GOOSSUN گوسان

The Pro

2012-02-07T16:16:00.000+01:00

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
You got choices; you got options. Have you decided?
We got numbers to dial, when you wish to cry.
Meet a cannibal online? You must pick up the right guy.

You can see, you can see, you can seek the truth
You can pour loads of catchup on your chocolate moose
You can break a bottle of champagne, when you're homeless
You can get back into closet; no one could care less.

We got way, we got way, we got way too much
We can make a killing too with this credit crunch.
I got windows in my wall, I got walls in my window
I can hang me on my tie, tied tight with a windsor.

It says beep, it says beep, it says beep when I say "Fuck!
You could loose a lot of more, if you'd paid more for luck."
You get fifteen per cent off, if you offer enough
If you suck the cops off, when they put your hands in cuff.

You can lock up your daughter in the basement for twenty-four
Years of fucking – knocking her the back door.
Children at grandpa's grave, yelling "Hi dad!
Nice that mom's in heaven with you, so we ain't sad".

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
You can choose; pick an options. Ain't you decided?
It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
Free market sells you freedom, nothing beside it.

We got tall twin buildings, if you wish to blast
You can hijack an airplane and get laid at last;
Smoke cigar and get cancer or seek answer in jihad
Like a dick-head dictator, looking for a hole to hide

We got right of border-control for the control of the border
You got right to divorce of course and get right away deported.
We got pepper-gas spray, when them protesters fight
We got right to kick the shit off your eyes wide shot.

You have recourse to law when your condom goes leaking
When you whistle like a sucker and the gun blows, clicking
You can't have any pudding if you didn't eat your meat
You are only allowed bacon if you is muslim indeed.

You can enlarge your penis and tighten your wife's ass
You can unnail the Jesus when the Christmas pass.
I throw tips and leads and info in the flow as an insider
I'm a pro, a provider – I pro your ass wider.

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
You got choices, many options, come on, decide it?

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
You can hide it, you can fight it; or both united.

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
Far too many to choose, don't you feel misguided?

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
I said nothing, you heard nothing, we just denied it

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
Nothing to lose sleep over, don't be retarded.

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
Keep your attention fully focused, undivided.

It's pro, it's pro, it's provided
We got choices, all the options, shall we decide yet?

محمود استاد محمد

2012-01-26T11:47:00.002+01:00

‎محمود استاد محمد در بیمارستان بستری شده. صدای محمود در شهر قصه یه خونه‌ی همیشه‌گی تو یه گوشه‌ی ذهن بسیاری از ایرونی‌ها داره. حالا مثه اینه که انگار یه تیکه از ذهنِ ما رو بردن گذاشتن رو تخت بیمارستان. من بخش زیادی از امکانِ کار کردن در تئاتر در ایران رو مدیون کمک‌ها و تشویق‌های محمود هستم. اون در دوره‌ی خاتمی قبول کرد که عضو شورای بازبینی‌ی نمایشِ بشه (چیزی که خودش از لحاظ اخلاقی پسندیده نمی‌دونه، اما پذیرفت) تا امکان کار کردن جوونایی مثل من رو فراهم کنه. و خیلی‌ها از این بابت بهش مدیونن، شاید بدون اینکه خودشون بدونن. بدون پافشاری‌ی محمود خیلی از نمایش‌ها شاید اجازه‌ی اجرا نمی‌گرفتن.

‎ من جدا از ارتباط حرفه‌ای، رفاقت نزدیک هم با محمود دارم و سالها دوری‌یِ من از ایران هم نه تنها چیزی از این رفاقت کم نکرده که هیچ، به عمق این رفاقت هم افزوده. چرا که او هم تجربه‌ی زنده‌گی در خارج از ایران رو داشته و با وجود اینکه بعد از سال‌ها «سرخورده از غربت» به ایران برگشت، با این حال بزرگترین مشوق من برای رفتن از ایران و ادامه‌ی کار تئاتر در اروپا بود و هست. هنوز هم وقتی که خیلی خیلی خوشحالم یا حالم خیلی خیلی بده به محمود زنگ می‌زنم. هر از گاهی هم که از سختی‌ها شکایت می‌کنم او با تندی و عصبانیت بهم حکم می‌کنه که «نق نزن» و بعد باز هم تشویق و قوت دل با یادآوری‌ و اهمیت دادن که به کارهایی که کردم و می‌‌کنم (حتا وقتی خودم فکر می‌کنم چندان اهمیتی ندارن). وقتی تصمیم گرفتم برم لندن تشویق‌ِ محمود حمایتِ معنوی‌یِ پر معنایی بود. گفت: «حتماً برو لندن، یه لحظه تردید نکن. اون‌جا هم پر باز می‌کنی، هم پرواز می‌کنی!» (از اون جملاتی که فقط محمود بلده بسازه و با صدای خودش باید شنید.)

‎من و محمود دو تا نوستالژیای مشترک هم داریم: نصرت رحمانی و شهر آتن؛ دو تا «خویشاوند» که هیچ وقت دوتایی‌مون همزمان با هم ندیدیمشون. من و محمود هر دو در نوجوانی با نصرت رحمانی‌ دوست بودیم ولی با فاصله‌ی بیست و چند سال از هم. شهر آتن هم واسه هر دومون مثل محله‌ی دورانِ کودکی‌مون می‌مونه؛ باز هم با فاصله‌ی بیست و چند سال، هم من و هم محمود برای اولین بار پا به آتن گذاشتیم با یه حسِ غریبِ قرابت؛ انگار که همیشه اون‌جا بودیم و همه چیز آشناست. هر بار که با هم حرف می‌زنیم، بدون استثنا هم حرف نصرت و دروازه دولاب و قهوه‌خونه‌های رشت پیش می‌یاد هم میدون اومونیای آتن و بازار ماهی‌‌فروشای خیابونِ آتیناس؛ محمود هنوز قیمت اجناس رو به دراخما یادشه و وقتی من قمیت‌های روز رو به یورو بهش می‌گم، می‌گه: «اوه، اوه، اوه…». آخرین بار هم که با محمود حرف زدم تو آتن بودم. گفت «کوفتت بشه»‫.‬ گفتم بیا آتن با هم یه حضی ببریم از مواحبِ این‌ شهر پر آفتاب. گفت آره خیلی دوس دارم. مثل شخصیت‌هایِ نمایشنامه‌های خودش بود صداش. از وضعیت ایرون خیلی دمق بود. بعد گفت «وحید مریضم.» دقیقا نگفت چشه. هر‌چی هم اسرار کردم حاشیه رفت و یه اصطلاحات پرت و پلای پزشکی تحویلم داد که چیزی نفهمیدم. با غرور قلندری‌ کسر شأنِ خودش می‌دونه که از درد و بیماریش بگه. چند باری هم که بعد از اون زنگ زدم، کسی گوشی رو ور نداشت. تا امروز که دیدم هدایت هاشمی نوشته محمود استاد محمد بیمارستانه و با سرطان دست به گریبان.

************
‎من و محمود فرزندان دو دوران کاملا مختلف از تاریخ و فرهنگ ایران هستیم، با باور‌ها و ارزش‌های دور از هم. او به سنتی تعلق دارد، بازمانده‌ی دوران قلندری و فتوت با ارزش‌هایی که برای نسل من چندان مفهوم ملموسی ندارند جز روایتی از بخشی از گذشته‌ی فرهنگی‌ی یک قوم. با این حال محمود در نگاه من تجلی‌ی بارز آن ارزش‌ها در ملموس‌ترین شکل آن است و می‌کوشد پای‌بان آن‌ ارزش‌ها در جهانی دگرگون‌شده، در دوران کنونی باشد. تصور اینکه آن همه «سخاوت» و «محبت» و «عزت نفس» و «افتاده‌گی» و «لوطی‌گری» دارد در انزوای یک تخت بیمارستان تحلیل می‌رود برایم بسیار غم‌انگیز است.

‎کاش بتوانم دوباره با او صحبت کنم و شاید دوباره اورا ببینم. چرا که نه.

‎زنده باشی، محمود
!

A Few Questions about Iran

2012-01-26T09:35:00.002+01:00

A good friend of mine, Brian asked me a few questions about Iran. I would like to share his questions and my point of view since it is of great important to me and relevant to the current political climate. I have tried to divide my answers to facts in the one hand and my own opinion on the other.

Q – You disagree with sanctions, do you think any sanctions should be imposed on Iran?
A – Facts: The sanctions against Iran are politically motivated. Iran has been under sanction for three decades as a punishment for its 1979 revolution. Iran managed to survive the toughest sanctions so far. The Iranian people inside Iran are the main victims of these sanctions, affecting their everyday life finically. The sanctions have hugely undermined the project of democratization in Iran.

My Opinion: The sanction as a mechanism of diplomatic pressure could per se be a legitimate tool. The question is who imposes the sanction and what legitimacy does the issuing authority has. A political union like the EU can decide on whatever sanction, but no government outside the EU is obliged to abide. The UN and Security Council is on the other hand different, meaning that it obliges the countries to legally abide to the ruling. The Security Council consist of bigger thugs of past 60 years, the winners of the WWII. There is no justification why any country should accept their decisions. The UN General Assembly is a little bit less dishonest, but its double standards are too many to count and therefore has no morally authority to impose sanction on Iran. I think the sanctions are aimed at Iranian people in order to push them towards a regime change from within. So the war mongers save on the military expense for that matter.

Q – Do you think the Iranian government wants to develop the potential for a nucler bomb? What should the consequences be?
A – Fact: there is no solid evidence that Iran is developing or wants to develop nuclear weapon. The IAEA has so far found no evidence. The latest IAEA report is only taking the unconfirmed information as alleged evidence (you can read the full report online).

