Ce Qui Compte |Jean-Paul Rocchi

Ce qui compte

Jean-Paul Rocchi

» read or download monograph
[note: this is a large file: 261 MB; 256 pp; many images and illustrations]

» read monograph as online flipbook
[note: opens in new window; may take a moment to load]

Introduction to Ce qui compte (English)

Initially a material object composed of all sorts of papers, photographs, drawings and personal texts�be they poetry, letters and messages, or academic analyses�Ce qui compte fathoms out the modes through which �affects� work through and condition one�s relation to art, especially when these affects weave together sexual desire, mourning and melancholy. A mediation between the self and the other�whose differentiation is repeatedly punctuated by one�s life narratives of birth, death, and the loss of love�art is hereby viewed through the particular psychoanalytical lens of transference and introjection which permit the conceptualization of bonding, binding and the archeology of �disidentification� in identity formation. As the cover painting suggests: Together, my love. / But what of us? What is / mine and yours in the remains / of me and you / left to us?

Translating as much as �What Matters� as �What Counts,� Ce qui compte is organized in three parts or movements that repeat and transform this obsession�the ethical and political requirement of being true to oneself while accepting to exist also as the others� other�masquerading under the guise of the urge to write and leave a trace: 1) �Transcrire� (�Transcribing�); 2) �Ecrire� (�Writing�); 3) �R��crire (�Re-writing�).

�Transcrire� (�Transcribing�) gathers the three transcriptions of interview sessions with a French visual artist and sculptor as they were recorded on a Zoom H2 at my place in Paris, on March 20 & 27, 2015, and April 3rd. Though planned and scheduled, the fourth session never took place. The audio version of these recordings is available in the 2015/16 issue �L�art de la discipline : disciples, disciplinarit�, transdisciplinarit� (�The Art of Discipline: Disciples, Disciplines, and Transdisciplinarity�) that I edited for the multilingual and transdisciplinary e-journal Quaderna. Some 65 minutes each, the mp3 files were transcribed in July 2015 by Damien Valentin, a Master of Arts student at Paris-Est Marne-la-Vall�e University (UPEM), before I adapted and copyedited them for Ce qui compte. They now bear the successive titles: �Lectures� (�Readings�); �Confluences� (�Confluences�); and �Il n�y a pas de rapport� (�No connection�). The gist of this exchange, that I conceived and initiated, was to proffer a transdisciplinary outlook whereby I, as an academic working on identities and not an art historian, would question the visual artist and sculptor about his practice, position, and understanding of art. The unwritten contract between us was that affects triggered by the artwork and situation—or as they would develop through the relationship—would not be left out of this framework, but on the contrary would be incorporated as essential components of our critical dialogue enmeshing various academic discourses on literature, art history, gay and queer cultures, and psychoanalysis. Our conversation therefore tried to circumscribe both the desubjectivization that disciplining the subject requires and, in counterpart, how the return of affectivity filtering the object study could generate an epistemic output. This is what defines transdisciplinarity as a new paradigm—to critically challenge delusional objectivity from the standpoint of the affective subject. From such a perspective, that articulates intellection and emotion with knowledge production, be it theoretical or practical, the artist and the academic-artist, together, question the work of art—dialectically pondering the working-through of desire and feeling, past and present, primordial or archaical narratives resurfacing with the touch of art and of the artist, actual and/or imagined. Real as possibly fantasized. What is being (un)made in the onlooker�s gaze, the affective subject? What, in the object thus looked at, is being transformed and meanwhile still being said about itself? What, as the loop is closing, does that object disclose, enclose, or foreclose in the subject? How do object and subject, in their mutual inclusion, affect each other, and for which surplus of knowledge to foresee?

