#114 Always Already

The question "When will we have equality? When is the time for change?" always has two answers - "Not yet" or - "Too late". Not yet, because the economy is too bad, or it's not bad enough. Because people are busy or they are pacified. Too late because we lost our innocence. Before, we were naive and believed. Now we are too comfortable or cynical and afraid. Too late because we tried it, and it didn't work. Because capitalism is natural, and we have arrived at our destination. History is over. There is only an ever continuous now.

ALWAYS and ALREADY are twin works. They should be read together. Always-already is a term used to describe the fact that an event in time forever changes everything coming after, even if the event passes unnoticed, and the realisation of the consequences of it arises long after. It can be used in understanding free will through the Western concept of love as described by Slavoj Zizek in The Sublime Object of Ideology: "This is also the basic paradox of love: not only of one's country but also of a woman or a man. If I am directly ordered to love a woman, it is clear that this does not work: in a way, love must be free. But on the other hand, if I proceed as if I really have a free choice, if I start to look around and say to myself, 'Let's choose which of these women I will fall in love with,' it is clear that this also does not work, that it is not real love. The paradox of love is that it is a free choice, but a choice which never arrives in the present - it is always already made ...I can only state retroactively that I've already chosen ... "
The term is also valuable for understanding the concept of ideology. Ideology is at work in all societal institutions, so when we grow up as individuals, we are also always-already subject to it. In the case of capitalism, it is especially relevant. Even if modern capitalism developed during the industrialisation of the nineteenth century, its exponents present it as not only everlasting but also as always-already here. They proclaim its foundation is in human nature - survival of the fittest, personal freedom etc. The market's invisible hand is treated like a law of nature. But even if these concepts are questionable, one should be careful not to think that ideology hides the true nature of things and that you can fight it by "lifting the veil" and exposing reality as it really is. Ideology is always already inscribed in it through language itself. Without categorisation and symbolisation, we cannot perceive anything at all. We wouldn't even be self-aware. Precisely as there is no magic, only magic tricks, what ideology does is that it leads attention to one truth while another operates unnoticed. For example, capitalism talks about the right to pursue happiness while facilitating the right to exploitation. So we simply can't take away ideology. We have to replace one with another. This might seem like a hopeless task, but it is definitely not impossible. When you read what is actually written in the two works, it spells - "Not Yet Too Late".

To the mind, a word is always also an image. In that sense, understanding words function no different than normal perception. When we see, images are constructed inside the mind. We never perceive reality objectively or in itself. Perception is an interpretation and thus consist of language, in the same manner as understanding words.
However, to use language, we have to speak or write it. We have to realize it. Nothing ever communicates without being inscribed into a matter of some sort. But how words are inserted into reality affects how we perceive them. Thus reality itself seeps into language. There exists no clear or unmediated communication. Matter adds to the message. Because which matter we choose to communicate through, and how we shape it, reflects on who we are, it can reveal unconscious or hidden meanings.
 
Humans inscribed the first written words in stone or clay. One of the purposes was to save them for the future, to protect them from the volatility of time. To speak, or to write, is always to some extent, an act of power. The receiver must initially submit his or her attention to the message. No matter how insignificant, its meaning will always in some way change the receiver forever.

There is a constant tension between language and reality as matter. The human subject is defined by an individual will, as opposed to the strict causality of nature. This will strive to be expressed through language. Maybe self-awareness is a result of language at use. Language as a way for the ego to invent itself, to inscribe itself into the world. It is no coincident that many of the first examples of texts are curses, prayers, laws or inventories — different ways of trying to influence and master reality.

Tablet series is part of Template, a compilation of works made by using pieces of wooden plates as templates. They function a bit as a mould or matrix for the finished work. The plates are attached inside the frame and after the first layer of filler had dried they are removed. The remaining empty spaces are filled with filler of a different colour.

Reminiscent of Richard Serra's Verb List I try to use simple and clearly defined actions to shape the filler in my works. This way there is always non-cognitive aspects of the production process.