Tracks from the Crypt

David Bowie’s 2015 Blackstar has been understood by critics and fans alike to have a certain valedictory status. For them, perhaps for us, it is a 39-minute and 13-second farewell. A long goodbye. My angle is different. By situating the Bowie/Renck collaboration on “Lazarus” in the context of a medi...

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description David Bowie’s 2015 Blackstar has been understood by critics and fans alike to have a certain valedictory status. For them, perhaps for us, it is a 39-minute and 13-second farewell. A long goodbye. My angle is different. By situating the Bowie/Renck collaboration on “Lazarus” in the context of a meditation on the question once posed by Georg Stanitzek, “Was ist Kommunikation?” I consider the CD and the video as experiments in re-configuration. More specifically, by thinking about the distinctly cinematic iteration of the question of communication (citing here Captain’s “what we have here is … failure to communicate” from Cool Hand Luke) I propose that mediated communication embodies the Ich/Es modality of dialogue disparaged by Martin Buber. What this invites us to consider is whether “Lazarus” in particular isn’t the generation of an audiovisual tombeau from which or out of which communication strains are to be heard. Is it “saying” farewell? Is it “saying” anything? By drawing on Jacques Derrida’s appropriation of the crypt in the work of Abraham and Torok, I propose that “Lazarus” manages (and the feat is neither small nor insignificant) to communicate nothing. In effect, “Lazarus” is the very sound, not of a failure to communicate, but of a “speaking” emptied of what protects it from mediation. Here, Bowie’s gnomic persona assumes a political valence not typically ascribed to it.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-303302025-07-30T10:20:58Z Tracks from the Crypt Mowitt, John Boguska, Rebecca Hediger, Vinzenz crypt mediation communication machine David Bowie tombeau Jacques Derrida fama Martin Buber thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television David Bowie’s 2015 Blackstar has been understood by critics and fans alike to have a certain valedictory status. For them, perhaps for us, it is a 39-minute and 13-second farewell. A long goodbye. My angle is different. By situating the Bowie/Renck collaboration on “Lazarus” in the context of a meditation on the question once posed by Georg Stanitzek, “Was ist Kommunikation?” I consider the CD and the video as experiments in re-configuration. More specifically, by thinking about the distinctly cinematic iteration of the question of communication (citing here Captain’s “what we have here is … failure to communicate” from Cool Hand Luke) I propose that mediated communication embodies the Ich/Es modality of dialogue disparaged by Martin Buber. What this invites us to consider is whether “Lazarus” in particular isn’t the generation of an audiovisual tombeau from which or out of which communication strains are to be heard. Is it “saying” farewell? Is it “saying” anything? By drawing on Jacques Derrida’s appropriation of the crypt in the work of Abraham and Torok, I propose that “Lazarus” manages (and the feat is neither small nor insignificant) to communicate nothing. In effect, “Lazarus” is the very sound, not of a failure to communicate, but of a “speaking” emptied of what protects it from mediation. Here, Bowie’s gnomic persona assumes a political valence not typically ascribed to it. 2021-02-10T13:40:28Z 2021-02-10T13:40:28Z 2020-05-04T14:51:06Z 2019 book Book_9783957960030_20200504_36 OCN: 1151502502 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/37578 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/30330 eng Configurations of Film open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/37578/1/978-3-95796-003-0-Mowitt.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/37578/1/978-3-95796-003-0-Mowitt.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/37578/1/978-3-95796-003-0-Mowitt.pdf meson press 10.14619/0030 10.14619/0030 ac472089-6d55-48f6-b3d5-e22eef42c7db ScholarLed 48 open access
spellingShingle crypt
mediation
communication
machine
David Bowie
tombeau
Jacques Derrida
fama
Martin Buber
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
Tracks from the Crypt
title Tracks from the Crypt
title_full Tracks from the Crypt
title_fullStr Tracks from the Crypt
title_full_unstemmed Tracks from the Crypt
title_short Tracks from the Crypt
title_sort tracks from the crypt
topic crypt
mediation
communication
machine
David Bowie
tombeau
Jacques Derrida
fama
Martin Buber
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
topic_facet crypt
mediation
communication
machine
David Bowie
tombeau
Jacques Derrida
fama
Martin Buber
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATF Films, cinema
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATJ Television
url Book_9783957960030_20200504_36