Conceptual FusionColeridge, Higgins, and the intermedium JULAINNE S. SUMICH DOCTOR OF FINE ARTS EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO ARTIST, THEORIST, EDUCATOR, WRITER AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND www.intermedia.ac.nz 2007 ISBN 978-0-473-12269-0 2 CONTENTS A CHEMISTRY OF AFFECTION 3 CONFUSION 5 CONCEPTUAL FUSION 10 PROCESSING NOVELTY 16 CONCLUSION: A NOOSIGN 23 EPILOGUE ‘TIS MINE AND IT IS LIKEWISE YOURS 25 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 25 Vol.3 A CHEMISTRY OF AFFECTION The scientist Alfred I. My understanding of the term affect corresponds to Brian Massumi’s notes on its translation in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It finds a resonance with self-organizing processes in the human nervous system where opposing forces work autonomously in unison with each other as progenitors of action. “The Elusive Synthesis: Aesthetics and Science” in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Dordrecht.”2 While beyond our conscious capacity to decide its merit in ordering our thought. I write of the intermedium as an agency of affect between the opposing forces of any mediums. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. The potential affect 1 Tauber.) 1996. in the sense that “it captures the ancient conflict of Apollo and Dionysus over what deserves to order our thought and serve as the aspiration of our cultural efforts. xvi . A. 1993 (1980). (ed. Boston. “L’affect is ‘the ability to affect and be affected. 182. I. Tauber has written of the tension between art and science as a longstanding preoccupation in Western thought. affect is crucial to the genesis of thought and deserves our attention in the study of the intermedial arts. vii 2 Brian Massumi.” 1 The intermedium between art and science is a healthy antagonism that gives leverage to thinking. It is a prepersonal intensity corresponding to the passage from one experiential state of the body to another and implying an augmentation or diminution in that body’s capacity to act…(with body taken in its broadest possible sense to include “mental” or ideal bodies). p. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. “Notes on the Translation and Acknowledgments” in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia. They were the protagonists of the term in the arts and. and to introduce a new complexity of conceptual fusion to the discourse on the intermedial arts. My initial research had been concerned with the degree to which the term intermedium as used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) affected the thought and work of Richard Carter Higgins (1938-1998). and science. . by association. through discovery of material from Coleridge’s criticism associated with experimental chemistry. However. disagreement over the initial source and date of the term. is a conceptual fusion borne of their confusion. I attempt to expand on both Coleridge’s and Higgins use of the intermedium to disentangle the confusion. a fusion characterized as a chemistry of affection. and its subsequent use has been a subject of controversy. hitherto absent from this context. intermedial thought in a broader sense.4 of the intermedium in oscillation between the arts. In the historical account of intermedia as an art form. philosophy. 3 “Lecture III Tuesday evening. He is referring to the passage “Narrative allegory is distinguished from mythology as reality from symbol: it is. Chaucer and Spenser. or the context of how Coleridge’s use of the intermedium lined up so precisely with his own. of Petrarch.) Coleridge's Miscellaneous Criticism London: Constable & Co Ltd. 5 << Ici nous l’avons . Higgins for many years did so without citing the literary source. Pulci. p.Coleridge utilise le terme pour signifier exactement ce que j’ai fait. Le Lieu.org/higgins/ken. p. Nicholas Zurbrugg suggests its relation to “one of your key terms: ‘intermedia’” to which Higgins responds: 3 Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Thomas Middleton Raysor.”3 Higgins remarks: “Here we have it .to refer to a specific issue in the work of Edmund Spenser.5 Yet Higgins’ inference of its mutual significance calls this opinion into question.” 4 Although forthcoming about acknowledging Coleridge.Coleridge uses the term to signify exactly what I have done. 73. 28 note 1 (watermark of first draft 1817). Coleridge used the term "intermedium" once --apparently once only . 