On The Verge (Hanging on Air)

In 2003, I produced this book as part of an exhibition , today it comes to the www.


Text accompanying the pictures to be seen in the slide further down:

The truth is that in order to preserve one's sanity one has to eventually compromise oneself, or accept loneliness. If one choses to compromise then things seem to go better for sometime but soon it gets again complicated to reconcile one self with the society around. The moment comes when one has again to compromise as either part of the entity or the individual or as both.
For the individual, it is a slope that could be termed in the subtleties of the diplomatic language "a force de compromis on se compromets" some would even add "on se corrompt".
I wonder if the banned door of AUC does not within a distorted logic fit within the Cairo amazing and logically unexpected showcases. I also wonder what will happen of this banned door when the University moves away to the less polluted area where it intends to move. Will it regain its use as a door or will it be kept by the new organization as a timeless memorial of a time that used to be. What will be there ? will the Greek campus attacked by some terrorist organization will become a memorial or will it just be handed over to Halliburton to become their offices in Cairo? Maybe it should be refurbished into a research center about the effects of high level of pollution on indigenous populations, somehow one would expect some Rumsfeld at the head of such a vital research center.
Long before September 11, there was a time when one could just walk in anywhere and all gates were opened. Eventually security concerns and probably also market laws convinced societies that they needed to close doors and to refuse entrance to the possibly evil passer by . Heavily guarded and "inpenetrable" doors were built and somehow maybe September 11 was just a reaction to this "privatisation" or is it "colonization" of space.
There are so many kinds of freedom , there is the freedom for the public enemies to hide in caves and the freedom for Kubrick's schizophrenic "Dr." to pull the trigger or push the button.
Fundamental freedoms are under attack however the freedom to push the button is still allowed to some.




Slideshow had to be removed as it caused browsers to crash while loading, it can still be found here