11 Nov 2010

One Thousand and One Nights: The all-new ANAL

One Thousand and One Nights: The all-new ANAL

One Thousand and One Nights is pleased to present ANAL, a modest black and white periodical. ANAL was launched in the Basketball Court at the Banff Centre where we celebrated A Whole New Ball Game which played host to performances by Neil Bickerton, Mike Crane, Hiro Fumisuda, Leigh-Ann Pahapill and Aislinn Thomas and a lecture by Jan Verwoert along with props by Kevin Rodgers, Mike Schuh and Lee Welch in midst of a basketball game.

ANAL CONTRIBUTORS – Andrew Berardini, Neil Bickerton, Mike Crane, David Deery, Chris Fite-Wassilak, FormContent, Kate Jackson, Andrew Kerton, Kevin Kirwan, Fermín Jiménez Landa, Serena Lee, Henning Lundkvist, Kelly Lycan, Linda Quinlan, Celia Perrin Sidarous, Garrett Phelan, Kevin Rodgers, Project Arts Centre, Mike Schuh, Sils, Leif Magne Tangen, Aislinn Thomas, Walker and Walker, Lee Welch, Lauren Wetmore and Wilfried Lentz Gallery

There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW


Inside ANAL #0

So you want to reproduce the Kodak tungsten look of sunlight that's slightly crisper than late afternoon Northern Ontario Indian summer as it would appear through oak trees on an enclosed veranda facing south- west through late 19th century farmhouse windows, in a white cube studio with three-point lighting? Serena Lee discusses the plights of Lighting in Layers.

As you turn around, and make your way to the back of the gallery, a deliberate obstacle comes to mind. When contemplated, a sense of confusion and ease gather. The paradoxical nature of experience makes her stumble; luckily she landed yielding. Am Nuden Da & FormContent address the encounter through the Session_11_Press Release.

However, aside from living in everyday life and seriously doing science, people may and do like to play. Science may be a plaything and, in part, that is what my literature is. Mike Crane looks at the margin between science and storytelling through Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.'s interview with Stanislaw Lem in 22 Answers and 2 Postscripts, originally published in the November 1986 edition of Science Fiction Studies #40.

Musing over the audible capacity or sonic potential and effect of an image, Linda Quinlan was immediately struck by the rhythmic measure that materialises with the repetition of these two found images. Both images in Pottery Percussion present the technique, 'slam and bang' used by potters when blending clay. Further interests lie in considering how an image might somehow resonate in the ear and eye concurrently and in turn, hum in the recesses of the brain.

And how the light on the ceiling and the shape and texture of the shadows cast were absolutely complex and entirely stunning. Of course there can be no words for any of this until later. In Aislinn Thomas' text-based work WE SPEAK LAST looks at the moments between consciousness & speech.

So now it feels more like you acting out an idea of yourself—a freak who can never be with anyone for long, and in that move freezing both of us in jarring roles. In Each to each other dreams of other's dreams: a study in dislocation Chris Fite-Wassilak interweaves Andrei Tarkovsky, Fernando Pessoa, Will Eisner & a fictional protagonist with each identifying oneself with the suffering of another, in a passionate way.

Between i and f Joe Walker and Pat Walker invert the space between what might be English's hardest conjunctions with a gesture of minimalist concrete poetry.

Who's Afraid of Red, Green and Blue questions Andrew Kerton.

These roles demanded bravery and dignity and they accepted their roles, knowing that these stories needed to be told. At the core of Andrew Berardini's Letter from New York lies a phenomenological pleonasm: the need to employ 'the real' in order to re-present 'the real'.

Garrett Phelan's Reflexology foot chart, Dead or Worse, maps the emotional and social issues with a premise that if pressure is applied to these areas such work can effect a physical change in the body.

Mike Schuh's Left, architectural intervention functions as catalyst for questioning the role of knowledge in shaping our daily experiences.

Roussel hired a private detective firm to deliver his instructions to Zo, the illustrator. Zo did not know who had hired him nor did he know what he was illustrating, other than the short descriptions Roussel wrote for each of the fifty-nine drawings which were then hidden in the gap of the uncut pages. These instructions are followed to direct ones gaze to the myths of artistic innovation and originality being the impetus for Ulrik Heltoft's 43. A parrot on its perch seemingly talking to a passer-by. No other people.

I would never have been the guy to step up and imitate something so obviously not my idea, but of course, in this fame starved world we live in, where the idea of being original is less intriguing than any abuse you will never take… David Deery's take on The irrelevance of originality.

It was very close that a moment of inspiration made me actually produce the work, but I came to my senses again, opened my bag, took out the dicta- phone and switched it off before I boarded the plane. Henning Lundkvist thinks about 'crossing the atlantic' or 'a voyage over the atlantic' or something like that.

But back to the space. The white cube, without going into its history, had the notion of clearing out all unneeded or wanted disturbances - only the works, alone. Is this a beginning? Leif Magne Tangen muses on science fiction & the conditions of production.

Kevin Kirwan continuously documents what is around him, creating a narrative based in both fact and fiction. Untitled (Cat) considers the insignificant and places it alongside popular culture phenomena that have become ingrained into our collective psyche.

Using nature and references to pop culture Kevin Rodgers' Hole addresses romantic obsessions such as stalking and fan clubs.

A moment of collective euphoria exploded when the first person had the courage to take one. Fermín Jiménez Landa provokes his audience to practice stealing or vandalism in Mon/Fri Sat/Sun.

You can squint, you can stare, but these bridges, that you know are there, are not there. Or, they're just there. Just on the edge in the corner, glinting sunlight like a forgetting dream. Neil Bickerton wants an infinite lattice of invisibling bridges in Orange.

In Celia Perrin Sidarous' Lima & Hand and Window, Montreal one moves through an interiority and exteriority; the revealing of dog's ear passage along with what appears to be the opening of the window each being at the threshold of exchange.

In Unrecorded Interview, Tessa Giblin tells the story of the Suzuki brothers spending an hour and a half in the Project Arts Centre, speaking amongst themselves and an Edirol, to decide what exactly they could infer from the artworks to the readers of ANAL, who have most likely never seen the exhibition about exhibitions.

I think that at that point she was willing to be like 'You win, Universe. This is over. I just won't talk to him ever again.' And she didn't. He never called, and they never saw each other again. Lauren Wetmore tells us What happens when Yellow and Blue Makes Green as told by Mike Schuh.

An inventory of objects which seem to challenge the spectators' memory and attention. Jacqueline Forzelius at Sils, a project space based in Rotterdam.

Now I know how looks milk, Lee Welch presents an exclusive new work in the periodical that explores the difficulty of translation, meaning and understanding.

Experiential consciousness, touted comprehension and blind faith. Kate Jackson embroiders drawings of person doing what person does best for a limited edition of ANAL's cover.


Based in Rotterdam, ANAL is an international quarterly devoted to a playful discourse presented by forward-thinking writers, artists, critics & curators.

ANAL gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.