![Jarry velo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Jarry_velo.jpg)
Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
" of
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
invented by French writer
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics.
Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...
(1873–1907) intended to be a
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imaginary solutions".
Introduction
'Pataphysics was a concept expressed by Jarry in a mock-scientific manner, with undertones of spoofing and quackery, as expounded in his novel ''
Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician
''Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician'' (original title in French: ''Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll pataphysicien : Roman néo-scientifique suivi de Spéculations'') is a novel by French Symbolism (arts), Symbolist auth ...
''. Here, Jarry toyed with conventional concepts and interpretations of reality. Another attempt at a definition interprets 'pataphysics as an idea that "the virtual or imaginary nature of things as glimpsed by the heightened vision of poetry or science or love can be seized and lived as real". Jarry defines 'pataphysics in a number of statements and examples, including that it is "the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments". A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a pataphysician or a pataphysicist.
Definitions
One definition of 'pataphysics is that it's "a branch of philosophy or science that examines imaginary phenomena that exist in a world beyond
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
; it is the science of imaginary solutions."
There are over one hundred definitions of 'pataphysics. Some examples are shown below.
Etymology
The word ''pataphysics'' is a contracted formation, derived from the Greek (''tà epì tà metàphusiká''), a phrase or expression meaning "that which is above
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
", and is itself a sly variation on the title of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
's ''
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
'', which in Greek is "" (''ta meta ta physika'').
Jarry mandated the inclusion of the apostrophe in the orthography, 'pataphysique and 'pataphysics, "... to avoid a simple pun". The words ''pataphysician'' or ''pataphysicist'' and the adjective ''pataphysical'' should not include the apostrophe. Only when consciously referring to Jarry's science itself should the word ''
'pataphysics'' carry the apostrophe. The term ''pataphysics'' is a
paronym
Paronyms are words that are pronounced or written in a similar way but which have different lexical meanings. Paronyms contrast with homonyms, which are words with different meaning having the same pronunciation or spelling. Examples of Englis ...
(considered a kind of pun in French) of ''metaphysics''. Since the apostrophe in no way affects the meaning or pronunciation of ''pataphysics'', this spelling of the term is a sly notation, to the reader, suggesting a variety of puns that listeners may hear, or be aware of. These puns include ''patte à physique'' ("physics paw"), as interpreted by Jarry scholars
Keith Beaumont
Keith may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Keith (surname)
* Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949)
* Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...
and
Roger Shattuck
Roger Whitney Shattuck (August 20, 1923 in Manhattan, New York – December 8, 2005 in Lincoln, Vermont) was an American writer best known for his books on French literature, art, and music of the twentieth century.
Background and education
Born i ...
, ''pas ta physique'' ("not your physics"), and ''pâte à physique'' ("physics paste").
History
The term first appeared in print in the text of Alfred Jarry's play ''Guignol'' in the 28 April 1893 issue of ''
L'Écho de Paris littéraire illustré'', but it has been suggested that the word has its origins in the same school pranks at the ''lycée'' in
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
that led Jarry to write ''
Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de P ...
''. Jarry considered Ibicrates and Sophrotatos the Armenian as the fathers of this "science".
The Collège de 'Pataphysique
The ''Collège de 'Pataphysique'', founded in 1948 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, France, is "a society committed to learned and inutilious research". (The word 'inutilious' is synonymous with 'useless'.) The motto of the college is la,
Eadem mutata resurgo
''Eadem mutata resurgo'' is a Latin language, Latin phrase that literally translates to "''Although changed, I arise the same''".
Background
The word-for-word translation of the phrase is
:"Same having-changed I-rise".
:''Eadem mutata resurgo''.
...
("I arise again the same though changed").
The permanent head of the college is the Inamovable Curator, Dr. Faustroll, assisted by Bosse-de-Nage (''Starosta''): both are fictional.
The Vice-Curator is the "first and most senior living entity" in the college's hierarchy. The Vice-Curatrice is Tanya Peixoto of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics and Bookartbookshop. She was elected in 2014 to succeed Her Magnificence Lutembi – a crocodile – who succeeded Opach, the Baron Mollet, and Doctor Sandomir.
Jean-Christophe Averty
Jean-Christophe Averty (; 6 August 1928 – 4 March 2017) was a French television and radio director, and Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique.
Many of his television productions from the 1960s were early examples of French video art. His studi ...
was appointed
Satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...
in 1990.
