Yebwiersma - Song Adrift

A SONG
ADRIFT¹ 

>> 

- Sometimes I freeze*.

Whenever this happens, whenever I waver, temporarily incapable of moving forward, lacking the quality of wandering freely, I return. To the beginning – to Questions Of Travel²;
 
What if CLOUDS cease to rove around?
What if HAIL retires?
What if WIND slows down?
What if SNOW forgets to fall?
What if AIR can’t collide?
What if THUNDER remains silent?
What if SKIES close their windows?

What if you and I stayed at home? What if you and I can’t dance? - What if All of Us would fail to nurture the ability to be rearranged?


Possible Scenario 
: When we solidify, be irresponsive to change, to motion, our vital tissues and cells – the foundation of our existence, of our cultures– will likely suffer from inflammatory ailments like severe soreness and inflexibility.


Let’s not go there, you and I, to the land of troublesome stiffness, to that grim place where off-roads and spontaneous actions seem perilous and slippery. Whereas, if we would narrow down our mental and physical cruising range, don’t be surprised to stumble upon a future situation where less and less encounters between you and me, between Here and Elsewhere take place. – Soon, we will estrange from one another and loose the notion of ‘otherness'.


In order to refute this staggering forecast – I don’t see a world without you – let’s make a vow. Now. Promise me, that you and everyone we know shall never stop stretching and strengthen those delicate tendons and muscles that hold us together: the human condition.

 
Do you remember Bruce Lee’s Warrior Journey? On which he unfolded that the only way not to freeze is to adapt, to be shapeless like water?


STREAMS keep travelling, travelling -


And do you recall your physics teacher scribbling down Newton’s formula on the kinetic energy of rigid bodies, over and over onto the chalkboard until it glued into the system? Let’s not forget Isaac’s basic principles on the power of objects in motion.


Especially in the midst of chaos, in the midst of a standstill, mobility skills matter more than ever. Accordingly, as long as you and I find eclectic ways, carefully paved with endurance, generosity and wit, to open up those windowpanes³, we will have room for one more folded SUNSET; still quite warm. 

Download PDF Here -

1. Editioral Contribution for the On Air Mobility Network Publication - consisting of Photo Series, References and Writings. - Improvisations on artists' mobility. With other contributions by Bertan Pocesta Selim, Erik Hagoort, Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt a.o. Design Publication: Karen Willey, 2011.

References IncludedHomer - Bedouins - Mobile Missile System [The Tongue] - Boat Wrecks - Mediterranean Sea - Adrian Paci - Allan Kaprow - Rodney Graham - Emma Goldman - Doug Aitken - Chloe Sevigny - Existence - Tzvetan Todorovic - Tina, Rachid et Simon et La Politique, La Vraie - John Berger - Bananas - Otherness - Tarak Balkawi - Edward Said - Miranda July - Stretching Exercises - Hans Ulrich Obrist - Lauren Hutton - R.W. Fassbinder - John Cage [..]
*Recently I froze, when a young man called F. H. unfolded his frightening Odyssey to me. We started of innocent. Asked me about my journeys. We chitchatted a little, poured another drink. When I asked him how he ended up here with me, he’s hesitating: ‘I’m afraid for my story. Travel means trouble’He fled from Eritrea to Europe. Not being able to foresee, that once he left home he was about to enter Pure Hell. Don’t ask him how, but he managed to survive all the horror and abyss he experienced along the way. Fearing his life 24/7. Travelling via the killing deserts of Libia and the sickening storms of the Mediterranean Sea, he reached the shores of Lampedusa, Italy. Exhausted. Now he’s waiting, nervous about his future. Since three years he’s applying for a Dutch residency permit: ‘Once, when I am granted, I will be visible again, be allowed to wander freely, like you’.
3. On Windowpanes - illustration referring to T.S. Elliot's phrases from 'The Love of Alfred Prufrock':

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
[..]

The yellow fog that rubs upon the window-panes
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening.
[..]