fantastic - uncanny - marvelous

http://www.unc.edu/~bardsley/ghosts/todorov.html

The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (1975)

Tzvetan Todorov

"In a world which is indeed our world, the one we know....there occurs an event which cannot be explained by the laws of this same familiar world. The person who experiences the event must opt for one of two possible solutions: either he is the victim of an illusion of the senses, of a product of the imagination-- and the laws of the world then remain what they are; or else the event has indeed taken place, it is an integral part of reality--but then this reality is controlled by laws unknown to us (p. 25)."

"The fantastic occupies the duration of this uncertainty....The fantastic is that hesitation experienced by a person who knows only the laws of nature, confronting an apparently supernatural event (p. 25)."

Todorov later comments:

"The fantastic requires the fulfillment of three conditions. First, the text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and to hesitate between a natural or supernatural explanation of the events described. Second, this hesitation may also be experienced by a character; thus the reader's role is so to speak entrusted to a character, and at the same time the hesitation is represented, it becomes one of the themes of the work--in the case of naive reading, the actual reader identifies himself with the character. Third, the reader must adopt a certain attitude with regard to the text: he will reject allegorical as well as "poetic" interpretations (p. 33)."

Todorov distinguishes the fantastic from two other modes, the uncanny and the marvelous. While these modes have some of the ambiguity of the fantastic, they ultimately offer a resolution governed by natural laws (the uncanny) or the supernatural (the marvelous).

"[In the uncanny], events are related which may be readily accounted for by the laws of reason, but which are, in one way or another, incredible, extraordinary, shocking, singular, disturbing or unexpected, and which thereby provoke in the character and in the reader a reaction similar to that which works of the fantastic have made familiar (p. 46)." Todorov's definition of the uncanny might be applied to stories in which the character realizes s/he is mad or has just awakened from a dream. Thus, the uncanny is an "experience of limits."

"If we move to the other side of that median line which we have called the fantastic, we find ourselves in the fantastic-marvelous, the class of narratives that are presented as fantastic and that end with an acceptance of the supernatural (p. 52)."

the shop for distant realities / ismi tuhafiyeci olmayan tuhafiye

koşuyolu Porsan (the shop where irrelevant things exist side by side / a secret tuhaf-iyeci; a tuhafiyeci which is not called a tuhafiyeci...); probably 1996... my niece hugging the almost scary weird sculpture who is hugging the air...

"My most important problem was destroying the lines of demarcation that separate what seems real from what seems fantastic."
— Gabriel García Márquez

back to writing and producing along with the bizarre waves of the fantastic, the weird, the ironic. and still craving for the better words. travelling between "tuhaf " and "fantastik" in TUrkish. but "ironic" does not serve the same purpose... "how ironic" - ironic is somehow more tangible. but "tuhaf" is more ambiguous. it is the summary of a particular way of perception and particular way of existence. tuhafiye. my parents for years have been running a shop where unrelated - far realities - exist side by side. this is actually called a "tuhafiye": the place who sells the weird. the weirdest of it all is their place was never called a "tuhafiye." but it got weirder each year... tuhafiye is the palace of shortcurcuits and of metaphors. where distant realities clash to create ghosts that go deep in one's psyche.

i guess my first attempt for an outdoor sculpture was in response to the weirdness of my families absurd shop. we placed it in front of the shop. as rain slowly washed it away; the figure got thinner... a pregnant lady was afraid of it. some loved it. some started to leave their books below it as if it were a tree. not to scare the pregnant lady anymore, we put it away...

all that remains of it is an absurd photograph...

sunny skies over vienna

i had an animated surprise ride to the airport. anna and dani also came along; we were still gossipping as i passed the security check. AND the plane ride was soooo sunny. fell asleep to the warmth of the sun. and woke up under slight rain. and found myself by the bhosphorous looking at topkapı palace and leandros tower; sipping tea along with sibel and my mom... busy days immediately began:)) the farewell party and the whole exp. in vienna supplied me with energy to face ist again!

photos will follow soon

a lot alot a lot to do

good to be in ist

good to be in my studio

bağ - connection

all is connected - herşey birbiri ile bağlantılı

hapşuu: Terunobu Fujimori

http://evrimkavcar.blogspot.com/2009/03/vernacular-architecture-takasugi-by.html

esiyor

" kayısı çiçekleri
doğudan batıya esiyor,
onların düşmesini engellemeye çalıştım."

l.m.

fantastik

oksurmekten çalışamıyorum.