My Opinion: I think Iran's only chance to deter military intervention by the US and its allies is to actually get hold of a nuclear weapon. I do not say this as an Iranian, nor I recommend it. This is my observation of the recent events: they would not go to Iraq and Libya if they were not 100% sure that Saddam Hussein and Qaddafi were NOT in possession of WMDs. That is the lesson one would conclude.
Iran insists that its nuclear project is NOT military. Let say it was. Why not? How comes others can have it? Iran has not instigated war or attacked any country in last 300 years. USA has tons of dirty bombs, has used it too, stored the left over in Israel and wags war whenever it feels like it. It's so ridiculous to continue the argument…. it's like cigarette: everyone knows that its bad for health and they keep smoking it. What right has your dad to forbid you to smoke? And who said he is your father anyway?
Back to previous question: Iran has stood up against the "father" and the daddy doesn't like it. Hence the sanctions.

Q – The west seems to think so, do you think they have the right to try and stop this?
A – Fact: what/who is the "west?" West of where? What legal authority does this "west" has to try to stop anything anywhere anyhow?

My Opinion: The West did also "think" Saddam has WMD. I don't "think" so!

Q – What would you suggest, to halt the current conflict?, bearing in mind, the utterances from the Iranian government these days? Concerning "oil sanctions?", "The US navy fleet returning to the Gulf?", Irans right to pursue nucleur technology?"

A – My Opinion: I am not in any position or have the credential to "suggest" anything. My opinion expressed here and elsewhere are the opinion of an artist and an intellectual, born in the Third World living in Europe, who is reacting to what he observes in the reality he lives in. I do not promote any agenda. I try to oppose injustice, expose hypocrisy, unveil fact and help to analyze the situation from my point of view.

Q – Please, if you mention Israel, as could happen, dissaccociate Israel having weapons, as oppossed to Iranian Government position that they would use the nucleur weapons!!, also the Iran government leaders position that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.
A – Fact: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran said, in a speech in Iran, that "the Zionist regime should be wiped off the map of world." (I can't find the video, but that is pretty much what he said). Larry King ask him what do you mean by that? Ahmadinejad said he means that he believes the Zionist regime will disappear just like the Apartheid regime of the South Africa an the Soviet Union did. On Iranian national TV, when one of the presidential contestants brought up this issue in a debate during the election, Ahmadinejad denied any intention of military confrontation with Israel and criticized the military rhetorics of early post-revolution era against the state of Israel. (Since everything is about what he "said", I just mention other things he said too but are omitted in the mainstream medias over here).

My Opinion: Ahmadinejad is representative of a tendency in Iran which aims to revive the revolutionary discourse of Political Islam and anti-imperialism. I do not agree with his point of view, but he is entitled to it. He is also entitled to have and expressed any opinion about what he calls "Zionist regime" and holocaust etc. How does that amount to a military threat? Iran doesn't recognize the state of Israel? It supports Hammas in Gazza and Hizbullah in Lebanon. There is nothing ILLEGAL about any of these. One might dislike it, but it is not illegal based on the international laws.
Bottom line I personally think there is no state of Israel in reality; there is an occupied land turned into a military base and a nuclear warehouse by the financial thugs of the Wall Street, abusing and taking hostage the suffering of the Jewish people and bringing the most horrendous atrocities on the Palestinians.

Last Point: The Iranian government is indeed one of the most dangerous regimes, but only to the Iranian people themselves! And it is up to the iranians themselves to do something about it; not anyone else's business.

Good night
Vahid

*******************************************************
Hi buddy,
we havent had a sit down and talk for a long time, hope we can soon.
Ive followed all your FB positions on the current conflict between West and Iran. I would really like your opinion on whats going on? Just for myself. However, Id like to ask some questions, not that its my position, but to get your opinion about it. Without you shooting my head of!
YOu disagree with sanctions, do you think any sanctions should be imposed on Iran?
Do you think the Iranian government wants to develop the potential for a nucleur bomb? What sould the consequences be?
THe west seems to think so, do you think they have the right to try and stop this?
What would you suggest, to halt the current conflict?, bearing in mind, the utterances from the Iranian government these days? Concerning "oil sanctions?", "The US navy fleet returning to the Gulf?", Irans right to pursue nucleur technology?"
Please, if you mention Israel, as could happen, dissaccociate Israel having weapons, as oppossed to Iranian Government position that they would use the nucleur weapons!!, also the Iran government leaders position that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth.
Hope you dont get angry with me, but would really like your opinion

ANAGRAM (109)

2010-12-15T15:39:00.002+01:00

At one end of the cable
A leaking condom
At the other end
A leaking wiki.
Wicked!

How many commissioned suicide bombings
How many consensual rapes
Does it take in free countries
To arrest freedom?
How many arrests made under Terrorist Act
How many acts of terrorism
To free them?

Covered-up cables
Post-rape feminist parties
Non-baling jailing
Pissed of politicians
Banksters with sniper rifles:
If it is up to US
We know how to handle this:
"Illegally shoot the son of a bitch!"
BNAG!

2010-07-15T15:12:00.000+02:00

میان شخص و اشخاص
دو الف
ایستاده
جامعه
جمعِ خیانت است.

End?

2010-07-02T16:25:00.005+02:00

End?

In memory of Torgeir Wethal

I was talking to a friend on Skype when she suddenly said, “Oh, by the way, did you heard about Torgeir?” I have learned to be prepared for the worst when I am asked such question. The news was short: “He died.”

Torgeir Wethal passed away, in early hours of 27th June 2010, almost the same hour he would, along his colleagues of many years at Odin Teatret, gather in the working room to train. He has been with Odin Teatret since day one and remained there to the end.

But is there an end? And what is the end?

I have never got to know Torgeir personally. Through many years that I spent around Odin Teatret, Torgeir and I have only spoken a few sentences. He was a man of very few words or at least that was the side I knew of him. We would meet, exchange greetings and that was about it.

But despite this absence of verbal communication I had established a dialogue with him without him knowing it. This dialogue evolved through years and nowadays is part of my everyday practice whenever I am working with performers.

I got my very first “Odin lesson” on 11th March 2001 at 8am in Torgeir’s workshop at Odin Teatret’s White Room. At the time my command of English language was non-existent and I could hardly understand anything that was said. But I learned something physically in that very first lesson by watching him closely. Two years later when I attended another workshop I could now relate what he was doing with what he was saying: “you pick something in the air with your fingers from one place and throw it to the opposite direction.” Thus I leaned one of the principles of the performers scenic technique.

This very simple yet precise lesson helped me understand practically and not conceptually that which is essential. When I began to develop my own way of training performers, I used few of such simple examples to combine and invented few of my own to communicate with people I worked with. While conducting training for performers I often opened my mouth and I heard Torgeir speaking: “you pick something in the air with your fingers from one place and throw it to the opposite direction.”

Many performers in my workshops have learned this lesson of Torgeir’s without having ever met him. His lesson continues to live in me and with whomever I work with.

There will be no end to it.

Torgeir is also unknowingly and indirectly responsible for the technical research on the craft I have concentrated all my time on in the last five years. It was my disastrous failure in reproducing the exercise taught by Ryszard Cieslak in Training at Grotowski’s Teatr-Laboratorium in Wroclaw that forced me to invent exercises that were adjustable to the needs of each individual rather that something that everyone must master uniformly.

Torgeir Wethal’s Training at Grotowski’s Teatr-Laboratorium in Wroclaw is one the most important documents of the 20th Century theatre. Anytime I find myself stuck with an unsolvable technical problem, I go back and watch this film again. I do not look for answer to my problem in it. I merely try to remember the moment when I realized that in order to embody the principles one has to go beyond the form. I will forever remain in debt to Torgeir for having made this film. I wish I had told him this.

Torgeir played a significant part in realization of one of the most important events of the theater history: Odin Teatret. I doubt you’d find any mention of his name in any conventional “history of theatre.” No, those books are dead.

But Torgeir lives beyond his biological disappearance in what he cultivated in the lives of the others: simple unpretentious technical solutions of a craftsmanship he spent all his adult life on. There is no way to measure the extent of what he has transmitted to the others. It lives on in and with those who have learned from him something they could then call their own.

There is no end to that.

Vahid

(Director of Goossun Art-illery)

29 June 2010 – London

P.S. In 2004 I participated in International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) XIII in Seville, Spain. Torgeir presented a work demonstration on the subject of Flow. The work demonstration was in Norwegian and it was translate simultaneously to Spanish.

After a few days, motivated by discussions with other participants, I decided to make a daily wall newspaper called the Lost Islands. Torgeir was very kind to give me the text of his work demonstration and its English translation by Anne Savage appeared on the little wall newspaper.

By Torgeir Wethal

The water which springs up from the earth or falls from the sky, doesn't know where it is going, doesn't know what will happen on its way to evaporation. It flows, encounters obstacles and couples up with other waters. Every stone, every fish has a name - even if I don't know what they are called.

The branches hanging over my banks, the branches which the wind plays and makes music with, have a name even if I don't know what they are called.

The reeds which tickle my sides and whistle through my hair has a name, even if I don't know what they are called.

Part of what reaches the end has been there from the beginning. During the journey it may have encountered all experiences of life apart from one.

It is no longer afraid of dying.

Hamlet Zar: 1st Cut

2010-03-12T21:20:00.001+01:00

ANAGRAM (108)

2010-03-10T22:17:00.001+01:00

Broken teeth
Sweaty bed sheets

… a message of
love
it is not
to be loved…

I can’t ignore the nightmare we woke up in

Daily

2010-03-01T16:36:00.004+01:00

I have always envied those who can write everyday. I mean writing as in "writing" which does not include letters, e-mails, application forms, text messages etc.

