Join us in celebration of the opening of olivier’s solo exhibition - Bibliographical, nonsense #3: Paratextual Messages of the (UF)Os
S(H)ELF; {Neither;
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—| Index away— Write me off—
—| The exhausted object: Grants me, now!,
—| this contemplation pure of a language of the dawn. Rise, now!
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^Previously in nonsense #2^ Started with the acceptance of a close encounter(...)ended in an encounter of self—a lack(-nessless) of self, but selves. (uh, oh)
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Here comes nonsense #3. > Genette: “...Paradoxically, paratexts without texts do exist…” (Hmm…)
What is it to have a Borgesian way of navigating the originless shelves of Os in a UFO archive…all that are left are paratexts…where to next? how does the self move on? should one go on? The bookshelves have collapsed and the flying saucers will never land: We are living off from the (im)balance of pleasure and jouissance— Can this be a loss of a self among selves? Are selves scattered in the instant of ekstasis (1)?
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Genette, again: (in an imaginary interview) “...the text interests me (only) in its textual transcendence— namely, everything that brings it into relation (manifest or hidden) with other texts. I call that transtextuality…”
v
trans(t)exuality…?
S( H )ELF; Nor}
1. (from Ancient Greek ἔκστασις) to stand outside of or transcend [oneself].
Mysticism > Existentialism …. displacement…sourceless….
… (?self-annihilation?)
olivier is a research-based artist+writer and archives worker. They speak Cantonese at home with their demonic cat.
Their practice is rooted in the ephemerality and the anarchival in queer and trans theory, and ufology. They toy with poetics and semiotics, caress languaging and linguistics, draw with speculative projects, artists’ books, videos, performative lectures, happenings, surveys… and lead a secret mail art practice.
olivier has lectured, performed, exhibited and published works in artist-run spaces, libraries, galleries and institutions in London, Hong Kong, New England, New York, Chicago, and perhaps your dream state. They are the founder of a speculative UFO archive project, The UFO Lobby (2021-). Some recent exhibitions and performative lectures include The Unreliable Narrator: I prefer not to be named (Chinese American Museum of Chicago), Would a Melancholic Time Traveller Time Travel?: A Study on Nostalgia and Melancholy Differences (Neighborhood Spaces, South Portland ME), UFO* *Not Cited (Poetry Foundation, Chicago IL), A Second Case Study: Informal Pterodactyl (Some reconsiderations of linguistic territories) (University of Illinois at Chicago), Archiving Edging: The edges of archives and to edge an archive (Duo show, Roots & Culture, Chicago IL), and UFO Citing: A Tribute for Lynn E. Catoe (Solo show, Portland ME).
olivier holds an MA in Visual and Critical Studies, and a BFA in Painting and Art History. Born and raised in British-Hong Kong, they are now temporarily floating in the rivers of Chicago after some adventures in the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean.
For the past decade, their time-machine has been stuck in this dimension. So it goes.