It was, of course, already there. In a behind-the-scene dimly visible but ready to exi(s)t. �Ecrire� (�Writing�), the second part of Ce qui compte manages to bring it to the fore. Alternating my own handwritten comments and reflections with pictures of the artist�s work and that of others, it was assembled in a leather-bound notebook which, between February and October 2015, I took with me on my journey connecting the archipelago isles of Paris, Martinique, and Corsica. It features the theoretical and sch—olarly material used while preparing the interviews before giving way to the second subpart, �M———— � est parti� (�M———— � has just left [me]).� Including some of my own art work, poetry, and fiction, selected in as much as they echo or reflect my academic work on identity, �M———— � est parti� is conceived as a written and visual autofictional or as a visual autoethnographical essay. It analytically stages my desire and subjectivity formation as they were aroused and challenged by the artist�s work. More importantly, they are being pondered for the primordial investments they reactivate—those at stake in the relationship I have with my father as both father and artist himself, in the harrowing context of his apprehended looming death. A mirror-image of one�s structural or inner incompletions, the anticipation of loss and its inevitability, are thus being given the shape of the relationship to art—what matters and counts.

This is also what the third part, �R��crire� (�Re-writing�), reshuffles—to formally capture the successful introjection of the lost object and the object to lose in a quest for perfection never complete and still perfecting itself. If �Ecrire� (�Writing�) performs what has been lost—in dialogism—between the preparatory phase of the interviews and their actual taking place to which the transcription testifies; the last movement of Ce qui compte duplicates the preceding pages of �Ecrire� (�Writing�)—their shapes, outlines, and colors but with their images in absentia—and unveils what is lost but recreated this time through the digital (re)writing that layout softwares permit, improvements and constraints included. Self-transformation through art—beyond its liminality, death and love side by side. Meanwhile, and as the secret dream of being read and understood shatters in the shift from one medium to the other—the variations of which metaphorize the mutability of identity—�R��crire� (�Re-writing�) does not stand as the manifesto against identity it could well have been. In their in-between, the two parts salvage and share one same thing beyond their respective uniqueness—loss as the cross-identifying bond by which the third part and its missing images shape out the theme of vanishing which already pierces through in the second. Such transfer and transference also conjure up what is at stake in the incorporating process of introjection: experiencing otherness—in the other, in the self, per se. By the loss they encapsulate, the missing images determine by default the meaning of the surrounding texts, and meanwhile immerse signification in perplexity—only to be escaped from through what one may remember or imagine of what the image was or could be. In this twin movement where space and time merge, transference and introjection open up the possibility to create from the experience of loss. The mattering essence of the crossing. Whereby what matters becomes the (re)counting of sentiments raked over, the sad song of childhood unsoothingly chanted, and the �lalancoly� haunting every separation. It resonates in each repetition, reshaping itself—neither gift nor counter-gift as what it gives a/way (to) is to remain.

Introduction (French)

Ce qui compte fut d�abord un cahier, fait de toutes sortes de papiers, de photos, et de certains de mes textes ; po�sie, lettres et messages ou �tudes universitaires, tous cherchant � saisir comment l�affect imprime et conditionne la relation � l�art, particuli�rement quand il ressortit au d�sir sexuel, au deuil, � la m�lancolie. C�est au travers du filtre psychanalytique du transfert et de l�introjection qui permettent de penser le lien, celui qui relie et �trangle, et de faire l�arch�ologie de la d�s-identification dont proc�de l�identit�, que l�art est ici regard�. Pour sa m�diation entre le soi et l�autre, leur diff�rence que marquent inlassablement, comme autant de r�cits de vie, la naissance, la mort, l�amour perdu. L�illustration de couverture entonnait d�j� la chanson : Together, my love. / But what of us? What is / mine and yours in the remains / of me and you / left to us?

La mati�re de Ce qui compte est le nombre, la valeur qu�il ordonne et le grain du temps qui passe. L�anglais en traduit le sens par le verbe et le nom : � matter � aussi bien que � count �. Sa structure tripartite r�p�te et transforme l�obsession, �thique et politique, de demeurer vrai pour soi-m�me tout en acceptant d�exister comme l�autre des autres, le jeu des masques qui cachent le besoin imp�rieux d��crire et de faire trace : 1) � Transcrire �; 2) � Ecrire �; 3) � R��crire �.

