to the heavens. Poles: individuation / enfoldment (Deleuzian germinal subject, cf. The Fold); compression / decompression (of atmospheres; of memories; of data). Dream images lingering into wakefulness, the anxieties of the insomniac, the reveries of the dying.
5.
Just as a sequence of images is set in motion inside a man as his life comes to an end — unfolding the views of himself under which he has encountered himself without being aware of it — suddenly in his expressions and looks the unforgettable emerges and imparts to everything that concerned him that authority which even the poorest wretch in dying possess for the living around him.
— Walter Benjamin, "The Storyteller"
6.
'We do not move in one direction, rather do we wander back and forth, turning now this way and now that. We go back on our own tracks . . .' That thought of Montaigne's reminds me about something I thought of in connection with flying saucers, humanoids, and the remains of unbelievably advanced technology found in some ancient ruins. They write about aliens, but I think that in these phenomena we are in fact confronting ourselves; that is our future, our descendants who are actually traveling in time.
— Andrei Tarkovsky
7.
To remember and to wake up are absolutely interchangeable.
— Philip K. Dick, The Exegesis