Cervenak, S. J. (2006).

Against Traffic: De/formations of Race, Rationality, and Freedom in

the Art of Adrian Piper. Discourse: Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture, 28 (2/3),
114-129.
Made available courtesy of Wayne State University Press:
http://wsupress.wayne.edu/journals/detail/discourse

Against
and

Traffic:

Freedom

De/formations
in the Art

of Adrian

of Race
Piper

Sarah Jane Cervenak

thecertitude
ofa definitive
Lacking
partitionbetween
andfreedom,
andin
slavery
the absenceof a consummate
breach
whichfreedom
through
mightambivaannounce
there
isatbesta tranitself,
lently
sient
andfleeting
ofpossibility.
expression
- Saidiya
Scenes
Hartman,
ofSubjection1
Valuedenotes
domination
andendurance
ina spaceofmultiplicity.
Itspresence
and
entailthealtering,
resituatperformance
oftheOther,
ormany
ing,andrefiguring
- indeed,
in margins,
in recesses
Others,
outsidea self-presence
paradoxically,
that
(defined
bya fetishized
boundary)
nonetheless
tobeeverywhere.
aspires
- LindonBarrett,
Blackness
and,
Valu
ThistimeI'vereally
madeit.I aminvisiand
ble,disembodied,
puresexualdesire,
thenight
holdsnofears
forme.Itsspirits,
indoors
andout,aremyoldfriends,
and
wecoilthrough,
andalongside
around,
people,and one another,
exuberantly,
shamelessly,
knowingly.
- Adrian
Piper,
"Flying"3
andFall2006,
28.28c3,Spring
Discourse,
pp.114-129.
2008
State
48201-1309.
Press,
Detroit,
Copyright
Wayne
University
Michigan

Springand Fall 2006

115

I. The Abstractionof Freedom,the Freedom of Abstraction

in
: Terror
and Self-Making
In her introductionto ScenesofSubjection
that
an
Hartman
America
Nineteenth
, Saidiya
engageargues
Century
ment with postbellum,Black expressiveculturesmust reconcile
the "lack of a definitivepartitionbetween slaveryand freedom."4
slavetradenot only
Indeed, as Hartmanobserves,the transatlantic
betweenblack
connection
bloodied
inauguratedthe inextricable,
lifein the
haunt
black
and subjectionbut continuesto
subjectivity
postbellum era. Freedom is, followingHartman, "fleetingand
realized.5Yet,it is prean abstractionnotyethistorically
transient,"
freedom
ciselythe "fleetingand transient"qualitiesof anti-slavery
thatconstituteitspersistentpossibility.
like freedom,race also operates as a kind of tranProfoundly,
sience as transientand transienceindicateboth a temporarinessas
well as an actual person in real and phantasmatic(epistemic,economic, ontological) movement,itinerantwithoutfixedor localizable social position.Inasmuch as race, particularlyblacknessand
indexes a particularand infiniteset of lived social
black identity,
it
experiences, simultaneouslyworksto fix and unfixblack people's physicaland social possibility.More precisely,it is the "elasof blackness- itsabilityto mean and take on manydifferent
ticity"
ideas, forms,and definitionsas well as move and be moved by the
empiricalperambulationsofxenophobic opticsthathas continued
to affectthe experience of black life fromthe antebellumera to
the present.6Reflectingon slavery'sviciouseconomies of captivity,
Hartmanwrites,
needtobe
eventhoseoftheNorth,
ofpleasure,
formations
Antebellum
since
ofchattel
dimensions
totheaffective
inrelation
considered
slavery
totheblackbody
recourse
without
isvirtually
unimaginable
enjoyment
thediversions
ofthecaptive,
andthesubjection
bythedisengendered
uses
launched
orthefantasies
oftheenslaved,
bythemyriad
possession
of
ofthiseconomy
features
theformal
Forthisreason
oftheblackbody.
tothelitinregard
areconsidered
ofenjoyment
andthepolitics
pleasure
?
andpossession
eralandfigurative
ofthebody
occupation
Antebellum slavery'sfigurationof blackness as an elasticized,
plastic, simultaneouslymaterial and immaterial locale for the
cruisings of white empirical and epistemological desire facilitated the mass take-overand theftof blacknessfromitself.In that
way,blacknessand black people were objects of abstraction,"fungible" as commodities- nowhere and everywhereat the same
time.8Lindon Barrettis also attuned to the "nowhereand every-

