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unlikelyfanjellyfis · 2 months

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Autobiography

Hi, my name is Zeus Tocmo I'm 18 years old I was born in Davao City, Currently I'm here in Lancaster Imus Cavite. I'm grade 12 students HUMSS strand

I'm the youngest among the Three siblings, I'm the only boy, also Im the one that have a bad behavior but I'm good boy especially to those my friends.

My Goal in my life is to become a teacher because that is my beggiets wish in my entire life. Also to become a successful boy so I can help my family.

SELF-ORBITUARY

Hi I'm Zeus, Tocmo I dedicated on being a teacher, also with a good heart and minde,also a kind person.

Beyond my professional life. Also cherished every moment spent with loved ones, filling each interaction with laughter, warmth, and genuine care.

Throughout my life, I held fast to my problems of being caring, sympathic and understanding, guiding other's actions with integrity and compassion.

FACIAL- RECOGNITION

My Boyfriend

I find myself captivated by the mesmerizing features of my boyfriend. His color was brown with red lips also a smooth voices. They speak volumes without blurting a word, conveying kindness, understanding, and unconditional love.

His plump lips, delicately curved into a gentle smile, possess an irresistible allure. They are the embodiment of tenderness and affection, offering comfort in times of need, and joy in moments of celebration. In addition, with each kiss, they speak of devotion and passion, it is like igniting a fire within my soul that burns ever brighter.

And then there's his pointed nose, a subtle yet distinctive feature that adds character to his face. It stands as a testament to his uniqueness, a reminder that beauty lies in the imperfections that make us who we are. With its graceful slope and subtle curvature, it serves as a beam of strength and tenacity, a symbol of the journey we've traveled together.

MEMOIR

It was during this darkest hour that I stumbled upon a gleam of light in the form of a chance encounter. I remember when I was chatted him first, then i found it funny and confusing because it never really crossed my mind if he's note is referring to mine. I came up with changing it to see if he's intentionally doing it, until he insisted chatting privately. Our conversation started like the usual get ups of those trying to get to know each other. As days goes by I started to feel attached to him. One of the reason why at first I'm a little bit hesitant about taking our status in the next level. I'm too afraid of putting myself in a position where it left me shattered and broken into million pieces. Also, considering that I may pour my anger and neediness at him knowing that I am vulnerable because of the situation of my family. I'm scared to become dependent on him, then he will left me for being "too much to handle". But we continued talking and didn't let him feel the uncertainty I felt.

Literary Journalism

In the heart of America's Deep South, amidst the sweltering heat of Mississippi, lies a clandestine world shrouded in white hoods and burning crosses. It is a world where hatred and prejudice thrive, where fear is a tool and ignorance is a weapon. This is the domain of the Ku Klux Klan.

Venturing into this realm is like stepping back in time, where echoes of a dark past resonate with chilling clarity. My journey begins with trepidation, a palpable sense of unease gripping my every step. The air is thick with tension as I approach the meeting place, a dilapidated barn hidden deep within the dense foliage of the Mississippi backwoods.

As I draw closer, the sound of muffled voices reaches my ears, punctuated by the crackling of a bonfire. Shadows dance ominously against the trees, casting an eerie glow upon the scene. With each step, my heart quickens, anticipation mingling with apprehension.

Finally, I reach the clearing where the gathering is taking place. A circle of figures clad in white robes surrounds the fire, their faces obscured by hoods. I am met with suspicious glances as I cautiously approach, a lone outsider intruding upon their sacred ritual.

Travelogue

Hey everyone! Welcome back to my channel! Today, we're diving into the vibrant world of SM –the shopping mall, also the beautiful country of Manila.

First stop, shopping! With hundreds of stores offering everything from high-end fashion to local souvenirs, there's something here for everyone. Let's check out some of my favorite spots!"

Well, folks, that concludes our adventure at SM Mall of Asia. From shopping and dining to entertainment and attractions, this place truly has it all. If you ever find yourself in Manila, be sure to swing by and experience the magic for yourself. Until next time, happy travels!"

Reflection Essay

In the depths of despair and shadows, lies a life veiled in darkness. It's a life where every step forward feels like wading through murky waters, where hope is but a distant memory swallowed by the abyss of despair. Each day begins with the weight of the world pressing down, suffocating any flicker of light that dares to penetrate the darkness. This is a life where the echoes of past traumas reverberate through every corner of the soul, casting a pall over even the simplest moments of respite.

In this dark life, relationships are fraught with pain and betrayal, each interaction tinged with suspicion and mistrust. Love, once a beacon of warmth and comfort, now feels like a cruel joke played by fate. Those who dare to venture close are met with walls of stone, erected to shield the fragile heart from further harm. Loneliness becomes a constant companion, a silent specter haunting every solitary moment, whispering reminders of inadequacy and unworthiness.

As the days stretch into weeks and the weeks into years, the darkness becomes all-consuming, seeping into every crevice of the mind and soul. Dreams wither and die on the vine, choked by the tendrils of despair that wrap themselves around every aspiration. Each sunrise brings not the promise of a new day, but the crushing weight of another day endured in the relentless grip of darkness

Reflection to Personal narrative

In this personal narrative written by Jeck , he illustrates how she and his Girlfriend love story was written. To her, their love story was about two souls finding solace within each other. He found herself transformed by his love, embracing the childlike happiness that bubbled up from within her. Through him, she rediscovered the simple joys of life; the beauty of sunset, the warmth of a shared laughter, and the comfort of a quiet embrace. He was more than grateful for the unexpected love that found it's way to her, changing Jeck in ways he never could have imagined.

Being in love is a rollercoaster of emotions, it is the blending of joy, excitement, and vulnerability. Its like discovering a whole new world within someone else. Love inspires us to be our best selves, yet it can also expose our deepest fears and insecurities. It's a journey of self-discovery, learning to trust, compromise, and communicate. It challenges us to grow, to be more empathic and understanding. But it's not always easy; it comes with its share of ups and downs, moments of bliss and heartache. Moreover, being in love is a transformative experience that enriches our lives in ways we never imagined.

At the core of being in love lies a profound sense of vulnerability. Opening oneself up to love means exposing one's deepest fears, insecurities, and desires to another person. It requires a leap of faith, a willingness to be trusted in return. In this state of vulnerability individuals often find themselves facing their own limitations, confronting past traumas, and embracing their authentic selves.

Personal Narrative

The love was overshadowed by resentment, and trust was a fragile commodity. As a child, I consider my emotions as landmines and I often found myself tiptoeing around it. Desperately trying to maintain some semblance of peace. But no matter how hard I tried, the thunderous currents of dysfunctionality always threatened to pull me under.

In the midst of the chaos, I learned to adapt and survive. I became adept at reading the subtle shifts in mood, learning when to speak and when to retreat in to the safety of silence. I developed thick skin, able to withstand the verbal lashes hurled in the fits of anger. But beneath that surface, the wounds run deep, leaving scars that would take years to heal.

As I grew older, I began to understand that dysfunctionality wasn't our destiny. I sought out peace and support, determined to break free from the patterns that trapped us for so long. It wasn't easy, and there were setbacks along the way, but slowly and steadily I began to chart a new course for myself. In addition, I started to understand myself more on the reasons why, who i am today.

BIOGRAPHY

My friend is Jeck Alojado, his 19 years old, from Romblon. Her current address now is Gentre Costal. His was a good boy to us especially to me because his my friend.

Every time I buy food we sharing each other,also a being a good friend to him might be wer like a brother couze her behavior as same as to me.

I thank God because his my friend that God give me, also wer happy to seeing each other on our school room.

Found Poem

Acrostic Poem

Z-eal, showing a kindness to others

E-mpowerment

U-n believable Smile

S-adness is the one of here weakness

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clairvoyantxatu · 5 years

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On Pokémon and Insensitive Portrayals

WARNING! LEAKED CONTENT FOR POKEMON SWORD AND SHIELD AHEAD! AS WELL AS DISCUSSION ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS! AND PLEASE, DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS UNTIL YOU FINISH READING THE TEXT, I TRIED MY BEST NOT TO DEMONIZE ANY OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED IN THIS DEBATE!

So, I’ve just found out that some Jewish fans have condemning the design of Impidimp’s final evolution, Grimmsnarl, for being eerily similar to antisemitic caricatures from Nazi propaganda.

They claim his green complexion, curly dark hair and long, pointy nose is pretty close to Third Reich-era depictions of Jewish people. The issue is similar to the controversy surruounding Jynx that happened when the series first came to the West. I decided to write this in order to expose my opinions on the matter, and maybe prevent further conflicts between defenders and accusers. Keep in mind, I can’t speak for Jewish people since I’m not one of them, but I personally believe anyone can share their opinions about controversial topics as long as they don’t commit the mistake of thinking they know more about a group they don’t belong to than themselves. Here goes my thoughts:

I personally DON’T believe Game Freak, as a company at least, is actively discriminatory against any group in particular; the majority of their employees, even the main members of its staff, might hold some biases coming from the still pretty conservative Japanese culture they’re inserted in. But they’ve already shown thorugh their actions throughout the years they’re not trying to perpetuate hatred towards any group in particular, even taking some measures - some of them, even too drastic, IMO - to secure that, like changing Jynx’ color palette starting from Gen III, temporarily replacing Brock in the anime with Tracey and slightly altering Gym Leader Lenora’s default design to please the fans concerned with their possible racist implications. But I think the biggest proof of that is how, starting from Gen V, they’ve been making an effort to include more diversity among their human cast, including more and more characters with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds with each passing generation, and even alluding to sexual diversity from time to time - if only through subtext, in the latter’s case (save for that post-op trans woman in the Battle Chateau, which got slightly less explicit in the English localization). Of course, not everything is perfect in that department, as can be attested by their reluctancy to depict the Player Characters in their more dark-skinned variations, as of X and Y, (and before that, the complete absence of that possibility in-game) in promotional art and spinoff media outside of screenshots of main series games designed specifically to showcase character customization, but I’d like to think this had more to do with the Japanese market - still their main target audience, despite the franchise’s success over the entire globe - being hesitant to accept character designs outside certain “standards” for their PC’s even to this day, to a lesser extent than in the past, of course. But one thing that people need to understand is that companies are complex entities encompassing many individual minds; them having flaws and making mistakes from time to time does not necessarily mean they are rotten to the core, even if, in the end, their main priority is making money for themselves (altruism is NOT a strong point in capitalist societies, sadly, but I digress).

