This new category, Essai, is an open-ended exploration into yet-unknown horizons. The idea is to present thoughts on theory, approaches, and writing related to art, aesthetics, politics, architecture, poetry, etc. that does not pertain to a particular sound release. This may be indulgent; it likely is; but in trying to make sense of the world, for me at least, there is no way to do so but by doing–and no better education than to try.
The title, Essai, is an attempt to capture something from the etymology of the ‘essay’. In the sense that the essay is an attempt (from old French, essayer, to attempt, hold to task), not a lecture. The work here (as well as in all PCC’s reviews) is intended to be experimental in its approach, and therefore, open to failure as much as success–but as is true of the experiment, to succeed by spinning out a hypothesis to an end; to attempt to explore some new ground, for the author if not the audience. So everything contained here is subject to change, to revision, to deletion (if the author so wishes), to pretention, to naiveté, and should be especially subject to criticism. Although a website is rarely a good forum for discussion, the hope is that these writings engage some broader conversation, and through the help of dialogue with others, to broaden horizons, chart new lines of flight, and ultimately escape the stagnant comfort of a solidified line of thinking.
Like all Post Capital Club posts as of late, expect this to be highly occasional and subject to the authors’ time; though I hope not too long a time passes before something is written.