Project Idea Finalized
Project: Branding the Species

"As a very tangible real but also shocking example of this relation between fear, supplication and ecstasy Bataille used to carry photographs of a tortured Chinese in his wallet, which daily reminded him of the connection between fear, suffering and ecstasy. The Chinaman was captured in the Boxer-war. In torture the extremities of his body were cut off and his flesh was literally cut to pieces. But the surprising thing about these photo´s were the face and the eyes of the poor man. His face shone brightly with laughter and his eyes were aflame with ecstasy and happiness. Bataille did not treasure these photographs - in his poetical style he called the man ´beautiful as a wasp´- out of perversion or sadism, but because he felt them to be very consoling and comforting. These pictures showed the paradox of life:

The above quotation comes from an essay on Georges Bataille. While reading the essay to gain a better understanding of Bataille, this anectdote, and especially the quotation at the end, struck me so much. Indeed, one could say I even had a mini-ecstatic moment.

It is my pleasure (no pun intended) to present the tentative final idea for my class project. Nothing, to me, is as uniquely human as the marriage between ecstasy & fear. Sure, animals & other organisms may sometimes appear to be ecstatic, and there's no denying that fear is a basic animal instinct. But only with humans, and this has been true since the dawn of time, is such a paradox possible.

This conclusion should not be surprising given the rest of my research. Each of the manifestations of mysticism had its component of fear, which brought about its component of ecstasy. With the runner's high, it is necessary to run an incredible amount of long distance (fear) before the body starts producing endorphins (ecstasy). With eroticism, it is necessary to strip butt-naked (fear) before achieving orgasm (ecstasy). Indeed, the orgasm itself can be considred both the fear AND ecstasy components.

I must say that I am glad I am now going in this direction. See, in terms of deliverables, my strategy will not change much. The idea was to juxtapose text from quotations of people I've been interview- ing with portraits of people in ecstatic mo- ments I've been researching. What had been unclear to me, however, was what exactly that juxtaposition was going to be. Now I know what. That's why I say it hasn't changed much; I'm still juxtaposing text with images. This time, however, the ima- ges will portray people who are suf- fering or otherwise in "fear", and coupling this with the same ideas for text as before.

Tue, May 20, 2008  Permanent link

Sent to project: Branding the Species