With all that said, I’d like to point out as well, that sometimes, good intentions are not enough to perform a good deed; in fact, they can lead to grave consequences! And it’s not different with representation; sometimes, one can intend to portray a character from a certain group in a positive light and end up being tremendously insensitive, usually due to their own ignorance towards that group. I believe that’s the case with Jynx and other examples from Pokémon; while I’m one of the fans who prefer to believe Jynx is based on the Youkai Yama-Uba (refer to this link for more info on that: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Jynx_(Pok%C3%A9mon)#Origin), I cannot deny there is a strong similarity between Jynx’ original design and blackface caricatures, specially since the Yama-Uba is usually portrayed in Noh theatre by performers wearing blackface - even if without the intention to emulate actual black people. It doesn’t help that the anime chose to portray this species as Pokémon’s equivalent of Santa Claus’ usual elf assistants, possibly linking Jynx to Zwarte Peit, a infamous folklore figure heavily associated with Santa as well. In regards to the substantially smaller Lenora controversy, I personally believe it was the case of GF misinterpreting some depictions of black women from less-enlightened times, in particular those borrowing from the mammy stereotype, as something more positive than they actually were, possibly connecting them to traditional Japanese ideals of femininity and motherhood, but that’s just a wild guess, I admit. What I’m sure, however, is that while Lenora’s apron could be excused as a means to carry her archeological tools, even if I’ve never seen an actual archeologist wearing aprons to do so, her original Gym Leader Title in the Japanese version of the Gen V games, “Natural-born Mama” raises a lot of suspicion against the intent behind her design, specially since she’s not known to have children, have a particularly “motherly” personality, act as a mother figure towards any character in-game or have an occupation that could be interpreted as being akin to a mother’s role; the best I can think of is Lenora and her husband referring to each other as “mama” and “papa”, but considering other Gym Leader titles refer more to their main character features, and Lenora’s relationship with Hawes is more of side note in comparison to her role as Nacrene Museum’s director... the fact the rest of her characterization is pretty straightforward, lacking any racial elements to it, however, lends credency to the idea GF didn’t intend her to be a caricature of black women.

Nevertheless, the closeness between those depictions and real world racist depictions of minority groups is still unsettling, at least to some. And just because the author’s intention wasn’t to offend a certain group, it doesn’t mean people don’t have the right to dislike their work for that. After all, so many people hate Palkia’s design for resembling male genitalia despite that obviously not being the intention! What if they coloured Cloyster light pink instead? Would you blame people for associating it (even more) with a vagina? I’m not saying we should storm off GF’s office demanding they change Grimmsnarl’s design while accusing them of being bigots, specially since I don’t believe it’s the case at all; all Im saying is that there’s a strong point of favour of those discontent with the characters’ design, despite all claims that it’s not meant to represent something they despise. I don’t know if GF should feel impelled to change Grimmsnarl’s colouring to solely please those people, but I’m sure I’d also hate if they created, even unintentionally, a character who bore too much resemblance to a particularly negative depicition from a group I belong to, say, some Fuu Manchuu-esque Evil Team Leader or the like. If they simply made a new Pokémon with a Chinese-inspired aesthetic, even if some elements were a bit cliché, like Ludicolo is for Mexican people, I wouldn’t mind nearly as much.

And I don’t think anyone should dismiss those concerns, much less with weak arguments such as “if you see racism in that, then you’re the real bigot” like I’ve seen out there, just because they don’t grasp the ideas I exposed above. Neither do I approve the attitude of people who react with too much intensity to opposition towards their accusations or jump the gun and accuse GF of being prejudiced towards a specific group without enough evidence or incite violence of any kind towards them because of those unfortunate depictions. Remember, they come from a culture far away from our Western issues, so it’s more likely than not that they aren’t even aware of them, specially more relatively obscure elements like old Nazi propaganda. Having a British man as one of their main designers can help, but even Western people aren’t aware of all Western problems, so...

#pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon leak #pokemon leaks #pokemon swsh #swsh spoilers #racism #game freak #grimmsnarl

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kuro-shit-posts · 6 years

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A, F, J, P for sebastian, UT, ciel and vincent?

Hello! im so so sorry but im not super familiar with Vincent’s character and i didnt want to write something bad and disappoint you so i decided not to write for him, i hope thats ok! But i dohope you still enjoy the other characters!!———–Sebastian: A-Affection: completed in a previous post

F-Fun Times: Sebastian’s true self is still a bit enigmatic, however I feel that the real, demon, Sebastian doesnt really find many activities to be fun except for things like the manipulation of others or killing things (specifically killing sprees). Regarding his affinity for cats, i feel that playing with kitties would be the closest, if not the only, human “activity” he finds entertaining. As to whether Sebastian prefers to be in a group or alone, Sebastian doesnt really care for other demons, and clearly he isnt fond of angels or reapers either. Though Sebastian finds humans interesting, i think he finds them enjoyable in the way we enjoy looking at lobsters in a tank before we eat them. Its fun to watch them move around and interact with eachother, hell even after you take one home you might name it or think its cute, but ultimately its still food and you intend to eat it, not take it to the park and have a picnic because you enjoy its company. So needless to say Sebastian prefers to be alone.

J-Jokes: Clearly Sebastian is very talented in telling jokes but i think thats simply a product of being alive for so long and the fact that humans’ sense of humor hasnt really change through the centuries. Sebastian enjoys possessing the ability to make humans laugh as he enjoys being the center of attention and earning praise from humans. Though I dont believe he finds much humor in what humans find funny, i do believe he has his own sense of humor and for a demon he’s pretty giggly. For the most part, Sebastian makes himself laugh (especially in the form of puns), though he oftens finds humor in the foolishness of other (particularly Ciel). Sebastian is pretty quick to get a joke that would be considered funny to humans of any century, however, jokes that pertain to current or recent events tend to take him a bit longer, especially if he hasnt been amongst humans in a few decades. I think as the centuries went on, i.e. entering the 20th and 21st centuries, Sebastian would be even slower to get jokes as things move incredibly fast during the modern era. He’d finish a contract in the 80s and come back in 2010’s and be completely lost even though it had only been 30 years. What on earth was a Vine? Why did humans find plants so funny all of a sudden. Wait…when they say vine they aren’t referring to the botanical organism? He’d be one of those people that catches on right as a trend is ending or even way after it has ended because modern era trends, especially in humor, tend to last for months at the very most; which would be like miliseconds to a demon who experiences 10 years like 10 minutes.

P-Personality: First and foremost, I think that an intelligent partner would suit him best. As it is, Sebastian is alot smarter than the majority of humans, reapers, and quite possibly other demons, so regardless of who he chooses as a partner, they need to be able to keep up with his mental abilities. Next on the list of importance, I’d say maturity is something Sebastian values. Sebastian finds immature people destestable and someone’s level maturity makes or breaks his perception of them. After those two traits I think things tend to get a bit more flexible, I feel like Sebastian would prefer someome who had a sense of adventure, he doesnt care for boredom or laziness so someone who would want to get up and do things, or go with him to obscure places would be right up his alley. Someone with a unique perspective on the world would be desirable as well, Sebastian finds humans incredibly perplexing, so a human that even other humans have difficulty deciphering would be attractive to him as he likes a challenge. Speaking of challenges, he wouldnt want someone who’d come to him too easily, though he wouldnt want to work terribly hard either, he likes the chase but only when he knows there’s a reward waiting for him at the end. Sebastian would also find perseverance attractive, especially if it was facing something they feared or a task that proved to be incredibly challenging. I feel like he’d prefer a thrill-seeker as well. Most importantly though, he’d want someone to be able to completely accept and cherish his true form. Sebastian loves being a demon so someone who loved him like he loved himself would be absolutely necessary.

Ciel:A-Affection: Ciel would definitely be the type of s/o to buy you a diamond necklace before he’d think to give you a hug. Ciel hates physical contact, period. But i do think that he would tolerate it if his s/o really wanted physical affection and they were the one to initial it. Ciel’s not too good with words of romance either, so the majority of his love would be shown through the purchasing of items or perhaps the rememberance of a favorite meal or song and providing his s/o with such on frequent occasions. Ultimately he is still pretty distant and any type of affection would be rare. Though I think Ciel would prefer a distant partner who wouldnt demand alot of his attention, i feel like a clingy partner would complement his personality better. The reason being that Ciel acts distant and cold to protect himself, deep down he stills craves affection like any other human, especially one that has been broken. He’d need a partner that is able to understand this and is able to compensate for his lack of means to show affection by being clingy or affection enough for the both of them.

F-Fun Times: Ciel primarily enjoys activities that challenge him mentally, chess(obviously), reading, etc. On the other hand, Ciel is definitely not fond of any type of physical activity. To be even mediocre at anything that involves physical exertion, he has to put in his all. Ciel isnt the most social person, he’ll be social if he has too and he’s pretty damn good at acting but if he has the choice he prefers to do things he finds entertaining by himself. Ciel is pretty introverted and finds the company of others incredibly draining even if he enjoys the person or people themselves.

J-Jokes: Oh no no no, Ciel is t e r r i b l e when it comes to telling jokes. Ciel tends to be very left brained and unfortunately for him, that leaves him pretty empty handed in the comedy department, as we obviously saw during the Circus Arc when it took him hours to make Undertaker (a man who is notoriously giggly) produce even a miniscule chuckle. Ciel enjoys puns on occasion and only when theyre tasteful. Ciel is more so a fan of witty comments but an intelligent pun tickles his fancy every once in a while. However he hates Sebastian’s constant puns (mostly because he is the subject of them). Ciel is actually pretty slow to get most jokes. He doesnt really understand many types of common humor unless its witty or sarcastic. He really doesnt care for humor in general, to be honest, he hates smiling and being happy, it reminds him of the dwindling time he has left, and how he is technically on borrowed time. Ciel hates humor because he almost feels guilty for laughing or enjoying himself. He feels as if he doesnt deserve happiness after what he has sacrificed and for the selfish reasons he did so. In short, humor is not a friend of Ciel.

P-Personality: Ciel would best be suited by someone who has a personality opposite to his. Ciel isnt cold by nature, Ciel is cold because of a traumatic experience. Ciel’s aloof demeanor is more so a shield rather than a legitimate personality trait. Underneath that shield, Ciel’s a sweet person, he craves love and happiness just like anyone else, perhaps more than most people because he has been so fiercely denied it. Because Ciel is no longer able to access those feelings of love and happiness he would best be complimented by someone who could do that for him. Someone who could provide him with positivity and allow him to view things more optimistically would be ideal. Though, he would best be suited by someone with a calmer persona, they would have to be down to earth as he would most likely view them as his stability. Someone with a motherly aura who could take care of him instead of him having to take care of them. That type of person would attract him and be an incredibly good fit for his personality. Other personality traits wouldnt hold as much merit with him, except for maybe intelligence, Ciel wouldnt be fond of a partner who couldnt keep up with him mentally.

