“proper meanings were the last to be found”
Rousseau
1. Deckard consults Roman Jakobson about a possible replicant.
I put the picture of a man –
someone with aphasia –
in the Esper Machine. [Track left. Enhance. Stop]I seem unable to grasp
the multiplicity of his details.
The portrait is lost. [Pull out and track right. Stop. Enhance]I place a photo of a worker –
someone with mealy mouth –
in the doovalacky.I appear incapable of holding
his broken shards.
The facsimile disintegrates. [Track forty-five right. Stop]I insert an image of a lover –
a confused person –
into the ancient computer. [Centre and stop]I lack the skill to handle
his whole being.
His essence dies. [Enhance thirty-four and forty-six]I thrust a stranger –
a figure bordering another figure –
into the slot.I look sure to let slip
his inner complexities.
The message is garbled. [Enhance fifteen to twenty three. Stop]I analyse him –
the mis-speaker –
electronically.I can’t read
his code.
Select all. Delete. [Give me a hard copy right there]
2. I am the business
He found Zhora in the bath so easily.
Scales of snakeskin in the tub
= danger and sex = femme
fatale. He caught her in a .dos net,
overlaying her photograph with a screen
made of intersecting green lines.
He pinned me down the same way.
But to find my hiding places is not to
penetrate them. That the grid exists
is syntax and sign. Yes, I am the business,
but I am also music, I am also rain.
3. GAFF: “When keels plough the deep”
Rachel’s selection of an uncertain future with me
is contiguous with my whisky glass.My whisky glass was chosen for its vertical lines,
which reminded Ridley Scott of Raymond Chandler.Phillip Marlowe is a bruised peach
next to the cold glass bowl of Los Angeles.She and I set sail in the cinematic ending
because of clammy hands in the test screeningand I choose to begin with brand new words
because she is next to me.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones