the

I want to investigate my own identity, broken down into a book of

posters: type, diagrams and images. I would like to look through the lens

of the high German epic poem, Der Nibelungenlied, which integrates

Pagan and Norse mythology with the morality of Medieval Europe.

In an effort to better understand myself and create a reflective environment

for humanity at large to consider the basis of moral consciousness and the

creative process, which has escaped scientific explanation. I will utilize

an analysis of the langauge itself visually to explore image and the

theory and history behind the information with universal principals.

This is Metatron’s Cube. The shape is a sacred geometry used in the planning and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, tabernacles. It begets the five Platonic solids, including a star tetrahedron

MiST SONGMiST SONG

ERIK FREER JULIA WARGASKI

THESIS 1

=

Five Plates

Smaller internal books

Past, Present, Future, Creation, Destruction

Illumination imagesand information diagramming

Poetry, Images,Story DiagramsExperimental andInstallational Type

Der Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs or the mist people) is an ancient High German myth that has its roots in the Icelandic epic the Völsunga saga and the old Norse Poetic Edda, a collection of myths from the Vikings. The myth has been described as a gratuitous, repetitive ornamentation. I am drawn to this epic in terms of communication because, I find this idea of ornamentation and repetition extremely important. Also, I am German Ethnically. I have always been interested in my ancestry but have a feeling of guilt because collective history of violence associated with it. Some of the more prominent influences on me creatively are works directly influenced by this violence. I want to explore what it means to me.

I found that interacting with this epic poem in a poetic way would be an ideal space for me to explore my creative process and my morals. I find I lack a logical approach that many have in my creative process and in my research surrounding this myth I found a quote from Franz Schorenberner that resonated with me, he says: “Good Poets rarely excel in logical orderliness of mind, to the eternal despair of philologists who in tern are almost never good poets”. I want to apply a design logic to this poetry and my own in an attempt to explore my own process and morals further.

Within the poem each of the seven sins (wrath, greed, jealousy, sloth, glutton, lust and pride) areenacted and their repercussions dealt with in the end to the death of almost all those involved, “this is the fall of the Nibelungs” the unnamed Author states. I intend to encapsulate the aforementioned feelings in the design of the book.

This poem transcends national and historical boundaries. It’s carnal and emotional scenes hone in on uni-versal human identities. Greed, lust, loyalty and honor are all explored. I want to use the poem as a lens over time. In Germany especially during times of national unrest such as the rule of Prussian military or the economic crash of the first World War the poem is used as a way to consider violence and loss. Freud and Jung explore the psyche of the Nibelungs in their studies. In the extremely fast paced environment we live in I would like to create something that forces us to slow down and reflect.

Why Der Nibelungenlied Structure

A

A

B C D E

Marian Bantjes wrote and designed a book called “I Wonder”. On the book she write “As a book experience, the relationship between the content and the graphics is very important. They are totally interdependent and neither the articles nor the graphics can live without the other.” My intent here is to create a piece that similarly works at this level of interconnectivity and intricacy.

My intent is to create something that is accessible to a multidisciplinary group of individuals. Both designers, poets and art enthusiasts will enjoy various nuanced ideas present within the book. Beyond this, the ideas I intend to explore are universal to all humans, as we all attempt to understand who we are and why we do what we do. I find that any person should be able to engage with this as a way to view themselves.

Marian Bantjes “I Wonder”William Morris “Sigurd”

Nibelungenlied Manuscript Wagner Operas

Fritz Lang “Seigfried”

precedents

Currently

MUSIC

iTUNES SONGS PLAYED

PERCENT LISTENED TO

Based on iTunes Statistician

16,382

15 1/2

19,857

82.4 %

Favorite New Albums

Songs Played Per Day

1.2.3.4.5.

1.2.3.4.

Top Albums:

Top Artists:

Tune YardsBroadcast

Die AntwordAtlas Sound

Youth Lagoons

Andrés Segovia

Ravel: L’Oeuvre

Blue(Joni Mitchell)

The Age of Adz (Sufjan Stevens)

Cocteau Twins(574)

Sufjan Stevens(426)

Woody Guthrie(347)

Andrés Segovia(322)

Another Green World(Brian Eno)

WI, IL, NY, NJ, MI, MA, CT, RI

83

1,472Digital

Miles Traveled

Analog

8,769

Spent $2973.6

Average Distance930Mi

Flights

Outside USA

7

Travel

Cameras Used

Leica M7

Uploaded To Flickr

14 GB

Cannon D60Nikon D200Fujifilm ABCannon ElfPolaroid 600

CANADAEach FlightAlone

Birthchart

My Birthchart

Collages

Collection of Images of Japanese Tea Houses, here I explore depth, form and alignment based on geometric and organic forms.

