Action 5
This video sketch was inspired by Donna Haraway’s cat’s cradle and string figures. Haraway uses the analogy of the cat’s cradle to propose a new critical theory built on bringing together inter-disciplinary theorists and practitioners to narrate and reconfigure the complexities of the world. The drawing of string figures also replaces the anthropomorphic language that is otherwise applied to describe human and non-human entities and relationships.
Taken from Haraway’s cat’s cradle my mom and my string figures also speak of relationality- relationality with the self and also others to bring forth tacit knowledge or fabulate new ones.
For the video sketch, instead of curating a narrative, I decided to film my mom learning to draw string figures particularly Jacob’s ladder. She was following a how-to tutorial as I filmed her pull on the string, fold, twist, unravel, fold again, unfold, tug at, loop, open, reveal, fabulate. An incredible calmness fell upon her. This video was not curated, my mom’s smile at the end was candid- entirely joyful.
Micro Tensile Activations- The Power in Fabulating
My mom’s hands are extended tight, activated and then deliberately fold inwards, rigid, still determined, leading into a momentary collapse- catharsis, an “implosion” (as Harraway would say), the penultimate release of all things stuck—sigh. Then back into it. Sturdy determination, pulling again. Tight.
And repeat.
This is the dance of fabulating, of world making and story telling a metaphor of making sense and in a way that promotes “staying with trouble” (again as Harraway would say). Micro-tensile activations of extended fingers is integral to this process as it reveals knots, makes knots tighter, more tangled (no she’s knot affraid of knots), forming support structures for fabulated creatures, bringing them to life. Micro-tensile activations are power- power to fabulate, build, support, control to subsequently release, let go, to re-con-figure.
Needless to say, there is incredible value in reclaiming such power especially for someone (her/me/us) whose grasp on power has been tested time and time again- power to exercise joy, play, fabulate, reconfigure narratives.
What is my mom fabulating?
In that moment, my mom was fabulating and narrating, re-configuring different iterations of joy- of moving fingers, of the childlike pulling of string, and of the immense sense of accomplishment in creating something irreducibly recognizable- embodied recognition. Its a ladder! Or a giraffe? A cat and a possum wrestling? She doesn’t need to tell me what it is. I see it in her smile.
There were also moments of discomfort, stuckness- a need to shake off the string and recoil. Frustration towards the string snake that constricts the fingers, relentless, unwilling to let go- “get it off of me”! She suddenly realizes that she is again in control, recognizing she is not ready for the tension. She would loosen her grip. Fold her fingers again falling the the strings, relaxed. It’s over. This iteration is over. We can start again.
Collaborating to fabulate
In the second video sketch, my mom and I decided to play the game of cat’s cradle together. We both remembered playing the game as kids but couldn’t really remember the exact rules of the game. We watched a couple of videos and started drawing. My phone was haphazardly duck taped to a long lamp that would capture our play- the movement of our bodies mimicking the string figures that we configured.
It was a dynamic and synchronous performance, of pulling and pushing, arms extended replicating the tension and release in our fingers. Directional yet opposing movement to create tension in the string- the first extends, the second pulls, the first releases while the second tightens.
String Figure Fractals
The video captured self similar patterns across two scales, our arms configured in a way that they almost mimicked our string figures. The different parts of the string in a loop- one entity divided in parts at intersecting points- resembled the almost one entity that my mom and I became in this action- both our arms, torso, hands became one unified system.
The tensile activations were also visible in our performance- at the zoomed out level. The function within the two scales- string and body- remained the same. The video then revealed our string figures as fractals, complex patterns that can replicate at different scale.
Game Rules as Code
Rewatching this video reminded me of Laura Marks’ theory of unfolding and enfolding. She proposes the aesthetics of unfolding and enfolding to describe the relationship between the infinite (web), information (algorithms) and visual perception (interface). In her book, Enfoldment and Infinity- And Islamic Geneology of New Media Art, marks portrays algorithmic code and Quranic scripture as information that mediates an infinite (the inexplicable) intangible realm of possibilities to human perception.
The aesthetics of unfolding and enfolding is pertinent to drawing string figures. The looped string enfolds and unfolds. I imagine the rules of cat’s cradle as an algorithmic code. Its the rules of the game, the rules of unfolding that curates and allows for certain information to leak from the infinitely intangible, invisible layer of possibilities into the realm of human perception.
Marks talks about the image (in new media) as the interface that showcases the invisible infinite to human perception. In the case of the cat’s cradle, the the materiality of the string is the interface, its tensions, constriction, loosening, as well the embodied recognition of the shapes of the figures brings forth the informed interpretation of the infinite. If I change the rules of the game, if I pull on an unintended points of intersecting strings (as my mom and I did during our cats cradle’s game), an entirely new unintended string figure is formed. This to me speaks of an infinite plurality of experiences and narratives. The rules of the game, the systems of information then determine the narratives and interpretations that become apparent, visible, elevated etc.
This builds on my earlier question around making/carving space, taking, space to reconsider the RULES by which space is carved and occupied. Seems obvious now, but it’s nice to explicitly articulate it.
Laura Mark’s leaves me with this quote, “Reaching towards the infinite these artworks speak to Kant’s concept of the mathematical sublime. When the unit of measurement we use to make sense of our place in the worlds is confounded, we reel, lacking a way to judge or understand the experience; it it overwhelms us. If we are lucky, art invents something new of this chaos.”
Reconstructing and Reaffirming New Narratives
I shared the video of my mom drawing the Jacob’s ladder with her after I edited it. Her reaction to the video was evidence of the power of reconstructing narratives. She felt power when she saw herself in the video playing, constructing, feeling happy. She has had a hard year; she’s been feeling defeated. In playing with string figures, she momentarily and actively reconstructed a new narrative for herself. Then watching the video after the fact, she saw a different representation of herself; witnessing herself smiling looking light and playful, added to her healing journey. The video fed her back her power, reaffirmed her power. She wasnt sick in that moment, not broken, not defeated. The reaffirmation of this alternate story brought the alternate story to reality.