1818”. What I might have known of it or not before having created it myself is subject to controversy.” . Centre en Art Actuel. Higgins was too modest. Canada. “Ken Friedman's contribution to ‘FLUXLIST and SILENCE Celebrate Dick Higgins’” http://www. (ed. 4 4 Interview with Dick Higgins. see p. >>. Que je l’aie connu ou non avant de la créer moi-même est sujet à controverse. and Boiardo. In “Looking Back”. in short. Juin 1999 p.htm 1998 (accessed 29 December 2004) “Higgins coined the term "intermedia" in the mid-sixties […] Higgins noted that Samuel Taylor Coleridge had used the term over a century and a half before he himself independently rediscovered it. My quotations from Higgins’ advance aspects of confusion held by some writing on intermedia art: that his use of the term was original and that Coleridge used it only once. the proper intermedium between person and personification. while discussing poetic synthesis between the arts. February 3.fluxus.32 n.5 CONFUSION Higgins states that Coleridge used the term “only once” in Lecture III [on the poet Edmund Spenser]. (I translate) 5 Ken Friedman. Quebec: Inter Éditeur. 1998. 1936. of Ariosto. <<Dick Higgins 1938-1998 Intermédia>> in Les Éditions Intervention Inter. London 1936. 4 10 Drew Milne. I must have come across it when I was a language student in Yale or Columbia in the late fifties” 6 What was such a striking notion in Coleridge’s use of the intermedium that took so easily in Higgins’ imagination? Thomas Dreher’s research on action art and intermedia has cited the source of Higgins’ use of the term as Coleridge’s Miscellaneous Criticism.32 n.edu/journals/paj/v021/21. 1818”.2zurbrugg. February 3.1.21. 2004) . <<Higgins ergänzt: <Das Wort <Intermedia> habe ich bei Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) wiedergefunden>> [in: Coleridge. 7 Higgins had previously given 18128 as its date. p. p.9 The pair of different dates given by Higgins in the Zurbrugg interview suggested Coleridge might have used the term more than once. p. Sciences and Technology. have nevertheless some property in common with poetry.metapress.2. Chaucer and Spenser.” 9 Thomas Middleton Raysor. 34. Vol.3 “Lecture III Tuesday evening.html. page number) in the body of the text. in Leonardo. Hereafter. 221 n.de/ThomasDreher /1 Aktions-u. 31. Pulci. Samuel Taylor: Coleridge´s Miscellaneous Criticism. He used it in a lecture that he wrote in 1814 and which he published in 1816.lycos. Internet searches linked to an article containing a passage from Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria where the intermedium is related to technical chemistry: 10 “[…] whatever else is combined with metre must.6 “I revived this term from Coleridge. p. of Ariosto. 21.106 (29 Dec. Berkeley and Los Angeles.jhu. it was easy to pick up. and Boiardo. the Journal of the International Society for the Arts. and suggests the more likely date of 1818. whereas in the Criticism Coleridge’s Lecture III on Spenser is authenticated as 1818. 7 Thomas Dreher. <<Er hat schön 1812 [vielmehr 1818] den Begriff <Intermedia> verwendet.com/media/ 15(1).Konzeptkunst. No. p. of Petrarch. (ed. “Dick Higgins borrowed the idea from Samuel Coleridge (1812)”.91.>> 8 Dick Higgins. p. 46: “The Coleridge citation dates to 1812. 24. S. and used it only once as far as I know.html 2001 (accessed 11 June 2004) n. Hannah Higgins 2002 Fluxus Experience. 1936. But it was such a striking notion that when I came across it. 1993] in: PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art http://muse. California University of California Press p. as an intermedium 6 Nicholas Zurbrugg. 33]. “Flaming robes: Keats. references to this article will be indicated by: (LB. “Intermedia” (1981). p.) Coleridge's Miscellaneous Criticism. though it be not itself essentially poetic. London: Constable & Co Ltd. but I have not located it in a specific work. 52. 2001.1. Shelley and the metrical clothes of class struggle” in Textual Practice http://taylorandfrancis. <<Aktions-und Konzept Kunst>> http://mitglied. 2001. 28 note 1 (watermark first draft 1817). “Looking Back” [an interview with Dick Higgins. he delivers his lecture on Spenser. references to this book will be indicated by: (BL. 71. Horizons: The Poetics and Theory of the Intermedia. Jackson Bate (eds. 12 intermedium: Hereafter.e. giving dates only a year out on the Biographia’s writing and publication.” 13 Higgins’ understanding of the intermedium as both a physical and conceptual process of fusion between discrete media elements14 is supported by the Oxford 11 James Engell and W. 13 Raysor. a sort. volume and page number) in the body of the text. 1983.] in an allegory there may be that which is new and not previously admitted. 32-33 14 Dick Higgins. references to this book will be indicated by: (HH. in his lecture Coleridge alludes to the transformative and conceptual power of such agency in thought processes. 138 Hereafter. with a likeness to the imagination.) Biographia Literaria.” 11 Coleridge began work on Biographia Literaria in 1815. in that instance the intermedium is in-formed by its use just seven months earlier i. Higgins fuses both instances of the term. