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Carly Zufelt
Professor Andrea Ray
Art Ideas
11 November 2014
In Erotism: Death and Sensuality, George Bataille placed sex and death at the
foundation of human existence. It is in sex, Bataille argued, that the existential tension
between continuity and discontinuity (union versus separation; life versus death) is
physically and mentally embodied and that we are able to confront our own mortality. In
eroticism, we experience a partial death, or dissolution, of our individual self through our
coalescence with another. For Bataille, the inherent violent effects of erotic action- the
shaking of the individual to their very core accompanied by the momentary loss of selfwas analogous to death. Thus, eroticism is a rehearsal for death, and it is in this
rehearsal that Bataille believed a temporary transcendent continuity was achieved- a
defeat of death (Bataille).
Identifying intersections between sexual and temporal queering, Elizabeth
Freeman’s Time Binds argues for a genre of historical analysis that acknowledges the
elicitation of bodily responses, including sexual pleasure, through physical contact with
historical materials. Coining her own term, Freeman champions "erotohistoriography" as
the answer to the shortcomings of the field of historiography to recognize such bodily
responses to historical objects as a unique form of cognition. Additionally, she coins the
term "temporal drag" to define anachronistic identifications with the past that find the
participant "feeling the historical" (Freeman). In the same way that Bataille viewed
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eroticism as a means to temporarily transcend existential tension related to mortality,
Freeman's concepts of erotohistoriography and temporal drag allow for the same
temporary relief from this tension through the abstract collapsing of time. From an
examination of several artistic works participating in temporal drag, I will take up
Elizabeth Freeman's concept of "erotohistoriography" extending it beyond queer theory
and identifying its relationship to George Bataille’s writings on existential continuities
between sex and death, to reveal a temporary relief from the existential tension
between life and death through the collapsing of time.
The erotohistorical response to objects is perhaps most evident in the human
attachment to the souvenir or memento- objects which, according to Susan Stewart
in On Longing, exist solely to embody a collapsing of time between past and present
through their physical presence in our lives. According to Stewart, this collapsing of time
is an abstract manifestation of the "future-past," a universally longed for convergence of
idealized past with the unavoidable present (Stewart). The personal nature of such
historical objects to our own personal histories certainly aids in the manifestation of
physical bodily responses to said souvenir objects. But what about the phenomenon of
bodily response to contact with historical objects which do not carry immediate
associations to our own personal histories? Freeman’s notion of erotohistoriography
certainly seems to be mostly accounting for just such phenomena- the bodily responses
to contact with historical objects to which our own personal connection is not
immediately clear. In this context, I’d like to pose that the connection is in fact a cultural
and universal communion with death, which is simultaneously aroused and transcended
through the erotohistorical experience.
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Death is, arguably, the ultimate future-past, albeit an unsolicited one, in that our
relationship with death is rooted in our past- on a universal cellular level, a collective
species level, an intimate familial level- and ultimately converges with our future at the
instant of our own individual demise. The erotohistorical response to physical contact
with objects that preceded our lifetime, or at the very least, have no direct connection to
our lives, is derived of this universal kinship with death through the object's embodiment
of that which has passed. Through this erotohistorical response to the object, the
collapsing of time is achieved through the confrontation and temporary transcendence
of our own mortality, much in the same way that Bataille suggested this transcendence
was achieved through eroticism. In this way, it can be understood that these bodily
responses to historical objects that Freeman is acknowledging have a relationship to
sex, time and death.
Calling attention to that which is suspiciously absent from the historical
archive, The Fae Richards Photo Archive made by artist Zoe Leonard in collaboration
with filmmaker Cheryl Dunye in 1996 presents a believable, yet fictional narrative of
photographs and documents depicting the life of African American lesbian film actress
Fae Richards from her birth in 1908 to her death after the civil rights movement in 1973.
Though captured contemporarily, the photographs follow common photographic
conventions and style of dress of the time being depicted, thus effectively creating a
believable visual narrative (Bloom).
