John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was an american humorist who lived in the New York suburb of Yonkers. He had a long and multifaceted career penning articles, satires, fantasies, as well as some genuine undiluted nonsense. He is typically cited for a kind of silly fantasy genre named after him involving interactions among famous dead historical [...]
“I tried one syllable words like am, art, it and off. The Egg trembled very slightly, without communicating any meaning to me.” -Leonora Carrington, The Stone Door I am by myself. I have in front of me a disorienting booklet entitled “Clues to MEANING”. The front cover depicts three people, one young, one old, one [...]
by Craig Wilson Originally published in the Arabic-language surrealist journal "The Room" Urban exploration has been an important part of surrealism since the movement’s early days as you can see in Breton’s Nadja or Aragon’s Paris Peasant. This notion of exploration diverges from the usual activity of ‘going somewhere’ in that the terrain provides the [...]
We believe surrealists are still seeking, in their many courses, that elusive document: the New Declaration of The Rights of All People…Letters of green worms on an obsidian parchment… A fundamental axiom in this document-to-come must necessarily be the unalienable right to the radical imagination in all its manifestations and processes. This means, above all, [...]
liberation in three parts THE LIBERATION OF THE WORLD “Amok” is the most beautiful word that we have. What better? Under Amok, Empire is finally seen true. Is discovered as mere opening out onto void. As the worst kind of tulpa. Real life? Elsewhere. Our slavish despair is soon transmuted—into joyous rage. We find the [...]
Out into the world to see Who’s Who and What’s Not -Count Screwloose In baseball parlance, a “screwball” is the opposite of a “straight pitch”, that is, a trick play, an unforeseen or erratic tactic. The screwy, at its most basic, is a form of energy, something simultaneously marvellous, explosive, and, as a consequence of [...]
“Only by despairing, and then despairing of despair, can mankind begin truly to see and to act consciously in the service of the marvelous. This preliminary violation of the rules prepares the way for an entirely new game, our game, know as subversion, sublime love, the exaltation of freedom." - Lighthouse of the Future Manifesto, [...]
Recently we have seen a wave, an inflation of events and exhibitions called “surrealist.” One of its characteristics is the notable presence of sponsorship logos, most of them representing more or less official cultural institutions. We note the participation of more and less well-known, including some repulsive people from the academic world. In other words: [...]
Scene I A flower spreads open in black and white with a tentacle for each petal. One cloudy day this plant will gesture threateningly to a line of elementary students in front of their school. Voice: “The smallest is the best kind.” [This film is cut from the hypnagogic imagery and phrases [...]
Love will take you by the hand And lead you to its wonderland Forget about your rainbow schemes Spin a little web of dreams Busby Berkeley is the hermetic tardigrade of cinema. Busby becomes our homunculus each time we view the pleasures of his celluloid geometry. Each time we “bring our broken melody” into his [...]