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press p. (BL I. Higgins had referred to Coleridge’s use of the intermedium in a lecture. but with a difference to the understanding. (LB. “The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge – 7”. or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions. For example. and that if in fact he did recall just the IM1818 12 passage as a ‘once only’ use by Coleridge. and published in July 1817. Princeton: Princeton University Press. in the sense of its chemical agency. date). p. (if I may borrow a well-known phrase from technical chemistry).. of mordaunt between it and the super-added metre. p. page number) in the body of the text . 1984.7 of affinity. [. in his recollection. II. lxv) In February 1818. Coleridge’s uses of the term are indicated by (IM.. describing allegorical writing to be “the employment of one set of agents and images to convey in disguise a moral meaning. Hereafter. 24) I suggest that. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. research.com. and also given the absence of intermedium’s connection to chemistry. a substance serving as a means of some natural action or process. in Ken Friedman’s opinion “Coleridge's use of the word "intermedium" in Lecture Three: 'On Spenser' suggests a distant kinship to Higgins' construction of the term ‘intermedia’.2 (Accessed 3 Nov 2005) . in earlier Chemistry and Physics.elgar.2003 p.” Given their different cultural and temporal contexts.8 English Dictionary15 definition . 1998 17 Lisa Moren. such as Moren indicates. For example. esp.oed. Nevertheless. Hereafter references to this site will be indicated by acronym OED. 16 Friedman.“intermedium: an intermediate agent.” 16 On the other hand. Coleridge's usage was different in meaning and in form. 17 A closer intertextual relationship. she comes close to it by suggesting a connection between “the chemical etymology of intermedium” and its agency in binding together discrete technical elements. and although unaware of Coleridge’s earlier use of the term.umbc. the argument that Coleridge’s use of the term differed from Higgins’ is to be expected.nz:80/entrance. intermediary.pdf . ”The Wind is a Medium of the Sky”.edu/~lmoren/pdf/wind.govt. medium.dtl 2006. Humphry Davy. Lisa Moren’s research paper on Dick Higgins and Intermedia art touches on Coleridge’s relationship with the experimental chemist. monograph on Richard Carter Higgins and Intermedia www. I suggest is confirmed when taking the aspect of an experimental chemistry into fuller account. 15 The Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition 1989: Oxford University Press http://0dictionary. www. b) with a mixture of the sense of “an intervening medium serving to transmit energy through space. 12-17: Hereafter. 18 A few years later. (1965). p. intermedium. occurring internally in the processes of the nervous system. page number) in the body of the text. and externally in the production/performance of the intermedial arts. in his influential publication “Intermedia”. A Dialectic of Centuries: Notes towards a Theory of the New Arts. 5 <<J’ai très bien pu lire ce mot à Yale. . 18 <<Higgins 1938-1998>>. Vermont Printed Editions.>> (I translate) 19 Dick Higgins. New York & Barton. In a variety of contexts yet common to each use is the sense of the intermedium as an autonomous agency in the transformation of objects and/or events into forms of conceptual experience. he uses the singular form. où j’ai presque tout lu des écrits de Coleridge … . “Intermedia” in Dick Higgins. five times. 19 From his discourse I draw the opinion that the affect of the intermedium on Higgins led him to understand the term scientifically and poetically as the fusion of particular elements in the experimental mix between combined mediums.9 Higgins had read “almost all the writings by Coleridge” during his time at Yale. references to this book will be indicated by: (HDC. 1978 pp. p.>> “So it was that during the summer 1958 I took two courses with John Cage.” (I translate). such as good company and alcohol. Connecticut).” (BL II. p. (BL II. j’ai suivi deux cours avec Cage. music during the week and mushrooms in the weekends.” (BL V.20 These combined interests in poetry and music suggest the likelihood of Higgins’ attraction to Coleridge’s theoretical critique on the role of metre in poetry. musique pendant la sémaine et champignons les weekends. Musical studies with John Cage 1958-9. discussing “language of metrical composition”. 1960). 2 <<C’est ainsi que durant l’été 1958. He goes on to give examples of how the action of metre corresponds to the chemical affect of ‘ready-made’ stimuli.10 CONCEPTUAL FUSION Concurrent with his reading of Coleridge. consciously and for the foreseen purpose of pleasure.13 “Yale College (New Haven. 