The piece participates in temporal drag not only through the adoption of the
antiquated stylizations in present day, but also through the anomalous nature of that
which is being depicted in the seemingly authentic historical documents. The very
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reason for having produced the photographs and documents in the first place was to
address the virtual absence of photographic documentation of such taboo subject
matter as lesbianism and inter-racial coupling within the historical archive during the
time period depicted. While the style of dress and photographic qualities are antiquated
by present standards, the content of the fictional archive is anachronistic to the past
being depicted, not because versions of those lives did not exist at the time, but
because the documentation of such lives was taboo. Ultimately, The Fae Richards
Photo Archive accesses the anachronism of temporal drag by way of the embodying of
the past in the present and contrariwise.
Notions of mortality are present within the piece through the fictional account of
the life of a woman twenty years deceased. Everything that you are being presented
with as a viewer speaks to this death. If you are persuaded by the fiction, the death of
Fae Richards herself is ever-present in the antiquated look of the photographs and
accompanying documents coupled with the fact that most of the other subjects in the
photographs are surely deceased as well. Additionally, the time period depicted in the
archive is a bygone era, which speaks to the passing and mortality of all things- even
time. In the event that, as a viewer, you are not persuaded by the fictitious account of
the life of Fae Richards’, the presence of death within the work exists within the death of
the fiction.
The specific use of temporal drag to assume present identities in the past and
past identities in the present accomplishes the effective collapsing of time in that all time
becomes fully incorporated. In this way, temporary temporal transcendence gives way
to a sense of individual continuity, an overcoming of death. Just as the confrontation
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and temporary transcendence of existential tensions related to mortality can be
achieved through sexual action, as argued by Bataille, the erotohistorical response to
the temporal drag playing out in The Fae Richards Photo Archive is the catalyst for
momentary transcendence.
The oeuvre of Canadian artist Rodney Graham is replete with conceptual and
material historical associations. In Vexation Island, a short 9-minute film on a
continuous loop made in 1997 and featured in the Venice Biennale of the same year,
these historical associations are most evident in the eighteenth century period clothing
worn by the male protagonist. The film features an unconscious man shipwrecked on a
beach with a wound on his head. After some time, the man rises to notice a coconut in a
nearby tree. He shakes the tree to dislodge the coconut, which hits him in the head
where the wound is, knocking him unconscious to the ground, in the same exact
position from which he rose (Smith).
The cyclical nature of the film prevents the viewer from discerning the chronology
of the events as the loop undoes temporal linearity through its uncertain delineation
between past, present and future. Though the work’s participation in temporal drag is
immediately obvious in the use of eighteenth century dress, the looping of the film
presents a far more interesting and complex usage of temporal drag in that the past and
future become folded into a continued present, spanning both backward and forward all
the time. Additionally, the loop creates a paradoxical temporality in that the film is
simultaneously shortened if one imposes his or her own beginning and end to affect a
linear narrative, and extended infinitely through the unending repetition of events
(Smith). Ultimately, it is the continuous loop that serves as the primary catalyst for the
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collapsing of time through its ability to simultaneously embody past, present and future
simultaneously.
The very content of Vexation Island is overflowing with existential tension relating
to mortality. The abject state that the man awakens to find himself confronted with over
and over, due to the loop, cap-stoned by his being knocked unconscious by the coconut
speaks to the unavoidability of death. Yet, it is in the collapsing of time achieved by this
very same loop that mortality is temporarily transcended through the temporal drag of
past and future masquerading as an infinite present. The man, though continuously
knocked unconscious, is also continuously resurrected. The finality of death, though
unavoidable, in both life and in Vexation Island, is constantly overcome in the work due
to the repetitious nature of events brought about by the loop.
The conceptual content of artist Matthew Buckingham's work often centers on
obscure historical information. In Canal Street Canal, a mass-produced postcard from
2002, Buckingham explores nostalgia as it relates to fictional pasts. The postcard
features a color photograph of a section of Canal Street in New York City wherein the
street has been replaced with a water-filled “Venetian-style” canal, an image inspired by
the 1791 proposal to build just such a canal in this location, replacing a small stream
that once ran along present day Canal Street as well as a foul-smelling collection pond.
