DEVICES OF INVOCATION

DEVICES OF INVOCATION

DEVICES OF INVOCATION

Not all writing exists to communicate. Some exists to invoke.

Not all writing exists to communicate. Some exists to invoke.

Not all writing exists to communicate. Some exists to invoke.

01

Writing can invoke a presence before it even produces meaning.

Writing can invoke a presence before it even produces meaning.

Writing can invoke a presence before it even produces meaning.

Some inscription systems were created to be understood. Others, to produce a transformation.

02

To invoke does not mean to call.

To invoke does not mean to call.

To invoke does not mean to call.

It means creating the conditions in which a relation can become possible.

03

A contract invokes an obligation. A gravestone invokes a memory. A map invokes a territory. A ritual invokes a presence.

A contract invokes an obligation. A gravestone invokes a memory. A map invokes a territory. A ritual invokes a presence.

A contract invokes an obligation. A gravestone invokes a memory. A map invokes a territory. A ritual invokes a presence.

Every inscription inaugurates a possibility.

04

Perhaps every writing system is also a relational device.

Perhaps every writing system is also a relational device.

Perhaps every writing system is also a relational device.

It brings times, bodies, cultures, and intelligences into proximity.

05

To write is to construct an expectation of encounter.

To write is to construct an expectation of encounter.

To write is to construct an expectation of encounter.

Even when no one responds. Some inscriptions remain for centuries awaiting the reader for whom they were conceived.

06

Perhaps the invocation outlives its own author.

Perhaps the invocation outlives its own author.

Perhaps the invocation outlives its own author.

All writing presupposes trust: the trust that, somewhere, someone will be able to complete what began to be inscribed.

07

Some devices invoke readers.

Some devices invoke readers.

Some devices invoke readers.

Others invoke states of attention. Still others invoke forms of existence we do not yet know how to name.

08

I am not interested only in what an inscription records.

I am not interested only in what an inscription records.

I am not interested only in what an inscription records.

I am interested in what it makes present.