Goodbye Wittgenstein

Mon, Jul 25 — Mon, Aug 8 2016 /// 
Birm­ing­ham ///

GOODBYE WITTGENSTEIN takes a roman­tic love affair between the Aus­tri­an-British philoso­pher Lud­wig Wittgen­stein (1889 — 1951) and his young friend David Hume Pin­sent (1891 — 1918) and the 1913 most­ly in Birm­ing­ham writ­ten “Notes on Log­ic”, the pre­de­ces­sor of the Trac­ta­tus Logi­co Philo­soph­i­cus, as a start­ing point for a series of works in pub­lic space in Birm­ing­ham and Linz.

As part of an exchange pro­gram between artists and sci­en­tists from both cities real and fic­tive sto­ries are inter­wo­ven to revive Wittgen­stein. In Sum­mer 2016 qujOchÖ will vis­it Birm­ing­ham to inter­vene at dif­fer­ent places that are con­nect­ed to the life of Wittgen­stein and Pin­sent. The work will be pre­sent­ed in a pub­lic talk at BOM Birm­ing­ham Open Media and at the month­ly art event Dig­beth First Fri­day.

In Novem­ber 2016 a group of four artists around A3 Project Space will come to Linz, where Wittgen­stein vis­it­ed the tech­ni­cal ori­en­tat­ed “K.u.k. Realschule” between 1903 and 1906. Emi­ly Warn­er, Trevor Pitt, Pete Ash­ton and Mike John­ston will use their res­i­dence at Ate­lier­haus Salzamt and quitch there to go on the trail of the philosopher.

GOODBYE WITTGENSTEIN in BIRMINGHAM | works

I DESIRE LUDWIG’S HEAD FOR MY OWN PLEASURE
Sound Art in pub­lic space: 6 speakers.

THE MEANING OF DICTATION
Per­for­ma­tive art in pub­lic space: old table with fold out stool, type­writer Adler No. 7 from 1911, paper, pen­cils, exam­ples of pho­net­ic tran­scrip­tions, audio recordings.

A LETTER TO DAVID
Media art: post­cards, stamps, pencils.

CHAPEL OF THE LONELY HEARTS
Instal­la­tion in pub­lic space: antique wood­en wardrobe with mir­ror, col­or chang­ing LED heart, pho­tographs, excerpts from diary, flash­light, voice record­ing of spo­ken letter.

LOGIC := LOVE
Instal­la­tion in pub­lic space: old wood­en lad­der, two par­rots, two par­rot cages.

(For fur­ther infor­ma­tions about the works, please scroll down.)

LOGIC := LOVE video record­ings of the two parrots
(Camera/Editing: qujOchÖ)

I DESIRE LUDWIG’S HEAD FOR MY OWN PLEASURE audio files of Richard Strauss’ mod­u­lat­ed opera “Salome” Part 1:
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=“https://ia801503.us.archive.org/9/items/IDesireLudwigsHeadForMyOwnPleasure/final_salome1.mp3”]

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I DESIRE LUDWIG’S HEAD FOR MY OWN PLEASURE audio files of Richard Strauss’ mod­u­lat­ed opera “Salome” Part 2:
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=“https://ia801503.us.archive.org/9/items/IDesireLudwigsHeadForMyOwnPleasure/final_salome2.mp3”]

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THE MEANING OF DICTATION dic­ta­tions: http://qujochoe.org/archive/wp-content/uploads/themeaningofdictation_dictations.pdf

THE MEANING OF DICTATION audio record­ings of the dictations:
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=“https://archive.org/download/TheMeaningOfDictation/The_meaning_of_Dictation.mp3”]

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CHAPEL OF THE LONELY HEARTS audio record­ing of the read let­ter from Ellen Pin­sent to Lud­wig Wittgenstein:
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=“https://archive.org/download/ChapelOfTheLonelyHearts/Chapel_of_the_lonely_Hearts.mp3”]

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GOODBYE WITTGENSTEIN in BIRMINGHAM | exhibition

Par­tic­i­pat­ing in the month­ly art event Dig­beth First Fri­day qujOchÖ pre­sent­ed the out­come of the inter­ven­tions real­ized in pub­lic space at the end of their stay in Birmingham.

