Jon Rafman, LEGENDARY REALITY (2017)

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  • Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
  • LEGENDARY REALITY (2017) by Jon Rafman
    0:07
    One day I’m sitting at Ben’s Deli when his voice comes over the loudspeakers,
    sewing together everything that I observe. Whatever the music touches gets
    embedded in an immense tapestry. And he is in it--a figure framed by the city.
    0:49
    Late at night, when I look out at the buildings, I see a face in every window looking
    back at me. When I turn away, I wonder how many go back to their desks and write
    this down.
    1:27
    I have not seen him in years now, but his words are in my blood and veins. They rise
    up in me and fuse together the horizontal and the vertical.
    2:05
    A warm feeling washes over me. I can make out the blurry outline of my glass
    chamber. Am I waking up, or going to sleep?
    2:32
    My memories break like a mirror into a thousand fragments. The line between
    inside and outside melts away. Images begin to seep in.
    3:00
    I hear his voice now, calling out to me from the tower down the track. It summons
    me down the passageway, which I did not take… towards the portal, I never entered.
    4:05
    Let me renew myself in the midst of all the things in the world, which cannot be
    connected.
    4:43
    I open my eyes. I am alone in Murray Hill Park, staring at the city below.
    5:03
    I’m hungry for food, for love, for flesh.
    5:18
    There is a note nailed to a tree. It reads: “The flowers that I left in the ground, that I
    did not gather for you - today I bring them all back, to let them grow forever. Not in
    poems or marble, but where they fell and rotted.”
    6:21
    A wave of memories hits me. I’m standing by the window of my childhood
    apartment, on Peel and Sherbrooke. Wait, no, I’m in front of the Orange Julip, in my
    first car, my high school sweetheart beside me. And for a moment, I almost forget
    that I’m in this pod, bandaged by silence.
    7:04
    My sense of self is not strong enough to register my self’s erosion. There is no
    sustaining belief, no heroic struggle, just a hard, bitter silence.
    8:11
    This is the only poem I can read. I am the only one who can write it. I didn’t kill
    myself when things went wrong. I didn’t turn to drugs or teaching. I tried to sleep.
    But when I couldn’t sleep, I learned to write. I learned to write what might be read
    on nights like this by one like me.
    8:54
    We all want the past to be vindicated, and so we evoke figures of the past. A desire
    in me instantly awakes for something eternally hinted at but never achieved, the
    echoes of a past existence. I know who I have to seek out.
    10:22
    A solitary figure appears on the edge of my vision. A figure among the ruins who
    couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else. Did I have the right to come after him, with my
    dusty mind? I approach him slowly, with the pain of a thousand-year-old statue
    breaking into life. He welcomes me without surprise, as if he had been waiting for
    me. We walk along the coastline. He leads me into a dark cave, and we descend,
    through cliffs of glowing green water.
    11:44
    The ground begins to tremble. The landscape feels like it’s about to blow apart.
    12:06
    He tells me that this is the realm of the crack, the realm of failure, the realm of death,
    and unless you affirm failure and death, you are going to be unhappy.
    12:28
    He says that redemption, repentance, resurrection used to be our spiritual tools, but
    these pathways have been forgotten, ruined, or abandoned. Instead, each attempt at
    writing is a new beginning, a raid on the inarticulate. There is only the war to
    recover what has been lost and found and lost again, under conditions that seem
    more and more unfavorable.
    13:10
    You must destroy the versions of yourself that provide too easy a solution, murder
    the selves that whisper untruths. He tells me all this between the dripping walls of a
    catacomb, while we watch out for the black puddles underfoot. Who knows how
    deep they go. We shake hands solemnly and exchange umbrellas and then we
    tighten each other’s ties. He kisses me on the cheek in the manner of a French
    general awarding medals and we part ways.
    14:22
    I have not been unhappy in ten thousand years. During the day, I laugh, and during
    the night, I sleep. My favourite cooks prepare my meals, my body cleans and repairs
    itself, and all my work goes well.
    14:57
    As I grow older the world becomes stranger, the patterns more complicated.
    Something inside me has changed. The wind isn’t howling outside anymore, it’s
    howling within me.
    jonrafman.com

Комментарии • 29

  • @catalinavillegas-burgos589
    @catalinavillegas-burgos589 6 лет назад +16

    I finally found this video! It was my favorite piece from the Leonard Cohen exhibition in Montreal. I visited it four times!

