Page 59 - Studio International - April 1970

18 Paris iv. 70 modifications, or an entirely new one etc....) What is sheltered in such a saying, as the
difference of the being and being (l'être et...
February 1, final submissions were registered. l'étant), is the shade of the Difference as the
Michel Claura opening and rudiment of language.
René Denizot In April the exhibition takes place with a In essence saying is difference. In as much as it
catalogue including all first and second pro- is the means of appearing for being. The essen-
jects. tial saying is to describe this difference as a
plan of the clearing where is said how and as
The exhibitors are: Ian Wilson, Lawrence what being comes into the open.
Weiner, Niele Toroni, Robert Ryman, So on the track of what is essentially to be said
Edward Ruscha, Richard Long, Sol LeWitt, we arrive at the question: when is there a
David Lamelas, On Kawara, Douglas Hue- saying that essentially says? In so far as it is
bler, Francois Guinochet, George and Gilbert, the essence of language that we come to find
Jean-Pierre Djian, Jan Dibbets, Daniel Buren, worth questioning.
Stanley Brouwn, Marcel Broodthaers, Robert Worth questioning: with regard to being, the
Barry. expression from now on must be taken in its
Clearly there is no question of a conceptual original sense. It does not refer to an axiology
exhibition. which would set forth as an absolute of the
question, but to a meditation upon the essence
The exhibition has been organised in associ- of language in view of what leads language to
ation with Seth Siegelaub, and in adding this its proper being and in its worthiness of saying
we have outlined the mechanics of the show. constitutes it as essential saying.
The text below is neither a preface nor a con- Difference then, comes to language. It arrives
clusion to the exhibition. Established critics like the opening of room for talk. Difference, is
will be able to deal with the work and the Dimension, which, in so far as it it has to do
exhibition. with measure, measures the being of language,
In so far as it is relevant we prefer at present to and constitutes language as a measure of
publish this text at the time of the exhibition. being.
(It was first read in Paris in April 1969.) q Saying is what it is according to its essential
MICHEL CLAURA origin. It is the saying of the Difference, be-
cause brought about by Difference it belongs
What is essentially to be said ? to Difference, and because according to its
Answer : what above all is worth saying and belonging it is holding on to Difference.
nothing else. The saying of Difference is question as far as
This seems to say nothing except the necessity the real question questions a real difference,
of essential choice. Now the idea of choice is in as much as it is the difference itself which
not foreign to the business of saying. In fact opens the room for question.
from the beginning of thought, such a choice
constitutes the very roots of Greek speech : Difference, differing endlessly, is real differ-
logos must be closely related to the German ence—always in question—and lies beyond the
`Legen' and to the Latin `legere', which consideration of any expression. But as from
originally mean 'to collect'. Difference comes the proper distance of all
Logos is collection into the unity of saying, saying—its property—the difference is also the
but this collection, which strictly speaking proximate (propre, proprius). It is the closest
begins with the intention of sheltering, is proximity. This proximity acts as the venue
firstly and in itself a selection of what needs for language and the reserve of Difference as
to be sheltered. such.
Saying as saying does not at all consist in Difference is the coming, always coming,
lumping together but in storing only what has whose advent comes like the fulguration from
been selected. So Parmenides said: xpĩvat which every happening springs.
Se logw; do the essential sorting according Since what is said before by Difference, this
November 20 1969, 22 artists were invited to to the logos, that is to say as far as logos is is the initial of all controlling motives of
take part in an exhibition to be held in Paris choice (its essence discriminating and collect- thought, it is a bond that speaks—a bond
in April 1970. They were asked to send a ing). which binds all thought, provided it submits
project by December 15 (project being under- The idea of choice referring to the very being of to the call of what is to be thought.
stood at least as a description of possible work language, what is to be said above all being That is why all thinkers say the same, but not
for the exhibition). They were informed of the essential choice, in the first instance is not identical—because in view of the same, in
stages they were to follow. present itself, only later to be expressed their own saying, they remain in Difference.
through language. That the Same comes to language considers
December 15, 19 projects had arrived plus This is already impossible, if only because it is in its own right those who in the face of
two refusals to participate. the opening of being and that alone makes Difference and away from it devote themselves
possible a somewhere and a place filled with to the service of language and debase them-
January 2, projects were sent back to the in- being. selves for it.
vited artists. The latter were requested to re- As language gives a name to being for the But this Same still remains to be said. That is
turn what would constitute their final sub- first time, such a naming allows being alone why, subjecting thought to the endurance of
mission for the exhibition by February 1 (in access to speech and appearing. The naming question, we ask: What is saying? q
other words the first project again, or with is the nomination of being to being from being. RENÉ DENIZOT