ne tuhaf.

bager'le konuşurken, seda'nın önerilerini de tekrar düşündüm. alp'in kaza ve tekinsiz hatırlatmasını da. ve neden donup durup sonunda konunun net olmadığı ve sıkıcı boyuta geldiğini de. ebru ile de dün akşam şunu konuştuk. tezde soyleyeceğimiz şey kimi ilgilendirecek. bir sosyolog değilsin ya da sanat tarihçisi değilsin. sanatın uretim alanından neyi nasıl ne amaçla soylersin o zaman. sonra da Bager metro'da, kimin okumasını isteriz dedi. kim ilgilenir bizim yazacağımız şey ile?

ve arife'yi de düşününce,

kentle şehirle kısıtlı kalmayacak başka bir gözün - algının - derdin varlığının farkına vardım.

bir adım dışarı çemberden.

bager, şehirden kurtarmak lazım seni dedi.

gundeliğin içindeki fantastik dedim bugun; uçabileceğime inanıyorum işimi şekillendirmeye çalışırken.

animasyon. yarı-belgesel animasyon.

stadyum - arife- otobus - hatta gunluk hareketlerde bile kadının çevresindeki verilerin oluşma sureci gercek verilerden yola çıkıyor ve donusturuyor - şu an ugrastığım meryem-salatalıklar ve kırmızı kitap... olmuş olandan çıkıp uçuyor ya da topraklanıyor

animasyon ve gundeliğin içindeki fantastik, bizi nereye getirir. bir gerçekliğin animasyonun ifade imkanları ile aktarımı. gerçekliğin - bir olayın - bir karşılaşmanın kayıt ve araştırma aşamaları ve bu aşamaların nasıl bir animasyona döndüğü.

algı, üretim, dönüştürme sürecinin deşifre edilme süreci olarak tez

ne dersin

zaten çiğdem de hep bir 'yine uzaklaştı esas olandan' tepkisi veriyordu tezle ilgili konuşmalarıızda. ama sezgisel olan. daha doğal ve akış halinde olan. animasyon için hazırladığım prçaların kendileri gibi fantastik. sürecin dönüşümü. sürecin parçaları. süreç.

naming things / adlandırmak (teztaze)

"The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth."
— Albert Camus

it is getting difficult to nema concepts in relation to my practice. i cannot even call it art. it is something...

and i believe that i will not call them "mistakes" or "urban errors". calling something a mistake is accepting that there is something that is proper-flawless...

then how shall one call it?

the fake tomb, the lady who is a middle-person in the cucumöber business; finding beuatiful cucumber only if she tells the name of god a lot of times...

the left over things in istanbul. left over big stuff. but not as big as a building or as a field. without showing you a picture, not very possible to explain.

like a cement block. undefined.

undefined things?

like ufo?

earthly ufo's

the absurd maybe?

the daily absurd?

need mor time on that...

--

"ne olabilir.. yanlislik yerine ne olabilir... ayrik otu, purtuklu, basibozuk, asimetrik, tekinsiz, sapmis olusu icinde barindiran birsey. ama bence absurd degil cunku absurd yabancilasmayi icinde barindiriyor.. kara mizah bir tarafi var.
kara mizah vurgusundan cok daha katmanli (iki yana, ileriye ve geriye dogru katmanli) bir kelimeye ihtiyac var.
'yanlisliklarin' oldugu kent, inanilmazliklarin, fantastiklerin oldugu bir kent aslinda, neredeyse..bir bakima. suprizlere ve yaraticiliga meyilli, absurdlugun kara mizahina, ve cikissiz dalgaciligina saplanmis degil. absurd'un temelinde ikinci dunya savasi var, camus'nun edebiyatinda bu olmasi normal ama senin calismana uymuyor bence, cunku sen tikanip kalmayan bir hale, aksine o halin icindeki yaraticiliga ve devam edebilirlige, yasamini surdurebilir potansiyele dikkat cekiyorsun. karamsar birsey yok hic senin bakis acinda. aslinda bu tam da kentteki o akil disi hallere ragmen insanlarin direnir bicimde hayatta kalmalari dedigin sey. absurd ise, kavramin tarihsel olarak ortaya cikisi nedeniyle olmaz yani bence. II. dunya savasi doneminde ortaya cikan dusunce hareketi cok guclu ama artik cok eski bugunu ele almak icin.
bak simdi aklima geldi: TUHAF a ne dersin?
tuhafliklarin oldugu kent....................."
s.