What is it that make "writing" so special? Why are book so important? What does make "writing" essential? Why writ...

ANAGRAM (107)

2009-12-22T00:51:00.002+01:00

A poet
Born when I fall asleep
Murdered by alarm clock.

ANAGRAM (106)

2009-11-09T21:41:00.000+01:00

I have no graves to visit.

شرمِ تکرارِ خویشتن

2009-08-27T22:08:00.003+02:00

This is a Persian translation of a fragment from Milan Kundera's The Curtain; first published on Radio Zamaneh.

شرمِ تکرارِ خویشتن

نوشته یِ میلان کوندرا
ترجمه یِ وحید عوض‌زاده

در یکی از اولین سفرهایم به پراگ پس از متلاشی‌ شدنِ حکومتِ کمونیستی در سالِ ۱۹۸۹، یکی از دوستانم که تمامِ آن سال‌ها را آن‌جا زنده‌گی کرده بود به من گفت: ما به یک بالزاک احتیاج داریم. چون چیزی که اکنون شاهداش هستی بازسازی‌یِ یک جامعه‌یِ سرمایه‌داری‌ست با همه‌یِ شقاوت و حماقت‌اش؛ با وحشی‌گری‌یِ کلاه‌بردارها و تازه ـ به ـ دوران ـ رسیده‌ها. حماقتِ کاسب‌کارانه جایِ حماقتِ ایدئولوژیک را گرفته است. ولی خیره کننده‌گی‌یِ این تجربه‌یِ جدید این است که خاطره‌یِ آن دورانِ همچنان در ذهنِ ما زنده است-هر دویِ این تجربه‌ها در هم تنیده‌اند و مانندِ دورانِ بالزاک، تاریخْ بلبشویِ غریبی برپا کرده.
دوستم ماجرایِ پیر‌مردي را برای‌ام تعریف کرد که روزی روزگاری جای‌گاهی والا در حزب [ـِ کمونیست] داشت. این مرد دخترش را بیست و پنج سال پیش‌تر به پسرِ یک بورژوایِ معروف شوهر داد که همه‌یِ دارایی‌یِ خانواده‌گی‌شان توسطِ دولت ضبط شده بود. و پیرمرد از نفوذاش استفاده کرد و شغلی برایِ دامادش به عنوانِ هدیه‌یِ ازدواج دست و پا کرده بود.
امروزه روز پیرمرد در تنهایی و انزوا روزگار می‌گذراند. خانواده‌یِ دامادش دارائی‌هایِ سابقاً دولتی‌شده‌شان را پش گرفته‌اند و دخترش از بابتِ پدرِ کمونیست‌اش احساسِ سرشکسته‌گی می‌کند و فقط جرأت دارد در خفا به دیدن‌ پدرش برود. دوستم می‌خندد و می‌گوید:‌ «ملتفتی؟ این ماجرا کلمه به کلمه عینِ داستانِ بابا گوری‌یو۱ است.» داستانِ مردِ قدرت‌مندي که در دورانِ وحشت‌سالاری۲ برای دختران‌اش شوهرانی از «طبقه دشمن» دست ـ و ـ پا می‌کند و بعد‌تر در دورانِ بازگردانی‌یِ سلطنت۳ دیگر نمی‌تواند دختران‌اش را در انظارِ عمومی ملاقات کند.
ما مدتی به این ماجرا خندیدیم. امروز دوباره به آن خنده فکر می‌کنم.دقیقاً به چه چیزی می‌خندیدیم و چرا؟ آیا آن آپاراتچی۴‌یِ پیرْ مضحک بود، چون تجربه‌یِ کسِ دیگری را تکرار می‌کرد؟ اما این خودِ تاریخ بود که خودش را تکرار می کرد، نه آن پیرمرد. و چنین چیزی لازمه‌اش این است که تاریخ بوئی از شرم نبرده باشد؛ بوئی از شرم، هوش و سلیقه. این بی سلیقه‌گی‌یِ تاریخ بود که ما را به خنده انداخت.
این ماجرا مرا به پیشنهادِ دوست‌ام برمی‌گرداند. درست است، این دوره‌ای که مردم دارند در بوهیمیا۵ از سر می‌گذرانند بالزاک را با فریاد به خود می‌خواند؛ شاید. شاید خواندنِ رمان‌هایی درباره‌یِ بازگشتِ سرمایه‌داری با شخصیت‌هایِ متعدد و داستانی فراگیر، مانندِ رمان‌هایِ بالزاک برای‌ِ مردمِ چِک روشن‌گرباشد. ولی هیچ رمان‌نویسی که لیاقتِ عنوانِ رمان‌نویس را داشته باشد چنین رمانی را نخواهد نوشت. نوشتنِ یک کمدی‌یِ انسانی۱یِ دیگر کاملاً مضحک است. چرا که هرچند تاریخ (تاریخِ مردمان) ممکن است با بی‌سلیقه‌گی خودش را تکرار کند، تاریخِ یک هنر تابِ‌ تکرار را نخواهد داشت. هنر آینه‌ای نیست که بتوان در آن همه‌یِ بالا و پائینِ تاریخ رابا همه‌یِ دگره‌ها۶ و تکرارهایِ بی‌پایان‌اش ثبت کرد. هنر مانندِ یک دسته نوازنده‌گانِ دهاتی که خادمانه پا ـ به ـ پایِ تاریخ رژه می‌روند نیست. هنر کارش آفریدنِ تاریخِ خودش است. آن‌چه نهایتاً از اروپا باقی خواند ماند تاریخِ تکرار شونده‌اش نخواهد بود که در خودش مُعرفِ هیچ ارزشی نیست. تنها چیزی که اقبالِ اندکی استقامت را خواهد داشت تاریخِ هنرِ اروپاست.

* ترجمه شده از بخشِ یکمِ کتابِ پرده.

یادداشت‌ها:
۱- رمانِ‌ Pére Goriot بخشی از مجموعه‌یِ کمدی‌یِ انسانی‌ La Comédie Humaine یِ اُنوره دُ بالزاک
Reign of Terror-۲
Restoration-۳
۴-کارمندِ رسمی‌یِ اداراتِ کمونیستی apparatchik
۵-ناحیه‌ای در جمهوری‌یِ چِک
Variations-۶

"THEATRE IS THE PASS TO FREEDOM"

2009-08-01T15:12:00.009+02:00

During a research trip to Toronto Vahid was interviewed by Sue Balint* after the Per–expressivity and Scenic Presence workshop. This interview has first been published in the Wheel Me Out magazine:

Goossun Art-illery’s Artistic Director Vahid began his theatre career in Iran and has since studied with several masters of Western and Oriental theatre including Eugenio Barba, Augusto Boal and Akira Matsui. Here, he talks about the unique training workshops he’s conducted with performers in London, Copenhagen and Toronto.

In recent years, you’ve shifted your focus from creating performances to training. How much of this is process for you, and how much is product?
The process is a product in itself and vise versa. For me the only difference is whether you want to present what you are doing to outsiders or you’re doing something, which is not for presentation (yet, as it were.) Otherwise, both things are the same for me. Fixing a performance for presentation doesn’t necessarily mean that the process has ended. One thing is certain: the work can always be improved and so can one’s skills.
You make a performance, you perform it for five nights or tour it for two years, and then you stop. But you don’t stop the whole process of your vocation. Or rather you should not! Theatre for me is not about “show business” or putting on performances. It’s a lifestyle. You do something because you have to, you can’t help yourself. Sometimes you have a chance to put it on stage and make it public, sometimes you don’t. It doesn’t change the intention of doing it.

That said, the reason for not having produced any performances in the recent years was that I did not want to make a performance under just any condition. I work in a certain way and the circumstances I was in were not suitable for producing a performance in the way I wanted to. It was not a “shift” from making performances to training as you put it. It was rather a choice in order to maintain a sense of integrity.

How do you describe what you do?
What I do is called “theatre” for the lack of better word. It’s very difficult to explain what it exactly is since I am not interested in theatre as enactment or show business. What I do is what you saw in this workshop. Of course there is a strong ancestral link to Stanislavski, Edward Gordon Craig, Grotowski, Odin Teatret and thus a relation to “theatre.” But what does theatre mean to these reformers? For me what connect these theatre-makers are two things: their technical research on the craft and their vision.

Edward Gordon Craig says, “They perhaps asked why you wanted to go on the stage, and you could give no reasonable answer because you wanted to do that which no reasonable answer could explain; in other words, you wanted to fly.” There you got your answer. It’s an inconcrete and ambiguous answer but so is the theatre. Basically you want to fly, but you’re unable to. Hence “theatre” for me is ultimately an endeavour to make something impossible possible; a rebellion against our inability and our human limitation.

But if you were to be concrete?
Then I would say what I do is to “diagnose” what is blocking our imagination and to turn the obstacles into possibilities. And all this is done on the context of performer’s craftsmanship in an organized performance situation. That is as concrete as it can get.

Diagnosing the individual performer?
What I refer to as “diagnosing” is to find out what is blocking each performer’s imagination and how the performer can overcome the obstacles. In that sense it is an individual process. However this will not remain individual entirely. We focus on individual in order to redefine our relation with others. In training the main goal is to set the performer’s imagination free and there is no one predetermined method to do this; it changes from individual to individual.

And it might not resonate with everyone.
Sure! It might not. However there is a very good criteria for whether it works or not and that is the second day of the work. If the participants show up on the second day and want to continue, that’s good enough for me. It shows that they are willing to push forward and challenge themselves.