� Transcrire � en est le premier mouvement. Y sont rassembl�es les transcriptions de trois entretiens avec un plasticien et sculpteur fran�ais, enregistr�s � mon domicile parisien, sur un Zoom H2 les 20 mars, 27 mars et 3 avril 2015. Bien que programm�, le quatri�me entretien n�a pas eu lieu. La version audio de ces conversations peut �tre �cout�e en ligne, dans le dossier que j�ai dirig� pour la revue universitaire plurilingue et transdisciplinaire Quaderna et intitul� � L�art de la discipline : disciples, disciplinarit�, transdisciplinarit� � (2015/2016). D�une dur�e d�environ 65 minutes, chacun des trois fichiers mp3 fut transcrit en juillet 2015 par Damien Valentin, �tudiant de Master 2 en Etudes Anglophones � l�Universit� Paris-Est Marne-la-Vall�e (UPEM). Je les ai ensuite adapt�s et mis en forme pour Ce qui compte o� ils portent d�sormais les titres de � Lectures �, � Confluences � et � Il n�y a pas de rapport �. Tel que je l�ai con�u, le cadre de cet �change �tait d�offrir une perspective transdisciplinaire o� c��tait non pas un historien de l�art mais un universitaire travaillant sur les identit�s qui interrogerait l�artiste sur ses fa�ons de comprendre, d�approcher l�art et d�en faire. Le contrat entre nous, informel mais explicite, �tait de ne pas bannir du dialogue et de l�analyse critique les affects que l��uvre d�art ou la situation pouvaient susciter, jusque dans les al�as de leur �volution. Essentiels, il fallait bien au contraire les fondre aux discours savants sur la litt�rature, l�histoire de l�art, les cultures gay et queer ou la psychanalyse qui s�enchev�traient dans la conversation. O� il s�agissait, en fait, de circonscrire ce que la discipline exige de d�subjectivation chez le sujet et, la perte faisant retour, le gain �pist�mique que peut produire, � m�me le regard port� sur l�objet, une affectivit� restaur�e. Mettre ainsi le sujet et ses affects face aux faux-semblants de l�objectivit� est ce qui fonde le paradigme renouvel� de la transdisciplinarit�. S�y enracine une g�n�alogie des savoirs et des savoirs-faire, entre intellection et �motion, pour entendre ce que l��uvre d�art et/ou l�artiste r�active(nt) d�histoires de d�sirs et de sentiments, fussent-elles, r�centes ou plus anciennes, primordiales et archa�ques, v�cues, fantasm�es. V�cues car fantasm�es. Comment cela in/d�-forme-t-il le regard sur l�objet? Qu�est- ce que l�objet affect� par le sujet continue de dire de lui-m�me ? Qu�est-ce que, en retour, l�objet affect� dit du sujet, ou contredit, interdit chez lui ? En quoi objet et sujet s�affectent-ils mutuellement et comment ce rapport d�termine-t-il ce qu�il peut y avoir � conna�tre ?

C��tait l�. D�j� et bien s�r. L�arri�re plan qui donne � deviner passe premier et fait voir. Il se d�couvre enti�rement � la deuxi�me partie de Ce qui compte. � Ecrire �, qui met en regard de mes notes manuscrites, commentaires et r�flexions, les photographies du travail de l�artiste et celles d�autres �uvres, l�ensemble consign� dans ce cahier � la reliure de cuir qui, de f�vrier � octobre 2015, fut la balise de mes travers�es archip�liques entre Paris, la Martinique et la Corse. � Ecrire � s�ouvre sur le mat�riau universitaire et th�orique de la phase pr�paratoire aux entretiens puis fait place � � M———— � est parti �, mise en textes et en images autofictionnelle de ma propre cr�ation artistique et po�tique et de mes r�cits, retenus ici pour ce qu�ils font r�sonner de ma recherche sur les identit�s. Ainsi � M———— � est parti � peut-il aussi �tre lu comme un essai d�autoethnographie qui analyse la collision des sc�nes du d�sir et de la subjectivation telles que l��uvre d�art les fait se d�ployer, se rencontrer, peut-�tre s�ab�mer, chacune ou l�une l�autre, ravivant dans leur profondeur le dessin presque oubli� des investissements primordiaux. L�horizon se fermant sur la mort annonc�e, l�angoisse et la peur se la disputant, j�y ai vu le rapport au p�re, � mon p�re, p�re et artiste lui-m�me, comme le reflet d�un manque structurel, int�rieur et personnel, la perte anticip�e depuis et malgr� son caract�re in�vitable. L�art dans son rapport � ce qui compte.

