Organization:Unilalianism
Unilalianism (/junɨˈleɪ.li.ən.ɪzəm/) is an satirical internet-based art and aesthetic movement, social theory, speculative philosophy, and countercultural thread of post-conceptualism pioneered by tens of indigenous artists who claim to be guided by one central motivation – the deconstruction of the object as an organizing principle of perception. It refers to both a particular subcultural network of performance and multimedia creatives, practicing primarily in one neighborhood within Washington state, as well an ontological reorientation towards decolonization rooted in semiotics, Debordian logic, linguistic theory a la Julia Kristeva's signifiance, theatre, and most generally, gnosticism. Unilalian works of satire often involve adaptations of the Letterist technique of détournement[1] in tandem with demonstrations of psychogeography, typically expressed as deliberate interactions with the public milieu that appeal to themes consistent with unitary urbanism, culture jamming, and durative displays reminiscent of the Situationist Internationale and the Cacophony Society.
Unilalianism's etymology is related to Charles Richet's 1905 coinage of xenolalia, the linguistic phenomenon of echolalia, and the religious preoccupation and putative observation of glossolalia. In the case of all three, speech and language lie at the center of attention, providing insight into the direction of Unilalian inquiry.
| To Unilalia |
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Origins (2011–2018)
The origins of Unilalianism:
Unilalia is a space first accessed near the following coordinates: 37°49'27.9"N 122°11'09.4"W—from unilalia.com
General philosophy
Unilalianism – derived from the Latin unus and the ancient Greek laliá – as a theory, began its development in Oakland, California during the tail end of the Occupy movement circa 2011. Poking fun at selected chapters of Running on Emptiness by John Zerzan, Debord's Society of the Spectacle, Larry Law's Spectacular Times, passages from Finite and Infinite Games, Julia Kristeva's intertextuality, and more, Unilalian thought mocks and makes coherent a satirical intersection between semiotics, linguistic theory, primitivist intonations of anarchism, marxist and critical theory, aesthetic and art theory, psychonautics, and performance.
Similarly, Unilalian practice draws intersections between seemingly unrelated categories of experience, forging roads previously undiscovered. From the struggle of the black liberation army to the hypermodern use and cultural assimilation of entheogenic KOR agonists, from the industrialization of Baudrillard's hyperrealities to the deliberate standardization of the self imaging process, Unilalian thought describes these phenomena as linguistic objects, as topological manifolds that are superimposed over nature, overlapping and interacting with each other. In other words, Unilalian thought requires an ontological shift in our perception of language wherein context is understood spatially, like containers in which objects are stored. McKenna touched on these, calling them "virtual realities made of language";[2] Unilalianism introduces an important nuance to these domains, organizing them along lines of operational succession. For example, the context of the symbol lies anterior to the context of racial identity as a prerequisite for the latter, for this kind of signification can't operate unless reality is first cognized as a collection of objects. Race, gender, class, identity – all of these become artifacts that are found exclusively in the context of symbolic relationality, the soil from which history emerges. Developed by Ellis A. Wilson (b. 1996), an interdisciplinary artist of Coharie ancestry, Unilalian thought seeks to further concretize the spatialization of context by positing contextualization itself as a reflex of colonization, remodeled as the casting of nature – or prima materia's operational equivalent – into the domain of historical consciousness, distinguished in contrast to its prehistoric and post-historic counterparts. Here, nature is exchanged for its symbolic substitution, concealed beneath layered successions of simulacra as perception is bound to the domain of Kristeva's thetic, what scholars describe as "the point at which the subject takes up a position, an identification".[3] Critiquing this phenomenon, in a tentative essay called Unilalian Footnotes (that of which is part of a collection of early self-published manifestos), Wilson (2016) writes: "...the collective's perception of self is vandalized — the natural is censored via definition, hidden behind the veil of its representation".[4] Veils, cloaks, masks, masquerades, and mirages – all of these motifs and metaphors appeal to Unilalianism's emphasis on the mediation of perception. To peel back consecutive layers of mediation is to perceive nature "without her cheerfully reassuring mask of ordinary space, time, and causality",[5] confronting naked experience, independent of the impositions of syntax and socialization. When considering the etymology of the term apocalypse - stemming from the Greek apokaluptein, meaning "to uncover, to reveal" – it comes as no surprise that Unilalianism tends to inadvertently function as a form of eschatology in its motivations. Diagramming and mapmaking is an essential aesthetic and stylistic preference in presenting the spatialization of context, inspired in part by the works of Adrian Piper and the 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness by Robert Anton Wilson and Timothy Leary. After a half decade of independent research, the world appearing less like a Newtonian solid state matrix and more like a domain of text and narrative, Unilalianism came into being first and foremost as a literary exercise, obsessing over the condition of acontextuality and its relationship to meaning-making, symbolic interactionism and relationality, and the advent of the object. Unilalianism, as a philosophy, coopts post-conceptualism's dematerialization of the conventionally static art object by pulling this phenomenon into dialogues surrounding bodily integrity, objectification in the realm of our interpersonal relationships and institutions, cultural issues of reification, and the construction of identity and self imaging. As a technology, part of the lure of Unilalianism is that it leads its user towards a particular location – life is remodeled from an acontextual position; like a flashlight, this philosophy illuminates a peculiar form of terra incognita.