The postcard includes text that elaborates on this historical proposal as well as what
actually transpired with the stream and pond. The postcard was sold along Canal Street
next to other postcards and souvenirs, no doubt more suitable for the average New
York City tourist (Buckingham).
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Intended to be collected as a souvenir by tourists, Canal Street Canal is a
thoughtful contemplation on longing for that which never occurred in the first place. Due
to the souvenir status of the piece, this longing occurs twofold. Initially, the longing is
aimed at the distant past of 1791 when the “Venetian-style” canal was first proposed.
The viewer is confronted with longing for the alternate past proposed by the photograph
suggesting that the proposal had been carried through to completion. Secondly, the
longing is focused on the souvenir status of the object, in that a postcard is intended to
be a remembrance of the visited site depicted on the postcard, yet the impossibility of
firsthand experience of this fictional site leaves the viewer only to the secondhand
experience of the image on the postcard. In this absence, a second sense longing is
produced, a longing for the immediate experience which the souvenir exists to
memorialize.
The folding of present day into fictionalized past presents a complex model for
participation in temporal drag in Canal Street Canal. Having assumed the visual identity
of the fictionalized past by way of the photographic representation of a “Venetian-style”
canal replacing the section of Canal Street, space and time become the protagonists
within the piece and the primary participants in temporal drag. The doubled sense of
longing created through the temporal drag of present day assuming elements of
fictionalized past allows for the collapsing of time with ease in that the longing is
intensified through the doubled impossibility of the viewers’ connection with such a
temporal and spatial existence.
This collapsing of time within Canal Street Canal is similar to that which Roland
Barthes claims is the chief objective of engaging in literature- “la petite mort.” Translated
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as “the little death,” Barthes assumes the French euphemism for orgasm in The
Pleasure of the Text to describe the temporary loss of self one finds him or herself
within when fully immersed in literature (Barthes). Of course this analogy can also be
extended to works of art, specifically Canal Street Canal, to describe the momentary
transcendent state that viewers find themselves within when attempting to reconcile the
present with the fictionalized past forced by the disjointed nature of time and space in
the piece. This transcendent state brought about by the effective collapsing of time
allows for the confrontation of and temporary relief from the existential tension between
life and death in the work.
The work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres is largely comprised of works that allegorize
human coupling, love and partnership often through the personification of everyday
objects. Though his sculptures and installations are often specifically visually referential
of homosexual partnerships, Gonzalez-Torres often stated that his intention was that
the work would be read according to each individual viewer’s own understanding of and
associations with love. In “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers), two round wall clocks are hung
touching side-by-side on a light blue painted wall. Upon installation, they are set to the
same time, yet eventually tick out of synch with one another, gradually becoming more
and more unsynchronized as time passes, an elegant allegory of time in relationship to
coupledom (Spector).
Temporal associations pervade human lives and deaths. We live our lives by the
clock and when we die, we are memorialized through time in the notation of our birth
and death years on our epitaph. It is in this importance that we place on time that the
power of personifying time can be understood. In “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) the side-by-
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side clocks create an effective personification of time through the visual language of
coupledom. The matching clock pair achieves something greater than a single clock
ever could, for the personification can only occur in the instance of the pairing. Though
homoerotic coupledom specifically can be read in the identical physical structures of the
clocks, the personification of time itself rather than the physical clocks trumps all
associations in its universality. All viewers can be activated to reveal their own
relationships- homosexual, heterosexual, or both- through the resulting personification
of time achieved by the clocks. Participating in temporal drag by way of this
personification, the clocks ask us to consider not just how we feel time, but how we feel
time in a partnership. In this way, not only is the piece participating in temporal drag
through its own embodiment of the personification of time as a pair of lovers, but more
importantly in its elicitation of the viewer to ponder notions of “feeling time” in the
context of coupledom.