64) These principles Coleridge uses to determine two conditions that “the critic is entitled to expect in every metrical work”: “the natural language of excitement” and “a voluntary act” that “artificially” forms these elements of excitement into metre. when combined in body and brain “become considerable in their aggregate influence. Columbia University (New York. Coleridge traces the origin of metre “to that balance in the mind effected by that spontaneous effort which strives to hold in check the workings of passion” and how “this balance of antagonists became organized into metre (in the usual acceptation of that term) by a supervening act of the will and judgement. BS in English. John Cage. II: 65) A correspondent mode of thought to Coleridge’s expression of metre’s 20 <<Higgins 1938-1998>>. 65) In other words. Higgins was taking courses in experimental forms of composition with the avant-garde musician.” . Coleridge requires that metre meet the balanced operations of mental processes. In Biographia Literaria. the difference between intermedia and multimedia is that with intermedia there is a conceptual fusion. Stacked Deck (Higgins. 12-16) Employing what might for Coleridge be “supervening acts” of the will. to ‘take’ according to the nature of interacting elements. “in a sense an intermedium since it was not intended to conform to the pure medium”. 24) Just as Coleridge induces the affects of metre by intensifying21 the antagonistic processes between mental and physical processes. strengthen. Stacked Deck. etc. “In 1958 I wrote a piece. just as one forms a new compound by fusing different chemical elements together. … They all have to go together. in which any 21 OED. as situated between “the general area of art media and those of life media”. a. and the inclusion of “live people as part of the collage”. (HDC. Higgins’ “Intermedia” gives a dramatic account of early intermedial affects culminating in his theatre piece.11 autonomous aggregate influence is found in Higgins’ notion of conceptual fusion as the interaction between media elements so combined as to form from the aggregate of those stimuli an experience distinct from its component elements: “To me.” (LB. intensify 1. or you simply do not get the aggregate experience. deepen. thereby taking his work into a conceptual dimension. to augment. He holds the reader’s engagement as the intermedium’s agency is generated in collages of “incongruous objects” or “combines”. to give intensity to. 1958) He sees the ready-made. Higgins induces the intermedial dynamics of a situation to happen. heighten. To render intense. 1817] . [coined by Coleridge. trans. and you can't really separate out the different media in an integral way. . easily picked up. Courtesy of the Estate of Dick Higgins It was during this period of the late fifties that Higgins first came across the intermedium in Coleridge’s criticism. 15-16) Figure 1. becomes evident in the dynamics of Stacked Deck.. I suggest he was struck by the coincidence and resonance that Coleridge’s technical notion held in relation to his own thought processes. as long as its cue appears. the performance-audience separation was removed.” (HDC. NYC. and which. The cues are produced by colored lights. Figure 1 Still image from Stacked Deck by Dick Higgins (1958) Performed 1960 at the YMHA Kaufman Auditorium. Since the coloured lights could be used wherever they were put and audience’s reactions were also cuing situations. The affect generated between the medium of people and the medium of light .12 event can take place at any time. ”(HH.jhu. (1985) Cinema 2: The Time Image. http://muse. 23 Gilles Deleuze.278 Hereafter.24 The attraction that he felt toward Davy dated “from the shared experience of breathing nitrous oxide in Bristol. 2001. 15-41 p.13 corresponds to the intermedium of affinity22. references to this book will be indicated by: (DC2. They differ from mixed media in being inseparable in the essence of an artwork. including its affect on his heart: “My eyes felt distended. my heart beat as if it were leaping up and down” Figure 2 22 OED. Besides taking part in Davy’s early experiments he had later attended some of his lectures. 24 Nicholas Roe (ed. the experimental chemist. “I attend Davy’s lectures to increase my stock of metaphors” Coleridge is said to have replied when asked ”what attractions he could find in a study so unconnected with his known pursuits”. the agent of conceptual fusion’s fundamental condition. (Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press) The Athlone Press. 32 (Accessed 28 July 2006) .edu/journals/ configurations/ v007/7. forming new compounds of “this unthought within thought”. page number) in the body of the text.” 25 In 1800 he had supplied Davy with a detailed account of the experience.1 p. esp. Chemical attraction. 