116

Discourse28.2 f 3

where" of blackness and black value as it operates in the interstices of materialityand immateriality,presence and absence,
formand formlessness,purpose and purposeless and continues
to shape an experience of Blackness, of black life and (absent)
presence in the United States. Along with Hartman, Barrett
argues that the economic, epistemic,ontological, and metaphysical undecidabilityof blackness is embedded and emerges froma
discourse on value. He maintains,
Blackness
a commodity
in a network
ofinternational
markets.
proves
thelegacy
ofmercenary
Western
however,
Additionally,
beyond
impulses
tofashion
a "cheapandconstant
sourceoflabor"withAfrican
bodies
transaction
concerns
itself
with
efforts
todetermine
(Mullin
3),a further
African
American
consciousness.
Ifthematerial
economic
transaction
racialblackness
asa phenotypical
andcommodifiable
essence,
produces
therelated
transaction
aimsat producing
blackness
as a negative,
disandpsychological
essence.9
cursive,
cultural,
Ironically,in the post-emancipationera, black artistshave experimented with a level of self-abstractionand objecthood that
resembles the "coerced theatricalitiesof the trade" though this
time in the interestsof self-possession,anti-captivity,
and a reclamation of consciousness from the site of its determinate and
devalued negation.10In particular,the art of black conceptual
artist and philosopher Adrian Piper is moved by a positive
engagementwithselfto the extentthatselfis not only the site of
a radical commitmentto presence but also the place fora radical
disruption of the xenophobic systemsof value and rationality.
Piper's interventionworks at the level of an abstractionof self
fromthe specificity
of the racialized, classed, and gendered body
to which it is attached. By messing with the coordinates of the
- Piper switches
spectator's particular narrations of fungibility
bodies in her MythicBeingseries, for example- while using the
nowherenessof blackness in her public revelationand transcendence of self,Piper inventsnew waysof being black and free in
public. Broadlyspeaking,byphilosophicallyimprovisingthe relationshipbetween presence and absence, materialityand immateriality,performanceand philosophy,self-consciousnessand selfabstraction, objecthood and selfhood, race and value, Piper
consciously engages the "promiscuous" meeting ground where
value, rationality,and their "dark Other side[s]" converge.11In
doing so, new formsof valuation- both self-directedand spectatorial- become possible and the question of freedom itselfcan
once again be properlyasked.

117

Springand Fall 2006

. AdrianPiper

artistand KantianphilosopherAdrianPiper is a
African-American
crucial figurein the expressionof performanceand philosophy's
foundational arrangement.12In particular,her philosophically
performativeengagementswithKantian rational theoryare centrallyconcerned withtwo premises: (1) That freedom,along the
lines described by Kant, as "the absolute totalityof the series of
conditionsforanygivenappearance,"13can mean "freedomfrom
and (2) That race and difroles induced byother'srecognition"14;
of a rationalizing
ferencehave the potentialto affectthe integrity
of
process self-preservation.15
Indeed, the ideas of freedom and rationalityare constant
from1967 to the pressourcesof inspirationforPiper's art-making
and
her Catalysis(1970-72)
ent.Particularly,
Being{ 1972-76)
Mythic
series are organized around a set of philosophical investigations
in itsempiricaland "pseudoconcerned withart's transformation
rational"encounterswithspectators.Piper argues,
arises
buta dilemma
inordertobeunified
Weneedrationality
subjects,
in making
areinvariably
schemes
becauseourconceptual
inadequate
andnewphenomena
ofexperience,
senseoftheplethora
information,
wearegetting
theglobalcommunity,
Asweenter
usdaily.
thatbombard
about
aboutother
allthetimeaboutourselves,
newinformation
people,
It'sjusttoo
andabouttheuniverse.
theworldatlarge,aboutscience,
hasoutofourworld
Thecomplexity
andit'salltoounfamiliar.
much,
fordealingwithit. On theother
resources
ourconceptual
stripped
withconfusion
thenwearestuck
thesecategories,
hand,ifwebracket
of
thatconfront
andpanicatalltheanomalies
us,andwefeelthethreat
of
theappearance
tomaintain
Sowehavetotry
disintegration.
personal
I
This
is
what
of
for
the
rational
self-preservation.
consistency purposes
other
Werationalize
Wedenysomethings.
callpseudorationality.
things.
tobe incorporated.
thataretoothreatening
Wedissociate
phenomena
Wetrytoshapethisunmanageable
inputintoa neatand
conceptual
and
wedoitinpolitics,
Wedothisinscience,
view
oftheworld.
coherent
individuals
whoarealientous,peoplewholookdifferent,
wedoitwith
ofhowpeopleought
whodon'tfitourconception
whotalkdifferently,
ourcatewetrytoimpose
tobeandlook.Whenweseepeoplelikethis,
if
didn't
have
we
of
human
This
is
the
it,we
rationality;
paradox
gories.
inadareinvariably
function
atall.Yettheserational
couldn't
categories
of
individual.16
an
to
the
insensitive
and
uniqueness
equate
Exploring pseudorationality,Piper developed "nonmaterial art
objects, unspecifiedwith regard to time and space" under the
assumptionthatthe spectator/artisticconsumerwillepistemologicallyand philosophicallyshape the meaning and value of the art
and performancesbyvirtueof havingexperienced them.17