  • @ronanbbbbb
    @ronanbbbbb 6 лет назад +8

    you are a genius, thank you Jon

  • @maxprokopenko4692
    @maxprokopenko4692 6 лет назад +29

    One day I'm sitting at Ben's Deli, when his voice comes over the loudspeakers, sewing together everything that I observe
    Whatever the music touches gets embedded in an immense tapestry, and he is in it; a figure framed by the city
    Late at night, when I look out at the buildings, I see a face in every window looking back at me
    When I turn away, I wonder how many go back to their desks and write this down
    I have not seen him in years now, but his words are in my blood and veins
    They rise up in me, and fuse together the horizontal and the vertical
    A warm feeling washes over me
    I can make out the blurry outline of my glass chamber
    Am I waking up or going to sleep?
    My memories break like a mirror into a thousand fragments
    The line between inside and outside melts away
    Images begin to seep in
    I hear his voice now calling out to me from the tower down the track
    It summons me down the passageway which I did not take, towards the portal I never entered
    Let me renew myself in the midst of all the things in the world which cannot be connecctteeddd
    I open my eyes
    I'm alone in Murray Hill Park
    Staring at the city below
    I'm hungry for food, for love, for flesh
    There's a note nailed to a tree, it reads:
    The flowers that I left in the ground
    That I did not gather for you
    Today I bring them all back
    To let them grow forever
    Not in poems or marble
    But where they fell, and rotted
    A wave of memories hits me
    I'm standing by the window of my childhood apartment, on Gil and Sherbrooke
    Wait, no - I'm in front of the Orange Julip, in my first car, my highschool sweetheart beside me
    And for a moment, I almost forget that I'm in this pod, bandaged by silence
    My sense of self is not strong enough to register my self's erosion
    There is no sustaining belief, no heroic struggle, just a hard bitter silence
    This is the only poem I can read
    I am the only one who can write it
    I didn't kill myself when things went wrong, I didn't turn to drugs or teaching, I tried to sleep
    But when I couldn't sleep, I learned to write
    I learned to write what might be read, on nights like this, by one like me
    We all want the past to be vinicated, and so we evoke figures of the past
    A desire in me instantly awakes for something internally hinted at, but never achieved; the echoes of a past existence
    I know who I have to seek out
    A solitary figure appears on the edge of my vision
    A figure among the ruins who couldn't be mistaken for anyone else
    Did I have the right to come after him, with my dusty mind?
    I approach him slowly, with the pain of a thousand-year old statue, breaking into life
    He welcomes me without surprise, as if he had been waiting for me
    We walk along the coastline
    He leads me into a dark cave
    And we descend, through cliffs of glowing green water
    The ground begins to tremble, the landscape feels like it's about to blow apart
    He tells me that this the realm of the crack, the realm of failure, the realm of death, and unless you affirm failure and death, you are going to be unhappy
    He says that redemption, repentance, resurrection, used to be our spiritual tools, but these pathways have been forgotten, ruined, or abandoned
    Instead, each attempt at writing is a new beginning: a raid on the inarticulate
    There's only the war to recover what has been lost, and found, and lost again, under conditions that seem more and more unfavourable
    You must destroy the versions of yourself that provide too easy a solution, murder the selves that whisper untruths
    He tells me all this between the dripping walls of the catacomb, while we watch out for the black puddles underfoot
    Who knows how deep they go
    We shake hands solemnly and exchange umbrellas, and then we tighten each other's ties
    He kisses me on the cheek in the manner of a French general awarding medals, and then we part ways
    I have not been unhappy for ten thousand years
    During the day I laugh, and during the night, I sleep
    My favourite cooks prepare my meals
    My body cleans and repairs itself, and all my work goes well
    As I grow older, the world becomes stranger, the patterns more complicated
    Something inside me has changed, the wind isn't howling outside anymore: it's howling within me

    • @artvirgowich
      @artvirgowich 4 года назад

      Max Prokopenko lifesafer!! cause I gotta write about him for my arts grade and i chose this piece 🙏🏽

  • @ronanbbbbb
    @ronanbbbbb 6 лет назад +6

    so beautiful.. like bladerunner on heaps of acid

  • @stram7318
    @stram7318 6 лет назад +2

    Saw this in MTL fell in love with the atmosphere, beautiful

  • @kevincbaker9126
    @kevincbaker9126 6 лет назад +2

    It's great to have you back

  • @ryancherewaty3621
    @ryancherewaty3621 6 лет назад +1

    "I didn't turn to drugs or teaching"... Gold! hahah

  • @henrygifford544
    @henrygifford544 5 лет назад

    I noticed two definite references to T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" when I saw this yesterday at the Leonard Cohen exhibition. "A raid on the inarticulate" and "down the passageway which I did not take, towards the portal I never entered" ("down the passage which we did not take / towards the door we never opened / into the rose garden.") Beautiful poem, beautiful film.

  • @HaephastusBreastplate
    @HaephastusBreastplate 6 лет назад +1

    Its baaack! Thanks jon

  • @smmmmith4424
    @smmmmith4424 5 лет назад +1

    thank you so much for this. you are pushing things in a great direction.

  • @TAXXPAYERMONEY
    @TAXXPAYERMONEY 6 лет назад

    very beautiful

  • @rubenahlers2681
    @rubenahlers2681 6 лет назад

    Great Instructional Video As Always!

  • @TripleKillNZ
    @TripleKillNZ 6 лет назад

    Love the Dear Esther landscape, I shot it for a video I made it earlier this year too!

  • @hurrse
    @hurrse 6 лет назад +8

    MDE Never Dies

    • @bdroie
      @bdroie 3 года назад +1

      million dollar extreme?

  • @svetlanavorderegger9674
    @svetlanavorderegger9674 2 года назад

    You is like coming in my Soul 💋

  • @sofiobra
    @sofiobra 5 лет назад

    💙

  • @propername4830
    @propername4830 6 лет назад

    "LEGENDARY REALITY" alright!!!

  • @Rsllxs
    @Rsllxs 2 года назад +1

    i imagine this is what the metaverse sounds like

  • @adambateman6828
    @adambateman6828 4 года назад

    When they said (they said) repent (repent), repent (repent)
    I wonder what they meant

  • @propername4830
    @propername4830 6 лет назад +15

    Sorry but I gotta say it... r.i.p. LIl Peep

  • @keytronic
    @keytronic 6 лет назад +1

    I love your mind, I wonder are you an INTP?

    • @sauce1302
      @sauce1302 3 года назад

      What is that

    • @sdj3000
      @sdj3000 3 года назад +4

      @@sauce1302 another projected identity, nevermind

  • @MyLoudawg
    @MyLoudawg 5 лет назад +2

    One depressed narrator

  • @jacksonglasgow
    @jacksonglasgow 5 лет назад

    fuqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq