Against Biography [electronic resource].

Irena Haiduk 2013

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Two figures go out into this world and traverse it: the explorer and the imposter. The explorer stands on terra firma, surveying the horizon that magnetically pulls him. Sometimes Fernweh (in German, “yearning for the faraway”) produces an explorer who never returns, but his traveling is still made possible by the knowledge that he could return at any time. The image of the explorer appends a few basic corollaries to the nature of the Western image and the way it renders history. This Western image is weightless, infinitely thin, hovering above everything, including history. It is reproducible on all channels, allows simultaneous viewing by everyone at all times, invites implantation and recall. It endures despite everything that has happened (wars, holocausts, market crashes, austerity measures) and despite everything that will happen (wars, holocausts, market crashes, austerity measures). The image fixes history—it reads the same for most people, on some level requiring no elaborate narrative or explanation, a perfect and permanent citation—it always was, is, and will be. Only a master on the right side of history can produce this kind of image. (Even if he doesn’t realize that’s what he’s doing, it is equally noxious)…
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Irena Haiduk