ToResist
January 2020
To Resist is an non-interactive animation developed in Processing.
The present stands around the questions "What does it mean to be governed? What does it mean to resist?". It draws animated text and graphics to build a scene that writhes. It takes texts from the Chilean Constitution (1980-present). Currently, this Constitution is the high point of fight in the current Chilean civil revolution that began in October 2019. Until today, serious violations of human rights had taken place.
produced by: Camila Colussi
The project
Kristen Krider is a writer, artist and Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. I attended one of her lectures (attached in the references), which started with the following questions: "What does it mean to be governed? What does it mean to resist?". I've been carrying these questions with me since then, in times of a recent civil revolution on my belong country. Today, the image of "resistance" or "to be governed" look different than it did yesterday. Renewed, flexible, deeply complex, able to change, hopeful.
When Walter Benjamin writes "Theses on the Philosophy of History" (1942), he proposes a non-linear History and encourages us to imagine a diversity of futures. If all past could be, all future could be. Paraphrasing the blog article "Walter Benjamin: repensar el tiempo histórico", written by Jaime Rodríguez Uriarte; Benjamin opens our perspectives to open the historical time towards unexpected directions.
Under these references in mind, the present project takes parts of the Chilean Constitution, written during the Chilean dictatorship (1973-1989) and still in use in our called democracy. The recent civil revolution that had happened since October 2019 is pushing to develop a new Constitution due to the huge implications that it has to the governance of the country. The present project takes the XV Chapter —known as the Constitutional chapter that prohibits a new constitution—. I take it to dissolve it as falling letters on the left side of the screen. Also, it is surrounded by the Chapter One's 4th Article, which pronounces Chile as a democratic republic. At the back, a sinusoidal movement goes over and over again to reference a resistance force. Moreover, it is a box multiplied in many boxes creating a 3D space that could be many spaces. Open the space. Space as History. Opening the historical time.
Technical process:
The main challenge was working with text to find creative possibilities in relation to concepts such as resistance, governance, history, twist, directions, multiple space, multiple time, multiple future, among others. From a personal feeling, I knew as I needed to work with the Chilean Constitution, but I didn't know how. In other words, how to express these concepts? How go beyond representations? How can I experience through graphics? Even if the results are or are not accurate to those aims, it's about the process to go through.
References:
Visual references:
Pinterest: https://pin.it/xe4nbtuu6zw2tw
Code references:
Box: https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/710024
Text: https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/762843
Conceptual references and bibliography:
Benjamin, Walter. (1942). Theses on the Philosophy of History.
Filco.es: https://www.filco.es/walter-benjamin-repensar-tiempo-historico/
Kristen Krider's Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33_t_KDGZw