International Necronautical Society
Encyclopedia
The International Necronautical Society is a semi-fictional organization closely modeled on European avant-gardes of the early 20th century. It replays, not without parody, the politically-inflected structures of these avant-gardes, with their manifestoes, committees, splinter groups and purges. At the same time the INS makes use of these structures to generate artistic projects that explore the relations between death and representation. The representation of physical death, as in obituaries and memorials, is only a starting point for the INS’s exploration of the ways that all representations inhabit a zone of conceptual death. Death, that is, is viewed by the INS as “a cipher for the outer limit of description, for the point at which the code breaks down” (Verhagen 2004). The founder and General Secretary of the INS is Tom McCarthy
, the artist, writer and theorist.
Other notable members of the "First Committee" are Simon Critchley
("Head Philosopher") and Anthony Auerbach ("Chief of Propaganda (Archiving and Epistemological Critique")
, in such essays as “Literature and the Right to Death,” “The Gaze of Orpheus,” and “The Essential Solitude.” The conceptual “space” explored in Blanchot’s book The Space of Literature becomes, in the INS’s first manifesto http://www.necronauts.org/manifesto1.htm, an outer space navigated by “necronauts” engaged in a tongue-in-cheek version of imperialism. The manifesto asserts “that death is a type of space, which we intend to map, enter, colonise and, eventually, inhabit.” Mapping, the first step in this process, has for its paradoxical model the completely blank map depicted in Lewis Carroll
’s "The Hunting of the Snark
"; this is discussed in the First Report of the General Secretary of the INS, whose title, Navigation Was Always a Difficult Art, is a quotation from Carroll’s poem. The manifesto later promises “to bring death out into the world. We will chart all its forms and media: in literature and art, where it is most apparent; also in science and culture, where it lurks submerged but no less potent for the obfuscation.” The INS aims to construct a “craft” which, beyond the implied spacecraft, is a matter of artistic and critical techniques. This craft, the manifesto says, “will convey us into death in such a way that we may, if not live, then at least persist.” Other key themes of the INS are repetition, especially in its relations with Freud’s death drive; encryption (codes but also psychoanalytical crypts as described by Nicholas Abraham
and Maria Torok
in The Wolf Man’s Magic Word: A Cryptonomy ISBN 0-8166-4858-1); mourning; and the role of a materialist practice in this mapping of death.
, where McCarthy handed out 200 copies of the First Manifesto. Its precedents were documents such as Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto
, and semi-parodic artistic organizations like Neue Slowenische Kunst
and the Association of Autonomous Astronauts
, both of which McCarthy had encountered in the 1990s. (For an interview between McCarthy and the AAA, see: http://www.necronauts.org/interviews.htm). It falls into the category of what historian/curator Inke Arns has called “post-historical” avant-gardes (Arns 2004).
The INS almost immediately attracted the attention of the art world, with London’s Lux Gallery inviting the INS to hold its first AGM there in July 2000. In 2001 London’s Austrian Cultural Forum invited the INS to take up a two-week residency in their gallery space, reconceived as the “Office of Anti-Matter.” There the INS summoned 20 cultural practitioners, including philosopher Simon Critchley
, novelist Will Self
, and writer/artist Stewart Home
in order to “interrogate” them on the Society’s concerns. The General Secretary’s report on this residency was published as "Navigation Was Always a Difficult Art" (Vargas 2002).
In 2002 McCarthy announced in a radio interview that the INS would be setting up a radio station to broadcast illicit messages in the style of the dead poet Cegeste in Jean Cocteau
’s 1950 film Orphee
. In preparation for this, a second set of hearings was held in November 2002 in London’s Cubitt Gallery. Cultural practitioners with experience in radio—including artist Cerith Wynn Evans, activist Heath Bunting
and novelist Ken Hollings—were publicly interrogated in a room arranged by set designer Laura Hopkins to resemble a combination of Stalinist show trials and Un-American Activities Committee hearings. Out of this event emerged the Second General Secretary’s Report, titled Calling All Agents (Vargas 2003). The radio station itself was installed in London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts
in a room designed—again by Laura Hopkins—to resemble a World War II “Operations Room.” Forty assistants cut up and mixed both “live” and “archaic” text garnered from sources as diverse as newspapers, radio, television, Ovid and Robert Graves
. These were projected onto the walls and re-arranged according to what the INS called “technical and metrical procedures” arrived at by following various poetic forms such as the sonnet and the villanelle. The texts created in this way were transmitted around London by FM and via internet around the world to collaborating stations in the US, Europe and Australasia.