Tell me about the importance of body memory in your work.
You’ve heard me say many times, “let your body memorize it” or “let your body remember.” What we call memory is a complex process of remembering and forgetting. Memories are not forgotten so much as pushed back. They are kept in our body. As Grotowski says the body has no memory; the body is the memory.
Training partially is a way to access the subconscious through the conscious, creating, memorizing and reproducing multiple tensions in the body that invoke forgotten memories, associations, emotions etc. This makes sense like déjà vu does. There’s “that thing” that is invoked that might not make sense rationally, but we recognize it as a “memory.” We take it for what it is.

Your relationship with each of the performers feels quite reciprocal. A “teacher” could stay very much on the outside. Watching you work, it doesn’t feel like that.
You are certainly right. And that’s why I don’t like the word teacher. Teacher means “transmitter”. It’s normally someone who has already acquired a box of knowledge and is now opening the box, like a chocolate box, and giving pieces to people. That’s not what I do. I prefer the Italian word, formatore. It’s, as you said, learning in a reciprocal way. All of us together are trying to learn to learn. So you learn some new ways, devices, tools to learn more. That’s basically what happens here. And that’s why it’s a never-ending process. This is due to the fact that ultimately there are no limits to our imagination. The deeper the performers explores their imagination, they’re going to trigger my imagination in a deeper level as well. It all evolves. The better they get in doing that, the more skill they get, the more focused and concentrated they become, it gets more challenging for me, because then I have to catch up with them and open up my own imagination. Thus it opens more doors and possibilities for all of us.

You create a very specific environment in the training room. It’s intentionally separate from the outside world.
Theatre to me is the opposite of the social life. The choice toward a different way of life, a different way of connecting with each other requires a different setting. And that’s why upon entering the training room we have to change the way we walk, the way we behave, the way we talk to one another. The behavior of each individual entering the space should indicate that this space is special, not just like anywhere else. In order to do what you see here, you have to somewhat organize your life differently. Every second is new and that needs an absolute presence and awareness, a receptivity, to be very open to things happening around you if you want to be creative.

There’s a lovely sort of freedom in that.
Yes, it is. Theatre is the path to freedom. In order to start anything creative, one ought to become organic. Much of what we do here is in order to render that organicity, which means going back to the child, back to the animal. The conventions of social life are established either based on fear or need, which are conservative by default and hence limiting. In order to become creative, we have to go opposite and somehow go back. It’s not possible to chronologically go back, but you restore those things you have suppressed and then try to build from there. Basically what we do here is trying to deconstruct the social behavior, the daily behavior. To do that we cut it to pieces, in a laboratory space like this.
That might be ultimately what art is. Decroux, the mime master, said that art is “decomposition of the natural and re-composition of the ideal.” It’s like demolishing a house and building anew a building with the bricks taken from under the debris.

*Sue Balint is Director of Development for Modern Times Stage Company as well as a playwright and interdisciplinary artist working in Toronto.

Beats or God

2009-07-10T22:22:00.003+02:00

"The man who is isolated–who is unable to share in the benefits of political association, or has no need to share because he is already self-sufficient–is no part of the polis and must therefore be either a beast or a god."

– Aristotle, Politics

ANAGRAM (105)

2009-07-10T22:19:00.001+02:00

Emotions are commotions.

In the Memory of Jerzy Grotowski

2009-07-08T12:17:00.002+02:00

Towards the end of the first residency of HamletZar: Exodus we had an open session where a small group of people came to see our training. For that day we made a tribute to Grotowski, an installation in the Black Room of Odin Teatret through which the guests would pass to get to the White Room where we worked.

2009-07-07T10:22:00.008+02:00

"My problem is not to explore my self-consciousness to see if I am free or not: my problem is to analyze reality to see how one can free oneself."

– Michel Foucault

Method & madness

2009-05-30T09:15:00.001+02:00

"There is always some madness in love. But there is always, also, some method in madness."

– Friedrich Nietzsche

2009-05-27T02:36:00.002+02:00

"[In] the social system in which I live [...] my obligation is not to make political declarations, but to make holes in the wall. [...] Art has always been the effort to confront oneself with the insufficiency, and by this very fact, art has always been complementary to social reality [...] it is not goodwill which will save the work, but it is mastery. Obviously when mastery is here, appears the question of heart. Heart without mastery is shit."

– Jerzy Grotowski, Tu es le fils de quelqu'un

The Water Snake Drinks Turns Poison

2009-05-05T21:41:00.000+02:00

2009-03-09T21:03:00.001+01:00

"'To select an author's play, does not mean to share his views."
–Grotowski quoting Meyerhold in the program to one his early productions, God of Rain

DD DANSEN 2009 Music Video

2009-03-03T12:34:00.000+01:00

AZDAHAK

2009-02-25T12:13:00.000+01:00

2009-02-14T21:40:00.002+01:00

Everyone at some point has at least once wondered, what will happen to us when we die. Nothing is certain about what happens to us after death except that we will cease asking that question.

ANAGRAM (104)

2008-12-19T09:46:00.001+01:00

If I ever had to be someone else than myself
I'd be Albert Camus
Dying like James Dean.

Words, words, words...

2008-12-18T23:42:00.003+01:00

"Every Hamlet has a book in his hand. What book does the modern Hamlet read?

– Jan Kott, Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, p. 68

Grotowski at Work

2008-12-10T15:08:00.001+01:00

This video has recently been uploaded on YouTube by Biagagli. It is a Polska TV program seemingly made after Grotowski's death 1999. It is a rough outline of his life.

What is most interesting for me in this video, is the part where Grotowski is leading the vocal exercises at the Theatre Laboratory of 13 Rows; the way he conducts the performer with his hands, indicating various places on body where he wants the performance to use as resonator.

I guess this fragment is from the Mike Elster's documentary, Letters from Opole. (If my memory doesn't decive me; I've seen that film seven years ago.) Elster was a film student in Poland in the 60's and decided to make a documentary about Theatre Laboratory after he was invited to Opole by Eugenio Barba and saw the work of Grotowski. He became instrumental in Grotowski's career not only by making the very first film about his work but also through introducing Grotowski to Peter Brook in 1965. (see E. Barba, Land of Ashes and Diamonds, p. 60.)

I hope someone uploads Letters from Opole on YouTube as well.

Baudrillard, Scorsese & Brecht

2008-12-08T15:06:00.007+01:00

I was looking for something in Jean Baudrillard's Fragments and I landed on this: "Given that it is better to be killed by a bullet intended for you rather than a stray one, and given that there are many more stray bullets than ones which reach their target, is it better to be one of the terrorists or one of the victims?"

It immediately reminded me of Frank Costello's line in Scorsese's The Departed: “When I was your age, they would say you could become cops or criminals. What I'm saying is this: When you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?”

Just wonder, is Baudrillard thinking like a gangster mob or the gangsters (the "wise guys" as Lefty in Donnie Brasco called them) are actually acting on a more justifiable philosophical basis? What is crime when the authoritative body–state if you like–who draws the line between "legal" and "illegal" has blood on its hand up to elbow?

I hear Brecht shouting from behind: “What is the crime of robbing a bank compared with the crime of founding one.”

Towards another political imagination

2008-12-01T15:08:00.010+01:00

Ryszard Cieslak at work 1980

I heard Eugenio Barba once saying that "the greatest revolution is revolution against our own laziness." This is an essential principle for theatre training. Training is a fight against laziness. In this sense laziness for me is the opposite of concentration. Concentration in training is the basis of setting one's imagination free. Freeing one's imagination is necessarily political.
That is why I have borrowed Foucaut's phrase as one of HamletZar's motto:"Towards another political imagination."

"We have to construct another political thought, another political imagination and teach anew the vision of future."

– Michel Foucaut in J. Afary & K Anderson, Foucaut and Iranian Revolution, p. 185

I recall Philip Gaulier saying in a video interview "I teach theatre, I teach freedom" which is in essence the same as constructing another political imagination. Doesn't Étienne Decroux also touches upon the same notion when he says art is "decomposition of the natural and re-composition of the ideal?"

Brook on Grotowski

2008-11-29T20:32:00.000+01:00

Jerzy Grotowski & Peter Brook in Shiraz Art Festival, Iran 1971

"The Theatre is not an escape, a refuge. A way of life is a way to life. does that sound like a religious slogan? It should do."

–Peter Brook, preface to Towards a Poor Theatre, p. 12

Etymology of the name Hamlet

2008-11-28T03:21:00.000+01:00

"incidentally, the name "Amleth" means "Dimwit" or "Idiot"; so the most intelligent character in Shakespeare's works inherits an aptly paradoxical name."

–Cedric Watts, introduction to Hamlet, p. 15

Hamlet on the sea

2008-11-27T03:08:00.003+01:00

HamletZar mainly takes place on the sea when Hamlet is sent to England to be killed. For this reason my colleagues and I have in many occasions talked about performing HamletZar, site-specific, in a boat and sail into the sea with the audience during the performance.
It is a common belief that "in 1608 Hamlet was staged at sea by the crew of Captain Keeling's ship Dragon, so that the men would not waste their time on idleness and unlawful games or sleep."

–see E . K. Chambers: William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems,
London, Oxford University Press 1930, Vol. II, p 335

Also see this: Hamlet aboard the (Red) Dragon

To Hell with Irrelevant Art!

2008-11-26T12:33:00.013+01:00

"... not true requirements, but the requirements of Truth; not the interest of the pro*******t, but the interest of Human Nature, of man in general, who belongs to no c***s, has no reality, who exists only in the misty realm of philosophical fantasy."

–Carl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, p. 41

Over the years my interest in arts and in theatre particularly has changed. I am not interested in art as means of expression anymore. Today I am interested in art only if it is relevant to life in an im-mediate manner and only if it can better life even a tiny bit; even if it is a hopeless attempt as verbalized by Das Beckwerk's statement: "hopeless but necessary attempt to daily intervene in world history."