All five works have been re-enact­ed in the exhi­bi­tion space of the off space gallery Stryx. The near­ly 300 vis­i­tors could once again enter the wardrobe to lis­ten to Ellen Pinsent‘s voice, step up the lad­der to watch the par­rots say­ing „Log­ic“ and „Love“ on screens, type a dic­ta­tion of notes on log­ic in Ger­man on the old type­writer, feel or even hear Richard Strauss‘ Salome in the sound-instal­la­tion or fin­ish the let­ter to David Pinsent.

Links:
http://a3projectspace.org
http://www.bom.org.uk
http://digbethfirstfriday.com
http://www.linz.at/kultur/salzamt.asp
http://mikeinmono.blogspot.co.at
http://emily-warner.com
http://www.podprojects.org
http://www.peteashton.com
http://www.britishwittgensteinsociety.org/wittgenstein-linz-birmingham-art-project
http://www.kunstforum.de/nachrichten.aspx?id=11973

Sup­port­ed by Aus­tri­an Cul­tur­al Forum Lon­don, BKA Kun­st, Land Oberöster­re­ich and Stadt Linz. 

GOODBYE WITTGENSTEIN in BIRMINGHAM | More infor­ma­tions about the works 

I DESIRE LUDWIG’S HEAD FOR MY OWN PLEASURE
Sound Art in pub­lic space: 6 speakers.

The very last Tri­en­ni­al Music Fes­ti­val in Birm­ing­ham at the Town Hall was attend­ed not only by the great and the good of the city, but also by the young Lud­wig Wittgen­stein and his young friend David on Octo­ber 4 1912, dur­ing his first vis­it to Birm­ing­ham. Besides oth­ers the con­certs fea­tured excerpts from Richard Strauss’ opera „Salome“ which Wittgen­stein avoid­ed and Pin­sent deemed „rot“. The opera itself – writ­ten by Oscar Wilde – was not with­out con­tro­ver­sy at that time. Wittgen­stein refused to lis­ten to „Salome“, was annoyed, left the Town Hall and stood outside.

For this inter­ven­tion parts of the per­formed opera at the Tri­en­ni­ale were mod­u­lat­ed into ultra high fre­quen­cies and per­formed all around the Town Hall on July 29 2016 between 6 and 9 pm. The mul­ti-chan­nel sound instal­la­tion turned the final scene of „Salome“ into a con­tro­ver­sial piece of son­ic weapon, in par­tic­u­lar for the younger audience.

THE MEANING OF DICTATION
Per­for­ma­tive art in pub­lic space: old table with fold out stool, type­writer Adler No. 7 from 1911, paper, pen­cils, exam­ples of pho­net­ic tran­scrip­tions, audio recordings.

On Octo­ber 7 1913 Lud­wig Wittgen­stein dic­tat­ed „Notes on Log­ic“ at the Berlitz School of Lan­guage in 32 Par­adise Street. He recit­ed his work on log­ic in Ger­man language.

For this work passers-by in Par­adise Street had been stopped and asked to re-enact the dic­ta­tion. Sit­ting on a table they were asked to type down what they pho­net­i­cal­ly heard of „Notes on Log­ic“, read in Ger­man lan­guage, by using an old type­writer. After­wards the peo­ple read aloud their own notes on log­ic, which was audio recorded.

A LETTER TO DAVID
Media art: post­cards, stamps, pencils.

Cor­re­spon­dence from David Pin­sent to Lud­wig Wittgen­stein places David lodg­ing at 105 Har­borne Road, Edg­bas­ton in Birm­ing­ham, in sum­mer 1914. The house was run by Miss Gertrude Dale who was a friend of the Pin­sent family.