Undertaker:A-Affection: Completed in a previous post

F-Fun Times: Undertaker enjoys activities that have to do with the strange and unconventional. Undertaker enjoys things he doesn’t understand, I feel like that’s why he’s so fascinated wih death. Death is quite the anomaly and he very much enjoys the feeling of curiosity. Honestly Undertaker is pretty fond of gore as well, he likes cutting things open in his free time and seeing whats inside, not only because he is fascinated with how the insides of the creature work but because he enjoys the look of bloodied flesh, as gross as it sounds. Aside from things that pertain to death, Undertaker enjoys other unconventional activities as long as they dont bore him. He doesnt much care whether or not theyre productive activities, however he cant stand idle activities that completely waste his time. He’s pretty lazy but he doesnt take pleasure in wasting his immortality on things that serve no ultimate purpose. Discovering new, completely bizarre things is his favorite activity. He doesnt much care whether or not he has any company to do this with, he does what he wants regardless of anyone else. Though if he had to chose he would probably prefer the company of a companion to assist him in his activities.

J-Jokes: This man L O V E S jokes. I mean, he straight up values them in the same way normal people value currency. Undertaker isn’t particularly good at telling jokes himself but he certainly appreciates the art of comedy. He enjoys puns, he enjoys anything that might make him laugh. However, his favorite type of comedy is either slapstick or simply watching someone unknowingly make a fool of themselves. Undertaker is most fond of the comedy that is unexpected and happens naturally. He is always the first to get a joke. Jokes to him are a fine art, and honestly even if he doesnt get a joke, the fact that he couldnt understand makes him laugh anyway. The only jokes Undertaker doesnt enjoy are corny jokes. If unexpected/slapstick comedy is caviar to him, dad jokes are dollar store spray cheese. He hates dad/corny jokes, he finds them terribly overused and believes the only people who find them funny have a horribly underdeveloped sense of humor.

P-Personality: Undertaker would best fit with someone who is somewhat similar to him. Undertaker enjoys happy-go-lucky people whom see the beauty in laughter and pursue happiness. Despite being consistently cast off in the dark shadows of death and the grimness of grim reapers, Undertaker values optimism and positivity. Undertaker also values uniqueness and is drawn to those that possess strange qualities or quirks. He likes strange things and would prefer a partner who could satiate his hungry for unconventionality. Undertaker would also want someone who could make him laugh and value humor in the same way he did. He would clash with someone who was too serious, Undertaker has seen a lifetime of seriousness and gloom, he couldnt stand a partner who took their time in the world for granted and spent it focusing on the bad instead of trying to achieve happiness.

#black butler imagine #black butler scenarios #kuroshitsuji scenarios #kuroshitsuji imagine #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #undertaker

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girlhorse · 6 years

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im in the mood for an abemiha meta so im going to talk about the language use in oofuri! and by language use i mean the use of the word “like” (suki/好き/スキ)

im putting it under the cut since i gotta include some images. beware of minor manga spoilers! really, really minor though lol

first i’m going to provide an explanation of terms and stuff, and their connotations (info is from jisho.org and wordreference. i am still just a beginner in japanese but i am fairly confident in these explanations!)

a lot of you may know this but japanese has three systems of writing, which is going to be very important for my discussion! these are broken down into hiragana and katakana (referred to together as “kana”, symbols are syllabic) and kanji (written characters that represent a word/phrase) you can express japanese in writing in kana alone, but its way more common to use kanji along with kana in writing. this will be really important to my discussion, as i will be highlighting the distinction between katakana usage and kanji usage of the word “suki”

suki, written “好き” in kanji and “スキ” in katakana, is defined as: “liking; fondness; love” which can be a little confusing - the distinction between “liking” something and “loving” something isn’t quite available, so that typically necessitates context. but with written language, especially in a language with three entirely different writing systems, i think it is safe to say there are other ways of constructing that distinction.

(i can hear a distant “but gabby what about DAISUKI!!! isn’t that MORE about love?” yes and no! ive addressed this in an earlier post but in general the word “suki” is considered to be more serious and romantic, while “daisuki” is a bit more.. uh.. “extra” and frivolous)

so why would an author choose to use kana (in this particular case katakana) in place of kanji?

the kanji is difficult/obscure (gonna just say that “好” doesnt seem particularly difficult at all - it is taught in grade 4)

the author wants to stress sound of the word/emphasize the word (this is important for my interests lol)

a stylistic choice

(i picked up this info a bit from japanese language forums & from translating stuff so it might not be completely accurate but! i think this sums it up)

now that that is out of the way im going to make my bold ass claim! that in the text of oofuri (or just in mihashi speak), スキ is love, and 好き is like! i will now try to show u how i came to this very very bold conclusion:

the first instance we see of “suki” being used in the manga is when abe tells mihashi he likes him as a pitcher (bottem left bubble is “i like it”)

which is followed up by this panel:

in sequential panels, we have two different spellings of “suki”. it is made clear from the very first chapter in the manga, that (esp for mihashi) that kana “suki” and kanji “suki” have different, important implications. it seems here that mihashi is bewildered that abe would say anything like “like” to him, and writing suki as スキ only drives this home further, almost as if “like” was in bold or italicized

now this is just the first instance and only proves that katakana can be used as a tool to emphasize something, or that maybe mihashi doesn’t know the kanji for suki, or that this is how “suki” is translated to mihashi speak - but it can also set us up to look out for this distinction in the future. I’ll get to the confession scene last my dudes just hold on a minute lol

now the “this is the mihashi version of suki” theory could work if not for the fact that we have at least 2 instances of mihashi using 好き:

the first when he says he likes the big carrot chunks in the curry:

and again when he asks abe if he likes catching (i’ll say more on this in a bit):

so if mihashi didnt just learn 好き (its fair to say he always knew since hes not like illiterate dgfdg) then in this instance, “suki” doesn’t have any particular emphasis -- ie mihashi is saying “like” here

setting aside mihashis fondness for carrots is the question he asks abe which is “you like being a catcher, huh?” to which abe emphatically replies:

this is followed by mihashis conclusion, where we see the shift back to スキ:

“i see. i like pitching. and abe likes catching” (mihashi uses スキ elsewhere when he talks about his feelings towards pitching; we can pretty much assume that he loves it. thats like his whole character) mihashi wasnt sure how much abe liked catching, and after hearing abe’s response, shifts 好き to スキ. it is subtle, but it means a lot! abe likes/loves catching as much as mihashi likes/loves pitching! there wasnt really a need for clarification on the reader’s part here - we can get what abe is saying right away, but mihashi must confirm it for himself and re-confirm to the reader that “スキ” has a special meaning in this manga/to mihashi

moving on!!!!!! just to solidify, i want to show a couple more instances where スキ shows up:

here, in the word for crush: (the word crush is lit. “person you like” - interestingly, while “person”(人) is in kanji, “suki” is written in katakana)

ofc this could just be because this is handwritten, and it is easier to read handwritten kana, so perhaps it is this way for clarity (人 has 2 strokes so its not an issue, but 好 has 6 so its just a bit more complicated) BUT higuchi. (unfortunately for amateurs like me who try to translate her work) really is not opposed to handwriting more complicated kanji in her manga. i also haven’t looked hard enough but perhaps there is an instance where 好き is handwritten. dont know though!

and here, unrelated to abe and mihashi, when suzune is telling her boyfriend ookawa that she loves him (its blue cuz its an omake on the cover thats just how it is)

again, it is handwritten, but also this scene seems to rely on the emphasis provided by the katakana

and now. drumroll. im finally focking ready to talk about the confessoin scene! i have talked about how it can be read as a “confession” in this post, but i think it is definitely worth bringing up again bc it is my focking point!

maybe u already guessed (or read my other post) but when abe and mihashi tell each other they like each other it is with スキ:

am i trying to imply theyre in love already? yes and no! i think that スキ here is meant to draw our eyes to the word so we remember it well, or maybe give us a hint of what’s to come in the story (like a real confession scene between them) the two of them are very naive and dont know each other well in the beginning, but it is clear higuchi wants us to pay attention to this word and ask ourselves why it might be written in this way, and how this writing can kind of make the meaning of “suki” ambiguous

(as an aside id like to note how in the panels above, the phrase “i like you” is isolated from the rest of the sentence. as u probably know abe’s full phrase is “not just as a pitcher, i like you as a person, too!” bc of the way japanese grammar works, though, abe’s “i like you” clause out of context can work as its own sentence; and higuchi chose to give it its own bubble. mihashis “i like you” is even isolated from his “me too!” which i think is interesting. mihashis flashback later in the manga to abe’s “i like you” is segmented in exactly the same way)

also in this scene is where mihashi says he loves being a pitcher w/ スキ:

so if we add the layer that this scene is from mihashis perspective he may very well be meaning “love” in this scene, and may have even interpreted abe’s words in that way (again at the beginning we already see mihashi interpreting abe’s 好き as スキ, so perhaps he is doing it again - though it is left unclear on purpose)

make of this what you will - i could be just picking up on unimportant things. after all, “suki” absolutely isn’t the only word that is emphasized/ kana in the manga, so perhaps this is just a coincidence. but i think it is pretty significant that it is fairly consistent of a distinction in the manga, for such a loaded word, and i honestly suspect this isn’t going to be the last we see of it.

#gabby talks oofuri #abemiha #this toook me like over an hour to write and it was worht it.

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mamcollection · 4 years

Text

What Sold—and for How Much—in Art Basel 2020 Virtual Art Fair

David Zwirner

Balloon Venus Lespugue (Red) Jeff Koons $8 million

Hauser and Wirth

The Press of Democracy, 2020 Mark Bradford $5,000,000

Painting Mixed media on canvas 287.0 x 359.4 (cm)113.0 x 141.5 (inch)

‘The Press of Democracy’ (2020) features a loose urban grid in bright blue, with organic golds, browns, and blacks radiating from the center, evoking the release of mounting pressure caused by the suppression of kinetic energy. Using his signature techniques of layering paper, rope, and other materials onto canvas and processing the surface to reveal complex intersections between layers of meaning, Mark Bradford’s most recent work examines a world undone by crisis. Named after a chapter from ‘Gotham’, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace’s monumental history of New York City, ‘The Press of Democracy’ considers the unspooling of generations of established power structures. Bradford makes a case for the animating power of abstract painting at a moment when everything seems up for grabs.

Gladstone Gallery

Untitled, 1982 Keith Haring $4.75 million

Painting Enamel and dayglo on metal 230.0 x 184.0 (cm)90.6 x 72.4 (inch) Provenance: The Keith Haring Foundation, New York

Throughout his career, Keith Haring (b. 1958, Reading, Pennsylvania) used his signature artistic vocabulary to become a spokesperson for his generation, responding to many of the urgent social and political issues that defined his lifetime. Beginning with his first works in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Haring developed a universal language comprised of iconographic motifs – including barking dogs and dancing figures – that remained accessible and recognizable to a global audience.