138) These aggregates of experience occur in the flux of time. Hereafter. Trans. page number) in the body of the text.23 For Coleridge. references to this book will be indicated by: (SL. they become intermedia. 7. 25 Jan Golinski “Humphry Davy's Sexual Chemistry” in Configurations The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for Literature and Science. England: Oxford University Press. during a period of impetus for much of later Coleridge’s literary work. 12.) Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Sciences of Life Oxford. Hugh Tomlinson and Robert Galeta. p.html#REF49 1999. “When two or more discrete media are conceptually fused.1golinski. his experience of striking phenomena that became the catalyst for new connections in his work came through his relationship with Humphry Davy. affinity 9. 1989 p. the tendency which certain elementary substances or their compounds have to unite with other elements and form new compounds. and towards the last. They had become acquainted in 1799. page no.) in the body of the text. “Researches. London. to the form of poetic transliteration in his poem “Christabel” where he evokes a similar state of mind and checking of emotions by the phrase: Hush.ac. or dephlogisticated nitrous air.auckland. com. . C. 1800. and its respiration”.) Poetical Works I: Poems (Reading Text). Mays (ed. “Christabel” (1816) in J.nz/servlet/ECCO Gale Document Number CW106792973 27 Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Based on information from ESTC Number T112164 British Library English Short Title Catalogue. (The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge -16) Princeton University Press p. http://galenet. knowingly 26 Humphry Davy. beating heart of Christabel! 27 It is an example of the convergence between life media and art media where methods employed in one’s art. chemical and philosophical.ezproxy. Hereafter references to this book will be indicated by: (C. C. chiefly concerning nitrous oxide.14 Figure 2 “Detail of Mr. 485.galegroup. I suggest. Coleridge” in Humphry Davy Researches 180026 The physical intensity of this experience and Coleridge’s spontaneous expression of excitement would lead. mordaunt: any substance which fixes or holds a colorant in the material to be dyed. 1986. C. p. of mordaunt. I will argue that in further aspects of this scenario from “Christabel” Coleridge.” (BL. VII: 69) He is preparing the reader for his allusion to “an intermedium of affinity. fuses these media together to give form to a language that might describe the experience he found so gripping. .” (BL. the chemistry of affection that colours the imagination. VII. p. McKusick. Coleridge’s Philosophy of Language (New Haven and London) Yale University Press.15 or not. When he writes: “Metre in itself is simply a stimulant of the attention. VII: 71-2) and induce the audience’s attention on metre’s binding affect. 113 . VII: 71) He fuses linguistic terms essentially different in style from prose 28 to rouse the passions (BL. because I am about to use a language different from that of prose. and therefore excites the question: Why is the attention to be thus stimulated?” the only reason he can give himself is that “I write in metre.118 29 OED. I suggest cognisant of such affect. its mordaunt. (if I may borrow a well-known phrase from technical chemistry). a sort. and J. draw on intense affects of life experience.29 28 BL. 69. H.” If the novelty is sufficiently deviant or unfamiliar it “engenders the involuntary capture of attention. unexpected (out of context) or unpredictable stimuli. 2001. Gaeta. if the event is deemed significant. 25. Cycowicz. The neuroscientist. l.” 30 I suggest that it is this mechanism of the brain that Coleridge is referring to. enabling the event to enter consciousness thus permitting an evaluation of the stimulus. and by which the power of his metrical composition induces in his audience the visceral and mental turbulence that he had experienced in life.16 PROCESSING NOVELTY Coleridge requires that metre meet the balanced operations of mental processes. The passage from “Christabel” is provided here for ease of reference: 30 David Friedman. David Friedman has described the operations of the brain in its orienting response to novel events as follows: “Orienting is a rapid response to new (never experienced before). 