Green but yellow
"That separation can be, or should be effective as substance, yes, this is charming! we are separated-together"
Jean-Luc Nancy about green but yellow
Some questions put to oneself
Is green but yellow new?
Green but yellow has been around for at least 100 years. Initially, however, only a few facets of this phenomenon were noticed. Over the course of time green but yellow has emerged increasingly into public consciousness.
Does green but yellow make you happy?
Green but yellow does not make you happy.
Does green but yellow make you unhappy?
Green but yellow does not make you unhappy.
What is behind green but yellow?
Helplessness.
What is the best we can say about green but yellow?
Green but yellow satiates you.
Where does green but yellow come from?
Green but yellow is a principle of ignorance. Many call it a principle of values.
Who is responsible for green but yellow?
Green but yellow is a social phenomenon among human beings. It has not yet been identified among animals.
How was green but yellow discovered?
Green but yellow is a stylization taken from confusion. It is a result of an honest coming to consciousness aiming at clarification.
Where can I experience green but yellow for myself?
It is not possible to search for green but yellow. When encountered, you will recognize it. The possibility must not be excluded that there are still some remote places where green but yellow may not be perceived. In modern societies – as they exist all over the world in the meantime – green but yellow is part of everyday social life.
How long will green but yellow continue to exist?
I do not know.
What was before green but yellow?
There was only yellow.
Why do people want green but yellow?
They do not really want it. But it seems necessary to them because they are afraid they would only be left with yellow again.
Is there hope for further development?
How many colors does a hand have?
Is green but yellow legal?
Green but yellow is not only not illegal, on the contrary; green but yellow is protected by a complicated legal authentication.
Do you not exaggerate the premeditative character of green but yellow?
You are right. There are so many demands these days, which are difficult – if not impossible – to meet simultaneously so that you also find green but yellow due to overtaxing and helplessness.
Can you also find green but yellow in nature?
Yes, just think of light. According to physicists it sometimes acts like a particle, and other times like a wave.
Is green but yellow art?
Green but yellow is a cultural symbol of civilized society. As such, it may not actually be visualized, and is therefore, not a work of art. The project put forth here aims at an appropriate portrayal, however.
Do I understand you correctly that you see in green but yellow a western notion that is comparable with the eastern principle of Yin and Yang?
At the beginning of this long development there were the pyramids, followed by the surrealist revolt, which in supplementing them, placed the image of the Egyptian monuments upside down. While on the one hand, the path from the diversity of external appearances to a single god or law of nature is being symbolized, the surrealists choose the opposite approach. The path of fantasy to make life more wonderful departs from a single spirit and goes to the incalculable surprise. The difference between both of these pictures is their simultaneousness, which is implied in green but yellow. This basic separation now seems like Yin and Yang. But while these two are connected to each other by an «and», green but yellow makes a theme of a non-unit . Green and yellow do not supplement each other to make a whole.
A modern experience
Green but yellow is a modern experience whose substance is separation. It is not a division because in that case a whole would have to exist, which could then be divided. Attitudes towards the world, which go hand-in-hand with experiences in the world, are as ideas independent, without being able to indicate a unit. However, they remain – whether they want to or not – bound to human existence.
In modern societies many areas may be identified that have a directive of their own, that are separated in order to have their own space of action, and which only interact with the rest of society in matters of their own interest. Such separations are the result of differentiated experiences with nature.
It has been revealed that experiences with external nature may not be brought into harmony with the perception of mankind. Sometimes human experience emerges as a source of mistakes, other times a world is revealed, which is cold and empty without spiritual connection. With technical means the horizon of a person’s sensual experience may be broadened; on the other hand, in technological reality there is no reason to celebrate.
What people really want is: green but yellow
Modern culture and social institutions, no matter whether they are viewed under the aspect of rationalization or functionally as a system, all follow the values they are anchored in. To illustrate this several levels may be singled out here and introduced with their characteristic orientations for actions:
Spirit | Concentration | | | Distraction |
Logic | Equivalence | | | Difference |
Attitudes towards the world | Science | | | Art |
Morals | Equality | | | Diversity |
Motives for action | Specialisation | | | Diversification |
Behavior | Repetition | | | Change |
Way of life | Professional | | | Amateur |
These separations result from the experiences of a world, which according to western notions is not perceivable in its entirety and, independent of the chosen perspective, has led to various truths. This thought is expressed, for example, in the sentence: Every person has a nose, but each person has a different one.
Or: If we wanted to specialize in the differences we experience, we would lose ourselves in what seems an infinity, that is how many differences there are. If everything were unique, we would not be able to count on anything or rely on anything occurring again.
Thus, the equation is as follows: Can what is different really be the same or what is unique be different? There is no compromise. Do we trace our experience back to a basis or do we view our experiences as ultimately not capable of being abstracted to a singularity? Must we accept the separation from empiric repetitions and intuitive imaginations? Does precisely the great achievement of reason lie in this differentiation? Are there secret connecting lines or points of touch?
Green but yellow expresses a relationship between separations. In doing so green but yellow makes a theme of results of rationalization processes as well as irrational, chance meetings. Green but yellow is neither a theoretical hypothesis nor a philosophical statement. It is rather a sort of parable of modern civilization. In this it makes no difference whether green but yellow refers to culture itself, economic and social systems, or the expectations of human beings.
Today it is becoming clear – and this is something I wish to submit to discussion – that pursuing the path behind us has led us to a questionable sign: green but yellow. The project of its visualization should be introduced as a monument of or a symbolic placeholder for civilized society.
Idea
Green but yellow is a picture consisting of two pictures. At the same time this picture is «green» and «yellow», though not in a summary sense. How can such a picture be portrayed visually?
Visualization
The picture is a circle, filled-in and measuring around 100 feet in diameter, its entire surface being filled with the colors green or yellow. TFT lighting produces the colors by mixing them on varying RGB grids. Yellow, therefore, does not shine as a pure yellow, but as an RGB mixture, generated by the TFT points that shine in green and red. Both of the colors pulsate alternately in the rhythm it takes to breathe in and out. Both sides of the surface glow in this manner.
The circle construction is mounted vertically onto a raft, which in turn is anchored on a lake at a suitable distance from the shore. Since the attention will be on the surface of the circle lit alternately in green and yellow, the installation will only be illuminated after dark.
The poetic vision
Green but yellow is not only the glowing circle described above. The mirroring surface of the water, which breaks the circle of light up into a myriad of facets on the water, seemingly leading them to the eye, is also part of the experience for a visitor. Depending upon the angle of viewing, the result is imaginary, for the viewers rays converge that, when brought together and viewed from above – form the pyramid shapes mentioned above.
Project
Green but yellow sees itself as a project of enlightenment, in which the experience of the separation receives emphasis. It is a project sparked by romanticism since it indicates the diversity born of this. It is from this field of tension that the wit in green but yellow derives its absurd substance.
While the philosophy of the east with Yin and Yang has already disposed over such a symbol of its cultural tradition for a long time now, it remains to be seen whether western civilization – which may be viewed today as the world civilization – desires such an imagination.