The painting ‘Untitled’ (1982) is an iconic representation of how Haring employed these motifs to create an exuberant composition that speak to both formal expertise and brilliance in conveying social messages. Here, his use of day-glo paint captures the vibrant energy of his age, one shaped in part by a popular underground club culture, street art , and Neo-Expressionist painting. As an artist, Haring provided a unique take on universal concepts such as birth, death, love, and war, ultimately creating an oeuvre that remains as relevant today as it was during his lifetime.

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David Zwirner

Untitled (Blot), 2015 Kerry James Marshall $3 million (to an American museum)

Painting Acrylic on PVC panel 213.7 x 303.5 (cm)84.1 x 119.5 (inch)

Experience Kerry James Marshall's Untitled (Blot) in depth and explore Basel Online: 15 Rooms on David Zwirner Online → Engaged in an ongoing dialogue with six centuries of representational painting, Kerry James Marshall (b. 1955) has deftly reinterpreted and updated its tropes, compositions, and styles. At the center of his prodigious oeuvre, which also includes drawings and sculpture, is the critical recognition of the conditions of invisibility so long ascribed to black figures in the Western pictorial tradition. For his Blots series, Marshall utilizes the language of abstraction to suggest alternative ways in which black experiences are formally manifested in painting. Like his more familiar figurative images, the artist’s Blots invite viewers to consider what, and whom, the history of abstraction has obscured.

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Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York

The Nineties (1980) Ed Ruscha $2.4 million

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Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco

Untitled (87-33) (1987) Donald Judd $1.85 million

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White Cube

Komplementär bräunlich (2012) Georg Baselitz $1.66 million:

Baselitz cites as an influence Italian abstract painter Lucio Fontana, who made his images by slicing or digging into monochromatic fields of colour to reveal black voids behind the picture plane: “I wanted an apparition, something that appears out of the depth”.

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Hauser and Wirth

The Fragile (2007) Louise Bourgeois $1.5 million

Diagonal Evolution (2020) George Condo $1.4 million

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Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Elke in Frankreich II (2019) Georg Baselitz $1.35 million

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Luhring Augustine, New York

Untitled (1990) Glenn Ligon $1.2 million

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Xavier Hufkens, Brussels

White Snow Cake (2017) Paul McCarthy $1.2 million

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Galerie Max Hetzler

Intervals 6, 2019 Bridget Riley $1.2 million

Painting oil on linen 271.0 x 181.0 (cm)106.7 x 71.3 (inch)

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Hauser and Wirth

Untitled, 1972 Ed Clark $1.2 million

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David Zwirner

Pastel (1991) Joan Mitchell > $1 million

Work on Paper

City, 1928 - 1936 Josef Albers $1 million

Painting Tempera on Masonite in artist's frame 56.2 x 109.9 (cm)22.1 x 43.3 (inch)

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Almine Rech, Brussels

The Dreamer (2008) George Condo $950,000–1 million

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Skarstedt

Ralf III (Remix), 2005 Georg Baselitz $900,000

Painting oil on canvas 300.0 x 250.0 (cm)118.1 x 98.4 (inch)

'Ralf III (Remix)' belongs to Georg Baselitz’s acclaimed Remix series, a self-referential body of work that the artist began in the autumn of 2005, in which he revisits and re-interprets subjects from earlier decades of his practice. Addressing his own personal history through the lens of retrospection, the Remix series confronts how perceptions evolve and transform over time, especially within the context of Germany’s dark and troubled past which so persistently reveals itself in Baselitz’s work. Often enlarged and rapidly painted, the spontaneity with which the works in the series are executed gives rise to mnemonic flashes of things in the past, present, and future. Extreme transformations of the their muted, more ponderous forerunners, this particular work makes reference to Baselitz’s Ralf series painted in 1965. 'Ralf-kopf' pre-dates Baselitz’s inverted pictures by four years and sits within a seminal body of work that would form the basis of Baselitz’s artistic investigations that still continue today. The character Ralf is an imaginary depiction of fellow neo-expressionist painter A.R. Penck (real name Ralf Winkler) who is depicted once again in the present work, held in a moment of isolated introspection. Baselitz would paint three versions of Ralf in 1965, one of which now resides in the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

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Galerie Max Hetzler

The Flaming Fields, 2020 Walton Ford $850,000

Painting watercolour, gouache and ink on paper 212.1 x 151.8 (cm)83.5 x 59.8 (inch)

VAT, where applicable, is not included in the asking price.

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Hauser and Wirth

$850,000: Lee Lozano, No Title (ca. 1964) $730,000, $619,000: Günther Förg, Untitled (2007)

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David Zwirner

Im Turm, 2019 Neo Rauch $500,000

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Levy Gorvy

Mother, 2020 Dan Colen $500,000

Painting Oil on canvas 149.9 x 383.5 (cm)59.0 x 151.0 (inch)

“I have a natural inclination towards using nostalgia as a creative prompt. I have always been interested in the power of cliché. But I still feel very connected to the idea that an artwork must be a reflection of my most individual self and an expression of my most intimate feelings. And so these Mother paintings allow me to explore that tension between the deeply personal and the universal.” —Dan Colen

Dan Colen began his Mother series in 2013, using stills from animated Disney films as source imagery and translating their compositions into traditional oil-on-canvas paintings.

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Lisson Gallery

Listening to the Poets, 2020 Stanley Whitney $450,000

Painting Oil on linen 243.8 x 304.8 (cm) 96.0 x 120.0 (inch)

“I don’t worry about what the color does. If it feels right, if it sits right... To me, it’s all about how things feel. I never know what the colors are going to be... I’m trying to open up space, for people to wander.” — Stanley Whitney

Discussing color entails abstraction; any color represents much more than its literal color, and the discussion is abstract especially when the paintings aren’t representational.

The effects of color call up many responses: visceral, physical, neurological, instinctive, impulsive, adjectives that require others to satisfy or elucidate usage. I can say: the eye communicates with the brain, so that we see. The brain receives signals and creates, constructs, or pieces together an image. It’s involuntary activity, as are sensations, which have no organic basis.

“I don’t know what color does,” Whitney tells me, and says he doesn’t have a theory of color. His art engages with and is about that question, actively playing and working with perception, involuntary responses as well as voluntary ones. Knowing something about painting will usually charge a viewer’s relationship to a painting, and bring other meanings to it.

– Lynne Tillman, Afternoon Paintings, Lisson Gallery catalogue, 2020

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Stephen Friedman Gallery

Happiness Beyond Paradise, 2020 Luiz Zerbini $400,000-450,000

Acrylic on canvas300 x 600cm (118 1/8 x 236 1/4in)

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Hauser and Wirth

Still Life, 2020 Nicolas Party $250,000

Source: Ocula, ArtnetNews

#art basel #artbasel #artbasel2020 #contemporaryart

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warmau · 7 years

Text

{Special} College!AU Kihyun

major: drama + classics (concentration: greek civilization)

minor: ancient greek

sports: is running around campus in a toga considered a sport? he did that once as a part of an impromptu production,,,,,,

clubs: poets society, theater club, hosts the bi-yearly ‘on campus olympics’, playwrights united, so many tbh,,,,,,

kihyun’s love for drama comes from his love for greek mythology. it all started with him watching an old film version of the odyssey when he was ten and afterwards he couldn’t stop parading around the street asking everyone to call him “odysseus ruler of ithaca”

but instead of going into film as a major, kihyun had started reading the playwrights of sophocles, euripides, and agathon and had fallen for the sheer madness of greek tragedy

his love for both acting, writing, and the culture of ancient greece made him want to learn the language (although he is rather clumsy with it) but inevitably he ended up majoring in both drama and the classics

bringing together the two things he loves most: being on stage himself, while also learning about the art of his favorite kind of plays

and everyone in the drama major agrees that if they ever put on productions based off ancient greek plays that kihyun HAS to be the main role -

like for their production of hamlet, kihyun was fine playing horatio - he didn’t have to be the prince but when they put on oedipus rex well,,,,,let’s just say there was no question kihyun wanted the role

mostly because in the play oedipus ends up blind and kihyun came into practice with a blindfold on and proceeded to try and prove he could still do everything without seeing anything,,,,he ended up in the nurses office buT HEY HE GOT THE ROLE

all his classes that focus on playwriting / scripts kihyun has this need to only write twists on greek mythology, or make up stories using the gods

and in costume design he’s always like “my sketches are based on artemis!! see the dress is short, but comfortable with nature-themed colors because artemis was the goddess of the hunt-”

and you know the way some people are harry potter nerds or ,,,, gamers ,,,,, or you know kpop fans,,,,, kihyun is a fan of ancient greece. to put it simply

and he’s really smart about the civilization, he knows so many facts and so many philosophers and writers and political figures - even though it might seem like he’s a little messy at times

which believe me, kihyun can give off the messy feeling because he’s really easily frustrated by a A LOT of things. like he always gets too much on his schedule and then fusses about how he can’t finish

and minhyuk loves LOVES L O V E S to tease kihyun when kihyun is trying to focus on his work

and it ends up with kihyun chasing minhyuk around the library waving around his copy of ‘hippolytus’ like a weapon

but also kihyun always drags minhyuk into his room to read through lines with him or give him his opinion on kihyun’s acting

and minhyuk is like whY ME ASK SHOWNU and kihyun is like i can’t shownu’s only reaction is ‘good’ ‘nice’ ‘very pleasing’

like minhyuk and kihyun are always bickering if they’re in the same room and minhyuk’s always like ROFL YOU’RE SO MAD YOUR EARS TURNED RED!!!! and kihyun is like THEY DID NOT CO M E HERE SO I CAN WHOOP-

but in the end minhyuk is always one of the first people kihyun invites to his productions and it’s cute it’s like cats and dogs w/them

on the other hand, with everyone else kihyun is sooooooo sly and he’s always like,,,,,like he always knows everyones secrets and no one knows how

like he leaned over to jooheon once and was like “i heard you failed your test in global finance” and jooheon’s fry fell out of his mouth because he was like WHO TOLD YOU I SHREDDED THAT TEST and kihyun is just like (-----: heard it thru the grapevine~

also jooheon is just an easy target for kihyun because he always slips up and tells kihyun exactly what he wants to know and everyone is like kihyun let him live and kihyun is like hehehehe,,,,NO

tries to matchmake all his friends on blind dates and stuff because he calls himself the ‘modern day eros’

it flops most of the time and everyone in monsta x is like stop trying to wingman us and kihyun is like that’s why you’re all single because you won’t listen to me - the actual god of love

and even though kihyun seems like this responsible, on-top of his work kind of person there are times where,,,,,,,that isn’t very true

because college makes people doubt their abilities and kihyun has never been the kind of person who’d go around asking for help or advice,,,he always just gives his support

but when he needs it most ??? he shuts down

and you learn this because every time you’ve ever seen kihyun,,,,you’ve seen the happy and excitable kihyun. the kihyun who laughs with his whole body, who speaks his lines with so much emotion that people C R Y, who is always shining on and off stage

you’ve seen him like this ever since you started volunteering to paint backgrounds for the theater club

and never once,,,,had you see him look sad. you’d seen him angrily yelling out when things were getting messed up, how he gets a little on edge when people keep messing up lines,,,,,maybe even the way his ears get red when he’s rushing to get rehearsal started but,,,,,,

sad??? nope

so you can only describe it as pure shock when you think that everyone has gone for the day and you’ve set up the large white banner that you have to paint for an upcoming production but as you step back inside the dark theater with buckets of paints you hear ??? crying

and it isn’t like sobbing or anything but you hear someone sniffle

and you consider like turning around and leaving them in peace, but when you catch a glimpse of the pink hair,,,,,,,,the pink hair of the only person on campus who has that bright of a dye job

you freeze and think “kihyun?”

