Unlimited Free Space: Comprehensive Waterfront Plan
Roland begins the interview.
| ND |
Do you wander around the city a lot or do you have a particular area that you stay close to? |
| ROLAND |
I'm just basically looking for jeans and tapes and musical instruments. I don't go out. I'm a quite solitary insular person. I've been here for three weeks and I miss my Bianca. |
| VJ |
But you're here. |
|
ROLAND |
I like the river. I'm very fortunate to be living a block away from the river. I've always been fortunate with water. According to a dream I had fifteen or so years ago, water is where it's at. We're eighty percent water. So is the earth. When we die, we actually go into this big bubble. Underneath. There's a hand there. And you can either leave or come. It's up to you. |
| ND |
When we're born, they say a woman has broken water. Then you're about to be born. |
| ROLAND |
Exactly. Yeah. Interesting. Isn't it? |
| VJ |
Do you think there's any connection between unlimited free space and water? |
| ROLAND |
Absolutely. Absolutely. I thought that. Your turn. |
| BK |
Huh? |
| ND |
Your turn. |
| ROLAND |
I lost my attention there. |
| ND |
We've made some analogies to water. Do you think there's any particular feeling that water gives you? Could you describe the emotion? |
|
ROLAND |
It can be various. Water generally implies a container. I write
music and I recently wrote some music for a young choreographer in Yorkshire.
She wanted an Egyptian theme and we were in this kitchen in some sort of
community center up at the Yorkshire Dale somewhere with one inch by one
yard square tiles on the roof. [in dialect] "Who are there boy. How ya doin'?"
Everyone's friendly. If you don't say hello to somebody, they feel
insulted. Even in the tourist guide, it said, "Backpackers: do not talk to
everybody. It's not necessary. Respect their privacy." Because everybody's
so friendly. I didn't know what to do. There was a crummy old piano. So, immediately I go into the kitchen, a community church sort of kitchen with the usual pitchers and utensils and cups and glasses. So I fill up this great big pitcher with water, take a few glasses, cups, pots and pans and containers and start with the piece. Just as an improvsation, pouring water into first a wine glass. And the sound - try this at home, folks - is very refreshing and fulfilling. It actually quenches your thirst without even drinking. Then you pour the water into a bigger container and it has - so on and so forth - different effects. So the container actually, the space that's within that container is ruled by the container. The water - the effect psychologically and physically - is ruled by the container, in terms of water. It's only when I was on mescaline many years ago that I felt that I was one with the air. Some biochemical reaction created a similar temperature. My body temperature must have gone down or something - I don't know. In terms of space, everything has space. In sound, my voice is a vibration of a particular note that has so many megahertz of vibration. All these sounds vibrate. Everything vibrates. Everything has its own space within the vibrations. When does the sound come? What's in between the vibration of the wave of the sound? We're looking at the water now. Space - as opposed to visual space - as a vibration - I know that the visual is a vibration, as well - because the bundles of neurons are making connections continually assessing temperature and distance and color and so on. But, it's my opinion that space in terms of sound will be the ultimate weapon of destruction or communication. Either one or the other in the future. |
| BK |
Of destruction? |
|
ROLAND |
Destructive weapons will be sound-based vibrations that will destroy
peoples' organs - specifically organs - Ebola disease, for example - but, not
destroy the environment - be directed towards people as opposed to animals.
But pollution in the ocean - in the environment and so on - can be pinpointed by sound vibrations. It can be corralled into workable units that can be attacked and used properly. We can drop all the pollutants on the chemical scale. We can isolate them and put them down and not interfere with whales and not interfere with this... |
| ND |
And as communication? |
| ROLAND |
As communication, the environment's going to be so different in terms of the air quality, that we're going to have to rely on vibration for communication. And touch. Touch will become much more acceptable. |
| BK |
You think so? |
| ROLAND |
This politically correct phase has had its -
[tape ends here] |
| ROLAND |
[next side - ROLAND has been discussing
the importance of sound, that the future society will rely less on visual
and more on sound, on oral and aural images] - success and get in touch with. This is my opinion. |
| ND |
It's an opinion held by others. |
| ROLAND |
You're not listening to my eyes. |
| ND |
Right. That's held by many other people. |
| ROLAND |
In the cinema. The film is pretty much a dead loss as far as communication goes, I think. It's like TV. Movies have become like TV. They anaesthetize us. You really are forward-thinking, creative people. You haven't got your camera here, recording this. It's too expensive. |
| VJ |
We have cameras. Not video cameras. We've got cameras. |
| ND |
We made a conscious choice not to use video cameras. |
| ROLAND |
Yeah. That's phenomenal. I'm impressed. What's your backgrounds? |
| BK |
Well, my background is- |
| ND |
We have diverse backgrounds. |
| BK |
I have an architectural background. |
| ND |
I studied semiotics and theater and film. |
| ROLAND |
And you? |
| VJ |
I studied architecture and then I moved into more art installation, visual arts. |
| BK |
But we're definitely trying to use a - to lose our borderlines of specialization. |
| VJ |
That's why we call ourselves unlimited specialists. |
| BK |
That's why we gave ourselves this name: Unlimited Specialist International. To try to cross this borderline of specialism. To try to get into some kind of direct experience beyond the limits of routine. As you told us before. We feel that's a paralyzing experience. A paralyzing... |
| ND |
- imposition. |
| BK |
Yeah. Experience. Because you are trapped in your own individual specialization. |
| ROLAND |
Of course. |
| BK |
And that's a borderline you have to cross. That's our opinion. That's
why we make this trip around the waterfront of Manhattan. To try to lose
control of our routine. And of our everyday languages. To try to
experience something new with the people we meet and with the space we are
confronted with. In fact, we don't know what spaces are waiting for us.
What spaces we have to confront. You can imagine that now we go north. Up to Harlem. Normally, we never - if we didn't do this project, we wouldn't approach Harlem in this way, for example. I never was there. I'm staying in New York since October of last year. I never had experience in East Harlem. |
| ND |
I've never had this much experience with the waterfront. I've lived here sixteen years. |
| ND |
The colors are great. Red and yellow. Revolution. The colors of the revolution. It's here. It always has been. |
| BK |
Yeah. We're doing quite literally a revolution because we are revolving around the island. |
| ROLAND |
Oh! clever! clever! |
| ND |
I think you've answered these other questions but, I want to be more specific. |
| ROLAND |
Okay. |
| ND |
Do you accept the existence of unlimited free space? Either in the urban milieu in general, on the weaterfront or, in the world, in general? |
| ROLAND |
Absolutely. It's an absolute. |
| ND |
If you recognize a center to the unity of unlimited free space, where would you say that it is? |
| ROLAND |
In my self. |
| ND |
That leads to a more- |
| ROLAND |
In ourselves, to be more broad. |
 |
 |
Modified December 23, 1997