In a series of let­ters in June and July David expressed the hope of see­ing Lud­wig again around August 1914. The last time they had seen each oth­er was in Octo­ber 1913, when they said good­bye before Wittgen­stein left to live in Nor­way. Both had been plan­ning to hol­i­day togeth­er again but with the out­break of hos­til­i­ties it was nev­er to be, and they would nev­er see each oth­er again. David Pin­sent died in an air­plane acci­dent in May 1918. What could have been the most impor­tant thing Wittgen­stein was not able to tell Pin­sent before he left Birmingham?

This work invites peo­ple to fin­ish Ludwig‘s let­ter to David and send the pre­paid post­card to the cur­rent own­er of 105 Har­borne Road, 80 year old Mr. Thomas Andrew Donoghue.

The col­lect­ed post­cards will be pre­sent­ed at a lat­er time.

CHAPEL OF THE LONELY HEARTS
Instal­la­tion in pub­lic space: antique wood­en wardrobe with mir­ror, col­or chang­ing LED heart, pho­tographs, excerpts from diary, flash­light, voice record­ing of spo­ken letter.

David‘s father Hume Pin­sent cur­tailed his retire­ment dur­ing the First World War and returned to Pin­sent & Co. He and his wife Ellen lived in Lit­tle Wick, a cot­tage in the grounds of Sel­ly Wick House, the home of Hume‘s broth­er Richard.

It was from here in July 1918 that Ellen wrote to Lud­wig Wittgen­stein to inform him of David‘s death who was killed in a fly­ing acci­dent on May 8, 1918: „I want to tell you how much he loved you and val­ued your friend­ship up to the last. I saw him the day before he was killed and we talked of you. He spoke of you always with great affection […]“

Wittgen­stein replied: „David was my first and my only friend. I have indeed known many young men of my own age and have been on good terms with some, but only in him did I find a real friend, the hours I have spent with him have been the best in my life, he was to me a broth­er and a friend. Dai­ly I have thought of him and have longed to see him again. God will bless him.“

The instal­la­tion con­sist­ed of an antique wood­en walk-in wardrobe placed on the pave­ment of Sel­ly Wick House. Inside there was com­plete dark­ness. A strange atmos­phere between anx­i­ety and inti­ma­cy spread.

Ran­dom passers-by were asked to enter the wardrobe. By doing so and sit­ting down inside of the wardrobe the voice of an old woman could be heard read­ing the let­ter from Ellen Pin­sent to Wittgen­stein with a noble Birm­ing­ham accent. By using a flash­light the inside of the wardrobe could be exam­ined to dis­cov­er pho­tos and select­ed diary entries of the beloved David.

LOGIC := LOVE
Instal­la­tion in pub­lic space: old wood­en lad­der, two par­rots, two par­rot cages.

44 Lordswood Road was the fam­i­ly house of the Pin­sents‘. Wittgen­stein stayed here twice — once from Octo­ber 4 to 5 1912, on his return from a hol­i­day with David Pin­sent in Ice­land and once from Octo­ber 6 to 8 1913, after hol­i­day­ing with David in Nor­way. Octo­ber 8 1913 is also the last time the two friends saw each oth­er. Apart from a small sec­tion of the bound­ary wall on Lordswood Road and two old trees, the home of the Pin­sent fam­i­ly has been demol­ished and rede­vel­oped as Weath­er Oaks, built in the 1970s.

This work refers to the inter­nal strug­gle of Wittgen­stein and Pin­sent and their life between rea­son and emo­tion, to „Notes on Log­ic“ and to the famous last part of the „Trac­ta­tus Logi­co Philo­soph­i­cus“. An old wood­en lad­der was leaned against the wall of 44 Lordswood Road. Behind the wall one could hear two strange voic­es, one yelling the word „Love“, the oth­er one yelling the word „Log­ic“. By step­ping up the lad­der and peek­ing over the wall one could see two par­rots in cages talk­ing to each oth­er. Where­of one can­not speak, there­of one must be silent. Log­ic and Love are incompatible.