118

Discourse28.2 & 3

Further,whathas also been essentialforPiper is her self-positioningas the "nonmaterialart object unspecifiedwithregard to
timeand place" whichgetsexpressedself-consciously
as a "catalytic
and
as
"a
neutral
with
a
object"
object
problematic identity.18
Piper's becoming-objectresponded to, on the one hand her "insularityfrompolitical life"and on the other,questions concerning
whatit meant to be a black,femaleartistin historical,social, ontoThese contemplationslead
logical,ethical,and economic terms.19
to a set of conceptual musings on how the public and plastic
manipulationsof her own body- its becoming an entirelyother
catalyticobject- can commenton thisparticularrelationshipwith
the outsideworld. Ultimately,
Piper's emergencein the cityas first
a catalyticobject and then "a neutralobject withproblematicidentityimplie[d] not only thatmypropertiescannot be categorically
enumeratedbut also thatI am not susceptibleto evaluativejudgment: Neither my identitynor my value can.be conceptually
assessed."20In these pieces, Piper's productionof herselfas "nonmaterial" and "unspecifiedwith regard to time and space" is
instructiveinsofaras value is figuredas coextensivewithcategorical enumeration.Followingthisreasoning,the question becomes,
ifit is the case thatPiper is able to resist,trespassupon, as well as
transgressesthe categoricalimperative,does Piper somehowmove
outside the prison-houseof value?
In the Catalysis
series,these movementsoutside of value's teleological pull are manifestedsimultaneouslyin a self-objectification
as well as the enactment of deliberately"uncategorizable"performancesin public space. Significantly,
Piper identifiesthese performancesas catalyticin that they"induce a reaction withinthe
viewer."21
For example, Piper becomes a catalyticobject by riding
the bus, subway,and Empire State Elevatorwitha large bath towel
stuffedinto her cheeks. Catalytic,self-objectifying
performances
also include fillinga pursewithketchupand pullingout her sticky
walletin the middle of Macy's;walkingdown a busyNew YorkCity
streetcovered withpaint and wearinga "wetpaint" sign; moving
slowlydown busy residentialstreets,"holding a continual monologue with myself. . . about myself.""Definingthe work as the
viewer'sreaction to it" exposes how the viewer'sown categorical
is the crucial contingencyof the art's legiimperatives/response
and
success.22
bility
Tellingly,afterthis series was complete, Piper observed the
strikingdisparitybetween "myinner self-imageand the one they
had of me."23This is the disparitythatinfluencesPiper's nextartistic series, The MythicBeingseries. This disparitybetween Piper's
own self-imageand thevisuallypathological,racial,and sexual cat-