A collection of scores I’ve sungover the last five years overlaid with geometric structures relevant to universal principals and my birth

A collage of ideas from the media;advertisements, celebrity, sexuality taboo and stainability.

=

PerformancePerformance is am important part of my life. Since childhood I’ve been acting. Currently I am also a BA candidate in writing with an emphasis in Play writing. I wanted to incorporate this into my thesis.

Spring ‘04

Spring ‘05

Fall ‘05

Spring ‘06

Fall ‘06

Spring ‘07

Fall ‘07

Spring ‘08

Fall ‘04

one monthsemester

freshman

sophomore

junior

senior

time spent in productions during adolescence

Me performing with Marina Abramovic at The MoMA last May.

Rehearsal Reading for Performance

richer mar grave, Got hat an iu getan VilGenaedelichenWand’eriu hat gegeben ein

richer mar grave, Got hat an iu getan VilGenaedelichenWand’eriu hat gegeben ein

=

PoeTRYI’ve been writing a lot of different textural poetry involving the myths andarchteypes within the story of the Nibelungs andother myths. My next stepis developing disgramming systems that will allow meto activate poetry more fully. I’ve developed a system for actevating sonnetshowever, at this point I wantto work in a less structured form. Any suggestions?

Already caught. Afraid of running away. You arrive at a clearing. Does it always have to be the same public, protected open-ing? What about a private protected area. What about the river in which Artemis bathes, anyone could just approach. Actae-on, you did. She could be washing forever. Yet in a moment, condemnation. In a moment, hunting. Washing. Washing in the ramble. Washing in the fountain. Cleaning. Dumping water. Squeezing. Washing in the low tide of a man made fall, down the side of a pathway, near 110th. Thanks Olmstead. Washing in the meer. Dioxippe. Washing in the reservoir. The fatal wrath of a surprised woman. Washing. Until under is clean. Borax. Until under nail is clear. Until upper lip stench from a kiss. Did she kiss him before she killed him? ad hoc. Did she smoke? Her rage. Did she smoke the meat she hunted? From a ciga-rette mouth, a beaded maw, not now, not now. Thous Canache. You saw her bathing. Melanchaetes. In man made. Not tides. But she didn’t catch you. You left. You receded into the Upper East Side. Gorgo. Down on the Four train. Harpalicus. into the smell. You can’t see underground. Its from the smell. That unbearable smell. Not deletion. Not Lexington Avenue. Not “Have a nice day,” not nothing. You saw and nothing. Melampus. Not Love. Not Sex. Not an attempted caress. No washing. Not even. Not Square. The pouting of a little boy. Agre. What you wanted. When you. What you came. You come to a clear-ing, dust settles. Top it off. The milk pods have exploded. You were searching in the woods but now this tiny white. Zephyrus. This not flakes, not silts, white down moving through. Now this tiny white. Leaena. Diffuse, disperse you see them fall. Beetle, Actaeon, you see insects. Moths, can’t deal with this. Tiny white. Butterflies, Ocypete, Ocydrome, Oxyrhoe, Orias. They move against a green mass. Somewhere there is a lake, somewhere a harbor. Somewhere dogs. Somewhere she still bathes. A yel-low haze, an organ song. Air pushes through pipes, low, the click, the bass reverberating off of the naves, off of the ribs. Yet it is all light. It is a rushing through water. Pterelas. Not restrained, not glass only leaves. This earth. And you go back under brush. Or in the past. Across continents. On the island of Shikoku. The clicking continues. A din. The solitary bike ride you embarked upon. Towards the hills. Always moving. Nightly bathing. hot. Alce. Always pulled toward hills. And east of your dwelling, a hidden sneaking river. Theridamas. The eye brow mountain looming in the distance. It was afternoon. You, alone, took the road, took in experience, exposed earth covered in water, bricks and concrete. Growing rice. Not corn. Stones. Large palms. Cicada calls. Oresitrophos. Searching. for washing. Searching for some unspoken. Afraid to be there. Not square. You never gave them their language. And all of the sudden engulfed in groves and then. The Clearing. Again the river. A small shrine. you. Fox caught by dogs. A shrine to hunt, To earth, To Artemis. Kasuga Taisha. Beneath the earth, the corpse of a giant deer. A giant deer? A giant deer. Sagnos. Not a moose. A grave. Washing in the. The fast. The wide. And tiny black. Tiny black leaves. Tiny black opalescence, alive, moving, the dragonfly’s twinning. Volatos. They move innocent, sinister, a rushing silence. Tiny black falls. Bike falls. Dog stalks, the grumble of an old woman above the brow. Eternally tiny white on the horizon. Tiny Black. Watching, reflected in the river, watching. Eyes bore in the back of your neck. She sweeps water towards, washing. She pours water on stone. Amongst. Chediaetros. Washing near the river. Washing graves. Searching out of her skull, head tilted at your trespass. You fumble. These aren’t your words. These aren’t your clothes. You’ve been caught. Condemned. These aren’t your words. Top it off. A greeting, a question. River rushing as your silence extends. Back, fear. Un-der you the giant grave. You run. Run to the Four train. Run to the gate. Agency, not a stench. Click. Lynceste, Leaena, La-caena. And you’ve reached the clearing. The cleaning. You forget to washing. Not Washing. Not until clean, not sex. Caught in the jowls, not. Not unknit. A clearing in water, two rivers. A giant meer. A giant grave underground grave, not even. Wash-ing. no grave. not Square. Devoured by dogs.