� R��crire �, enfin, finit sans la parfaire la mati�re de la partie pr�c�dente, � Ecrire �. Son texte typographi� retrace les vignettes manuscrites du cahier, dans l�ordre d�une lecture que l�on voudrait ainsi plus claire. Et lisible. O� le lire cl�turerait l�introjection r�ussie de ce qui est perdu et, immanquablement, se perd encore. Le parti pris ici �tait de ne pas reproduire les images du deuxi�me mouvement. Leur absence a ainsi g�n�r� la pr�sentation d�ensemble des textes, similaires en longueur et en proportions dans la place qu�ils occupent, quand la ma�trise de la mise en page et de la typographie l�a permis. Une contingence contraignant le possible de l�identit�, imposant, dans le passage d�un m�dium � l�autre, ses propres variations. � R��crire � n�est pas pour autant le manifeste de l�anti-identit� qu�il pourrait �tre. Car, entre les deux parties, quelque chose d�identique demeure en d�pit de leur ips�it� respective. C�est la perte qui les relie et les identifie, �R��crire � figurant par l�absence d�images ce qui troue d�j� th�matiquement � Ecrire �. Un tel transfert a aussi � voir avec l�introjection qui traduit l�incorporation d�une alt�rit� : commandant la configuration de chaque page, les images manquantes d�terminent par d�faut le sens des textes et font du signe le si�ge d�une perplexit� dont on ne sort que par la m�moire ou l�imagination de ce que l�image a �t� ou pourrait �tre. Dans ce double mouvement, spatial et temporel, que transfert et introjection dessinent, c�est un espace transverse qui s�ouvre, celui de la cr�ation � partir de la perte. Ce qui compte.

Ce qui compte comme la � lalancolie � du ressassement sentimental, l�inconsolable de l�enfance que chaque s�paration rejoue. La lalancolie de la r�p�tition formelle, ni don, ni contre- don, car elle ne solde rien des comptes qu�on ne rend pas.

Introduzzione (Corsican)
Traduttu da u francese da Ghjuvanfrancescu Mattei

Ci� ch� vale � l�iniziu �n era ch�� un quadernu, empiutu di carte varie, di ritratti varii, � di qualchi scrittu di meiu ; puesie, lettare � messagi o studii universitarii, ch� tutti vulianu cap� cumu l�affettu chjappa � cundiziona a rilazione � l�arte, moltu pi� quand�ellu dice u desideriu sessuale, u dolu, l�affanu. Custindi ghj� inc� u filtru psicanaliticu di u trasferimentu � di l�intrugezzione ch� permettenu di pens� ista leia, quella ch� accumbraccia � ch� strangola, � di f� u scavu di a disidentificazione ch�ella vole l�identit�, ch�ellu h� guardatu l�arte. P� a so mediazione tr� u s� � l�altru, e so sfarenze ch� marcanu senza fine, cum�� altrettanti raconti di vita, a nascita, a morte, l�amore persu. A figura di cuprendula cantichjava digi� u ripigliu: Together, my love. / But what of us? What is / mine and yours in the remains / of me and you / left to us ?

A carne di Ci� ch� vale ghj� u numeru, u valore ch�ellu d� � a minutella di tempu ch� passa. �Matter� o �count�, l�inglese traduce tuttu qu� inc� issi verbii � issi nomi. A so struttura tripartita ripete � muta l�ossessione, etica � pulitica, d�esse veru p� s� stessu accettendu d�esiste cum�� l�altru di a ghjente, u ghjocu di e maschere ch� piattanu a voglia altosa di scrive � di zifr� : 1) Trascrive ; 2) Scrive ; 3) Riscrive.

