

Where Are We Going, Walt Whitman?
An ecosophical roadmap for artists and other futurists
BOOK LAUNCH: T.J. DEMOS IN CONVERSATION WITH KODWO ESHUN
Wednesday March 27, 2013
The Showroom in London is pleased to announce the launch of two new books by London-based writer and critic T.J. Demos: The Migrant Image: The Art and Politics of Documentary During Global Crisis (Duke University Press, 2013) and Return to the Postcolony: Specters of Colonialism in Contemporary Art (Sternberg Press, 2013). Demos and Eshun will discuss and expand on themes in the books such as how contemporary artists are critically exploring the image regime of neoliberal capitalism and crisis-globalisation. Both T.J. Demos as well as Kodwo Eshun were guest speakers at Where Are We Going, Walt Whitman ?
1
Weapon shapely, naked, wan,
Head from the mother’s bowels drawn,
Wooded flesh and metal bone, limb only one and lip only one,
Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown, helve produced from a little seed sown,
Resting the grass amid and upon,
To be lean’d and to lean on.
Strong shapes and attributes of strong shapes, masculine trades,
sights and sounds.
Long varied train of an emblem, dabs of music,
Fingers of the organist skipping staccato over the keys of the great organ.
2
Welcome are all earth’s lands, each for its kind,
Welcome are lands of pine and oak,
Welcome are lands of the lemon and fig,
Welcome are lands of gold,
Welcome are lands of wheat and maize, welcome those of the grape,
Welcome are lands of sugar and rice,
Welcome the cotton-lands, welcome those of the white potato and?sweet potato,
Welcome are mountains, flats, sands, forests, prairies,
Welcome the rich borders of rivers, table-lands, openings,
Welcome the measureless grazing-lands, welcome the teeming soil of?orchards, flax, honey, hemp;
Welcome just as much the other more hard-faced lands,
Lands rich as lands of gold or wheat and fruit lands,
Lands of mines, lands of the manly and rugged ores,
Lands of coal, copper, lead, tin, zinc,
Lands of iron–lands of the make of the axe.
“When you will
have made him a body without organs, then you will have delivered him from all his automatic reactions and restored him to his true freedom.”
" title="Permalink to Fukushima man opts to be guinea pig" rel="bookmark">Fukushima man opts to be guinea pig →
Not to touch the earth /
Not to see the sun /
Nothing left to do, but /
Run, run, run /
Let’s run /
Let’s run /
House upon the hill /
Moon is lying still /
Shadows of the trees /
Witnessing the wild breeze /
C’mon baby run with me /
Let’s run /
Run with me /
Run with me /
Run with me /
Let’s run /
The mansion is warm, at the top of the hill /
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there /
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs /
And you won’t know a thing till you get inside /
Dead president’s corpse in the driver’s car /
The engine runs on glue and tar /
Come on along, not goin’ very far /
To the East to meet the Czar /
Run with me /
Run with me /
Run with me /
Let’s run /
Whoa! /
Some outlaws lived by the side of a lake /
The minister’s daughter’s in love with the snake /
Who lives in a well by the
side of the road /
Wake up, girl, we’re almost home /
Ya, c’mon! /
We should see the gates by mornin’ /
We should be inside the evenin’ /
Sun, sun, sun /
Burn, burn, burn /
Soon, soon, soon /
Moon, moon, moon /
I will get you /
Soon! Soon! ?Soon! /
I am the Lizard King /
I can do anything /
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes…again
Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need…of some…stranger’s hand
In a…desperate land
Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There’s danger on the edge of town
Ride the King’s highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake…he’s old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and we’ll do the rest
The blue bus is callin’ us
The blue bus is callin’ us
Driver, where you taken’ us
The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and…then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door…and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother…I want to…WAAAAAA
C’mon baby,——— No “take a chance with us”
C’mon baby, take a chance with us
C’mon baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin’ a blue rock
On a blue bus
Doin’ a blue rock
C’mon, yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you’ll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end
Woke up this morning with light in my eyes
And then realized it was still dark outside
It was a light coming down from the sky
I don’t know who or why
Must be those strangers that come every night
Those saucer shaped lights put people uptight
Leave blue-green footprints that glow in the dark
I hope they get home all right
{Refrain}
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along
I won’t do anything wrong
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along for a ride
Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird
Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared
Over my window, they’d written my name
Said, so long, we’ll see you again
Louis Le Roy (Amsterdam1924 – Oranjewoud 2012) eco-tect, artist, writer, educator and Professor honoris causa has been working for more than thirty years on an enormous structure in a meadow at the Friesian settlement of Mildam near Heerenveen. There, on a two-hectare site, he piled up with his bare hands paving bricks, paving stones, kerbstones and other discarded street rubble while allowing nature to proceed about him unhindered. Le Roy calls this fascinating jungle populated by large stacked edifices an Eco-Cathedral. Inspired by the Nobel Prize-winner Ilya Prigogine, Le Roy pondered the following question: ‘ What can one person achieve working with nature in space and time?Le Roy’s position on the concepts of space and time was at odds with the often rapid, super-efficient, function-hugging approach to greenspace and nature in the Netherlands. The Eco-Cathedral is a place where time regains space and space regains time. So the project he began is expected to be continued by others at least until the year 3000.” In 2004, as a gift for his 80th birthday, the ‘Time’- foundation invited Moeno Wakamutsu to perform a dance on the site.