Springand Fall 2006

119

egorical enumeration of her objecthood by others was partly

responsible for The MythicBeingseries [MB] . But MB also had
somethingto do withthe man in the park. On a seeminglyordinaryday in WashingtonSquare Park,Piper was sittingwithfriends
when she noticed a "seedy,"unkemptblack man "smilingbroadly
He was talkingto himselfin "a loud
and walk[ing] witha swagger.24
when
voice"
approached by another man witha request
singsong
forsome spare change. The occasion of his responseproved to be
forPiper.
transformative
philosophicallyand performatively
Huh?You
from
a manwhogotnosense?
"Howcanyoutakesomecents
a crazy
from
Youcan'takenothin
know
whatI mean?Right?
man,you
soit'sallthesametome,youdig?"
isnonsense,
know?
Causenocents
downthepath,walking
He thencontinued
slowly,
occasionally
stopofbenchoccupants,
continually
repeating,
pinginfront
Amean
lahkyoucan'takenothbrother?
isnonsense,
"Nocents
right
what
don'matter
a crazy
man,youdig?Ifhe'scrazy
youdo.You
ingfrom
mean?"
whata
MEman,youknow
from
CAN'takenothing
of
balance
a nearperfect
He haddoneit- achieved
I wasdumbfounded.
invociferous
articulated
Hisknowledge,
andself-consciousness.
behavior
I thought
ofthepieceI'd done
totalcontrol.
gavehimalmost
language,
I moved
down
abouta yearandhalfagowhere
holding
slowly thestreet
the
andmaking
semicoherent
a continual,
anypasserby
monologue
or
of
matter
the
without
of
style my
altering subject
object mytalking
Thisman'sperformance
bycomparison.
Mypiecesuffered
delivery.
overintellecincontrast
tomyowndry,
seemed
divinely
inspired,
poetic;
effort.
tualized
thedegreeto
hada lottodowith
heachieved
Itseemsthatthetension
ofmindandalsoself-consciously
hisstate
hecouldbothEXPRESS
which
it.25
acknowledge
The poetryof thisblack performanceis embedded in an anti-incarceratorydrive,articulatedas a resistanceto the pseudorational,categorical enumerationand valuationsby others.This anticipatory
consciousnessin conjunctionwitha painfullyradical semi-incoherin demonstratingto Piper how objects not only
ence is instructive
speak back but know better.More profoundly,it is preciselythis
anticipatoryconsciousnessand radicallypainfulsemi-incoherence
thatbridgesthisswaggering,loudmouthed,maybe"crazy"man in
the parkwitha long traditionof black radicalswho philosophically
mode of indirectionas resistance.
performeda self-conscious
encounterin the parkthat
It was soon afterthistransformative
Being.This preparationinauPiper began preparingforthe Mythic
gurateda more intensiverelationshipbetween performanceand
philosophy,as all of the philosophical textsshe needed to read

120

Discourse28.2 & 3

were deferred (only to be approached anew) by the persistent,

internaldemand to "spend four or fivehours a day thinkingor
writingabout art, diddling around on my guitar,doing a piece,
etc."26These compulsions to perform,to thinkabout and write
about artare partof thispreparation.The othersignificant
feature
of Piper's preparation involved the "threatening"task of "concretizing] myspectator'svisionof myselfas an object.27
For Piper, the self-consciousact of becoming-objectinvolved
negotiatingthe contradictionsof value embedded in the tension
betweenseeing oneselfand being seen, privateand public, inner
and outer. It also meant anticipatingan empirical maneuver of
visual (racial, sexual, economic, psychological) evaluation and
divertingthe telos of other's "designations."In "Talkingto Myself:
The Ongoing Autobiographyof An ArtObject," Piper muses,
areinterpreted
as "insane,"
areconsis[I]ncaseswhere
myactions
they
tent
with
theexternal
world
justinthatdesignation.
Myinner
experience
which
coherence
tomyactions
tome,
hasnorecgnizable
gives
waythat
hasobjective
[I]n thecaseswheremyactionsareobjectively
validity.
constitutes
theonlyruleswhereby
meaningless,
myinner
experience
my
actions
canbemadeintelligible.
Becausetheexternal
audience
doesnot
mustexistonlyinrelation
tomeandforme.
recognize
myaction,
they
exists
a reflective
consciousness
ofmeas
Here,thepublic
onlytoprovide
anobject.
Butitisintheobjectrather
thanthesubject
thatmeaning
and
coherence
arefound.28
The tensionbetweenbeing at once the object of consciousnessas
well as the conscious object motivatesthe philosophical performances of Piper's post-Catalysisseries, the MythicBeing (1973-74).
Inasmuch as the object of consciousnessrefersto a racialized and
wherein Piper's "meaning and coherence"
gendered fungibility
are determinedby the spectator'sown economic, racial, and epistemicinvestments,
the conscious object subvertsthatpossible spectatorialmaneuver.29In particular,the conscious object uses her
consciousnessin negatingthe value of the empiricalbyproducing
outwardly meaningless actions recognizable (and perhaps,
rational) onlyto the catalytic,conscious object herself.30
Further,modeling the MythicBeingon the man in the park
required that this tensionwithinobjecthood be mobilized in the
name of a radical,oftenfiguredas "criminal"or "insane,"indirection.Indirectionhere refersto the object's (of consciousness) abilityto at once expressan innerselfwhile anticipatingand sidestepping the telos of spectators'evaluations.The man in the park does
this by predicting and abstractingthe evaluation, making his
"craziness"the subject of a rhetoricalgame. By publiclyperform-

