Figure of Two:: text

BETTINA CARL
HOME >> deutsch

EINS UND ZWEI 2010
ONE AND TWO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

FIGUR DER ZWEI FIGURE OF TWO, 2010 >double page A >double page B >double page C

a text and six drawings for
31 -- magazine edited by Institut für Theorie, Vol. 14-15: "Die Figur der Zwei" "The Figure of Two",
Zurich University of the Arts, December 2010

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BETTINA CARL:
Untitled (Figure of Two)

Is the same one or two?
Dasselbe ist eins, das Gleiche ist zwei.

But the figure in the mirror is the same
(but)

Einszweidreivierfünfsechssiebenneun: nein.
Acht und Null immerhin: Zahlen wie Körper,
figures eben.

Who knows how One would talk about Two,
would she praise or rather speak evil of her?
That Two who was One before is now silenced
and sunk in Two, one gulp and gone she was.
Up next a burp: us.

English and German have only one pronoun for we.
This We may or may not include the addressed person,
hence the speaker has to remain vague at first whether
she talks about us or whether she rather aims to express
a dichotomy: of an excluded addressee versus a We the
speaker belongs to.
However, this semantic flaw does not exist in Quechua
nor in the Mayan languages; the Guatemaltecan Mam, for
example has q'o signifying a we incorporating the you
presently addressed, whereas q'o-ya means we who are
distinct from you.

BETTINA CARL	HOME	>> deutsch


EINS UND ZWEI 2010 ONE AND TWO	1 2 3 4 5 6 7

a text and six drawings for 31 -- magazine edited by Institut für Theorie, Vol. 14-15: "Die Figur der Zwei" "The Figure of Two", Zurich University of the Arts, December 2010

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

BETTINA CARL: Untitled (Figure of Two) Is the same one or two? Dasselbe ist eins, das Gleiche ist zwei. But the figure in the mirror is the same (but) Einszweidreivierfünfsechssiebenneun: nein. Acht und Null immerhin: Zahlen wie Körper, figures eben. Who knows how One would talk about Two, would she praise or rather speak evil of her? That Two who was One before is now silenced and sunk in Two, one gulp and gone she was. Up next a burp: us.

English and German have only one pronoun for we. This We may or may not include the addressed person, hence the speaker has to remain vague at first whether she talks about us or whether she rather aims to express a dichotomy: of an excluded addressee versus a We the speaker belongs to. However, this semantic flaw does not exist in Quechua nor in the Mayan languages; the Guatemaltecan Mam, for example has q'o signifying a we incorporating the you presently addressed, whereas q'o-ya means we who are distinct from you.