This notion has influenced the project, HamletZar in various ways and has expanded the field of research in the agenda of the project, most specifically a process where we endeavor to explore the possibilities of combining two principal notions of twentieth century's theatre practice, namely Theatre Anthropology and Theatre of the Oppressed.
This is an attempt to avoid the concentrated and largely isolated process of craft losing connection with our daily, real life and keep away from falling into the trap of "the misty realm of philosophical fantasy."

Otherwise what is the point? It is extremely difficult to make it possible to do theatre; it is so at least for me. If theatre doesn't make my life better, richer and more joyous, to hell with it.
As Malcolm X has said: "When you have a philosophy or a gospel–I don't care whether it's a religious gospel, a political gospel, an economic gospel or a social gospel–if it's not going to do something for you and me right here and right now–to hell with that gospel!"

NOTE: Pro*******t and c***s are of course "proletariat" and "class" respectively. I think it is extremely important, when we read Carl Marx today, that we demystify his terminology, which is the product of the period he lived in, in order to understand the profound humane and philosophical aspect of his though. In the above mentioned quote Carl Marx is criticizing the German socialists for being influenced by "completely emasculated" French communist literature without having experienced the real historical changes and thus indulging themselves in illusory rhetoric. However the essence of what he says goes beyond the specific problem he is addressing.

Altering the text of Hamlet

2008-11-26T02:49:00.002+01:00

Cedric Watts, in the short and interesting introduction he has written to Hamlet, cleverly points out that "Hamlet is delighted to add lines to The Mousetrap to give it topical relevance; and when Polonius objects that the recitation about Pyrruhs is too long, Hamlet immediately replies: "it shall to the barber's with your beard."

–Hamlet, Wordsworth Classics, p. 24

That is exactly what we are going to do with Shakespeare's text in HamletZar: "It shall to the barber's." And we'll add lines in order to give it a "topical relevance;" as Peter Brook has said, to relate it "to our lives."

Hamlet: Machiavellian villain

2008-11-25T01:10:00.001+01:00

"The new type of villain which we meet in Elizabethan drama is an image of some interest. I say "new type" because we must all deprecate the tendency to use the words "Machiavellian villain" when we mean merely a great or ruthless villain. By a "Machiavellian" villain we ought to mean one who circumvents his victims by cunning and hypocrisy—like Machiavelli’s ideal prince. Thus Kyd’s Lorenzo and Shakespeare’s Iago are Machiavellian; Tamburlain is not. The cunning villain is so useful to dramatists and has so long been part of their stock-in-trade that we tend to take him for granted. But the typical villains of medieval literature are not often cunning. They are seldom cleverer than the good character.”

—C. S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteen century, p. 51, Oxford University Press, 1944

Note: Despite of being the protagonist of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet possesses many of the characteristics of so-called the “Machiavellian villain.” Although The Prince had not been translated into English until 1640, Machiavelli was widely famed to the Elizabethan dramatists as the devilish villain. What they knew as “Machiavellism” was based on a French book written by Gentillet, called Anti Machiavel which provided a tremendously useful instrument to form a model for cunning villain who circumvents his victim by hypocrisy.

Hamlet & Kierkegaards

2008-11-24T15:54:00.002+01:00

“It would be the task for a poet to represent this agonizing self-contradiction in a demonic man who is not able to get along without a confidant and not able to have a confidant …”

–Søren Kierkegaard, Sickness Unto Death, p. 56

Dance/music healing in Bible

2008-11-24T13:36:00.002+01:00

”David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. […] David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah. […] And David danced before the LORD with all his might; […] And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.”

—Old Testament, 2 Samuel, chap. 6

Craig on Shakespeare

2008-11-23T12:42:00.000+01:00

"Hamlet has not the nature of a stage representation. Hamlet and the other plays of Shakespeare have so vast and so complete a form when read, that they can but lose heavily when presented to us after having undergone stage treatment. That they were acted in Shakespeare's day proves nothing."

–Edward Gordon Craig, On the Art of Theatre, p 143

Brook on Shekaspeare

2008-11-22T12:28:00.000+01:00

"Our greatest problem in England where we have the best possibility in the world for presenting our greatest author is just this–the relating of these works to our lives."

–Peter Brook, preface to Jan Kott's Shakespeare, Our Contemporary

2008-11-22T12:22:00.000+01:00

Grotowski in Iran

2008-10-29T11:54:00.004+01:00

Jerzy Grotowski shaking hand with Empress Farah in Shiraz Art Festival.

I have been at the Library for Iranian Studies few days ago and there I found the book of Shiraz Art Festival and in it a few photographs of Grotowski and his performance The Constant Prince taken during the festival. Here is one of the photos as an announcement for the special event Goossun Art-illery is going to arrange to celebrate the Year Of Grotoswki in 2009.

Music

2008-10-18T09:07:00.006+02:00

Using music during training is a tricky thing. The danger is that the performers might be carried away by the music and begin to merely "enjoy themselves" rather than using the music as an aid that serves the purpose of each certain task they would be working on.
In my experience music can be a very useful tool in training in three different ways:
1) using music as pattern to clarify the movements by the guidance of the rhythm
2) using music as contexts: performing a fixed sequence of action to different musics, colors the action and helps the performers to explore more possibilities in the materials they have created
3) using music for orchestrating various parts of action: i.e. we could have three performers a and blues song played by a guitar, a base and a drum set and we ask one performer to move in accordance with the guitar, the other performer with the drums and the other with the base.
Furthermore, one single performer can as well use different parts of his or her own body, each reacting to one instrument. In this way the music serves as a very useful aid to clarify the orchestration of the action.
These have proved very useful when I train beginners to communicate certain principle to then in a non-verbal way.

Anyway, what does make music so magical? Isn't the precise mathematical structure of its scores that strikes our emotions? Grotowski says, "spontaneity only happens within a structure." That is what happens with music.

When it doesn't work

2008-10-17T20:43:00.004+02:00

Everyone who has done theatre knows that there are days (sometime many successive ones) where "it" doesn't work. Then as the director you ought to come up with some solution. You cannot not be "inspired" as some would put it; you cannot be unfocused; you cannot be lost or you'll be lost.
At these situations the director must make sure that everyone feel safe, that everyone feels that they are in good hands. And in order to do that, the director has one primary task to solve, that is, to make sure that he has created a secure working space where the only "problems" are those related to the "craft" and not chaos created by dis-organization.

WMD

2008-10-16T12:46:00.002+02:00

Just been looking at the The World Movement for Democracy's website whose URL is www.wmd.org. WMD, amm... wasn't that what some invaded Iraq for?

ANAGRAM (103)

2008-07-29T16:50:00.001+02:00

I cannot eliminate my self from myself.

Deep-rest (a music video)

2008-07-29T14:43:00.000+02:00

آقای معیری، ممنون

2008-07-03T16:41:00.002+02:00

یکی از عارضه‌هایِِ زنده‌گی در «غربت» این است که آدم معمولاً از دوستانش آنقدر بی‌خبر است تا اینکه خلاصه «خبرشان می‌رسد.» هر روز خبرِ مرگِ یکی از اهلِ فرهنگ را در اخبار می‌خوانی؛ دوستان، آشنایان، کسانی که شاید شخصاً نمی‌شناختی ولی در شکل‌گیری‌یِ کاری و فرهنگی‌یِ تو بسیار موثر بوده‌اند. با خودم می‌گویم که نوشتن در سوگِ از دست‌رفته‌گان تذویر و خود‌ارضائی‌ست وقتی که در زمان حیاتشان از ایشان ننوشتیم که بدانند چه اندازه به گردنِ ما حق داشته و دارند. اما...

دیروز فرهنگِ معیری هم رفت. و من نه تنها غمگین از این که او دیگر نیست (که سرنوشتِ همه‌یِ ماست) بلکه متاسف از اینم که چه مقدار خاطره و تجربه و دانش و منشِ فرهنگی‌یِ ثبت نشده هم با او رفت و ما را تهی‌دست‌تر گذاشت. یعنی گنجینه‌ای که ما با بی‌دقتی و سر‌-به-‌هوائی از جمع‌آوری و تدوین‌اش غفلت کردیم؛ و می‌کنیم. دلیلِ انقطاعِ فرهنگی همیشه حمله‌یِ مغول نیست؛ کم‌کاری‌یِ ما در ثبت، فهم و امتدادِ تجربه‌ها نیز یکی از دلایلِ این بیماری‌یِ تاریخی‌یِ ماست. معیری دستِ‌کم خودش این همت را داشت که آموزش‌گاهی راه بیندارد و نه تنها تجربه‌هایش را به جوانان منتقل کند، بلکه کمکی هم باشد برایِ ورود و دوام‌شان در تئاتر و سینما. و از این منظر است که من می‌خواهم چند خطی در یاد او بنویسم. نه برایِ آن کسی که دیگر نیست؛ بلکه برای آنچه کرد و همیشه خواهد ماند. باشد که دیگران از زاویه‌هایِ دیگر درباره‌یِ او بنویسند.