356 . p. to behavioural action. and Y. From Humphry Davy’s lectures and experiments Coleridge’s observations and notes give insight into the new dynamic potential of naturally occurring chemical elements. in Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews. which essentially functions as a ‘what-is-it’ detector. This could lead. Interlacing lines from his notebooks with phrases from “Christabel” below an image is constructed of Coleridge’s orienting response by observing the fusion of technical chemistry in his linguistic style. M. His description of the mind’s capacity for self-organization and the role of consciousness in measuring the value of stimuli bring to mind current research on the brain’s processing of novelty. “The novelty P3: an event-related brain potential (ERP) sign of the brain’s evaluation of novelty”. ether […] now distinguished as common. 32 .g. and capable of producing extreme cold by its evaporation. It is an anæsthetic. And wildly glittered here and there The gems entangled in her hair. 58-60 Bright. Her stately neck. (CN. 63 blue-veined feet unsandal'd Indicate involuntary spasms or convulsions 33 that can result from electric shock. or vinic ether. 55 56 What sees she there? There she sees a damsel bright. shield her well! She folded her arms beneath her cloak. 1802 | gave a spark with the Electric machine–I felt nothing–he then gave a very vivid spark with the Leyden Phial–& I distinctly felt the shock (CN. light. beating heart of Christabel! Jesu. but o! how brightly whitely vividly beautiful in Oxygen gas. or ethyl oxide.1099) Cf. Davy at the lectures Jan. white.5) 31 Cf. ethylic.17 Hush. i. and arms were bare. 31 Roe in Sciences of Life. phosphoric. 'twas frightful there to see A lady so richly clad as she-Beautiful exceedingly ! 58 59 60 61 63 64 65 66 67 Ether… burns bright indeed in the atmosphere. (C4H10O) resulting from the action of sulphuric acid upon alcohol. volatile liquid. 55 folded her arms beneath her cloak Cf. The colourless. Her blue-veined feet unsandal'd were. OED. Maria. Chem. That shadowy in the moonlight shone: The neck that made that white robe wan. Dressed in a silken robe of white. And stole to the other side of the oak. ether: 6. etc.13 Coleridge’s notes indicated in parentheses. a. shadowy – shone Indicate affects of ether combined with oxygen - 32 e. a vaporous. whence it was also known as sulphuric. icy atmosphere inducing an anaesthetized state in the subject. I guess. Ll. L. i. 28. L. p. 1098 f. Chem. very abundant in nature … b. freely “the black diamond”. the black diamond or carbonado. . phosphorescent. sulphur occurring. 1098 f. 36 OED.14) Cf. a form of diamond. P. white solid. hysteria. widespread […] in living organisms and in minerals. A non-metallic chemical element. The Notebooks n. In popular and commercial language it is otherwise known as brimstone.” Such symptoms Coleridge may have experienced in his attempts to withdraw from his dependency on laudanum. 64) in ‘her hair’ creating a breathlessness in response to a fright sufficient to make one’s hair stand on end. A substance or organism that emits light spontaneously or after heating or other treatment. carbon 37 36 . p.” 35 OED. Tortora and N. and widely distributed in combination with metals and other substances.18 ff 11-12 [1 ii Class 2] Solid inflammable bodies having no metallic properties: phosphorous. 219 Abnormal contractions in muscle tissue: “convulsions occur when motor neurons are stimulated by fever. One of the non-metallic elements. 1984. poisons. Anagnostakos. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology: 4th Edition Harper International Edition. and occurring free in nature as a brittle crystalline solid. a. p. phosphorus: 2. (CN.34 Gold Silver. carbon. 37 OED.38 33 Tortora and Anagnostakos. The stimulated neurons send many bursts of seemingly disordered impulses to the muscle fibers. sulphur. i. or changes in body chemistry due to withdrawal of certain drugs. and this power exists in Galvanic Electricity. The wild sparks of gems are entangled in the alliteration of here there (L. A greenish-yellow non-metallic substance. 38 G. 34 Coburn. carbon: 1. muscles contract causing the skin around hair shafts to form slight elevations. Ll. L. 3.1098 “Coleridge’s notes from the lectures refer to that part of the course described in pp12-18 of [Davy’s Lectures] Syllabus. found abundantly in volcanic regions. 64-65 wildly glittered here there gems entangled in her hair Indicate an amalgamation and distributed use of Davy’s experiments with nonmetallic and metallic elements: in its ordinary state phosphorous35 is a toxic. a. brittle crystalline solid. Chem. J. & Platina … are combustible if a power sufficiently strong be applied. flammable.a greenish-yellow. 