chaos

image from sensitive chaos: the creation of flowing forms in water and air

there is no doubt that our body is a moulded river
(novalis, aphorisms)

it is breathed by stars

sb: have you seen my last hymn to the night: novalis?

pt: no, i haven’t.

sb: that’s a short film, maybe four and a half minutes, where i scratched sections of that poem onto the film, so the words appear as electrical fires interwoven with paint. the other version i made this past year, pulling out from under all this awful cancer treatment i’ve been through. i tried to imagine what novalis’ last hymn to the night might have been, when he’d be beyond language. it’s a twenty-five minute film, the most elaborate hand-painted film i’ve made. *


the universally gladdening light... as inmost soul... it is breathed by stars... by stone... i seek to blend with ashes **


... night became the mighty womb of revelations - the gods drew back into it - and fell asleep, only to go out in new and more splendid forms over the changed world ... the new world appeared with features never seen before... ***


* philip taaffe: composite nature - peter blum edition - 1998
** david e. james (edited) - stan brakhage: filmmaker - temple university press - 2005
specifically - r. bruce elder - brakhage - poesis (text used in film)
*** novalis - hymns to the night - 1800 - translation dick higgins

hymns to the night

endless and full of mystery
sweet trembling courses through us-
to me it seems an echo sounds
out of the deep distance of our grief.
our loved ones too may be longing for us,
and sent to us this yearning breath.

down now to the sweet bride, on
to jesus, to the beloved-
take heart, evening's darkling greys
to the loving, to the grieving.
a dream will break our fetters off,
and sink us forever in our father's lap.

..........a cold north wind blew unfriendly over the frozen plain, and the rigid place of wonders
dissipated into the ether. heaven's distances filled up with glowing worlds. into the deeper sanctuary, into the soul's higher realm the world's soul drew up with its powers-to rule there till the break of dawning world splendor. no longer was the Light the seat of the gods or the heavenly sign-over themselves they drew the veil of Night. Night became the mighty womb of revelations-the gods few back into it-and fell asleep, only to go out in new and more splendid forms over the changed world................

novalis (dick higgins)