Unilalian Codex
The Unilalian Codex is a name given to a small one of one, didactic hand-written text composed from 2013–2017. Numbering a total of 57 pages, this document contains journal entries, research notes, reflections, diagrams, blueprints, instructions and theories underlying the formation, foundation and application of Unilalianism (see Unilalian morphology). It is currently being prepared for eventual publication, in holding by the Unilalia Group.
The Unilalia Group (2018-present)
| Formation | 8 June 2018 |
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Founders | Ellis A. Wilson Carter A. Wilson |
| Website | unilalia |
Founding and incorporation (2016–2018)
After dropping out of both Cornish College of the Arts (2016) and California College of the Arts (2017), Ellis A. Wilson took it upon himself to establish his own creative label as an independent artist of color. Without an institutional cosign or representation from a third party agency, the arrival of Unilalianism was quietly received by small audiences, culminating in a presentation given at the Evergreen State College in mid-2018[6] followed by the incorporation of the Unilalia Group LLC. The Unilalia Group is a privately funded label and research archive dedicated to facilitating the completion of Unilalian artworks and productions, formed as a partnership between brothers, representing a consolidation of creative assets. Operating in and around the Seattle area, its work consists of managing a growing collection of multimedia and semiotic projects, an interrelated group of installations.
YNAPMOK
YNAPMOK (pronounced like "nap-mok") is a semiotic installation operating as a clothing and utility distributor.
In early 2019, this installation organized two consecutive benefit shows and clothing drives (called live installations) for homeless youth in Thurston County, Washington in partnership with a local non-profit organization called StandUp for Kids.[7][8]
| To Unilalia: Official Trailer | ||||
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| EP by Ellis A. Wilson | ||||
| Released | July 7, 2019 | |||
| Recorded | December 2018 – January 2019 | |||
| Studio | Private studio, Olympia, Washington, USA | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic soul, R&b | |||
| Length | Script error: No such module "hms". | |||
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| Ellis A. Wilson chronology | ||||
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Sound division (late 2018–present)
As a recording label, the Unilalia Group is responsible for facilitating an investigation of "post-rap", psychedelic soul, R&b, and otherwise baroque styles of alternative hip-hop – described as "strange Ugly Mane-esque satirical seriousness", its flagship artists continue to demonstrate this with each successive release.[9] To further officiate the label's launch, cofounder Carter Wilson released !!!!! on June 8, 2018. Eleven days later, an article for indie music blog called Musiconthedot was published.[10] The label then continued with its consecutive releases of This and That, the former featuring a minor vocal contribution from Olympia based vocalist Isadore Noir and the latter featuring contributions from Tacoma based artist Skully Vega. Happening in tandem to these releases was the development of Dogma 19, a particular approach to low-budget music production designed to rejuvenate and emphasize the role of the vocalist in the context of creating effective narrative records.[11]
On July 7, 2019, the Unilalia Group released To Unilalia: Official Trailer, an extended play previewing a larger narrative work by Ellis Wilson.
Artworks and permanent collection
The Unilalia Group houses a growing collection of visual artworks created by its members and affiliates.
These pieces are currently up for acquisition, with all funds collected being applied directly to the advancement of Unilalianism.[12]
- Often including psychedelic motifs, these are examples of works from the Unilalia Group's permanent collection.
Discography
- !!!!! (2018)
- This (2018)
- That (2018)
- To Unilalia: Official Trailer (2019)
Influences
See also
References
- ↑ "The Secret Stairs: YNAPMOK – Deconstructing the Badaud" (in en). https://issuu.com/elliswilson/docs/the_secret_stairs_001.
- ↑ loadedshaman (2011-09-28), Terence McKenna – Taxonomy of Illusion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PuyoHH4c70&t=5258s, retrieved 2019-04-25
- ↑ Oliver, Kelly (June 23, 2004). "Julia Kristeva". The Johns Hopkins University Press. https://www.taalfilosofie.nl/bestanden/hopkins_kristeva.pdf.
- ↑ "The Secret Stairs: Unilalian Footnotes" (in en). https://issuu.com/elliswilson/docs/the_secret_stairs_004.
- ↑ Mckenna, Terence (1992). Food of the Gods. Bantam. pp. 27.
- ↑ "Unilalia Newsletter 001" (in en). https://issuu.com/unilalia/docs/unilalia_newsletter_001_final.
- ↑ "Not Just Entertainment: Live Installation at Le Voyeur" (in en-US). 2019-02-10. https://olyarts.org/2019/02/09/not-just-entertainment-live-installation-at-le-voyeur/.
- ↑ "Meet Carter Wilson, A Local Artist Doing Good In The Community | StandUp For Kids". http://www.standupforkids.org/blog/article/meet-carter-wilson-a-local-artist-doing-good-in-the-community.
- ↑ Bound, Barely (2015-06-30). "barely bound: a barebones introduction to post-rap". http://barelybound.blogspot.com/2015/06/post-rap-nongenre.html.
- ↑ "Error: no
|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://musiconthedot.com/carter-wilson/. - ↑ "DOGMA 19 | Indigenous Avant-Garde | United States | The Unilalia Group" (in en). https://www.unilalia.com/dogma-19.
- ↑ "PAINTINGS-CANVASES | Indigenous Avant-Garde | United States | The Unilalia Group" (in en). https://www.unilalia.com/elliswilsoncollection.
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