111 Hair: Under stress of fright or cold. and in its commonest form is a whitish waxy solid which undergoes spontaneous oxidation or ignition in air. sulphur: 1. a. 61 The neck made that white robe wan Cf. the narrator. The ambivalence of his interjection is subsumed into the repulsion / attraction circuit between the words ‘frightful’ and ‘beautiful’. Marinere VII. He places her in an attitude personifying prayerful concern. as we dye and tan our fishing-nets with oak-bark. is uncertain. If we take the IM1818 usage we could say that the odds are stacked against Christabel in Coleridge’s narrative allegory. This is a different sort of affection where the crucial element is real-time interaction between the elemental – including bodies and minds – becoming conceptually fused as an image distinct 39 OED. durability.” 41 OED. in allusive phrases with reference to its hardness. freq. Coleridge. ‘I guess’. gen. lost for words. T. In contrast to Coleridge’s novel technique for attracting the audience’s attention Dick Higgins cues the movements of participants to ‘fire’ between the colour and lighting elements of his Stacked Deck. leaving himself.19 The combined force of these elemental images characterize Lady Geraldine as a chilling sight of galvanizing attraction and a site of explosive power. a sign of endurance. Royal Soc. or for ornament. 50 455 Whether this bark is used to give strength to this yarn. esp. the wood or timber of the oak. or reliability.40 In “Christabel” it stands as a sign of ambivalence or a confused state of mind. in Lyrical Ballads 44 “The rotted old *Oak-stump. “1758 Philos.41 an intermedium of affinity that in my discourse acts as agent between the two contesting investments of the intermedial oak. Anc. Oak bark is a form of mordant. Trans. “1798 S. the English oak. Coleridge had used the oak.39 as a sign of decay in The Ancient Mariner. 40 OED.” . oak: b.the rise of science and its unknown outcomes. Then – taking an opposite role ‘on the other side of the oak’ – he piles his personification of science line upon line. an intermedium between the durability of the familiar and of the shape of things to come . com/h. video poetry >video. philosophy”. an intermedium >anything. a maxim. as belonging to “‘a different species of poetry. Figure 3 (HDC. postal poetry >mail art. aphorism: 1. he comments on different “inter-mediums”. but in his case it is as an image of spatio-temporal events. The same spirit speaks to the mind through different senses by manifestations of itself. Correspondent to Coleridge’s use of a language different from that of prose. Beat. a short pithy sentence containing a truth of general import.20 from its elemental properties. Higgins was indicating the many divergent forms that might be generated between different media practices. Higgins also constructs a language of conceptual fusion.43 action poetry > happenings. concept poetry> philosophy. “SOME POETRY INTERMEDIA”. SOME POETRY INTERMEDIA. From poetry and metapoetries sound poetry >music. Included in a typeset aphorism44 on the poster’s right side. 13-17) When he later reflects on what it was that holds diverse practices together. Poster “Folded in eighths (as issued)” Skyline Books: Modern. visual poetry (including concrete poetry) >visual art. 2. Higgins writes: “The real poem lies beyond its word. and Counterculture Literature http://www. (HDC.” The thoughts of Coleridge 42 Dick Higgins.sweetbooks. His postal poetry is an explicit and unusual example in providing the sense of an intervening medium serving to transmit energy through space. object poetry >sculpture. a ‘definition’ or concise statement of a principle in any science. Any principle or precept expressed in few words. “intermedia”. beyond its ideas”. .’”(HH. appropriate to each. which include “the art of thought. 93 -95) Higgins had diagrammed these inter-mediums in his mail-art poster. following with a quotation from Coleridge: “All the fine arts [are] a different species of poetry.htm 43 > = leads to 44 OED. 17) 42 When he used the plural form. and poetry of the eye. as a visual work can. or paintings.” Higgins continues his maxim with a passage that alludes to this infolding conceptual process between poet and poetry: “The poet can play on this phenomenon. in J. 1907. There are words within words. the time it takes to process ideas. the temporal aspect of a poem is one which the poet must consider… A poem.” 45 In Higgins’ graphic poem these divisions are interlaced with his own species of modern poetry.” The exchange resonates with Coleridge’s reflection on “What is poetry?” and by extension. to which we have exclusively appropriated the name of imagination. that blends. each into each. 220 . In Coleridge’s original text this passage continues: “They admit therefore of a natural division into poetry or language […]. In this sense.) Biographia Literaria 2. “what is a poet?” and his opinion that both belong to the same answer: the process of fusion . and (as it were) fuses. p. “On the Genial Arts of Criticism”. and a spirit of unity. poetry of the ear. This power […] reveals itself in the balance or reconciliation of opposite or discordant qualities: of sameness. theater. but must be revealed over a matter of time. with old and familiar objects… (BL II.through the imagination. where the inter-medium of philosophy is given the greatest extension. or music. 