In 2004 the INS opened an office in Berlin, declaring it to be the “World Capital of Death.” The artist Anthony Auerbach, who holds the position of INS Chief of Propaganda, did field work in the city to seek out sites where the traces of death had most evidently been erased, especially monuments and memorials. These were surveyed using “low altitude aerial surveys”—that is, close-up photography of the pavement at each site. This material was then interpreted using, among other things, a painstaking inventory carried out by professional accountants of each grain of sand visible on the surface of the photographs.
Other projects carried out by the INS include the infiltration of the BBC website with INS propaganda; the reenactment before a grid and then inside a wind tunnel of a Mafia shootout in Amsterdam; a “Declaration Concerning the Relationship Between Art and Democracy” that begins with the axiom “good art despises democracy to the same measure as bad democracy covets art.”
(2009). ISBN 978-0-9561947-0-1
Tom McCarthy (writer)
-Life and work:Tom McCarthy is a writer and conceptual artist. He was born in 1969 and lives in central London. McCarthy grew up in Greenwich, south London and was educated at Dulwich College and later New College, Oxford, where he studied English literature. He lived in Prague, Berlin and...
, the artist, writer and theorist.
Other notable members of the "First Committee" are Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political...
("Head Philosopher") and Anthony Auerbach ("Chief of Propaganda (Archiving and Epistemological Critique")
Key themes
Of the numerous philosophical influences on the INS’s conception of death the main one is Maurice BlanchotMaurice Blanchot
Maurice Blanchot was a French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist. His work had a strong influence on post-structuralist philosophers such as Jacques Derrida.-Works:...
, in such essays as “Literature and the Right to Death,” “The Gaze of Orpheus,” and “The Essential Solitude.” The conceptual “space” explored in Blanchot’s book The Space of Literature becomes, in the INS’s first manifesto http://www.necronauts.org/manifesto1.htm, an outer space navigated by “necronauts” engaged in a tongue-in-cheek version of imperialism. The manifesto asserts “that death is a type of space, which we intend to map, enter, colonise and, eventually, inhabit.” Mapping, the first step in this process, has for its paradoxical model the completely blank map depicted in Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
’s "The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...
"; this is discussed in the First Report of the General Secretary of the INS, whose title, Navigation Was Always a Difficult Art, is a quotation from Carroll’s poem. The manifesto later promises “to bring death out into the world. We will chart all its forms and media: in literature and art, where it is most apparent; also in science and culture, where it lurks submerged but no less potent for the obfuscation.” The INS aims to construct a “craft” which, beyond the implied spacecraft, is a matter of artistic and critical techniques. This craft, the manifesto says, “will convey us into death in such a way that we may, if not live, then at least persist.” Other key themes of the INS are repetition, especially in its relations with Freud’s death drive; encryption (codes but also psychoanalytical crypts as described by Nicholas Abraham
Nicholas Abraham
Nicolas Abraham was a Hungarian-born French psychoanalyst best known for his work with Maria Torok. The pair took a very individuated approach to psychoanalytic theory, thinking that the use of preset notions may be too binding upon an individual's motives to clearly fit within the framework of...
and Maria Torok
Maria Torok
Maria Torok was a Hungarian-French psychoanalyst, a student of Sandor Ferenczi.Torok is best known for her idiosyncratic contributions to psychoanalytic theory, developed in the wake of first Freud, then Ferenczi, and also the critical study of Husserl, and often coauthored with Nicolas Abraham...
in The Wolf Man’s Magic Word: A Cryptonomy ISBN 0-8166-4858-1); mourning; and the role of a materialist practice in this mapping of death.
History
The INS was launched in 1999 at a London “articultural fair” organized by Gavin TurkGavin Turk
Gavin Turk is a British artist and one of the Young British Artists . He often uses his own image in life-size sculptures of famous people.-Life and work:...
, where McCarthy handed out 200 copies of the First Manifesto. Its precedents were documents such as Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto
Futurist Manifesto
The Futurist Manifesto, written by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, was published in the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dell'Emilia in Bologna on 5 February 1909, then in French as "Manifeste du futurisme" in the newspaper Le Figaro on 20 February 1909...
, and semi-parodic artistic organizations like Neue Slowenische Kunst
Neue Slowenische Kunst
Neue Slowenische Kunst , aka NSK, is a controversial political art collective that announced itself in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK's name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans...
and the Association of Autonomous Astronauts
Association of Autonomous Astronauts
The Association of Autonomous Astronauts is a worldwide network of community based groups dedicated to building their own spaceships. The AAA was founded 23 April 1995. Although many of their activities were reported as serious participation in conferences or protests against the militarization of...
, both of which McCarthy had encountered in the 1990s. (For an interview between McCarthy and the AAA, see: http://www.necronauts.org/interviews.htm). It falls into the category of what historian/curator Inke Arns has called “post-historical” avant-gardes (Arns 2004).