� Trascrive � ne h� u primu muvimentu. Ci s� e trascritture di tr� cuntrasti inc� un artistu visivu � sculpidore francese, arregistrati in casa parigina, nant�� un Zoom H2 i 20, 27 di marzu � u 3 d�aprile di u 2015. Puru previstu, u quartu cuntrastu �n si h� mai fattu. I cuntrasti si ponu st� � sente in linea, ind�� u cartulare ch�aghju direttu p� a rivista universitaria plurilingua � trasdisciplinaria Quaderna ch� si chjama � L�art de la discipline : disciples, disciplinarit�, transdisciplinarit� � (2015/2016). Ogni schedariu mp3 (ci n�h� tr�, unu � sessione) dura circa 65 minuti � f� trascrittu di lugliu di u 2015 da Damien Valentin, studiante di Master 2 in Studii Inglofoni � l�Universit� Paris-Est Marne-la-Vall�e (UPEM). L�aghju adattati � messi in forma dopu p� Ci� ch� vale induv�elli si chjamanu av� � Letture �, � Aghjunghjenze � � � Nunda � ch� vede �. L�aghju cuncepiti cus�, u cuadru di istu scambiu era d�offre una vista trasdisciplinaria induv�ellu �n era micca un storicu di l�arte ma un universitariu ch� travaglia � l�identit� parechje ch� interrugherrebbe un artistu nant�� u so modu di cap�, di vistic� l�arte � di fanne. Tr� di noi u pattu, palesu ma infurmevule, era d��n impedisce mai l�affetti di un cuntrastu � di l�an�lisa critica ch� l�opera d�arte o e situazione pudianu cagiun�, sin�� l�azardi di a so evuluzione. Capitale, ci vulia di siguru � fondeli � i discorsi sapienti nant�� a literatura, a storia di l�arte, e culture gay � queer o a psican�lisa ch� s�aghjumellavanu in�� u cuntrastu. Induvellu, in fatti, ghj� cuntene ci� ch�ella vole a disciplina di disugettivazione ind�� u sugettu, �, a perdita ch� li si volta, l�acquistu epist�micu ch�ellu p� pruduce, inc� u sguardu nant�� l�ogettu, un affettu rifattu. Mette cus� u sugettu � i so affetti in faccia � i coprifaccia di l�ogettivit� h� ci� ch� face u mudellu rinnuvatu di a trasdisciplinarit�. E radiche di i sap� � di i sap� f� s�annorchjanu, tr� intellezzione � emuzione, � p� sente ci� ch� l�opera d�arte �/o l�artistu rimette(nu) in ballu di storie di desiderii � di sintimi, fussinu d�oghje o fussinu d�eri, di primura � arcaiche, vissute, fantasimate. Vissute da ch�elle s� state fantasimate. Cumu qu� in/s forma u sguardu nant�� l�ogettu ? Ch� p� torna d� l�ogettu d�ellu stessu quand�ellu h� toccu da u sugettu ? Ch� dice, contradice o s�impedisce di d�, in barattu, l�ogettu afflitu in quant�� u sugettu ? In ch�� l�ogettu � u sugettu si toccanu inseme � cumu istu raportu insegna ci� ch�ellu ci vole � cunnosce?

Era cust�. Digi� � di siguru. U fondu di screnu ch� lascia induvin� diventa prima figura, � face vede. Si scopre sanu sanu � a segonda parte di Ci� ch� vale. � Scrive �, ch� paraguneghja e note scritte inc� a mo penna, cummenti � pensamenti, � i ritratti di u travagliu di l�artistu � quelli d�altre opare, l�accadastu tenutu ind�� istu quadernu � a cuprendula di coghju ch�, da ferraghju � ottobre di u 2015, f� u fanale di i mo passi � veni arcip�lachi tr� Parigi, Martinica � Corsica. � Scrive � s�apre c� a robba universitaria � teorica di u tempu preparatoriu � i cuntrasti eppo face piazza � � M————. si n�h� andatu �, messa in scrittura � in figure autofinte di creazione artistica � puetica � di raconti di meiu, ritenuti cust� p� ci� ch�elli facenu chjucc� di a mo ricerca nant�� l�identit�. Cus� � M————. si n�h� andatu � p� ancu esse lettu cum�� un racontu d�autoetnugrafia ch� analizeghja u impettu di e scene di desideriu � di sugettivazione cum�� l�opera d�arte i face spannassi, scuntrassi, forse ancu frustassi, ognuna o treminduie, fendu rinviv� ind�� a so prunfundezza u disegnu guasi scurdatu di l�impegni iniziali. L�orizonte spinghj�ndusi nant�� a morte annunziata, l�angoscia � a paura ch� si tazzanu p� esse elle � falla esse, ci aghju vistu u raportu � u babbu, � babbu, babbu � artistu ancu ellu, cum�� a figura spechjata d�una mancanza strutturale, interna � persunale, a perdita prevista da quantu h� � malgradu u so caratteru inevitabile. L�arte ind�� u so raportu � ci� ch� vale.

