Krenelaże. Próba nomadyzmu krytycznego

Abstract

The essay is built around a basic architectonic pattern: that of battlements, alternating cubicles of stone and void. This image is treated as a synecdoche of the city, understood here not as a permanent settlement, but rather, paradoxically, as an empty space that is cyclically occupied by the nomads. The paradigmatic occupation by the newcomers can be found not only in Kafka, but also in Michał Paweł Markowski's book on travel, Dzień na ziemi. On the other hand, the notion of "critical nomadism" is taken from the Machinic Eros, a recent anthology of Guattari's writings on Japan. The problem of occupying space returns in his poem on a butoh dancer, published in this volume. Finally, the interconnection of nomadism and travel is traced back to the 7th century Arabian poet, Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, and his qasida Banat Su'ad. The battlements, architectonic element exploited in the building of Kirin Plaza in Osaka that Guattari compares with the medieval tower in Bologna, illustrates the problem of cyclophrenic rhythms of full and void, mass and empty form, as well as the experience of jet-lag, temporal suspension between 'too early' and 'too late' that is sought after not only by the postmodern tourist, but also by the Bedouin erotic subject, in love with a footprint: an arousing sign of bodily absence.