The INS almost immediately attracted the attention of the art world, with London’s Lux Gallery inviting the INS to hold its first AGM there in July 2000. In 2001 London’s Austrian Cultural Forum invited the INS to take up a two-week residency in their gallery space, reconceived as the “Office of Anti-Matter.” There the INS summoned 20 cultural practitioners, including philosopher Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political...
, novelist Will Self
Will Self
William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
, and writer/artist Stewart Home
Stewart Home
Stewart Home is an English artist, filmmaker, writer, pamphleteer, art historian, and activist. He is best known for his novels such as the non-narrative 69 Things To Do With A Dead Princess , his re-imagining of the 1960s in Tainted Love , and earlier parodistic pulp fictions Pure Mania, Red...
in order to “interrogate” them on the Society’s concerns. The General Secretary’s report on this residency was published as "Navigation Was Always a Difficult Art" (Vargas 2002).
In 2002 McCarthy announced in a radio interview that the INS would be setting up a radio station to broadcast illicit messages in the style of the dead poet Cegeste in Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
’s 1950 film Orphee
Orphée
Orpheus is a 1950 French film directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Jean Marais. This film is the central part of Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, which consists of The Blood of a Poet , Orpheus and Testament of Orpheus...
. In preparation for this, a second set of hearings was held in November 2002 in London’s Cubitt Gallery. Cultural practitioners with experience in radio—including artist Cerith Wynn Evans, activist Heath Bunting
Heath Bunting
Heath Bunting is a contemporary British artist born in 1966. Based in Bristol, he is the founder of the site and was one of the early practitioners in the 1990s of Net.art . Bunting's work is based on creating open and democratic systems by modifying communications technologies and social...
and novelist Ken Hollings—were publicly interrogated in a room arranged by set designer Laura Hopkins to resemble a combination of Stalinist show trials and Un-American Activities Committee hearings. Out of this event emerged the Second General Secretary’s Report, titled Calling All Agents (Vargas 2003). The radio station itself was installed in London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in a room designed—again by Laura Hopkins—to resemble a World War II “Operations Room.” Forty assistants cut up and mixed both “live” and “archaic” text garnered from sources as diverse as newspapers, radio, television, Ovid and Robert Graves
Robert Graves
Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...
. These were projected onto the walls and re-arranged according to what the INS called “technical and metrical procedures” arrived at by following various poetic forms such as the sonnet and the villanelle. The texts created in this way were transmitted around London by FM and via internet around the world to collaborating stations in the US, Europe and Australasia.
In 2004 the INS opened an office in Berlin, declaring it to be the “World Capital of Death.” The artist Anthony Auerbach, who holds the position of INS Chief of Propaganda, did field work in the city to seek out sites where the traces of death had most evidently been erased, especially monuments and memorials. These were surveyed using “low altitude aerial surveys”—that is, close-up photography of the pavement at each site. This material was then interpreted using, among other things, a painstaking inventory carried out by professional accountants of each grain of sand visible on the surface of the photographs.
Other projects carried out by the INS include the infiltration of the BBC website with INS propaganda; the reenactment before a grid and then inside a wind tunnel of a Mafia shootout in Amsterdam; a “Declaration Concerning the Relationship Between Art and Democracy” that begins with the axiom “good art despises democracy to the same measure as bad democracy covets art.”
Society publications
- Tom McCarthy, Navigation Was Always a Difficult Art (London: Vargas Organization, 2002). ISBN 0-9520274-5-3
- Tom McCarthy, Calling All Agents (London: Vargas Organization, 2003). ISBN 0-9520274-8-8
- Anthony Auerbach, "Aerial Reconnaissance Berlin: Dossier submitted in evidence to the International Necronautical Society Inspectorate"
(2009). ISBN 978-0-9561947-0-1
Articles about
- Diana Balden, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”. Untitled, No. 32 (Summer 2004).
- Michael Bank Christoffersen, “The Orphic Gaze – A surveying of an impossible space of death.” MA dissertation. Art History, Goldsmiths College, University of London, 2003.
- Peter Schwenger, "The State of Inauthenticity". Triple Canopy (online magazine)Triple Canopy (online magazine)Triple Canopy is an online magazine, which was first published in 2008. In an effort to "slow down the Internet," the magazine curates and facilitates new media projects, which engage with the formal possibilities of the web. Its content ranges from art and literature to essays and critical theory...
Issue 1 (2008). - Marcus Verhagen, “Deathly Pursuits”. Art Monthly, No. 277 (June 2004).
- Ben Street & International Necronautical Society, "The Matter of Past-Loving London : A report on the purported delivered INS Declaration on Inauthenticity . Triple Canopy, No. 5 (2008).