Publications of the college, generally called la, Viridis Candela ("green candle"), include the ''Cahiers'', ''Dossiers'' and the ''Subsidia Pataphysica''.
Notable members have included
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
,
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...
,
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
,
,
Jean-Christophe Averty
Jean-Christophe Averty (; 6 August 1928 – 4 March 2017) was a French television and radio director, and Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique.
Many of his television productions from the 1960s were early examples of French video art. His studi ...
,
René Daumal
René Daumal (; 16 March 1908 – 21 May 1944) was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel ''Mount Analogue'' (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner of ...
,
Luc Étienne
Luc Étienne Périn, also known as Luc Étienne, (8 September 1908 – 27 November 1984) was a French writer and a proponent of 'pataphysics. He was born on 8 September 1908, in the small town of Neuflize, in the Ardennes, and died on 27 November ...
,
François Le Lionnais
François Le Lionnais (3 October 1901 – 13 March 1984) was a French chemical engineer and writer. He was a co-founder of the literary movement Oulipo.
Biography
Le Lionnais was born in Paris on 3 October 1901. Trained as a chemical engi ...
,
Jean Lescure
Jean Lescure (14 September 1912 – 17 October 2005) was a French poet.
Biography
Lescure was born in Asnières-sur-Seine. In 1938, he published his first plaquette of poems, "Le voyage immobile", and launched the review "Messages" (two issue ...
,
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour.
Biography
Queneau wa ...
,
Boris Vian
Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...
,
Jacques Carelman
Jacques Carelman (born 1929, Marseille – 28 March 2012, Argenteuil) was a French painter, illustrator and designer.
Biography
In 1966, Jacques Carelman adapted Raymond Queneau's novel '' Zazie in the Metro'' in bandes dessinées. He is also the ...
,
Man Ray
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
,
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...
,
Julien Torma
Julien Torma (Cambrai, 6 April 1902 – Tyrol, 17 February 1933) was credited as a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the Dadaist movement.
Torma disappeared in the mountains of the Tyrol at the age of 30. Due to his secretive ...
,
Roger Shattuck
Roger Whitney Shattuck (August 20, 1923 in Manhattan, New York – December 8, 2005 in Lincoln, Vermont) was an American writer best known for his books on French literature, art, and music of the twentieth century.
Background and education
Born i ...
,
Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx,
Philippe de Chérisey
Philippe Louis Henri Marie de Chérisey, 9th marquess de Chérisey (13 February 1923 – 17 July 1985) was a French writer, radio humorist, surrealist and supporting actor (using the stage name Amédée).
He is best known for his creatio ...
,
Rolando Villazón
Rolando Villazón Mauleón (born 22 February 1972) is a Mexican operatic tenor, stage director, author, radio and television personality and artistic director. He now lives in France, and in 2007 became a French citizen.
Villazón has published ...
,
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán (born August 11, 1932) is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado", ...
and
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early life and career
Born on 16 January 1943 in ...
. The
Oulipo
Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...
began as a subcommittee of the college.
Offshoots of the Collège de 'Pataphysique
Although France had been always the centre of the pataphysical globe, there are followers in different cities around the world. In 1966 Juan Esteban Fassio was commissioned to draw the map of the ''Collège de 'Pataphysique'' and its institutes abroad.
The college stopped its public activities between 1975 and 2000, referred to as its ''occultation''. However through that time, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, The Netherlands, and many other countries showed that the internationalization of 'pataphysics was irreversible.
In the 1950s,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in the Western Hemisphere and
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in Europe were the first cities to have 'pataphysical institutes.
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, and
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, as well as many other European cities, caught up in the sixties.
Czechoslovakia
During the
communist era
A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule.
Current communist states China
The Chinese Communist P ...
, a small group of 'pataphysicists in
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
started a journal called ''PAKO'', or ''Pataphysical Collegium''. Jarry's plays had a lasting impression on the country's underground philosophical scene.
London Institute of 'Pataphysics
The London Institute of 'Pataphysics was established in September 2000 to promote 'pataphysics in the English-speaking world. The institute has various publications, including a journal, and has six departments: Bureau for the Investigation of Subliminal Images, Committee for Hirsutism and Pogonotrophy, Department of Dogma and Theory, Department of Potassons, Department of Reconstructive Archaeology, and The Office of Patentry.