In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,

But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing,

In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,

In vowing new hate after new love bearing.

But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee,

When I break twenty? I am perjured most;

For all vows are oaths but to misuse thee

And all my honest faith in thee is lost,

For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,

Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,

And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness,

Or made them swear against the thing they see;

For I have sworn thee fair; more perjured eye,

To swear against the truth so foul a lie.

152Couplet

Quatrain 3

C

Q1

Q3

Quatrain 2

thirdperson

poet

lover

keyword defectivekeyword

Base Map

SonnetTurn

sub-areasof Sonnet

cycle

highlighted area if Keyword

present

personal pronouns keyword completeBase MapSONNET 152

keyword:eye

multiple occurancesin one line

(appears in all four sections)

defectivekeyword:swear(appears in three of four sections)

Quatrain 1

couplet tie

eye (I) / swear eye (I) / swear

sonnet number

eye

swearprejured

couplettie: truth

e

In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,

But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing,

In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,

In vowing new hate after new love bearing.

But why of two oaths' breach do I accuse thee,

When I break twenty? I am perjured most;

For all vows are oaths but to misuse thee

And all my honest faith in thee is lost,

For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness,

Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,

And, to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness,

Or made them swear against the thing they see;

For I have sworn thee fair; more perjured eye,

To swear against the truth so foul a lie.

152Couplet

Quatrain 3

C

Q1

Q3

Quatrain 2

thirdperson

poet

lover

keyword defectivekeyword

Base Map

SonnetTurn

sub-areasof Sonnet

cycle

highlighted area if Keyword

present

personal pronouns keyword completeBase MapSONNET 152

keyword:eye

multiple occurancesin one line

(appears in all four sections)

defectivekeyword:swear(appears in three of four sections)

Quatrain 1

couplet tie

eye (I) / swear eye (I) / swear

sonnet number

eye

swearprejured

couplettie: truth

e

This is a potential logotype. Across is an image of an original12th C. Illumination integrated with some of my imagery.

Universal SymbolsMy intent in branding and overall pattern design is to utilize universal symbols which will extend meaning and accessibility to the text. By marrying combatting ideologies I attack the violent dissonance within the text in a new way, suggesting the possibility for unity.

Religious Symbols

Platonic Geometry

Scandinavian Runes

=

310,000+150-200,00011,200600-2,000,0003-400,000102–1,455,59030,45225,00043,2701,500+1,580–1,7822,555-4,200

whispering of a song,long live the kinglet the dead lie, undeadthis is the collective tale of the cyclicalfall of humanity.

it is a cycle, it is a debtit is destruction, aNigerian Sharia conflict, a Colombian Armed Conflict, aNaxalite-Maoist insurgency, aAfghan Civil War, aSomali Civil War, aIraq War, aWar in North-West Pakistan, a Shia Insurgency in Yemen, aMexican Drug War, aSudan–SPLM–N Conflict, a 2011 Yemeni uprising, a 2011 Syrian uprising, a

whispering of a song,long live the kinglet the dead lie, undeadthis is the collective tale of the cyclicalfall of humanity.

it is a cycle, it is a debtit is destruction, aNigerian Sharia conflict, a Colombian Armed Conflict, aNaxalite-Maoist insurgency, aAfghan Civil War, aSomali Civil War, aIraq War, aWar in North-West Pakistan, a Shia Insurgency in Yemen, aMexican Drug War, aSudan–SPLM–N Conflict, a 2011 Yemeni uprising, a 2011 Syrian uprising, a

Dea hAdventure I of Sigfried

Of this hero I sing, how fair

MOCK UPS

These are potential spreads and on the left here is a sketch I did for performance costumes.

=

SELF Portrait Narrative POSTERS

Gib mir das

Rheingold

Gib mir das Rheingold

My next step is a series of posters utilizing hand drawn type and illustration. This will be in conjunciton with music and film I am editing.

I HAD A DREAM I WOULD LOOSE YOUFOREVER

Drinking the Bloodof DragonS

One Dropof blood missed hisback—A LIME LEAFFELL Down BETWTEEN HIS Bones