“The animal that therefore I am” – “The animal that therefore I follow”
(Jacques Derrida)
Down on the ground, the tower is vanished.
Not completely free from vertical architectural ruins;
still prisoner of our own power,
braiding our own dependency,
but balancing scales,
seeking for the craved rhythm.
Who follows who? Who needs who? Where is this limit? If there is one.
Decadent and symmetrical
Angels are mathematical
Angels are bestial
Man is the animal
Man is the animal
-Coil, lyrics from “Fire of the Mind”
At first glance: a dog held on a leash by a human being sitting on the ground.
At second glance: an animal and a woman intrinsically connected by a braid of hair.
The verticality of power, the unquestioned dominance exercised over nature, which presupposes the existence of an insurmountable boundary between human beings and other living beings, now unfolds horizontally in a strong and instinctive, yet ambiguous relationship of interdependence.
One must lie down with the beasts in order to be set free, or redeemed. Standing upright signifies the power of man over beasts; but precisely in the most obvious attitude man is exposed, visible, vulnerable. For thispower is also guilt, and only on the ground, lying among the animals, can one see the stars, which frees one from this terrifying power of man.
-Kafka, excerpt from “Letters to Felice”