The institute also contains a pataphysical museum and archive and organised the ''
Anthony Hancock Paintings and Sculptures'' exhibition in 2002.
The official orchestra of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics is the
London Snorkelling Team.
Musée Patamécanique
Musée Patamécanique is a private museum located in
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England.
The population of B ...
. Founded in 2006, it is open by appointment only to friends, colleagues, and occasionally to outside observers. The museum is presented as a hybrid between an automaton theatre and a cabinet of curiosities and contains works representing the field of Patamechanics, an artistic practice and area of study chiefly inspired by 'pataphysics.
Examples of exhibits include a troupe of singing animatronic chipmunks, a time machine the museum says is the world's largest automated
phenakistoscope
The phenakistiscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistoscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion. Dubbed and ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known unde ...
, an olfactory clock, a chandelier of singing animatronic nightingales, an Undigestulator (a device that purportedly reconstitutes digested foods), a peanuts enlarger, a syzygistic oracle, the earolin (a 24-inch tall holographic ear that plays the violin), and a machine for capturing the dreams of bumble bees.
'Pataphysics Institute in Vilnius
A 'Pataphysics Institute opened in
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
, Lithuania in May 2013.
Concepts
;
Clinamen
Clinamen (; plural ''clinamina'', derived from ''clīnāre'', to incline) is the Latin name Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus. In modern English it has come more generally to ...
: A clinamen is the unpredictable swerve of atoms that poet
Christian Bök
Christian Bök, FRSC (; born August 10, 1966 in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian poet known for unusual and experimental works. He is the author of ''Eunoia'', which won the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize.
Life and work
He was born "Christian Boo ...
calls "... the smallest possible aberration that can make the greatest possible difference". An example is Jarry's ''merdre'', a swerve of french: merde ("shit").
![Véritable portrait de Monsieur Ubu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/V%C3%A9ritable_portrait_de_Monsieur_Ubu.png)
;
Antinomy
Antinomy (Greek ἀντί, ''antí'', "against, in opposition to", and νόμος, ''nómos'', "law") refers to a real or apparent mutual incompatibility of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology, particularly in the philosophy of I ...
: An antinomy is the mutually incompatible. It represents the duality of things, the echo or symmetry, the good and the evil at the same time.
Hugill mentions various examples including the plus minus, the faust-troll, the haldern-ablou, the yes-but, the ha-ha and the
paradox
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
.
;
Syzygy : The syzygy originally comes from
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
and denotes the alignment of three celestial bodies in a straight line. In a pataphysical context it is the
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
. It usually describes a conjunction of things, something unexpected and surprising.
Serendipity
Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery.
Etymology
The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. I ...
is a simple chance encounter but the syzygy has a more scientific purpose. Bök mentions Jarry suggesting that the fall of a body towards a centre might not be preferable to the ascension of a vacuum towards a periphery.
;
Absolute Absolute may refer to:
Companies
* Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher
* Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK
* Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manage ...
: The absolute is the idea of a transcended reality.
;
Anomaly : An anomaly represents the exception. Jarry said that, "Pataphysics will examine the laws governing exceptions, and will explain the universe supplementary to this one." Bök calls it "... the repressed part of a rule which ensures that the rule does not work".
;
Pataphor
Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imag ...
: A pataphor is an unusually extended
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
based on 'pataphysics. As Jarry claimed that 'pataphysics exists "... as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality", a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from metaphor as metaphor exists from
non-figurative
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...
language.
Pataphysical calendar
The pataphysical calendar is a variation of the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
. The ''Collège de 'Pataphysique'' created the calendar in 1949. The pataphysical era (E.P.) started on Jarry's birthday, 8 September 1873 vulg. When converting pataphysical dates to Gregorian dates, the appendage (vulg.) for ''vulgate'' ("common") is added.
The week starts on a Sunday. Every 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd is a Sunday and every 13th day of a month falls on a Friday (see
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...
). Each day is assigned a specific name or
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
. For example, the 27 Haha (1 November vulg.) is called fr , Occultation d'Alfred Jarry or the 14 Sable (14 December vulg.) is the day of fr , Don Quichote, champion du monde.
The year has a total of 13 months each with 29 days. The 29th day of each month is imaginary with two exceptions:
* the 29 Gidouille (13 July vulg.) is always non-imaginary
* the 29 Gueules (23 February vulg.) is non-imaginary during
leap year
A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or s ...
s
The table below shows the names and order of months in a pataphysical year with their corresponding Gregorian dates and approximate translations or meanings by Hugill.
