Xmas comes early from Katerina :-)!!!

[cheryl penn]

Sometimes life is just LIFE!!! With too many things to do in too little time - we ALL have days like that I imagine. Yesterday was one of THOSE days... BUT, obviously knowing that, the POTROLL (post office troll) delivered two wonderful surprise packages.  This was the first.  A package from Momkat that included a diary book from the Museum of Byzantine Culture titled - The Backstage of the Museum.  The foreword reads : "The existence of a museum is condensed in a four-fold concept: preservation, conservation, investigation and promotion".   I know that for many of you living in Europe and such ancient places, perhaps some days you cant BREATHE with the history that oppresses you.   You cant see the present because of the over powering past.

Its different here. Here the land is old. The sun has set forever over Africa.  But manuscripts like these? We have none.  Ancient writing systems. Well we dont have any really.  We have rock paintings in caves - we have DIFFERENT recordings of the past. Our culture is a cross pollination of many intermediaries and interferences. Our origins are cloudy and come from other lands.  So this sort of thing - its an unknown for me. And, I love unknowns :-)

 

Influenced by a page in this book, Katerina included an asemic piece for me (I am collecting these to make a book).  There is lively debate on De Villo's  Asemics Group as to what does - and what does not constitute asemic writing.  I am convinced its origins lie in ancient writing systems - I LIKE beginnings - explanations (to the sheer FRUSTRATION of some ;-))).  In her piece, Katerina is equally trying to define what may - or may not be asemics. 

Yes, we have discussed whether legible/decipherable  text is asemics or not.  I'm still in favor of the terminology - shadow writing systems - writing systems that operate in the in-between.  Maybe here its just the shadows cast by the original text where the ink is raised from the manuscript?

MANY questions enter the debate.

Yip - I'm with Katerina here - I cant see test printer pages being asemic.  Where is the hand of the author? Or can machines do it now? Then, where is the operation of the unconscious?

 

Momkat - this was such a FAB parcel on a grey day. And today I saw the rainbow :-) - so, after the storm, MAN! Life can be good! Sometimes, we just have to take the time to remember that.  X

 

[cheryl penn]

All I can say is, I spent time with my book - Momkat - THANK YOU again - inspired a piece of which you will of COURSE get the first! X

[Marie Wintzer]

Oh, do I see some choco escaping from the the glam wrapping??

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Thanks for the comments and the great blog gals! Cheryl, I am so happy that the Byz Book arrived on a day to make you HAPPY! Now to go to Asemic Writing group and voice my agreement with Marie...."because it looks just wonderful"! That is what i thought when I saw the pages of those old Byzantine manuscripts...they have to be "asemic"art...they flow, they look just wonderful!

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

"Rare" BLUE choco glam for Cheryl and Marie only ;-)

[Marie Wintzer]

Fab blog for amazing mail! I really don't want to enter the debate (that's why I am not a member of the group), but, if I am allowed to say, I don't care if it is asemic or not, because it looks just wonderful. I could get lost for hours in those pages, the paper, thinking of who wrote it, so long ago. Gives me chills.. (the good ones!).

[cheryl penn]

This came too :-) but its not asemics - ITS CHOCOGLAM!!!