once wheel C engages with A and B
IMPACT Performance Festival
26 & 27 April 2014
Photo credit: Rosa Gaia
Thanks to Chenyu Chen, Tavia David, Josh Hoglund, Stephen Kwok, Troy Schafer, and Courtney Stone
An ensemble of movers activate objects and a chorus of speakers deliver text. This performance reflects on author and visionary Paul Scheerbart’s attempts to invent a perpetual motion machine in 1907, as well as the records of these attempts, how his body became a kind of perpetual machine while striving to escape financial hardship, and early 20th century technological utopianism. Three voices read a text composed of fragments from Scheerbart's The Perpetual Motion Machine, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, and my own dramaturgical contributions combined into modernized pantoum form.
Text:
If thought is like the alphabet, ranged in twenty-six letters all in order, then his splendid mind had no sort of difficulty in running over those letters one by one… firmly and accurately, until it had reached, say… the letter Q.
After Q there are a number of letters the last of which is scarcely visible to mortal eyes, but glimmers red in the distance. Z is only reached by one [person] in a generation.
Here at least was Q… Q he was sure of... Q he could demonstrate... In a flash of darkness he heard people saying… saying that R was beyond him.
On, then… on to R.
_
It's April.
A workspace. Cold floors. The walls bare.
A man sits with his chin lifted
as if craning to consider some far off action.
A workspace.
Fingertips pressed lightly to his temples,
considering some far off action,
he shakes his head.
Fingertips to temples,
chin lifted,
shaking his head left, right… left… right.
_
My dear sirs,
he thought,
I am going to give a speech.
I am not a skilled public speaker, but I hope to make myself understood.
He thought:
What remains undiscovered today may well be discovered tomorrow.
You’re not a skilled speaker and I hope you understand
harnessing perpetual motion will not be easy.
What remains undiscovered today may well be discovered tomorrow.
Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it never will.
Harnessing perpetual motion will not be easy,
but we ought not consider it impossible
even though it hasn’t happened yet.
I know quite well that this assertion will be denied by every physicist.
We ought not consider it impossible.
This is what incites me most:
the denial of every physicist.
I have always detested physicists.
What incites him most is
I find their talk of “forces” simply incomprehensible.
I have truly always detested physicists.
For instance?
Their talk of “forces” is incomprehensible
when I apply force.
For instance,
the general concept of the force of gravity must be abandoned,
since when I apply force, the question always presents itself:
"Aren't you cheating by forcing it?"
The general concept of the force of gravity must be abandoned.
We'll have to throw much of their “scientific” discourse on the scrap heap.
"But aren't you cheating?"
The honorable physicists cannot yet place themselves beyond our atmosphere.
We'll have to throw their scientific discourse on the scrap heap!
It cannot be my task to impose my faith in this story on those who do not share it.
Try placing yourself beyond our atmosphere
to observe the remarkable perpetual work already exerted by the Earth, simply waiting to be channeled.
It cannot be our task to impose our faith in this story on those who do not share it.
Nothing will be set into perpetual motion through faith alone.
“Please observe the perpetual work already exerted by the Earth!”
I often declare.
Nothing will be set into motion through faith alone.
Things can't be as simple as I've made them out to be.
I often declare,
"Who would've thought that one day I'd invent a means to perpetual motion!”
Things can't be that simple.
And yet it’s got to work. On then.
"Who would've thought!”
Humanity would thereby be released from the burden of labor.
On then. I have given my speech.
Humanity could thereby be released from the burden of labor,
my dear sirs.
_
It’s evening.
A woman sits with her head heavy,
shoulders slouched.
Sounds float from the workspace.
A woman sits,
her forehead crinkled.
Sounds float from the workspace
and her rough hands fall to her thighs as she considers the bare table.
Forehead crinkled,
shoulders slouched,
considering the bare table.
It’s evening.
_
C I am sure of.
Once wheel C engages with A and B,
the rotation of C would have to be relayed to A and B.
This could be accomplished if E were larger.
Wheel C needs to engage with A and B.
From this point on,
let's say E is larger than the others.
Wheel B is pushing with the greatest possible force against D,
which, from this point on,
I’ll refer to as wheel A.
So wheel B is pushing with the greatest possible force against A.
Therefore, A is not moving in the direction of progress.
What you refer to as wheel A
is going in reverse,
not in the direction of progress.
That is, wheel A always rolls in the wrong direction.
It’s going in reverse.
I am now certain,
not in the direction of progress.
I am completely convinced of the accuracy of my calculations.
I am now certain.
Once wheel Z starts to turn, B and D and Z could not possibly cease.
But I'm not completely convinced of my calculations.
A question arose as to whether Z would start turning.
B and D and Z might cease.
In the end,
a question arose as to whether Z would ever start to turn,
and this looks improbable.
In the end,
the rotation of C will have to be relayed to A and B,
but this is more and more improbable.
Here at least was C… C I am sure of.
_
Perhaps everything will turn out completely otherwise than one expects.
It is well not to say anything about the near future.
I think something new might happen.
An infinite number of combinations could result.
It is well not to say anything about the near future.
Where for so long I had seen only bare walls,
I now realize an infinite number of combinations.
I glimpse many windows opening onto the most splendid landscape.
After so long,
I glimpse a time when we no longer have to worry so much about life’s pressing needs,
many windows, and the most splendid landscape glimmering red in the distance.
That, to me, is the most valuable aspect of this whole story.
A time when we no longer have to worry about life’s pressing needs?
I think something new could happen.
That’s most valuable aspect of this whole story.
Perhaps everything will turn out completely otherwise than one expects.
_
I’ve bestowed on myself the title of “master mechanic,”
but this hasn’t helped me one bit.
I really haven’t the slightest aptitude for handicrafts.
I work perpetually and my body aches.
This hasn’t helped me.
I've pondered the problem again and again.
Working perpetually, my body aches.
Either it will work or it won’t work.
Pondering the problem again,
the contraption may never start to function.
Either it will work or it won’t.
There is no third possibility.
The contraption may never start.
I’ve gone through the steps all in order.
There is no third possibility.
The image is firm in my mind, accurate.
Go through the steps all in order.
Unfortunately my imagination has wandered far beyond the matter in question.
So the image is firm?
It still might work.
The imagination wanders far.
I’ve taken for granted the ground I have not yet gained.
It still might work.
But L, M, and P waver so ponderously that I’m not convinced of their sustainability.
Ground not gained in spite of everything.
L, M, and P waver quite ponderously.
I imagine that I can set those letters running one by one.
In spite of everything,
the contraption still won’t work,
but I still imagine those letters running one by one.
The situation was bleak this morning, brighter this evening.
The contraption won’t work.
I really haven’t the slightest aptitude for handicrafts.
The situation was bright this morning, bleaker this evening.
I am “master mechanic.”
_
Here at least was Q… Q he was sure of… Q he could demonstrate…
On then… on to R.