For example:
* 8 September 1873 (vulg.) = 1 Absolu 1
* 1 January 2000 (vulg.) = 4 Décervelage 127
* 10 November 2012 (vulg.)(Saturday) = 8 As 140 (Sunday)
Works influenced by 'Pataphysics
In the 1960s 'pataphysics was used as a
conceptual
Conceptual may refer to:
Philosophy and Humanities
*Concept
*Conceptualism
*Philosophical analysis (Conceptual analysis)
*Theoretical definition (Conceptual definition)
*Thinking about Consciousness (Conceptual dualism)
*Pragmatism (Conceptual pr ...
principle within various
fine art
In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
forms, especially
pop art and
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. Works within the pataphysical tradition tend to focus on the processes of their creation, and elements of chance or arbitrary choices are frequently key in those processes. Select pieces from the artist
Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
and the composer
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
characterize this. At around this time,
Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest c ...
, a pataphysician and member of the
Situationist International
The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
, referred to 'pataphysics as a new religion.
In literature
In 1948
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour.
Biography
Queneau wa ...
,
Jean Genet
Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...
, and
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...
founded Collège de pataphysique and published
OULIPO
Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...
,
which influenced the following writers:
*
Boris Vian
Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sulliva ...
became involved with the Collège de 'Pataphysique.
*
René Daumal
René Daumal (; 16 March 1908 – 21 May 1944) was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer, critic and poet, best known for his posthumously published novel ''Mount Analogue'' (1952) as well as for being an early, outspoken practitioner of ...
has references to pataphysics in his writings.
*
Handspring Puppet Company
The Handspring Puppet Company is a puppetry performance and design company established in 1981 by Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones, Jon Weinberg and Jill Joubert. It is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
History
Jones and Kohler met at the Michael ...
produces theatrical works with elements of pataphysics.
*
Pat Murphy features pataphysics in several works of
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
.
*
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as w ...
is often described as a pataphysician and identified as such for some part of his life.
* Pablo Lopez has developed an extension of 'pataphysics called the
pataphor
Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imag ...
.
In music
* In the song "
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Abbey Road''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song is about a student named Maxwell Edison ...
" on
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
album ''
Abbey Road
''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although ''Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly re ...
'', "pataphysical science" is mentioned as a course of study for Joan, the first victim of Maxwell Edison.
* The debut album by Ron 'Pate's Debonairs, featuring
Reverend Fred Lane (his first appearance on vinyl), is titled ''Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue'' (1977), a live theatrical performance. A review in ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' magazine said, "No other record has ever come as close to realising Alfred Jarry's desire 'to make the soul monstrous' – or even had the vision or invention to try." 'Pate (note the pataphysical apostrophe) and Lane were central members in the Raudelunas art collective in
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
.
* Professor
Andrew Hugill
Andrew Hugill (born 1957) is a British composer, writer and academic. He is both a professor of music and a professor of creative computing. He directs the Creative Computing programme at University of Leicester.
Biography
Andrew Hugill studi ...
, of
de Montfort University
De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...
, is a practitioner of pataphysical music. He curated ''Pataphysics'', for the
Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. Its honorary ...
's CD series, and in 2007 some of his own music was issued by UHRecordings under the title ''Pataphysical Piano; The sounds and silences of Andrew Hugill''.
* British
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band
Soft Machine
Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966–196 ...
were self-described as "the Official Orchestra of the College of Pataphysics" and featured the two songs "Pataphysical Introduction" parts I and II on their 1969 album ''
Volume Two''.
* Japanese
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band
Acid Mothers Temple
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., commonly shortened to Acid Mothers Temple or AMT, is a Japanese psychedelic rock band, the core of which formed in 1995. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career feat ...
refer to the topic on their 1999 release ''
Pataphisical Freak Out MU!!''.
*
Autolux
Autolux is an American alternative rock band consisting of Eugene Goreshter (vocals, bass), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, piano) and Carla Azar (drums, vocals). The trio formed in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, ''Future Perfect' ...
, a Los Angeles–based
noise pop
Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoegazi ...
band, have a song "Science of Imaginary Solutions" on their second album ''
Transit Transit
''Transit Transit'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Autolux, released on August 3, 2010, on TBD Records (USA) and ATP Recordings (outside of North America/Japan).