Unlike the other pieces I have analyzed, the historicity of “Untitled” (Perfect
Lovers) exists not in its overlapping of one time with another, but in its accounting for
individual and universal histories simultaneously. The piece, while made by GonzalezTorres specifically for his dying partner, Ross, embodies not only their individual
relationship through its personification of time, but the notion of partnership as a whole.
The ever-present ticking signifies both timelessness and transience, a universal
association in that all lovers, despite their devotion, will be parted by time. Thus, the
erotohistorical response elicited from the piece is borne of our universal understanding
of our own mortality and desire to transcend it, simultaneously embodied in the futile
efforts of the clocks’ ticking, an attempt at reengaging the unison they once shared
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which ultimately leads them to become further distanced in time, and eventually to their
own individual demise.
The collapsing of time in the piece is achieved in the flawed mechanism of the
clock. Though accounting for time, a clock itself is not time. The imperfection of their
mechanics allows the clocks to lose synchronicity with one another and require such
upkeep as re-synchronizing and the replacement of batteries. This mechanical flaw,
though not immediately evident when confronted with a single clock, becomes more
obvious when two clocks are placed side by side and their discontinuity becomes
apparent through their inconsistent account of time. Thus, the imperfection of their
representation of time, specifically when they are placed side-by-side allows for the
collapsing of time.
Additionally, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) suggests a simultaneous sense of
continuity in that “time” never ceases to exist, as well as ephemerality in that the
personification of time implies a mortal application to time, thus an unavoidable death.
The continuous ticking of the hands speak to the eternal nature of love, yet the ticking
itself is what is moving the clocks further and further apart in their telling of time, which
speaks to the impossibility of anything eternal. As the clocks become unsynchronized, it
alludes to the spatial and temporal separation between the two individuals. Effectively,
one individual always exists in the past while the other exists in the present or future- an
allusion to death.
At its core, “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers) points to the precious gift of time, a
reminder of our own mortality, while acknowledging the transcendence of such
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meaningful connections beyond mortality. In a letter to his dying partner Ross, for whom
the piece was made, Gonzalez-Torres wrote:
“Don’t be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, time has been so generous to
us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by
meeting at a certain TIME in a certain space…we are synchronized, now forever.
I love you (Ault).”
Where Bataille suggested a transcendence and temporary relief from mortality through
erotic action, this temporary existential transcendence in “Untitled” (Perfect Lovers)
occurs in the suggestion of that which is left behind between two lovers- the imprinting
of time.
When confronted with artworks participating in temporal drag, the resulting
erotohistorical response of the viewer is directly associated with our universal
communion with death. As Stewart ascribes mementos the power to collapse time
through the personal historical associations we have assigned to them, artworks
participating in temporal drag, to which we have no personal association, achieve the
erotohistorical response of the viewer through their universal associations of mortality.
As I have shown, the collapsing of time resulting from this erotohistorical response
allows for a temporary existential transcendence of death, similar to the transcendence
achieved through eroticism as put forth by Bataille. It is in these artworks of temporal
drag that we find ourselves “feeling the historical,” as put forth by Freeman, in order to
achieve such transcendence.
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Works Cited
Ault, Julie, ed. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. New York: Steidl Dangin, 2006. Print.
Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. Trans. Richard Miller. New York: Hill and
Wang, 1975. Print.
Bataille, Georges. Death and Sensuality: A Study of Eroticism and the Taboo. New
York: Walker and Company, 1962. Print.
Bloom, Lisa. “Introducing With Other Eyes: Looking at Race and Gender in Visual
Culture.” With Other Eyes: Looking at Race and Gender in Visual Culture. Ed.
Bloom, Lisa. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,1999. Print.
Buckingham, Matthew. Canal Street Canal. Matthew Buckingham. n.d. Web. 11 Nov.
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2014.
Freeman, Elizabeth. Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories. Durham: Duke
University Press, 2010. Print.
Smith, Vanessa. Rodney Graham: Temporality and Looping in Video Art. nt2. University
of Quebec at Montreal, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Spector, Nancy. Felix Gonzalez-Torres. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications,
2007. Print.
Stewart, Susan. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the
Collection. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Print.