Beyond the silence. Inhabiting vulnerability in the age of thoughtlessness. Issue 2 (2nd April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Donn, Katharina; Mrdja, Dejan
• Is Part Of: New writing. Volume 17:Issue 2(2020)
• Page Start: 157
• Page End: 163
• Publication Date: 2020-04-02
• Subjects: Trauma -- performative drawing -- precariousness; Creative writing -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 808.042071
• DOI: 10.1080/14790726.2019.1601234
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1479-0726

Abstract

ABSTRACT: How can we re-think thought without reverting to modes of dominance, mastery and logocentrism? 'Beyond the Silence' enacts a dialogue between performative drawing and literary theory, seeking a new form of thought that is both academic and artistic, philosophical and embodied. Driven by the desire to explore different modes of inhabiting the world, this collaboration entwines practices of mark-making with both poetic and critical writing. The sounds, rhythmic visual patterns and bodily interactions emerging from Dejan Mrdja's drawing performances unsettle the structure of theory-based argumentation in Katharina Donn's work in trauma studies, inspiring a reciprocal pattern of thought as performance. Thought becomes creation, exposing the interconnectedness of our being in language, body, and non-organic matter; yet this is symbiotic rather than individualised, and occurs in the spaces in between bodies, different artistic or critical practices, human and non-human matter. Thematically, we focus on trauma, an experience that challenges the limits of thought, experience and language alike. The repetitive rhythms of mark-making and the looped sound structures thus created offer new patterns for re-thinking trauma's temporality, memory, and corporeality. This article traces our collaboration, linking it to ideas about language, embodiment, and vulnerability.