Background
Autolux produced ''Transit Transit'' them ...
''.
* The composer Gavin Bryars has been a member of the Collège de 'Pataphysique since 1974; he was appointed Regent in 2001 and a Transcendent Satrap in 2015 at the pataphysical New Year's Eve Vigil E.P. 143 (7 September 2015 vulg.)
* The
Pataphysical Broadcasting Foundation Inc. (established 1972, dissolved 2015) founded radio station
KUSP
KLVM (88.9 MHz) is an FM radio station broadcasting a Contemporary Christian music format. Licensed to Santa Cruz, California, United States, the station is an affiliate of the K-LOVE Christian music radio network and is owned by Education ...
in
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...
, for (then) non-conventional radio programming.
In visual art
* In 1962 American artist
James E. Brewton developed a style of abstract expressionism he called Graffiti Pataphysic. A survey of Brewton's 'pataphysics-related work was shown in 2014 in Philadelphia.
* American artist
Thomas Chimes developed an interest in Jarry's 'pataphysics, which became a lifelong passion, inspiring much of the painter's creative work.
* In 2000, ''The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics'' was founded by Canadian visual artist, writer and scholar,
Mireille Perron. ''The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics'' has been shown at the Nickle Arts Museum,
The New Gallery
The New Gallery (TNG) is a non-commercial artist-run centre that presents and promotes contemporary art in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
TNG is a not-for-profit arts organization and does not sell art. Instead, it provides a venue for artists produ ...
and Stride Gallery in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
, Alberta.
* In 2010 American artist Kevin Ferreira began a visual exploration into the imaginary solutions for the constructs of reality (pataphysics=pata art). The exhibit SpektrumMEK that resulted from this endeavor has been put into his book ''SpektrumMEK: A pataphysical gestation to the birth of Lil' t''.
*
The League of Imaginary Scientists
The League of Imaginary Scientists is a Los Angeles–based art group specializing in Pataphysics, Interactive Art and Art/Science Collaborations. The League was founded in 2006, and has since created work for many venues, including The Museum of ...
, a Los Angeles-based art collective specializing in 'pataphysics-based interactive experiments. In 2011 they exhibited a series of projects at
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...
.
*
Brian Reffin Smith
Brian Reffin Smith (born 1946) is an artist, writer, teacher and musician born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in the United Kingdom, who won the first-ever Prix Ars Electronica, the Golden Nica, in Linz, Austria, 1987. He lives in Berlin, Germany.
Life
Br ...
, a Berlin-based British artist and Regent of Catachemistry and Speculative Metallurgy in the Collège de 'Pataphysique, Paris, often shows art based upon or influenced by 'Pataphysics and conducts performances at Pataphysical events. He was part of a group of German and Czech artists who exhibited at Patadata, in Zlín, Czech Republic, 2017.
In online fiction
* The
SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation is a fictional secret organization documented by the collaborative-writing wiki project of the same name. Within the website's shared universe, the Foundation is responsible for capturing, containing, and studying various p ...
has multiple articles referencing pataphysical concepts, such as SCP-2747 ("As below, so above"). "Pataphysics" articles often deal with
the fictional nature of the Foundation. For example, SCP-3309 ("Where We Go When We Fade, Fade Away") features Foundation scientists attempting to manipulate the real-life website's article deletion feature to destroy problematic SCP objects.
In architecture
*
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
developed an interest in Jarry's work.
Pataphor
The ''pataphor'' ( es, patáfora, french: pataphore), is a term coined by writer and musician
Pablo Lopez, for an unusually extended metaphor based on Alfred Jarry's "science" of 'pataphysics'.
As Jarry claimed that 'pataphysics existed "as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality", a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
as metaphor exists from
non-figurative
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...
language. Whereas a metaphor compares a real object or event to a seemingly unrelated subject to emphasize their similarities, the pataphor uses the newly created metaphorical similarity as a reality on which to base itself. In going beyond mere ornamentation of the original idea, the pataphor seeks to describe a new and separate world, in which an idea or aspect has taken on a life of its own.