and at first you don’t believe it because no way. someone so outspoken and charismatic wouldn’t seclude themselves to crying in the theater ,,,,,

but then you see him get up from the corner he’s slumped again, a liter of paper scraps making a ring around his feet

and that’s when you notice that you’ve locked eyes. your wide, confused ones staring into kihyun’s that are rimmed with redness and the tear stains down his cheeks glisten even so far away

something about it leaves you even more shocked ,,,,, because even like this kihyun is handsome. hauntingly handsome,,,,,,wiping at his face with his sleeves and desperately moving his eyes away from yours

and you think he’s just going to run past you. leave

but he seems stuck too

and for a while you two just stand there in a silence broken only by kihyun sniffling every now and then and you shifting the paint can in your hands

and then you hear him go “im sorry, this is painfully awkward for you isn’t it?”

something sounds a bit bitter in his voice,,, what it is you don’t know ? but you transfix your stare and shake your head simply going “no. you’re the one that looks like you’re going through something painful”

kihyun’s head snaps up to look back at you and again,,,,,,something about the browns of his eyes seem illuminated and glassy

he bites back his lip but sadly drops his shoulders “you’re right. it is painful.”

now it probably isn’t your place to go around meddling into his business, but it’s never nice to leave someone crying alone without at least trying to extend a helping hand so shakily you step forward. setting down your can of paint you keep your eyes on him

“what’s wrong?”

kihyun seems to break at the sound of your question. a visible shiver runs down his body and before you know it he’s back to his knees on the floor, picking up the scraps of paper and crumpling them in his hand

without really knowing why you rush over and try to pull the scraps from him. you unravel one and read the disjointed sentences, the obvious dialogue mixed in with stage commands

it’s a script,,,,,,for a play

putting together a couple of more scraps you make out names like ‘aphrodite’ and ‘eros’. the names of ancient greek cities. words you can’t decipher but that are most obviously distinct of an old langue

you look up at kihyun and he stares blankly at the paper before clenching his teeth

“they won’t approve it. greek tragedy isn’t popular in our time, it’s only meant to be studied.” you tilt your head and kihyun continues with a sigh

“every time we have to submit a draft, the professor gives it back. says, “kihyun stop writing tragedies. stop putting in obscure greek references. kihyun,,,,,,,,,,,do something more modern.” but i don’t want to. im not majoring in modern theater. im majoring in the classics. so what if i want to rewrite them. so what if i want to make a play about ancient gods no one cares about. i care about them. i ,,,,,,,,”

he stops and his gaze meets yours. your trying to piece the paper back, you want to read the scene but you can’t. it’s so ripped up

kihyun takes the paper and without looking at it recites that characters lines. he sets the place for you, olympus and than a city off the skirts of athens. you listen, enchanted at how he’s added all this to his memory. the smallest details, the expression on his characters faces

it’s only one scene that he recites aloud, but you edge closer and ask “is there more?”

kihyun lets out a shallow laugh and shakes his head “the professor said to give it up. i need to re-write something more to their taste.

you sit back on your heels and then get up, taking the paint can beside your feet and dipping it in a sand colored mix, you begin to paint a long line

kihyun watches and blinks “what is that?”

you turn to him and smile “ancient greek cities had columns right?you mentioned the outskirts of athens-”

kihyun gets up and puts his hand over your wrist. he shakes his head and goes “you don’t have to.”

but you yank your hand and continue to paint. “i want to.”

for a couple of minutes you continue to paint, trying to imagine the backdrop kihyun described as best you can.

“what about the background you’re supposed to actually be drawing?” he asks and you run your free hand through your hair to push it back from your eyes

“ill do it after. right now, i want to paint this. i want to see a part of your play in front of my eyes.”

kihyun seems taken aback but he sees your determination. he steps back and you think he’s going to leave, maybe find you inarguable and give up

but then you hear him walk back and forth, taking in your painting so far and then a smile pulls at his lips

“well ok see the column, cover it in slight vine. there’s also a market scene in my play so we should add in stalls and maybe an animal or two-”

you and kihyun paint for hours. maybe three. maybe four. you and kihyun. alone.

you both end up with stained hands, sweat on your foreheads, and a half finished piece of artwork

kihyun grins and turns to you, “thank you.”

you shrug your shoulders, the overalls your wearing have long been stained with paint but now there’s even more and you feel bad because kihyun’s gotten his fancy looking sweater dirty but he doesn’t look like he cares at all

he’s looking at the background with shining eyes and you’re happy because you can see that the redness from crying is gone, that bitter tone in his voice is gone

and you’re looking at the passionate boy you’ve always found so mesmerizing again

but as you two realized it’s getting late you set out the large banner to dry in a vacant part of the backstage. kihyun suddenly takes your hand and pushes his phone into it

“put in your name and contact so we can meet up and finish this?”

you gladly oblige and kihyun reads your name aloud when you’re done, almost like he’s testing it out as a line to read on stage. you feel a slight blush cross your cheeks when he says it so boldly but you hide it with a “hopefully this all drys over night.”

kihyun walks out of the theater with you, insisting that he hold half the empty paint cans and a brush between his teeth that makes you laugh

as you wave goodbye and go separate ways the warmness in your heart stays with you all the way to your dorm

the next day,,,,,,,,,,,,that warmness is gone

because the director of the play you were supposed to draw the background for is livid to see that instead of their european snowy mountains request,,,,,,you’ve drown an ancient greek cityscape

“are you an idiot? can you not listen to directions? HAVE YOU EVEN READ THE PLAY? this isn’t some bullshit remake of ‘Medea’. throw this out no one is going to use it!”

the yelling makes you flinch and you reluctantly try to roll the banner up but the director puts a hand in your way

“what are you doing? rip this to shreds, it’s garbage.”

you clench your jaw and stand up, “it’s not garbage. it’s for another play. i need to make sure not to ruin it.”

with a cocked eyebrow the director folds their hands and snorts “what other play? since when were there any greek productions approved by the theater club? no one wants to s-”

“i want to see it. i want to see my friends greek tragedy and im not going to ruin the art we worked hard on so if you can please shut up and move your hand. ill get to work on your background, practice for it doesn’t even start till next week.”

passing the director whose looking at you with an open mouth you roll the banner up and heave it into your hands. it’s long and heavy, but you figure you’ll be fine if you walk slow

but just before you do, another set of hands wraps around the big roll of paper and you see a familiar pink head stick out from the side

“need help?”

you grin at kihyun and the two of you lift up the unfinished background. the director mutters something about of COURSE kihyun wants to put on a play copying the tragedies and it takes everything in you not to snap at them

kihyun’s reassuring smile keeps you stable and the two of you walk out of the theater and kihyun leans the rolled up paper against the wall

“well, i guess ill keep it in my dorm. although im not sure my roommate will be happy about it,,,,,,then again shownu never really cares that much.”

you apologize but kihyun leans over to ruffle your hair

“why are you sorry? i should apologize for distracting you from making that other background. that asshole really went off on you - do you think you can just quit and permanently work for me?”

you know he’s half-joking but you play with the idea in your head for a minute before putting your hands on your sides and going “you know what, i think i will quit.”

and with that you turn on your heel, back into the theater before kihyun can stop you, and you shout “i QUIT”

before returning to kihyun whose waiting outside with his eyes the size of the moon

“you- why- you”

you laugh and shrug “i don’t want to work for an asshole, might as well put my skill to good use for people who actually appreciate it.”

kihyun bites back a big grin and throws his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into him suddenly and squeezing

“you know i owe you a lot!” you blush because he’s warm, his chest is solid and you fit so perfectly into the crook of his hand but you just manage to shadow it with another chuckle “you do! anyway, you need to finish writing the play,,,,,,”

kihyun lets you go and rummages around in his backpack, pulling out a thick stack of papers

“i spent all night on it. i mean i already had half done, but i actually finished it. you really motivated me.”

the words are simple but they make you heat up again and you take the stack, eager to flip through it and finally read the whole thing. kihyun somehow hauls the entire roll of paper onto his back and says he’ll call you when he’s free so you two can finish this up and so you can tell him what you think of the play. you nod and watch as he struggles across the quad,,,,,,,

you hold the play in your hands and think,,,,,it’s worth it. for him, it’s worth it.

you stay up reading it, even neglecting some studying to read it twice. from what you can figure out it’s a play on an greek romance tragedy where aphrodite meddles between a young girl and her secret lover,,,,,,,it’s kind of corny in some parts and over dramatic,,,but that’s the style that suits kihyun the best

and in the morning as you’re leaving for your first class you get a call

kihyun’s excited voice on the other line calls your name and he says that if you have some free time to meet him in the art department soon.

when you show up at the room kihyun told you about you see that all the desks are pushed against the wall and your unfinished background is spread on the floor surrounded by paint cans and brushes. kihyun is already on his knees, painting, wiping sweat away with one hand

but once he realizes you’ve come in he jumps to his feet and tugs you over by the wrist chattering about what he wants to add into the painting.

you guys paint together for horus, kihyun keeping the mood happy with jokes and stories and telling you more about the play he has in mind

at some point you two are sitting close together, shoulders basically rubbing up against each other

when kihyun leans over and you feel the tickle of a brush on your skin

and you look down to see kihyun painting a smiley face on your forearm

you retaliate by drawing a mustache on for him

he laughs and draws swirls on your cheeks

and the background is forgotten for a while as you both paint little things on one and other

kihyun covers you crooked flowers and scribbles of lines and you try to draw whiskers on his nose

and ,,,,,,,,, then you know kihyun is leaning in close

the brush he has is too big so he uses his finger to draw a pink petal on your forehead but then he makes the (good,,,,verY GOOD) mistake of looking into your eyes

and it’s still early afternoon with the sun peaking thru the blinds

of the empty classroom,,,,,

except,,,,,for you two,,,,,,,,,,

and your eyes are like,,,,,,,,,,,the most beautiful thing kihyun has seen in his entire life,,,,,your breathing both slowed,,,,,,,,your mouths inches apart,,,,,literally,,,,,

and both of you are thinking the same thing which is like ‘how soft are their lips,,,,,’

