![]() ![]() ![]() That promises are made is what matters most, not that they are fulfilled. Do I know the person back there, or would I only like to know him, or isn’t he actually kind of butt-ugly? Even in the rare event of a truly detailed conversation taken seriously, the aim is to stage an intimate colloquy for the public, a form of ostentation, not the colloquy itself. In conversation, our eyes permanently wander just past our interlocutor. A permanent state of distraction is desired. Here, casual sensation is always preferable to precise observation. Collage, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 150 cm. If we could put them into writing, these review sessions would read like reviews of classical music recordings: in a hyper-precise specialist’s language, the participants frame observations in ways that only absolute connoisseurs could appreciate.ĭorothy Iannone, I Begin To Feel Love, 1970. Such a meeting calls for a review session with a best friend, partner, or significant other, as the Americans say. Meeting friends is precision work, and all sorts of events, even unusual ones, are permissible, as long as they are truly interesting, providing intellectual stimulus. Those who prefer not to engage in it, who are not really interested in their friends, will quickly grow bored and provoke a scene or a fight-but this is not a big problem, nor does it really disrupt an evening that is otherwise business as usual. To do so is a perfectly rewarding labor, one we are often fond of, but it is also taxing, requiring a focused mind. We are curious to discern minute new details in well-rehearsed scripts. Still, these evenings demand our attention. This means that many possible constellations of arguments, agreements and disagreements of taste, antagonisms and harmonies of temperament and mentality, have already been played out, and may well have reached a stage at which they no longer ruffle any feathers. ![]() Friends often show up in couples, and when they don’t, there are many long-term friendships boasting of accumulated intimacy not too different from the monogamous relationships that become the dominant model as we get older. Here, however, we get intoxicated not in order to enable ourselves to react more smoothly to new stimuli, but so we can bear the social density and concentration. This sort of night among friends can be no less long-and no less boozy. The first variant, dinner with friends, is not necessarily any shorter or more sober. But really, the distances we cover, the outside world fading in and out of the theater of our increasingly inebriated perceptions, the glistening pavement, diffuse light, car doors slamming, unexpected music in the cab: these are all part of it, the whole program. Or we go to a specific club straight away, one that offers everything in a single package. Now “going out” can mean all sorts of things: an art opening followed by dinner with the artist or artists and a visit to a club, or a certain constellation of bars and clubs where we are sure to meet acquaintances. The second option may not be a radical step into the unknown, as there are familiar signposts, but nevertheless, when we go out, we switch into an entirely different mode of experience. When an adult in Berlin or Vienna wants to spend an evening with company, there are two basic options: one can have a cozy dinner with friends at a restaurant or someone’s apartment, or one can go out. ![]()
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