من اولین بار فرهنگِ معیری راسالِ ۱۳۷۶ هنگامِ عکاسی از نمایشِ بانو آئویی‌یِ بهرام بیضائی ملاقات کردم. بر‌خلافِ رسمِ معمولِ «آدم معروف‌ها» معیری بسیار خوش‌برخورد و اهلِ خوش-و-بش بود. در همان اولین برخورد هم چند نکته درباره‌یِِ نور و طراحی‌یِ گریم و عکاسی و .... به اصطلاحِ خودمانی «همین طور سرپائی» به بنده گوش‌زد کرد که آموزنده بود. آن روزها، روزهایِ رونق تئاتر بود و همه‌یِ «قومِ مغضوبین» از طرفی و جوانانِ تازه از گردِ راه رسیده از طرف دیگر مشغول به کار. من هم در آن بین در تلاش برایِ ساختنِ نمایشِ اژدهاک به هر دری می‌زدم و با کمک‌هایِ آتیلا پسیانی درها داشتند کم کم باز می‌شدند. در این اثنا من فرهنگ معیری را هر از گاهی سرِ کارهایِ بیضائی
یا حمید امجد می‌دیدم. در یکی از این دیدارها معیری از تلاشِ من برایِ اجرایِ اژدهاک خبردار شد و پرسید: «برایِ گریم چه فکری کردی؟» من هم مفصل فکرهایم را برایش گفتم؛ چرا که از چهره‌اش معلوم بود که واقعاً علاقه‌مند است و محضِ وقت‌گذرانی سوآل نمی‌کند. بعد هم گفت «من یه دانشجوئی می‌شناسم که خیلی به این کار علاقه‌منده و اگه اجازه بدین بیاد در محضرِ شما چیز یاد بگیره!» پرسیدم «شاگردِ شماست؟ اسمش چیه؟» گفت «اسمش فرهنگ معیری‌ئه.» من کمی گیج، کمی خجالت‌زده گفتم «سر به سر می‌ذارین آقایِ معیری» گفت «نه جونِ مامان» گفتم «ما هیچ بودجه‌ای هم نداریم واسه این کار.» گفت «نگران نباش.»
این پیشنهاد برایم باور کردنی نبود، به همین دلیل راستش چندان پی‌اش را نگرفتم. اما معیری جدی بود. چند روز بعد زنگ زد و جویایِ اینکه کارها چطور پیش می‌رود و ... با اینکه اجرایِ ا‌‌‌ژدهاک تا یک‌سال و نیم پس از آن عملی نشد، با این حال معیری با تمامِ تنگی‌یِ وقت سرِ قول‌اش ماند و طراحی‌ی گریمِ نمایشِ اژدهاک را انجام داد. حتا چند باری هم در طولِ اجراهایِ عمومی به تئاترِ شهر آمد تا مطمئن شود که گریمور‌هایِ تئاترِ شهر طرح را درست اجرا می‌کنند. و این جلسات تبدیل می‌شد به کلاسِ گریم برایِ گریمورّهایِ تئاترِ شهر. ما همه با دهن باز می‌دیدیم که چطور معیری با بالا-پائین کردن یک خط ظریف، به چهره‌یِ بازیگر شخصیت می‌دهد.

بعد از اژدهاک امکانِ همکاری‌یِ مجدد پیش نیامد ولی رابطه‌یِ دوستانه برقرار بود. معیری مدام اخبار کارهایم را تعقیب می‌کرد و گاه کسانی را به من معرفی یا مرا به کسانی معرفی می‌کرد که به نظرش برایِ کارهایِ آینده مفید بودند. این خلق و خویِ‌ معیری بود که آدم‌ها را با هم آشنا می‌کرد و به قولِ معروف آدم‌ها را به هم «جوش می‌داد.» به نظرم خیلی از بازیگرانِ جوان مدیونِ این اخلاقِ معیری هستند.

بعد‌ از مدتِ کوتاهی آزادی‌یِ مختصر در فضایِ تئاتر و امکان کار کردن برایِ اغلبِ اهلِ تئاتر و به خصوص جوانانِ هم‌نسلِ من، وضع دوباره بد شد و سانسورِ و بی‌نظمی و ناتوانی‌یِ مدیریتِ تئاتر در سامان دادنِ بودجه‌یِ اندکِ تئاتر، کلِ تئاترِ ایران را به اوضاعِ‌ماقبلِ دومِ خرداد پرتاب کرد. به خصوص بعد از بر سرِ کار آمدنِ مجید شریف خدایی که گُلِ ناتوانی‌یِ مدیریتی و ناآگاهی‌یِ هنری‌اش را به سبزه‌یِ «دو-به-هم-زنی» و ایجادِ تفرقه در بینِ هنرمندان آراسته بود، امکانِ کار و فعالیت در فضایِ تئاتر هر روز کمتر و کمتر می‌شد. بعد از این که گروهِ کوچکِ من از این جا رانده و از آن جا مانده در حالِ از هم پاشیدن بود، فرهنگ معیری با سخاوتِ بی‌کران به ما پیشنهاد کرد که در یکی از اتاق‌هایِ آموزشگاه‌اش، بدون پرداختِ حتا یک شاهی، تمریناتِ نمایشِ ماما گودریلا را ادامه دهیم. ما عصرها، بعد از کلاس‌هایِ معیری در آن اتاقِ کوچک تمرین می‌کردیم و معیری در دفترش می‌نشست و سیگار دود می‌کرد و منتظر می‌ماند تا کارِ‌ ما تمام شود. گاهی هم، خیلی به ندرت می‌آمد بخش‌هایی از کار را تماشا می‌کرد. چیزی هم نمی‌گفت. می‌گفت «وقتش که شد، خبرت می‌کنم.» با این حال همیشه راهِ حلی برایِ مشکلاتِ تکنیکی پیشنهاد می‌کرد که به عقلِ هیچ جنی هم خطور نمی‌کرد و فقط در قوطی‌یِ مردِ با تجربه‌ای مثلِ او پیدا می‌شد.
بعد از این که ماما گودزیلا «در بازبینی‌یِ هیأتِ نظارت مردود اعلام شد» گروهِ ما دست از پا درازتر، خانه‌نشین شد. ما کاملا ناامید شده بودیم و به اصطلاحِ «بی‌خیالِ ماجرا.» اما معیری دست‌بردار نبود. هر چند روز یک‌ بار زنگ می‌زد با خنده می‌گفت که «ارباب، ما رو کی استخدام می‌کنی؟ یه کاری دس بگیر دیگه.» ولی با این همه تولیدِ نمایش غیرِ ممکن شده بود و من هم خسته و ناامید شده بودم.
آخرین باری که امکانِ کارگردانی‌یِ یک نمایش برایم فراهم شد، زمانی بود که حمید امجد برایِ چند روزی به شکلِ نیم‌بند مدیریتِ خانه‌یِ نمایش را به عهده گرفته بود و از من خواست که نمایشی را در آن‌جا اجرا کنم؛ با بازی‌یِ اتیلا پسیانی و بر اساسِ متنی که محمد چرمشیر در امتداد تمرین‌ها برایمان بنویسد و نامش: مردِ پنجم. همان موقع به معیری زنگ زدم که بداند دوباره دارم کار می‌کنم. معیری ناخوش بود و نمی‌توانست بیاید پایِ تلفن. چند روز بعد با این که هنوز شدیداً مریض بود زنگ زد و ابرازِ خورسندی و اینکه «حالم که بهتر شد میام ببینم چه فکری واسه گریم می‌شه کرد» .... مردِ پنجم هم مانندِ بسیاری از کارهایِ تئاتری‌یِ من در ایران، با این که آماده شده بود، ولی هرگز اجرا نشد.
آن گفت‌وگویِ تلفنی‌یِ در بستر بیماری آخرین گفت‌وگویِ من با فرهنگِ معیری بود. من بدون خداحافظی با دوستان ایران را ترک کردم و برایِ مدت‌هایِ مدید از کسی خبری نداشتم جز از راهِ خواندنِ اخبارِ کارشان در اینترنت. یک بار هم که دفترچه‌یِ تلفن‌ام را گذاشتم جلوم و به تمامِ دوستانم در ایران زنگ زدم، دستم به معیری نرسید.

گمان نمی‌کنم که من تنها کسی بوده باشم که مورد چنین الطافی از جانبِ معیری قرار گرفته بود. این‌گونه حمایت‌ها و تشویق‌ها بخشی از شخصیتِ او بود و شامل هر کسی که با او رابطه داشت می‌شد. وگرنه دلیلی نداشت که معیری به جوانِ ناشناسِ تازه از گردِ راه رسیده‌ای چون من این همه توجه کند. آن هم در جوِ مملو از بی‌اعتمادی و پر از حسادتِ فضایِ هنری‌یِ ایران که زیرِ آب همدیگر را زدن همیشه منفعت‌اش از دوستی و پشتیبانی‌یِ‌ از یکدیگر بیشتر است.
چیزی را هم باید در اینجا اضافه کنم: معیری تنها کسی نبود که در آن روزهایِ بد کمکم کرد و مشوقم بود که دل‌سرد نشوم. اصغر همت، محمود استادمحمد، بهروز غریب‌پور، حسین مسافرآستانه، آتیلا پسیانی، محمدرضا اصلانی و خیلی‌هایِ دیگر هر کدام به تنهائی و در حد توانِ خود از هیچ کمکی مضایقه نکردند. آنچه مرا به حیرت می‌اندازد این است که چرا این محبت‌ها، حسنِ نیت‌ها و مهربانی‌ها هیچ وقت به هم نمی‌رسند و با هم ملاقات نمی‌کنند. در فضایِ بی‌اعتمادی‌یِ ‌بوجود آمده در ایران، بسیاری از اهلِ فرهنگ سال‌هاست که از هم بی‌خبرند. این فاصله‌ها باعثِ راکد ماندن و به هرز رفتن همه‌یِ آن انرژی‌های مثبتی می‌شود که این عزیزان در خود دارند و هرگز از پیشکش‌اش دریغ نورزیده‌اند.