BUT ALAS NEITHER OF YOU DO ANYTHING AND INSTEAD PULL AWAY GOING BACK TO WORK EMBARASSED AS HELL

except kihyun cannot stop thinking about it and you keep touching your lips every second but ,,,,,,,,

kihyun just stops and goes “looks like we’re almost done!” in an effort to break the awkward air and you nod, adding some final details

and finally you get up and kihyun says you can leave it here to dry since no one is using this room today

and you don’t know why,,,,maybe it’s the leftover embarrassment, but you get your things and tell kihyun you have to go,,,,

but before you can make your escape kihyun calls out

“are you going to come and see my play?”

and you gasp because holy shit did he get it approved by the theater club????

but kihyun shakes his head and you’re like then how-??? and kihyun is like “just promise me, when i call you with an invitation you’ll show up right?”

and he puts out his pinkie and you’re like a bit confused but you link yours with his and promise

and kihyun reaches out like he’s going to ruffle your hair again but pulls back

and you leave,,,,,,,,,thinking about how kihyun is going to manage to pull off a play without the club but also,,,,,

your fingers touch your lips again,,,,,,but you’re like sTOP thinking about it let’s go do some homework or something instead!!!

ofc kihyun is in the room alone, staring down at the finished piece with his own hand over his mouth

before screaming out “YOO KIHYUN YOU ARE AN I D I O T” at himself and almost falling forward onto the damn background

but also like ,,,,,, two weeks passes and you don’t hear from kihyun. like you see him running around campus doing his usual thing, you see him teasing that other guy jooheon and hanging out with minhyuk

but everytime he turns and you think he might see you,,,,you duck behind a tree or pull up your hood

because ok you’re not going to admit it but,,,,,,,,,,,,you kind of are still embarrassed about the whole art room incident but,,,,,,you honestly though kihyun would have said or done something by now to show you it was all ok????

and you know it’s stubborn to not just text or call him first but you just caNT

and after it edges on three weeks you think well it isn’t worth it to care anymore. kihyun needed you around because you helped him with the painting. it didn’t really matter

but as you’re sitting in your dorm, watching some drama on your laptop your phone goes off and mindlessly you pick up w/o looking at the caller ID

and on the other line is,,,,,kihyun

who goes “you said you’d come if i invited you right? can you come down to the west dorms?”

and you sit up, almost knocking your laptop off your feet and you’re like “uh oh yes give me 5 minutes” and you can practically hear kihyun’s smile on the other end when he’s like ok great!

and that’s how you end up in kihyuns dorm,,,,,,, staring at the makeshift stage he’s made out of blankets on the floor and the familiar background you both painted taped onto his wall

and you’re not sure where kihyun is, but you can hear voices from the bathroom and suddenly ????? shownu comes out

wearing what you presume is a night sheet as a toga

and he starts off talking about his “daughter” who can’t find love and instantly you realize this is ,,,,, this is the script you read by kihyun

and then the ‘daughter’ runs out. it’s changkyun in a wig

followed by mischievous aphrodite played by minhyuk in another wig and a crown made out of plastic flowers

and the narrator in the back, who sits down in the corner is a very tired looking hyungwon

followed by the dashing young lover,,,,,,,,,,,, kihyun

(also in a night sheet toga)

and there’s music,,,,,,,every now and then provided by wonho with his ipod and jooheon who throws paper shavings everytime minhyuk appears since he’s playing a goddess

and the whole thing looks so,,,,,,,,so bizarre and silly

shownu pulls the script out of his toga to literally read off his lines and minhyuk is obviously improvising and when kihyun tries to hug changkyun changkyun almost smacks him away with his wig

and it’s,,,,,it’s a mess

but it’s kihyuns play. and you watch it: laughing and clapping and gasping when you need to

and finally, the last scene,,,,,,,,the last kiss between the girl and her lover,,,,,,

changkyun suddenly goes over to you and pulls you up, moving you toward his spot beside kihyun

whispering “he wanted it to be you, plus i don’t want to kiss him”

before sitting down where you were

and you’re looking at kihyun who says his last line before wrapping his arm around your waist and placing a gentle kiss right ,,,, on your lips

and you’re like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! because oh god everyone is watching - was this kihyuns plan - he’s so soft and this kiss is so nice - wait oh god his friends are all watching

but then you can’t help it, your hand almost reflexively goes up to his neck to pull him closer

and hyungwon literaLLY clears his throat because AHEM this kiss is ‘short and sweet’

but when you two pull back it’s obvious the play is over and everyone in the room breaks into applause

but you’re star-struck staring at kihyun who just smiles and goes

“i’ve been waiting a long time to do that”

before turning to bow to the lone changkyun who is sitting where you were, pulling you down a bit so you bow too

and ,,,,,,,,,,, it’s crazy really

but somehow it feels right and you compliment everyone on their acting and helping and all of them crowd around to talk about how kihyun had bribed them to get them to do it

and it makes you laugh, hearing about how much effort kihyun put into this “play” just,,,,,,,,,,,,,,to show it to you

and once all his friends have filed out of the dorm. shownu leaving with jooheon to let you and kihyun be alone

you turn to him and go

“it was a good play, but you should really submit it to the theater club. it deserves more than just me seeing it.”

kihyun grins, kissing the side of your cheek and going “it’s ok. this play is special,,,,,,so special because it’s only meant for one person to see it.”

you: “me?”

kihyun: “the person i like.”

you: “so,,,,,,,,,me?”

kihyun: “pleASE i am trying to be romantic.”

you laugh again and kihyun collects you in his arms, pressing your foreheads together and wow yes kihyun asked you out by putting on a whole play for you and we ALL KNOW HE WOULD BE THIS EXTRA

but it’s cute,,,,,,,,,shownu comes back to find you and kihyun sitting in his bed reading through other stuff kihyun has written and shownu is like “id like to get some sleep but if you two plan on staying up giggling i will go make my bed somewhere else”

kihyun walks you back your dorm considering it’s dark out and you tell him that you’re serious though - he should get one of his plays put on by the theater club

kihyun just kisses you again and tells you you’re the best fan he’s ever had

and you hit him playfully because yes, fan but also -the best significant other???

and dating kihyun means literally just dating the most affectionate person in the world

from the moment you two meet up after your class to when kihyun has to leave you for practice ,,,,, kihyun is holding onto you

holding your hand, holding your waist, holding your face, literally just attached to your side

for that constant love and attention

and he’s even more passionate and dramatic than what you thought you knew

like he’ll get down on his knees with a rose in his mouth in front of your whoLE clASS on your 100 day anniversary

and he’ll insist on carrying you if you as much as scratch yourself on something

and he’ll serenade you outside your dorm window

and he’ll get his face printed on a t-shirt that says ‘i love kihyun’ as a gift for you

and oh gosh it sounds overwhelming but it’s all done with the best intentions because you best believe he makes himself a shirt that says ‘i love y/n’ with your face on it so he can wear it with pride

even though hyungwon sees this couple item and looks at you like please tell kihyun to burn these

but kihyun isn’t just passionate about you,,,,,,,,he’s passionate about your life too. he’s always cheering you up when you’re in a slump over course work or friends or family. and your family loves him because he literally is so polite and so well-mannered around them

and even on little holidays that most people overlook he’s like ‘let me call your family and thank them for bringing you into this world one again-’ and you’re like PLEASE

kihyun is also super smart,,,,,like he knows so much about ancient greek civilization and when he practices the language in front of you you’re like ‘you’re a genius’ and kihyun is like ‘i know, you’re lucky to be dating me. the next socrates’

and you’re like ok bye but he begs you to stay with many kisses

and he’s a drama major, and people think it’s easy but you know how kihyun stays up studying lines and then working on props that the club might need, and revising his own personal playwrights

and when you learn that he’s even taking a class on like lighting techniques??? for like stages???

you’re honestly like,,,,,,he is a genius and so hardworking,,,,,

so you’re always like giving kihyun a shoulder massage or helping organize his notes and he’s like “you really care well for me”

and you play it off like WHAT would you do without me,,,,,but you’re just really proud of his hardwork

and that’s why when you hear that the club is looking of putting out another production you insist that kihyun submit one of his plays,,,,,but he gets all concerned again

so with confidence you submit a copy of it yourself and it gets picked?? and when kihyun finds out he runs to your first

and literally picks you up in a spinning hug because he’s like mY PLAY and you’re like I tOLD you TheY’D LOVE IT

and that one teacher that kept telling him to stop writing in that style,,,,,,well let’s just say he’s quite embarrassed when the whole drama department gets excited over seeing the club put on something modeled after the ancient greek play

and you ofc help to paint the background

and while kihyun is practicing, every now and then he’ll break his concentration to surprise you with back hugs and kisses on the neck

on opening night of the production,,,,, you have a front row seat along with the rest of monsta x

and it’s amazing,,,,,kihyun shines so powerfully with his performance

but watching him makeout with the other lead,,,,,well,,,,,let’s just say you force jooheon to cover your eyes for you

but after as you’re all congratulating all the student actors

you pull kihyun aside and just,,,,,,,,well just you kiss him with a bit more force than ever and kihyun pulls back like ‘is this a gift for my performance or are you trying to tell me something?”

and you blush because Shut UP but,,,,,also,,,,,,,,,,,,,,you’re like “kihyun let’s celebrate more,,,,,,,,alone,,,,,,,,in your dorm,,,,,tell shownu to spend the night somewhere else”

and kihyun’s ears go redder than blood and he doesn’t even have to open his mouth when you two show up in front of shownu

because kihyun’s hair is a mess already since you made out with him and his ears are blushing and you’re already nudging him in the side and shownu gets it

he’s like “ill comeback tomorrow, you two have fun. be safe”

let’s just say when shownu comes around in the morning he has to throw another blanket on top of you and kihyun LOL

and kihyun is amazing,,,,,,,at acting,,,,,,,at being a boyfriend,,,,,at ahem other things

BUT he’s also a good cook and when you find him at your dorm with late night snacks he made or just when you two have the time to use the communal kitchen

you’re just like im blessed,,,,he’s everything

and one summer kihyun surprises you with money he’s saved up for a trip to greece before the semester starts again and you’re like kIHYUN where did you get the money,,,,,,,,,,, and he just grins because apparently translating ancient greek for some older scholars is actually quite a well paying side job and you didn’t even know he was doing it

but ,,,,,,,,,,,, you guys go and it’s amazing. it’s short only a week, but it’s amazing and kihyun is like “if you hadn’t said all those thing, about how you wanted to watch my play no matter what,,,,,,i would have probably dropped out of drama as a major.” and you’re like what oh my god ,,, and he just grins

and brings you close and nuzzles his face against yours because,,,,,,,,you motivated him so much and you continue to motivate him

and you’re like kihyun!!! you motivate me too!!! you keep me stable and positive

and it’s just romantic,,,,,,,,,,,,,kihyun makes everything so romantic

and once you get back and another semester of college starts and all of monsta x is so jealous of your ‘lovers getaway’ to greece

kihyun is like “hey, let me wingman you guys and sooner or later you’ll all be on your own lovers getaways ;)”

all of monsta x: no

kihyun: you all are missing out. like i have a s/o and you don’t think about that hMMMMMMM

you: *face in your hands* why is he like this,,,,,,,,

college!vixx (here) & college!bts (here) & college!seventeen (here)

find special college!jb (here), college!mark tuan (here) college!youngjae (here), college!jinyoung (here) & college!jackson (here)

find special college!amber (here)

find special college!wonho (here) , college!im (here), college!hyungwon (here)

and please look forward to more special college!aus!

