Seite 106 [106]
OCR
Bopy, THE GAZE, AND ABSTRACTION: FROM SAMUEL BECKETT TO BRUCE NAUMAN same actions “over and over again, many many times,” in order to arrive at his “destination,” whose obscure identity seems to be limited to the act of simply sitting down.” Watt’s walk is also characterized by the excessively orderly spatial orientation adopted. Rather than proceeding at random, he aligns his movements with the four cardinal points, and honors them in a totally methodical order. Distinct from any embodied space, the importance of these directions resides in their having been instituted by the Other: the “treasury of language” offers them as a universal principle of orientation. *4 For want of being able to situate himself in reference to inhabited space, Watt is required to refer to coordinates that remain devoid of any human signification: north is not an object of perception.”° Thus, Watt seeks a reference point in what is fundamentally a limitless universe that allows for no subjectivity. It is as if, for want of a complete bodily image, the subject were making an effort to pattern his movements on universal abstract coordinates, within which his restless walking could inscribe a frame. NAUMAN’S GEOMETRICAL “BECKETT WALK” Nauman’s “Beckett Walk” seems to be a transposition of Watt’s manner of walking. Hands held behind his back, bust straight, legs stiff — like those of Watt and Molloy”® — Nauman’s point of articulation is located in his hips. Bust upright, and standing on one foot, he holds the other out at an angle, as if to seek the right direction; he then pivots and, once the orientation has been determined, tips over onto the other foot, his free leg and bust held horizontally. The process is repeated for the duration of roughly one hour. In the video, Nauman appears as a purely geometrical figure on a neutral grey-white background. Abstract geometry penetrates his body, dictating its movements. Nauman’s reading around behaviorism inspired his performances, pointing to an imperative demand for perfect, unthinking obedience. ”” While the studio itself appears reminiscent of Beckett’s “closed places,” such as seen in The Lost Ones, for Nauman, it is like a reproduction of the “Skinner box,” 23 Beckett, Watt, 30. Lacan’s “treasury [or thesaurus] of the signifier”. Ecrits, Paris, Seuil, Le Champ freudien, 1966, 806. 25 See Jean-Claude Milner: The Tell-Tale Constellations, trans. Christian R. Gelder, S: Journal of the Circle for Lacanian Ideology Critique 9, 2016, 31. 26 Beckett: Molloy, 45, 56. See Robert Storr: An Incantation of Our Time, Bruce Nauman (exposition, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, du 14 mars au 21 juin 2015), Paris, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2015, 71. 28 See Beckett: Fizzle 3, in The Complete Short Prose, 236. + 105 +
