From shulea@waag.org Tue Sep 8 05:05:49 1998 Received: from gull.prod.itd.earthlink.net (gull.prod.itd.earthlink.net [207.217.120.85]) by A01.waag.org (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id FAA14539 for ; Tue, 8 Sep 1998 05:05:48 +0200 Received: from ruthie (ip201.norfolk3.va.pub-ip.psi.net [38.30.137.201]) by gull.prod.itd.earthlink.net (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id UAA19480 for ; Mon, 7 Sep 1998 20:05:20 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <35F49EE9.7B39@earthlink.net> Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1998 23:05:13 -0400 From: Andrea Slane Reply-To: aslane@earthlink.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0C-NSCP (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: tabody@waag.org Subject: message from J. Terry Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Participants: I have been wondering if, among the other interesting ideas now proposed for our discussion, we might consider a question that has been on my mind since my first visit to Shu Lea's Brandon web site. This question is by no means intended to derail or counter any of the other important directions suggested by Lisa Cartwright in her general framework for discussion, nor by Susan Stryker in her considerations of Lacan and her amazing report on issues of aging for FTMs. To the contrary, I hope the question I'm about to raise is able to enrich the material that's now beginning to appear in our discussion. My question goes something like this: Why would an artistic and intellectual project focused on the complex relations between technologies (digital or otherwise) and bodies invoke Brandon Teena as a central symbol? Or, to put it the other way around, why would a project ostensibly signalling Brandon Teena be primarily focused on a host of abstract issues concerning the technosocial body? Without doubt, Brandon is a magical sign in certain subcultural circles, especially the (sometimes conflictual/sometimes allied) scenes of transgender politics, lesbian-feminist politics, and butch identity politics, to name only the most obvious. But in my own experience in these various scenes, there always seems to be some tension between the magic of the sign *Brandon Teena* and the historical agent to whom this sign in some way or other makes reference. Who was Brandon? And who do I/you/we want Brandon to be? We might focus these questions even more toward the questions of embodiment and technology Lisa raised from the outset. The historical agent ("Brandon Teena") left behind only cryptic evidence of thoughts and dreams about the possibilities of technologically transforming the body. How do Brandon's post-humously reported, subjective, and highly mediated ideas about undergoing surgery relate to the project we are here to talk about? I'm not suggesting we hold a seance or get back to "the real" Brandon (as if...), but instead to explore the effects generated by giving "Brandon" a symbolical centrality in the scene we are creating here. By the way, please pardon my momentary use of terms such as "technology" and "technologically" in a literal-minded way -- I'm starting here at a basic level by referring to technology in terms of Brandon's occasional ruminations about surgically altering hir body. What do you imagine might be the relationship between this and our soon-to-be far-flung discussions about the "technosocial body"? I wonder if Shu Lea, among others, might offer some thoughts on any or all of these admittedly only partially coherent questions. Where and what is Brandon in this project and in our discussion about it? (By the way, I don't mean to suggest that we would or should reach anything approximating a consensus on this. Far from it.) I'm wondering what your notions of the magical sign, Brandon, might be. Moreover, I am curious about how our different investments in Brandon might inflect what stakes we have in inviting or resisting the era of the technosocial body. Clearly, I need to try to answer some of these questions myself but don't feel at the moment fully prepared to do so. Another few trips back to the site might help; I will post another message as soon as I have acquired some cognitive clarity on the subject. Jennifer Terry PS - Jose: No offense but, as we say in the US, "No can do" re the white surgical costume on the day of the IRL panel. I suck as a performer so I'd like to spare everyone involved from watching a poor attempt at it. Of course I have nothing against others masquerading as surgeons. I should say, however, that I was reminded by this morning's "lifestyle" column in the local newspaper that, now that Labor Day has just passed, it is unconscionable to wear white until somewhere around April Fool's Day. From shulea@waag.org Tue Sep 8 11:53:01 1998 Received: from www.openx.aec.at ([195.3.80.8]) by A01.waag.org (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with SMTP id LAA16575 for ; Tue, 8 Sep 1998 11:53:00 +0200 Received: from earthlink.net (unverified [195.3.80.132]) by www.openx.aec.at (EMWAC SMTPRS 0.83) with SMTP id ; Tue, 08 Sep 1998 23:55:32 +0200 Message-ID: <35F4FF26.D1592CB2@earthlink.net> Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 11:55:50 +0200 From: shu lea cheang Reply-To: shulea@earthlink.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (WinNT; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: aslane@earthlink.net, tabody@waag.org Subject: departure References: <35F49EE9.7B39@earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit There was a time when Susan Stryker and I were working on the scenario for Brandonīs meet up with Herculine in the Paris apartment... We had a long discussion about if that was an afterdeath, reincarnation sort of encounter.. I had never thought of it that way, I had always presumed that when the bullet went through the head of Brandon on that morning, so close a shot that left gun powder on the skin.. Brandon was lifted (alive) and through time and space to be in the Paris apartment where all windows were shut and the stove was on... so, in the scenario of our forum, Brandon is lifted... never left behind, but also we have departed..... sl