رابطه‌یِ اهلِ فرهنگ و هنر با یکدیگر یکی از ضروریاتِ زایشِ فرهنگی‌ست. منظورم این نیست که مدام قربان‌-صدقه‌یِ هم برویم و به هم جایزه بدهیم. رقابت‌ و چشم-هم-چشمی هم البته امری‌ست طبیعی در حیطه‌یِ هنر. اما بیائید همه‌یِ تقصیر‌ها را به گردنِ‌ حکومت‌ها (که در چند هزار سالِ گذشته عینِ هم بوده‌اند) نیندازیم و برایِ احترام گذاشتن به فرهنگ و به یکدیگر منتظر معجزه نباشیم.
فرهنگِ معیری این فرهنگ را داشت که نقطه‌یِ ارتباط و آشنائیِ اهل تئاتر و سینما باشد و تجربه‌هایش را با جوانان تقسیم کند. آقایِ معیری، ممنون!‌

This text was first published on Zamaneh.

2008-04-05T22:15:00.002+02:00

“I ache in all the places where others get pleasure.” – Antonin Artaud

Qué?

2008-04-04T13:40:00.003+02:00

What could possibly top the Global Warming? Here, we got a man pregnant, mothafucka!
A US man who is six months pregnant

ANAGRAM (102)

2008-04-04T07:30:00.000+02:00

“impossible”
i’m possible

ANAGRAM (101)

2008-03-15T15:23:00.000+01:00

The only universal truth I know
Is Coca Cola

Explaining what I do

2008-03-01T11:50:00.002+01:00

I spent some hours yesterday with a good friend of mine who's job is delivering water to business places. We drove around while he delivered huge bottles of water to various places. In one of the places, where it was inconvenient to park, he asked me if I could give him a hand and deliver the water to the designated office and get the receipts signed. I said "sure."
So up I went to the sixth floor of a business complex and knocked on the door. A young smiling lady opened the door and showed me the way to where the water should be placed. Except for greetings and few words of politeness, neither I nor the lady said anything. I then gave her the papers to sign and collected the empty bottles, came back down to the street, threw the empty bottles in the back of the van and we drove to the next place.
I really enjoyed doing this. For the first time I did not have to explain who I was and what I was doing. It was pretty evident what I was doing and who I was, was defined but what I was doing. Where as in my everyday life as a so-called "artist" I am sick and tired of explaining myself and what I do 24/7 to any fucking Mr. or Mrs. Nobody who just happened–through butt kissing–to get a job in a cultural organization, in a gallery, in a theatre, in a film distribution company etc.
Delivering water, a job with meaning. That's what art lacks: meaning. This question has been preoccupying my mind for a long time: "how can I make sure what I do has an actual meaning beyond the empty values and decedent routines of petit bourgeoisie?"

Duchamp and I

2008-02-25T23:46:00.004+01:00

Today my friend Sam and I went to Duchamp, Man Ray and Picabia’s exhibition at Tate Modern. Even though I have always been fascinated by the Dadaists but I wasn’t actually in the mood of being exposed to “art” today. In fact it has been a while that I am strictly avoiding “art” and “artists.” But then we were driving aimlessly around London with nowhere to go to and we then found ourselves in front of the Tate Modern with a vacant parking place. So we reluctantly decided to go to the exhibition.
At first we talked about entering the building and exit without seeing any of the exhibition. That would be Dadaistic. But it was cold outside. So we compromised and agreed that we go to the exhibition for the time span of an hour that our parking ticket allowed us, but avoid looking at the most famous piece: Fountain.

I have made it into a principle to avoid what tourists do. For instance I managed not to see the Eiffel Tower when I went to Paris, nor have I ever seen the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, nor the Parliament’s dome, Reichstag in Berlin and many other tourist attractions or works of art that have been reduced to tourist attraction.

Anyway, Sam and I went to Tate Modern and as you could imagine it were not easy to overlook the Fountain. So we did see it in the end. But I wanted to make a manifestation, a disrespectful gesture towards Duchamp’s artwork. So I decided to take a photograph of myself, standing in front of Fountain, the pissoir, with my hand covering my eyes. But the guard said that rules of the museum do not permit visitors to take photographs. I told her this is a Dada exhibition, what the hell is “rules.” She seemed perplexed; I think that was the first time she had heard that word. But she repeated with more emphasis that it was “against the rules.” We got very disappointed. But we couldn’t accept that, could we? So after a while I wet in front of the pissoir and Sam quickly snapped a picture with his mobile phone.

That was a little act of Dada. But I am not really satisfied. I am thinking to go back to the museum and this time pee in the pissoir. Just wonder what would happen to me if I do that? I am sure that the Dadaists would laugh their ass off in their graves.

Pære-ker-dansk

2008-02-21T11:34:00.004+01:00

Drawing by Jens Walter Peter Burau

Introduction: February 21st has been declared the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. For this occasion the text below has been published today in the Danish major newspaper, Politiken. It is my first poem in Danish and it pays homage and alludes to the poem "World's Citizen in Denmark" by the Danish renowned poet, Benny Andersen.
Upon the news of the publication of my poem in Politiken, Jens Burau has drawn the caricature you can see above.

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Pære-ker-dansk
af Vahid

Køb bananer hver morgen
Og to kolde fra kassen
Jeg spiser leverpostej
Og har onde drømmer hver nat
Det smager godt
Selv om nogle siger det er klamt
Men jeg er ik’ ramt?

Jeg taler dansk med munden fuld af rugbrød
Med fløde
Og danser med Lars og Danebrog i hånden - rødt i rødt
Jeg danser to-tur til Vejle,
Kald det kærlighed sejler op ad åen og raballer i strædet
Jeg danser til dem alle
"Men jeg danser dem temmelig udansk."

At være baggårdskat det er et hundeliv
Men det rager mig
Hallo!
Jeg bor heldigvis på asylcentre
Hvor du fra?

Jeg bor i Danmark
Min seng er fra Serbien
Min kæreste fra Chile
Madpakken fra Røde Kors
Min au pair fra Thailand
Min fugleinfluenza og ecco sko fra Indonesien
Min løn fra Saudi ”Lykkelige” Arabien
Mine sår er fra Afghanistan
Og mine lidelser fra hele verden.
Men nu
“Lyder de mere og mere som danske”

Jeg betaler skat, stemmer i Tarm,
Arbejder i Malmø, for at bo i København,
Får abort i København,
Jeg mister mig selv i mængden,
Bliver buret inde i Guantanamo
Og dør langsomt på Riget
“Men midt i det hele er jeg så pære-ker-dansk
Alverden samles i mig
Og bliver godt rystet sammen!”

-----------------------------------------------------
Note: 21. februar er udnævnt til International Mother Language Day af UNESCO. For at fejre mærkedagen, vil jeg dele mit første danske digt med jer. Jeg benytter også muligheden til at hylde en af mine yndlingsforfattere, Benny Andersen og hans digt Verdensborger i Danmark.

They Hate Hookers (Trailer)

2008-02-20T17:29:00.000+01:00

Same story: different times & places

2008-02-05T13:38:00.000+01:00

After thirty three years a photographer captures a similar scene of people thrown out of window in order to escape fire.

This happened today in Germany. Parents throw the baby off window to save him/her fire. Many years ago, on On July 22, 1975, Stanley J. Forman captured the picture bellow on Marlborough Street where a woman threw herself and her baby off the window to escape fire.
This is amazing! Same thing twice, only photographers were better at their job in the past!!

ANAGRAM (100)

2008-01-28T12:14:00.000+01:00

There is no refuge, only camps.

ANAGRAM (99)

2008-01-17T03:06:00.000+01:00

A camp
Like a cramp
And tens of thousands of tramp-like refugees
Camped in the end of a dead-end

Hundreds of thousands of vomiting mouths
Over a tiny table
Where the main course is deportation

The road is only one-way
For a baby born in refugee camp
A bomb with no name

G. G. Marquez: A Farewell Letter

2008-01-09T19:45:00.000+01:00

If for an instant God were to forget that I am rag doll and gifted me with a piece of life,
possibly I wouldn't say all that I think,
but rather I would think of all that I say.
I would value things,
not for their worth but for what they mean.
I would sleep little, dream more,
understanding that for each minute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.

I would walk when others hold back.
I would wake when others sleep.
I would listen when others talk,
and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream!
If God were to give me a piece of life,
I would dress simply,
throw myself face first into the sun,
baring not only my body but also my soul.
My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hate on ice,
and wait for the sun to show.
Over the stars I would paint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem,
and a Serrat song would be the serenade I'd offer to the moon.
With my tears I would water roses,
to feel the pain of their thorns,
and the red kiss of their petals.

My God, if I had a piece of life...
I wouldn't let a single day pass without telling the people I love that I love them.
I would convince each woman and each man that they are my favorites,
and I would live in love with love.
I would show men how very wrong they are to think that they cease to be in love when they grow old,
not knowing that they grow old when they cease to love!
To a child I shall give wings,
but I shall let him learn to fly on his own.
I would teach the old that death does not come with old age,
but with forgetting.
So much have I learned from you, oh men...

I have learned that everyone wants to live on the peak of the mountain,
without knowing that real happiness is in how it is scaled.
I have learned that when a newborn child squeezes for the first time with his tiny fist his father's finger,
he has him trapped forever.
I have learned that a man has the right to look down on another only when he has to help the other get to his feet.
From you I have learned so many things,
but in truth they won't be of much use,
for when I keep them within this suitcase,
unhappily shall I be dying.

Read the original Spanish text.

New Photos

2008-01-04T20:42:00.000+01:00

See more on my Facebook.

2007-12-14T22:13:00.000+01:00

“Each time the ground begins to shake under your feet, each time you are no longer sure of the stability of your past experience” Grotowski advised me “go back to your origins, to where you started.”
– Eugenio Barba, Theatre: Solitude, Craft, Revolt, p. 52

But where is our "origins?" Where each of us has started from?" Where did I really come from?

ANAGRAM (98)

2007-12-10T13:17:00.001+01:00

Obvious
Like unopened envelopes
Tomorrow contains only
Bills of yesterday.
What are we paying for?

