Something Like #21: The Continuous Present, w/ Bitsy Knox, Emma LaMorte, and Rosa Aiello

“. . . It’s at this moment that I decide to make a change, set up some rules, do something, because when the life of the living moves slow, it speeds the overall sense of time. It gives the impression that life goes by “In a flash,” “In a breath,” “Before you know it.” I decide: 

First, I will forbid the use of any such phrase, including, “Where has the day gone?” including “Already?”. Second, I will do all I can to avoid tradition, which speeds time. Like ritual speeds time. Like routine, which I cannot possibly avoid, speeds time. Third, and most important, because it is something I can control, I will adopt an exercise for slowing time: to place details in time, so to prevent the seamless fold from taking hold. . . ” 

(an excerpt from Calypso Goes out of Favour by Rosa Aiello)

In this very special 21st episode of Something Like, Bitsy speaks with artists Emma LaMorte and Rosa Aiello about Emma’s solo exhibition, Aussicht, in-situ at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, late into the night. 

As they go on an ekphrastic exploration through Emma’s exhibition, they ask: what produces a feeling of the continuous present, and how do we move through it? What does the passage of time feel like for an artist—for a new mother—and how does this relate to care, to duty, to patience, to pleasure, and even…to injustice?

Taking a page from Aussicht, this is an episode in four parts, and features an original score by LNS (Laura Sparrow), as well as excerpts from Rosa Aiello’s text for the exhibition, Calypso Goes out of Favour, an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Calypso’s Way.

Huge thanks to my special guests Rosa Aiello and Emma LaMorte, as well as to Ben Marvin, Laura Sparrow, and of course Miriam Bettin, who curated the exhibition, and was instrumental in helping this episode happen.

• Aussicht is on view at the Kölnischer Kunstverein now through October 18th, 2020.
• Emma will be screening Stan Brakhage’s Anticipation of the Night (1958) on October 13th, at 7pm at the Kölnischer Kunstverein. Register here.
• Hear more of LNS (Laura Sparrow) here and on her bandcamp: https://lnslaurasparrow.bandcamp.com/
• As always, thank you to Roger 3000 for providing the music in Something Like’s jingle.
• This week, the tracks under our conversation include: Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon (1985), Alice Coltrane’s Reflection on Creation and Space (1973), and Midori Takada’s Through the Looking Glass (1983)
• Erratum: I keep referring to Terry Riley and Don Cherry’s Descending Moonshine Dervishes incorrectly (without the important “shine” in that “moon”).