#monsta x scenarios #monsta x scenario #kihyun scenario #kihyun scenarios #sfw #College!AU #monsta x kihyun scenario #monsta x #kihyun #college!au x monsta x #monsta x imagines #monsta x imagine #kihyun imagines #kihyun imagine

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micaramel · 4 years

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Artists: Akinbode Akinbiyi, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, andcompany&Co., Anna Dasović, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Theo Eshetu, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Lungiswa Gqunta, Olivier Guesselé-Garai, Patricia Kaersenhout, Kitso Lynn Lelliott, Antje Majewski, Claudia Martínez Garay, Adjani Okpu-Egbe, RESOLVE Collective, Konrad Wolf

Venue: Kunstverein Braunschweig

Exhibition Title: THE FACULTY OF SENSING Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo

Date: April 21 – August 2, 2020

Curated By: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Jule Hillgärtner, Nele Kaczmarek

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig

Press Release:

With THE FACULTY OF SENSING – Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo, Kunstverein Braunschweig has worked in close cooperation with Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung to develop a project in honor of Anton Wilhelm Amo, an outstanding philosopher of the 18th century. On the basis of Amo’s writings and their reception, highly topical issues of referentiality, erasure, and canonization will be discussed.

In a 2013 essay The Enlightenment’s ‘Race’ Problem, and Ours for the New York Times’ philosophy page The Stone, Justin E. H. Smith wonders how and why philosophers like Immanuel Kant or David Hume could afford to be so explicitly racist, at a period when a contemporary of theirs Anton Wilhelm Amo was excelling as a philosopher. The explanation for this can be found in processes of erasure in relation to what Michel-Rolph Trouillot has called ‘Silencing the Past’.

Anton Wilhelm Amo (* around 1700 — † after 1753) is considered to be the first Black academic and philosopher in Germany. His work was largely pushed to the margins and rendered obscure. Amo studied philosophy and law in Halle and positioned himself with his dissertations on the mind-body problem (1734) at the University of Wittenberg and Treatise on the Art of Philosophising Soberly and Accurately (1738) as an early thinker of the Enlightenment.

Anton Wilhelm Amo was abducted from the territory of present-day Ghana as an infant, enslaved, and taken via Amsterdam to Wolfenbüttel at the court of Duke Anton Ulrich. It was here that he began his academic career.

As part of the extensive research and exhibition project, 16 international artists and groups were invited to respond to the philosophical thought of Anton Wilhelm Amo in largely newly produced works. Curatorially, the project develops around questions of Amo’s understanding of the thing-in-itself, the discourse of body and soul, the legal status and recognition of Black people in the 18th century and the present time, transcendental homelessness, the politics of naming, and the narrative and history of the Enlightenment.

Via questions on the environment Anton Wilhelm Amo grew up in and spaces that we still share with him today, Akinbode Akinbiyi embarked on a journey through the region to conduct a photographic search for vestigial remains.

Adama Delphine Fawundu shares this interest in trans-historical connections, working with water as the connecting element that flows through a spatial installation composed of photographs, videos, and an artists’ book. Following Anton Wilhelm Amo’s theory that it is only the living organic body that can feel and that the soul cannot, Kitso Lynn Lelliott has created a videographic portrait of environments from Amo’s life journey in Ghana and Germany. A second chapter tackles the shortcomings of re-enacting from a position of absence. Starting with targeted interrogations that flank the exhibition’s spatial course, Anna Dasović focuses on the empty spaces and deliberate omissions that have shaped Amo’s biography and perception of his work, questioning thereby the prevailing criteria of canonization.

In another form, RESOLVE Collective too have tackled the aporias, gaps, and contradictions that shaped Amo’s life, philosophical oeuvre, and reception of his work. The resulting project Programming Im/Passivity (2020) attempts to translate Amo’s theoretical positions into sensory and artistic processes, with the observers becoming involved as active participants in a workshop-library environment. A newly developed performance by Bernard Akoi-Jackson runs throughout the exhibition in several stages, with visitors again being invited to relate personally to Amo’s work (postponed).

With a room plan made of barbed tape and treated fabrics, Benisiya Ndawoni II (2020) by Lungiswa Gqunta addresses structural violence, migration, and the forced movement of Black people. Questions of exclusion and everyday discrimination are likewise the starting point for the Olivier Guesselé-Garais poem Their Eyes Were Watching Cop, (2015/2020), here reinterpreted in the form of an installation. Claudia Martínez Garay assembles drawings, prints, and paintings into a visual narrative that links back to heritage, displacement, and racism while also referring back to one-sided definitions of modernity and the problematic relationship of Black and Brown bodies to (cultural) institutions. These are issues that have also motivated Patricia Kaersenhout in her artistic and activist practice for many years. As part of the exhibition, Kaersenhout is showing the series While we were Kings and Queens (2020), in which she examines the trauma of a colonial oppression that stands in flagrant contradiction to the proclaimed ideals of the Enlightenment.

In his multimedia installation Decolonizing Knowledge (2020), Adjani Okpu-Egbe bridges the gap between Amo’s work, person, and a proposed alternative canon developed in collaboration with renowned thinkers, academics, and artists.

Direct connections to Anton Wilhelm Amo’s philosophical writings are also found in new works from Antje Majewski and Theo Eshetu. Majewski’s Die Apatheia der menschlichen Seele (2020) takes individual imaginations of the soul and translates them into painting via Amo’s ideas; Amo himself is able to “speak” via quotations in a video work by Eshetu. That Anton Wilhelm Amo’s history is a special but by no means an isolated case is made clear in the 2009 cyanotype series Good Morning Prussia series by Jean-Ulrick Désert, which recalls the fate of one of Amo’s contemporaries.

On the initiative of architect Konrad Wolf, Kunstverein Braunschweig will itself become the Anton Wilhelm Amo Center (2020) for the duration of the FACULTY OF SENSING – Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo exhibition, reflecting during this time on processes of strategic renaming over the course of accompanying workshops with Braunschweig Postkolonial and Tahir Della (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland e.V.).

And finally, the performance collective andcompany&Co. will on April 25 show a collaboration created in cooperation with Staatstheater Braunschweig and streamed live on the Staatstheater’s website. Black Bismarck revisited (again) takes the Africa Conference as a starting point for tracing the consequences of colonialism.

The exhibition is accompanied by an extensive public program of performances, artist talks, workshops, and discussions, which will partly take place online due to current circumstances.

A publication will be produced alongside the exhibition THE FACULTY OF SENSING – Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo, linking theoretical and artistic contributions to the exhibition and the symposium.

Artists: Akinbode Akinbiyi (born 1946 in Oxford, UK), Bernard Akoi-Jackson (born 1979 in Accra, GHA), andcompany&Co. (founded 2003 in Frankfurt am Main, GER), Anna Dasović (born 1982 in Amsterdam, NLD), Jean-Ulrick Désert (Port-au-Prince, HTI), Theo Eshetu (born 1958 in London, UK), Adama Delphine Fawundu (born 1971 in New York, USA), Lungiswa Gqunta (born 1990 in Port Elizabeth, ZAF), Olivier Guesselé-Garai (born 1976 in Paris, FRA), Patricia Kaersenhout (born 1966 in Den Helder, NLD), Kitso Lynn Lelliott (born 1984 in Molepolole, BWA), Antje Majewski (born 1968 in Marl, GER), Claudia Martínez Garay (born 1983 in Ayacucho, PER) Adjani Okpu-Egbe (born 1979 in Kumba, CMR), RESOLVE Collective (founded 2016 in London, UK), Konrad Wolf (born 1985 in Neubrandenburg, GER)

Link: Group Show at Kunstverein Braunschweig

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/3eA9yww

#micaramel

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watchilove · 5 years

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De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia – De Bethune plunges into the fantasy universe of designer and scenographer François Schuiten, nicknamed the “Watchmaker of Dreams”, while engaging in a dialogue with the enigmatic world of The Obscure Cities through signature motif highlighted on the very structure of its DW5.

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

A reality shift, a parallel universe in which humans are often left to their own devices – even though the reality is never very far away – this imaginary world is composed of enigmas and mysteries. Through shadows and unusual reflections of our world subject to the principle of worrying strangeness, the authors of The Obscure Cities usher their readers into spectacularly extravagant settings while maintaining a distinctly human approach.

Within this retro-futuristic aesthetic free of any nostalgia, the stunning architecture, imaginary cartography, and oft heavy and imposing machines together constitute the driving elements of plots where science and engineering mingle with fantasy.

It is precisely in the context of this rich and extraordinary universe that De Bethune has taken an interest in Armilia: a submerged, almost entirely underground city. It is in this remote place in the far North of the imaginary Continent that the control of Time is handled, a concept oddly mingling chronology and climate disruptions.

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia – Dialogue between two civilisations

De Bethune observes the exchanges permitted between the real world and the world of The Obscure Cities, recognizing that time does not have the same value in this parallel world. Raising the question of perfect and imperfect time, exploring this “white zone” of the work’s nonetheless incredibly rich universe, De Bethune has imagined a time measurement object, a watch directly inspired by the depiction of Armilia and its universe.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

As a watch movement, it refers to observing time from a different angle. The model was indeed almost called Reflet (reflection). A reflection of this non-human world, but into which humans make regular incursions.

The boundary between art and artisanship

A watchmaker’s work is mainly based on the search for precision, for all that is perfect, the ideal touch… This quest for perfection, this reference to the perfect and the imperfect, the acceptance of imperfection, the relative borderline between perfection and imperfection: it is this almost schizophrenic path that gives rise to emotions when facing matter. Matter that resists, that can be worked on, that can be tamed.