16-17) 45 Samuel Taylor Coleridge. he seems to see concept poetry as a form of embodied mind when he continues: “Since a poem cannot be perceived at one flash. and graphic poetry. with difference. Shawcross (ed. or statuary. or dance. and can be perceived all at once in the memory. [The poet] diffuses a tone. by that synthetic and magical power. and the poem lies within the poem. like music. which is again divided into plastic poetry.21 become literally embodied in Higgins’ personal maxim. […] the sense of novelty and freshness. once perceived becomes a thing. By this Higgins seems to suggest the temporal nature of the art of thought. London: Oxford: University Press. 22” x 17” 46 Nicholas Roe referring to the German philosopher. a new cartography of conceptual fusion. Dick Higgins 1976 Some Poetry Intermedia.22 Imagination. in the sense used by Coleridge. is the power of inner vision: Einbildungskraft “the mother of creative invention because it creates compact clusters of associations – it makes them seamless so that a new unity and new images are formed by a melting or fusing process. It resembles a map of ideas for a thought experiment. ci) 46 The diagrammatic form of “SOME POETRY INTERMEDIA” includes the extension of “an intermedium” indicated by a dashed line leading to ‘anything’. Offset print. Figure 3.” (BL I. Ernst Platner’s “clear-cut distinction between Phantasie and Einbildungskraft”. . Dim. htm#introduction (13 Sept 2004) .users.globalnet. in both neural and intermedial art senses. The affect of the intermedium and its connection to chemistry was for Coleridge. It corresponds to naturally occurring autonomic processes in the cortical structure of the brain where diverse stimuli generate neural connections. For Higgins it was more a temporal agent.47 (Figure 4) bringing the potential of combined data. Figure 4. but separately expressing their own singularity of imagination. The six cortical layers of the brain and longitudinal neural operations 47 ‘The Neuroscience of Consciousness’ in The Science and Philosophy of Consciousness http://www. an intensification of his technical and stylistic expertise through which he could mirror the chemistry of body and mind.co. a form of process art where whatever happened from the combination of discrete media is the work. With the proviso that the term is understood as a fusion of both instances and based in the introduction of the scientific aspect of an intermedium of affinity.23 CONCLUSION: A NOOSIGN Yes. to a point of emergence. The agency of its affection permeates their work. Coleridge did use the intermedium to signify exactly what Higgins had done.uk/~lka/conz3a. I suggest. 24 The philosopher Gilles Deleuze comments: “[G]iven one potential. which will be productive of a third or of something new. their elusive synthesis is to be discovered in the noosign. and whose genesis here has been the affect between these disciplines in producing a new perspective on the intermedium. a term Deleuze gives to an image of thought. .” (DC2. as inter-mediums in Higgins’ sense. another one has to be chosen. the arts. and philosophy as intermedial arts. but in such a way that a difference of potential is established between the two. 179-80) If we consider three potentials. or as the technical chemistry of metre in Coleridge’s. not any whatever. sciences. Canada http://www. and to acknowledge her insight on Richard Carter Higgins and Intermedia http://www./ .research. Université de Montreal. an elusive synthesis of art and science.html The Editorial Committee Intermédialités: Histoire et Théorie des Arts. (C. Lisa Moren for putting me in touch with Hannah Higgins and Alison Knowles. like they.25 EPILOGUE ‘TIS MINE AND IT IS LIKEWISE YOURS In his preface to “Christabel”. so that he. that this be known. 481) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Hannah Higgins and Alison Knowles for their permission to use the still image from Stacked Deck performance 1958.ca. My writing on conceptual fusions has become what I call a philosscific inter-medium of the arts. In the spirit of Coleridge’s suggestion ‘tis mine and it is likewise yours … (C. 481-2) He knowingly suggests. Coleridge makes reference to those who had appropriated ideas from this work. in the spirit of friendship.umbc. and image of SOME POETRY INTERMEDIA 1976: Courtesy of the Estate of Dick Higgins. des Lettres et des Techniques.edu/ ~lmoren/ articles. might benefit. Coleridge offers advice in a piece of doggerel for any of us who might wish to copy him.intermedialites.
Report "Conceptual Fusion Coleridge, Higgins, And the Intermedium"