Like 'pataphysics itself, pataphors essentially describe two degrees of separation from reality (rather than merely one degree of separation, which is the world of metaphors and metaphysics). The pataphor may also be said to function as a critical tool, describing the world of "assumptions based on assumptions" – such as belief systems or rhetoric run amok. The following is an example:
Thus, the pataphor has created a world where the chessboard exists, including the characters who live in that world, entirely abandoning the original context.
The pataphor has been subject to commercial interpretations, usage in speculative computer applications, applied to highly imaginative problem solving methods and even politics on the international level.
The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre (also known as the Firesigns) was an American surreal humour, surreal comedy troupe who first appeared on November 17, 1966, in a live performance on the Los Angeles radio program ''Radio Free Oz'' on station KPFK FM broad ...
is a comedy troupe whose jokes often rely on pataphors. There is a band called Pataphor and an
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
in the Interactive Fiction Database called "PataNoir", based on pataphors. Pataphor is used by the Writer's Program at the
University of North Florida
The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public research university in Jacksonville, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Sch ...
,
and has appeared in works affiliated with the
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (MCSU) ( pl, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, UMCS) was founded October 23, 1944 in Lublin. It is named in honour of Marie Curie-Sklodowska. Currently the number of students is almost 36,000. The ...
.
Pataphors have been the subject of art exhibits, as in Tara Strickstein's 2010 "Pataphor" exhibit at Next Art Fair /
Art Chicago EXPO Chicago is an international contemporary and modern art exhibition held each year in Chicago, Illinois. In 2012, it took over the duties of a prior organization, Art Chicago, which began in 1980. ''Art Chicago'' was Chicago's longest-running m ...
, other artworks, and architectural works. Pataphors have also been used in literary criticism, and mentioned in ''
Art in America
''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...
''.
There is also a book of pataphorical art called ''Pataphor'' by Dutch artist Hidde van Schie.
In ''The Disappearance of Literature: Blanchot, Agamben, and the Writers of the No'',
Aaron Hillyer writes:
See also
*
Absurdism
Absurdism is the philosophical theory that existence in general is absurd. This implies that the world lacks Meaning of life, meaning or a higher purpose and is not fully intelligible by reason. The term "absurd" also has a more specific sense ...
*
Atlas Press
Atlas Press began publishing in 1983, and specialises in extremist and avant-garde prose writing from the 1890s to the present day. It is the largest publisher in English of books on Surrealism and has an extensive list relating to Dada, Surreal ...
*
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
*
Derailment
In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially ...
*
Irish bull
An Irish bull is a ludicrous, incongruent or logically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author. The inclusion of the epithet ''Irish'' is a late addition.
The "Irish bull" is to the sense of a statement what the dangling pa ...
*
Metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
*
Ouxpo Ouxpo is an acronym for "Ouvroir d'X Potentielle". It is an umbrella group for Oulipo, Oubapo, Outrapo, etc. The term 'ouvroir', originally used in conjunction with works of charity, was reused by Raymond Queneau for a blend of 'ouvroir' and 'œuvre ...
*
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
*
Neoism
Neoism is a parodistic -ism. It refers both to a specific subcultural network of artistic performance and media experimentalists, and, more generally, to a practical underground philosophy. It operates with collectively shared pseudonyms and ide ...
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Hillyer, Aaron. ''The Disappearance of Literature: Blanchot, Agamben, and the Writers of the No''.
*
*
* Jones, Andrew, 1995. ''Plunderphonics,Pataphysics & Pop Mechanics: An Introduction to Musique Actuelle''. SAF Publishing Ltd.
*
*
*
*
*
* Morton, Donald. (2001) "Pataphysics of the Closet." ''Transformation: Marxist Boundary Work in Theory, Economics, *Politics and Culture'': 1–69.
* Powrie, Phil. (1989) "René Daumal and the 'pataphysics of liberation." ''Neophilologus'' 73.4: 532–540.
* H. Bouché,
François Lachenal
François Paul Lachenal (Geneva 31 May 1918 – 22 August 1997) was a Swiss publisher and diplomat, who beginning in 1940 played a significant role in publishing the writings of the French authors during the occupation of France by Germany. He ...
(1959): ''Was ist 'Pataphysik? Elementare Prolegomena zu einer Einführung in die 'Pataphysik''. Offenbach.
* Cal Clements: ''Pataphysica''. iUniverse 2002
* Lennon, Nigey. (1984) "Alfred Jarry: The Man with the Axe." Airstreambooks.net
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pataphysics
Fictional philosophies
Surrealism