Watchmaker, and passionate about The Obscure Cities, has imagined a wrist-sized sculpture, engraved as a direct reference to a drawing of the City of Armilia.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Reflecting similar gestures, a dialogue was established between Schuiten’s pen & ink drawings and renowned Swiss engraver Michelle Roten, whose talents were enlisted for this particular project. The structure of the watch thus comes to life or rather creates a reflection of Armilia’s imaginary world, as if the watch were a ship setting out to explore this world. Bearing in mind the idea of achieving a depiction similar to the original drawings, it is no coincidence that De Bethune chose 18K pink gold. The warm colour of the precious metal recalls the equally warm colours characterising the drawings of the city at sunset.

Outside, a totally imaginary world. Inside this watch, the real world of precision and watch engineering.

With Armilia, De Bethune has created a fascinating work that it is placing like a landmark on the frontier between art and watchmaking. The watch testifies to a vision of unbridled creativity while remaining based on profound understanding and respect for the great master watchmakers of the past, whose work it transcends and magnifies.

Exploring the past so as to reinterpret it even more effectively, knowing its heritage, pushing its limits and finally inventing the future. Mastering its codes to the point of breaking free of them in order to transform expertise into emotion and technique into pure beauty. For De Bethune, the approach applies to both art and watchmaking. Armilia belongs to both worlds. It speaks of space, movement and speed as much as precision and complications.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Armilia is the result of extreme miniaturisation of its mechanism, entirely dedicated to design, of which time is only one element. A De Bethune interpretation appearing as a nod or a signature, a small two-coloured sphere indicates the moon phases. Composed of two assembled and polished blued steel and palladium half-spheres, it guides the eye towards the digital and minimalist display of the hours and minutes. All this is visible through a hand-cut cabochon-shaped tempered glass such as only a rare few are capable of producing, providing a chance to get a better view of this mechanism that counts off time, within a fantasy world that approaches it from an entirely different standpoint.

Denis Flageollet – Master watchmaker & Creative Talent

Denis is the son, grandson and great-grandson of watchmakers.

Known today as one of the finest watchmakers of his times, he promotes a contemporary vision of watchmaking: that of the founding fathers, meaning the mastery of a perpetually changing art. It is a case of age-old expertise dedicated to constant innovation. For him, tradition is not just about building conventional watches, but rather about remaining innovative on a daily basis while following tradition. He aims to continually rejuvenate the spirit of mechanical watchmaking.

A lover of science, culture and art, he is passionate about mechanics and quality workmanship, constantly building on the past while looking firmly to the future.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

It is in this spirit that he founded De Bethune in 2002 with David Zanetta. Their creative inspiration continues to be nurtured by several centuries of watchmaking history, interpreted through the prism of contemporary culture. Since its foundation, De Bethune has been distinguished by its capacity to create mechanical timepieces featuring vanguard technology. It has also demonstrated its ability to imagine a contemporary aesthetic. In bringing these watches to life, each mechanism is assembled with that same vision of marrying new technologies with the beautiful watchmaking expertise of bygone years.

Having majored in science at secondary school in France, he went to Switzerland to study watchmaking and micro-engineering. He then completed his training by joining the “Musée du Locle” as a technician in antique watchmaking.

He finally decided to launch his own method, and in 1989 he co-founded the THA society with François-Paul Journe. Together, they created the first “sympathique” clock inspired by the work of Abraham-Louis Breguet. During these twelve years spent developing THA, he set up the mechanical and watchmaking production workshops, handled technical management, as well as heading the R&D workshop where more than 120 watchmaking developments were successfully undertaken in the fields of watch exterior components, jewellery and horological mechanisms, including the development of numerous calibres.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Alongside his passion for manual and traditional technical work throughout his career, he has taken further watch construction training with a focus on learning 3D computer-assisted design (CAD) technology and he was one of the first to use it for watchmaking purposes. He has been lucky enough to live in a pivotal period enabling him to learn from the master engineers, watchmakers and jewellers, who in turn have helped him master the production of one-of-a-kind models or prototypes using traditional methods and machines. At the same time, he has shown a consistent interest in state-of-the-art technical progress, which has enabled him to leverage modern CAD and CNC technologies.

He has indeed developed his own method through which he combines necessary know-how and contemporary techniques in order to develop his design and prototypes. This applies both to the movement and to watch exterior components.

His work with De Bethune has been rewarded by two national prizes, 15 international prizes, and is research has resulted in eight patents and two registered designs. Today, in working to build a training course on “Mécanique d’Art” (artistic mechanics) with his fellow artisans, alongside his engagement with De Bethune, his main aim is to pass on his experience and knowledge to watch enthusiasts and the up-and-coming generation of watchmakers.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Keynote by Denis Flageollet – at the press conference “(Im)Perfect World” at Maison d’Ailleurs – Yverdon, 13 November 2019

I will spare you reading from the press kit you have in your hands. Instead, I will try to share with you, through our respective professions, callings, my personal vision of the ‘Perfect’ and the ‘Imperfect.’

Watches – “Time Pieces” – present a perfect platform for dreams and the idea one can conjure of a utopia. The origin of some of our watches aims to connect various worlds of technical and artistic know-how. When I designed the DW5, my desire was to leave plenty of room for the various possibilities of dealing with its external structure. I am pleased to be able to present to you, as a review, the Armillia, one of the unique timepieces resulting from this desire.

On one hand, I admire the extraordinary drawing talent which François Schuiten translates into a universe that allows us to escape from this world. On the other, I have a friend, Michèle Rothen, whom I consider to be the greatest metal engraver in the world. For 35 years now I have been asking her for the impossible; she has never failed.

That’s all it took to make me want to build a bridge between these two art forms. As craftsmen, it’s not about “more.” It’s better.” We always seek to push our limits. I will speak to you as a craftsman because, beyond the exceptional creativity of the works on display (works that challenge us to question ourselves in a clinical way about our human condition), there is the work of the craftsman – craftsperson –, the work done by his or her hands.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

We are on a daily quest for the perfect gesture, the perfect way of crafting something, which obviously does not exist. Very fortunately for us, however, these small imperfections that arise from an imperfect or not quite perfect gesture are what, in the end, make up the uniqueness of a handcrafted piece of work.

That boundary between perfection and relative imperfection is what we need to reach in order to bring out our emotion through the material we work with. A material that fascinates us and often resists us.

Although works that amaze us are not perfect in every detail, they conjure a sensation far beyond comprehension.

This is how I feel when I see the work of François Schuiten or Michèle Rothen. Or any object created with extraordinary know-how, regardless of the field or discipline. I feel this when I stand before such works because they are human, the result of having done one’s best, of having made it with heart, with passion, but also with slight imperfections. All this makes them human, and reassuringly so because they do not come out of machines and industries that format everything they produce.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

They are perfect in their imperfection. And it is because of these imperfections that their creator loses something fundamental: he or she can no longer be moved by their own work. Somehow, the creator leaves a part of him or herself behind in the work.

Ask Michèle or François and they will tell you that at the end of their work they only see the defects.

In my case, they haunt me, and I must wait for them to fade from memory before I can look at my work with more objectivity. This continuously forces us to question ourselves, pushing us to keep doing better next time. What drives us is all these phases and stages of concentration, failure, determination, doubt and success.

The strength great artists have is what enables them to build on this experience and to keep crafting a better result. That’s what I admire in their works. And when, like the works of François, they also question us, challenge us, and send us a message of hope but also of warning on the razor-fine border between utopia and dystopia, there is only one thing for me to do, and that is to try to capture it in a watch.

Making of Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank François, who allowed me to work on Dream Watch 5 Armillia, and Michèle, who allowed me to take on this new challenge. Try to imagine, while you look at the piece and at the drawing, all the hours and hours (there are hundreds) that went into the slightest strokes of the pen, the slightest strokes of the chisel. By François, to transport us to other worlds with his strokes of genius. By Michèle, to miniaturize this universe and suspend it forever in solid gold.

At De Bethune, we spent weeks to manufacture each component with the greatest care, to finish it in the greatest watchmaking tradition and to assemble it into an object that indicates the hours and minutes through a window, and accurately displays the phases of our unique satellite, the moon, in the form of a sphere. This watch, which points towards our future, encapsulates an invisible know-how that goes back several centuries and involves 10 craft disciplines.

I would like to conclude with a wish: May we long have the chance to keep our crafts alive, and continue to awaken a sense of wonder. Far from industrialization and growth for its own sake. Far from the “always more” that every day seems to drag us closer to the brink of disaster.

De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia Technical specifications

Name:

Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia

Reference:

DW5RMA

Functions:

Hours,

Minutes,

Spherical moon-phase indication

Movement:

DB2144V2

Type:

Mechanical hand-wound movement

Adjustment:

Spherical moon-phase adjustment and setting the time by means of the crown, adorned by 1-carat sapphire (3 positions)

Technical features of calibre DB2144V2

Number of parts:

320

Jewelling:

32 jewels

Diameter:

30 mm

Power reserve:

5 days, ensured by a self-regulating twin barrel De Bethune Innovation (2004)

Specificities:

Silicon annular balance encircled by a white gold ring De Bethune Patent (2010)

“De Bethune” balance-spring with flat terminal curve De Bethune Patent (2006)

Silicon escape wheel

Spherical moon-phase indication with an accuracy of one lunar day every 1112 years – De Bethune Patent (2004)

Frequency:

28’800 vibrations per hour

Adornment:

Hand-crafted finishing and decoration

Display

Display:

Jumping-hour aperture at 3 o’clock

Analogue minutes indicator on a dragging rotating disc

Spherical moon-phase indication in palladium and flamedblued steel with an accuracy of one lunar day every 1112 years at 6 o’clock – De Bethune Patent (2004)

Dial :

Frame of the jumping-hour aperture in blued grade 5 titanium

Case and strap

Case material :

Delta shaped in polished rose gold 18K

Case diameter:

lenght 58 mm

width 47 mm

Case thickness:

16 mm

Crystal:

curved Hard-mineral crystal cut by hand

Case back:

Closed and screwed down case back in black titanium with aperture on balance wheel

Hard-mineral crystal (1800 Vickers hardness) with double anti-reflective coating

Water resistance :

3 ATM

Strap:

Extra-supple alligator leather, alligator lining

Buckle:

Pin in rose gold and buckle in black titanium

De Bethune presents the DW5 Armilia, a unique piece from its Maestri’art collection De Bethune Maestri’Art DW5 Armilia - De Bethune plunges into the fantasy universe of designer and scenographer François Schuiten, nicknamed the “Watchmaker of Dreams”, while engaging in a dialogue with the enigmatic world of The Obscure Cities through signature motif highlighted on the very structure of its DW5.

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