ANAGRAM (97)

2007-12-09T17:43:00.001+01:00

Living in a world
Where nothing comes out of suicide but death
What do you expect me to sell?

Dying in a world
Where all life brings is death
What do you want me to buy?

Don’t cry
It’s your tears
Your weakness
Your naïve sweetness
—what you call moderation—
That makes me sick in my stomach

Wipe you tear and look:
All you can sell is your life
For a very low price
And all you can buy is your death
For even a cheaper price

2007-12-09T16:02:00.001+01:00

The M word!

2007-12-03T20:56:00.000+01:00

Just wonder if anyone knows what the name of the teddy bear has become after a teacher in Sudan had been jailed for calling him Mohammad? They didn't like the name and jailed the teacher. So what's the teddy bear's name now?

Slavoj Žižek on love

2007-11-17T15:44:00.000+01:00

"Improve" conviction rate!

2007-11-12T17:46:00.000+01:00

Tory leader David Cameron has called for tougher sentences for rapists, BBC. As if a person who is going to rape someone would consider the penalty and calculate whether it is worth raping certain individual for running the risk of certain punishment!
Politicians sound like someone who have never been raped or have never raped nobody. Oh yeah they don't. They just fuck everyone in the ass!

Beware!

2007-11-07T18:30:00.000+01:00

This is another poem by Nossrat Rahmani. Here is the original: Hoshdaar!

Beware

Beware!
Never bind
A bird’s beak
Or it will sing with its wings.
Do not break its wings
Or it will fly with its voice to the peak of the galaxy.
Don’t bind poet’s lips…

Freedom eggs

2007-10-26T15:32:00.000+02:00

I bought "six large free range eggs" yesterday and felt so proud of myself when I read on the box that "our hens have the freedom to enjoy fresh air and to roam outdoors by day." How fucking generous, I thought to myself; though it didn't say what the do with the chicken "at night!"
I have a nutty, nerdy Irish friend who always have some bizarre ideas to discuss. One of is favorite speeches is about chickens. He would say, "people consider fucking a chicken an absolute perversity, right? But the same people would feel no remorse in eating a chicken and no one has ever asked chickens which they would prefer: to be eatten or to be fucked?" He's got a point there, ain't he?

Ernesto Slim Shady!

2007-10-20T04:06:00.001+02:00

A Poem by Nossrat Rahmani

2007-10-20T02:55:00.000+02:00

Nossrat Rahmani is one of the most renowned Iranian modern poets. Here I have translated into English one of his famous pieces. Read the o riginal text in Persian.

These days
Thus I am, look:
My hand moves so slow, as if
I had already written every virgin poem
My legs drag me so very tiresomely, as if
I have already gone through every path
To ending of everywhere
Even have heard
Each time
Wail of the coup de grâce
My friend

These days
Whoever I make friends with, I feel
We’ve been friends long enough
That it is now time for treachery

Amount of sorrow has exceeded
Its own bounds and borders
It’s been a while I have nothing to do
Like a minister
You are nothing
When you have nothing to do
I am nothing; I am a poet
I suppose you don’t understand the allusion
These days
Thus I am
An apparition-of-Farhaad *
Who has lost his hammer

That’s how demolition commences
Thus began decline of men’s dynasty
Comrades
When the clamor of the event fades away
Carve on my gravestone
“A warrior who never fought
Yet … was defeated.”

* Farhaad is the name of a legendary character who fell in love with Shirin, the wife of Khosrau II of Persia.

© Vahid 2007 Goossun Art-illery

Few Phrases to Think about

2007-10-10T13:52:00.000+02:00

I don't care.
What's the point?
So what?
I can't be bothered.
Fuck it!
I don't know why.
Whatever.
Who cares!
Don't wanna think about it.
Piss off.
Leave me alone.
I couldn't care less.
To hell with it.
Fuck you all.
I'm done with it.
Enough is enough.
No!

ANAGRAM (96)

2007-09-12T10:13:00.000+02:00

The word “freedom” in your mouth
Sound like “positive”
In the ears of an HIV-infected, dying man.

@WORK

2007-09-07T21:46:00.000+02:00

Extemporize Thoughts (2)

2007-09-03T14:28:00.000+02:00

If the whole existence is mere transformation of matter from one shape to another, then the only thing that matters is our action and participation as individuals in events that direct and modify this transformation.

ANAGRAM (95)

2007-09-02T22:33:00.000+02:00

Burning a body for a reason
Burning reason for nobody:
The only possible answer
To all impossible questions

When tha masta goes Ups!

2007-09-01T00:29:00.001+02:00

Oh, no!

2007-07-30T20:37:00.000+02:00

Just the day I left Scandinavia, Ingmar Bergman died today. He couldn't bare the loss! Nor can I :-(

2007-07-25T01:23:00.001+02:00

Each narrative of history is a man’s understanding of our collective misunderstandings.

It's alwasy true

2007-07-05T18:32:00.000+02:00

A big mass grave has been found in northern outskirt of Kabul which used to be a Russian barrack, reports BBC. The skeletons were blindfolded and their hands were bound, with holes in the skull. Could it be more surrealistic?
I always wondered, who does "design" war crimes? It sounds like Francis Bacon's nightmare!

ANAGRAMS (94)

2007-07-02T12:22:00.000+02:00

Like a naked transvestites
Future is standing in middle of a city
In a dream
Where all traffic lights are dead
Red on the spot.

When one is traveling!

2007-06-20T00:46:00.000+02:00

ANAGRAMS (93)

2007-06-16T14:01:00.000+02:00

Where would wind blow
If leaves wouldn't fly?
What would love be like
If women wouldn't cry?

ANAGRAM (92)

2007-06-08T14:05:00.000+02:00

I am thy foe
Canst thou see?
I am thou.

London could be cool or cruel; but alway great!

2007-06-08T13:59:00.001+02:00

ANAGRAM (91)

2007-06-08T13:41:00.001+02:00

I live in a memorial park
Amongst happiest people of the world:
Depressed suicidal rich capitalists,
Left-wing junkies,
Hardcore Christian pedophiles,
Aborted mothers and pregnant infants,
Dealers and warriors
Impossibilities and barriers
Yes, we’re miserably the happiest!

ANAGRAM (90)

2007-05-27T12:57:00.000+02:00

I’m three days behind myself:
One day, because of me
One day, because of you
And the third is due
To the fact that future is retarded

Thsi weblog is powerd by Google too!

2007-05-24T10:19:00.000+02:00

The Independent has a report on Google's personal database.

ANAGRAM (89)

2007-05-21T19:09:00.001+02:00

Leaves of a lonely tree
Deported to the previous season
Paint the picture pale

Wind holds its breath
When crimes are green

ANAGRAM (88)

2007-05-16T15:57:00.000+02:00

I’m from whatever country you hate
My name is
Anything you can remember
My motive is
What you have forgotten
My agenda is you, motherfucker!

2007-05-15T13:35:00.000+02:00

The UK is said to be well-known for its tolerant and divers society: they even have Multi-Faith Prayer Room in the airport! Just picture the room: a Jew is head-banging next to a bended Muslim, facing a Catholic on his knees. That's just like eating ice cream and ketchup with a shovel, ain't it?

ANAGRAM (87)

2007-05-13T15:06:00.000+02:00

To be loved
Like a bank account
Overdrawn kisses
And an empty heart

2007-05-13T15:01:00.000+02:00

ANAGRAMS (86)

2007-05-12T12:44:00.000+02:00

I’d never know the text
I’m just the pretext

ANAGRAMS (82)

2007-05-01T11:28:00.000+02:00

My moth is your grave

Nazis in DK

2007-04-07T11:42:00.000+02:00

ANAGRAMS (70)

2007-04-04T11:01:00.000+02:00

Three times tree
And me
Three times why

My eye-leaves
Leave
My roots
Rot
My log
Logs out
And whys tree in doubt.

Sharp as a Cleaver

2006-12-21T15:49:00.000+01:00

“She dealt with moral problems as a cleaver deals with meat.”

– J. Joyce; Dubliners, The Boarding House

After amore than a year, I eventually finished reading James Joyce’s Dubliners. I normally read dozens of book simultaneously and therefore it takes a long time to finish one certain book; plus that I am a slow reader and even much more so when I read in English. In addition to that when it comes to a book that is a collection of short stories such as Dubliners, then it can take for ages to finish it because I can each story without having have to remember what the other stories where about.

However the point I was going to make is that anytime I’ve read one of the Dubliners’ stories, I realized how poor my English is. I am not even reading Finnegans Wake yet!
One more thing: I had a brief look at the Persian translation of Dubliners a year ago and not only doesn’t it contain all the stories, but it is not a good translation anyway, although the translator is said to be one of the “greatest” in Iran. Fuck knows how many shitty translations we have in Iran.

Am I my bank's?

2006-12-18T18:48:00.000+01:00

Was just reading this on BBC about some Briton openning an "Islamic current account" and it made me think about our banking system in Denmark. It seems that no one questions the ways banks make money in Denmark. Let say the crazy situation of real estate in Denmark, has a lot to do with banks and their agency maffia that has raised the pricese so high that it is impossible to find a place to live anymore.

And what could it be called but totalitarian when one has no choice: one has to have a bank account in DK. If you don't have a bank account, then you simply don't exist!

ANAGRAMS (81)

2006-12-16T01:35:00.000+01:00

Fists of death
Your eyes cloud
Kisses of words and swords
Desiccated lips of the crowd
Wrapped in their banner
Blood-stained shroud
Blindness gawks
Peace is too loud

Out there in the street, behind my window, a headless child sets fire on pages of an illustrated fairy tale. He howls; I panic. And when I want to scream I realize flames have washed away my mouth.