� Riscrive �, in fine, cumpletta senza compiela a materia di a parte di nanzu, � Scrive �. U so scrittu stampittatu riface i passi di e figurette scritte � a manu di u quadernu, ind�� l�ordine di una lettura ch� parerebbe cus� pi� capiscitoghja. � leghjitoghja. Ch� leghje cumpierebbe l�intrugezzione di ci� ch� ghj� persu �, siguramente, si perder� torna. Cust� a scelta era d��n ripruduce e figure di u segondu muvimentu. U fattu ch�elle �n ci sianu h� inghjennatu a presentazione d�inseme di i scritti, listessi di lunghezza � di spaziu ch�elli piglianu, quandu a maestria di l�assestu � di a tipugrafia l�h� permessa. Una cuntingenza ch� custringhje u pussibile di l�identit�, ch� impone, ind�� u passagiu d�un medium � un antru, e so variazione stesse. � Riscrive � �n h� puru micca u manifestu di l�anti-identit� ch�ellu puderebbe esse. Ch�, tr� e duie parte, ferma qualcosa di simile malgradu i so s� stessi ch� li vanu di paghju. Ghj� a perdita ch� e lega � e face esse, � Riscrive � essendu c� l�assenza di figure ci� ch� polsa digi� tematicamente � Scrive �. Un trasferimentu tale si lega din� � l�intrugezzione ch� dice l�incurpurazione d�una alterit� : cumandendu l�assestu d�ogni pagina, e figure ch� �n ci s� determineghjanu senza altru u sensu di i scritti � facenu di u segnu a sede d�una cunfluttazione induve omu �n si ne p� sorte solu c� a memoria o l�imaginazione di ci� ch� a figura h� stata o puderebbe esse. Ind�� istu doppiu muvimentu, spaziale � tempurale, ch� trasferimentu � intrugezzione traccianu, h� un spaziu traversale ch� s�apre, quellu di u cre� � partesi di a perdita. Ci� ch� vale.

Ci� ch� vale cum�� a � lalanculia � di u riflussu sentimentale, u disperatu di a zitellina ch� ogni spicanza face ricumminci�. A lalanculia di a ripetizione furmale, ne donu, ne contra-donu, ch� �n paga nunda di a debbita ch�� no �n femu micca.

Jean-Paul Rocchi is a professor at the Universit� Paris-Est Marne-la-Vall�e, where he teaches on African American literature and gay, lesbian, and queer studies. A past fellow at the Du Bois Institute (Harvard, fall 2007), he is the co-director of the graduate school �Cultures et Soci�t�s� of Université Paris-Est. He has published several essays on James Baldwin and other contemporary black writers, and on race, sexualities, psychoanalysis, and epistemology. He is the author of several edited and coedited collections, including L�objet identit�: �pist�mologie et transversalit� (2006), Understanding Blackness through Performance: Contemporary Arts and the Representation of Identity (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2013), Black Intersectionalities: A Critique for the 21st Century (Liverpool University Press, 2014), Black Europe: Subjects, Struggles, and Shifting Perceptions (Palimpsest, SUNY Press, 2015), and of the forthcoming monograph The Desiring Modes of Being Black: Essays in Literature and Critical Theory (Rowman and Littlefield International).