Springand Fall 2006

121

ing an abstractionof the self,the spectator'spossible, empirical

encroachmentsare challenged. Moreover,Piper's respectfor the
man in the park's stylizedindirectionhad everythingto do with
itselfcan be the site of a radiilluminatinghow self-consciousness
cal improvisation.Further,inasmuch as consciousnessof the self
allowsforan a prioriinternalsense of "meaningand coherence,"
it can also be the siteof a transgression
and abstractionof the personal.31Piper's acknowledgementof thisduality,while absolutely
crucialforthe developmentof the Mythic
Beingseries,precipitated
the rage of a Var inside me thatwas verytiring."32
andtriedtodetermine
Thewarwasbetween
a spectator
whoevaluated
movements
ofmybody,
andthepartofmethatabanthecontingent
Thewarwas,that
donedcontrol
ofmybody,
tomybodyanditsinstincts.
ofperception,
bothaspects
theaudience
andtheobject
istosay,
between
ofmyconsciousness.33
In thePreparatory
Notes
Being,Piper articulatesthe tenfortheMythic
sion betweenseeing oneself as a discretebody in space and time
whilealso imaginingoneselfas capable of moving,meditating,and
dancingbeyondphysical,social, ontological,and historicalcontinobject
gencies. Indeed, the discordbetweenbeing a self-conscious
and a being able to transcendthe contingenciesof the internalized spectatoris thatwhichanimatesthe complexityof the Mythic
Beingproject. Piper's experience as a dancer, for example, also
speaks to thisconceptual aporia.
Beginningin 1965, Piper workedas a discotheque dancer in
two New York City nightclubs,the Ginza and EntreNous. She
danced in a cage over the bar. Piper loved thisjob because it provided a deregulatedspace whereshe could move as if"all alone."34
Despite the factthattherewas an audience and her physicalrange
of movementwas contingentupon the size of the cage, Piper took
pleasure in the infinitefreedomsofferedbydance. It is dance that
as it
overwhelmsher and her relationshipto self-consciousness,
"induced [not only] a trancestate [but] let her body take over."35
As her bodybecame her "guide,"it loosened her hold on self-consciousness. Piper momentarilyallowed herself to "become the
music."36Becoming the music,Piper is able to transcendthe tightand, coupled withher insightslearned
space of self-consciousness
fromyogicmeditation,begins to considerthe "cosmicabsurdityof
Indeed, it is preciselythe "absurdmyattemptto definemyself."37
of
self-definition
that
Piper's Mythic
ity"
Beingexposes.
As a Mythic
Being; Piper donned an Auburn shag wig,reflecting sunglasses,black pants, turtleneck,and brown boots. She

122

Discourse28.2 & 3

assumed the gesturesof a masculine image of herself,one that

swaggered,"str[o]de,lope [d], lower[ed] myeyebrows,raise[d] my
shoulders and [sat] with my legs apart on the subway,so as to
accommodate my protrudinggenitalia" (117). The MythicBeing;
while in differentpublic spaces throughoutNew York City and
Harvard University(Cambridge,MA) ran an internalmonologue
sometimescomposed of fragmentsof Piper's diaryentries.Sometimes,the MB would incorporateinto his dialogue aspects of an
exchange withan unsuspectingbystander.
As the MythicBeing; Piper was allowed to do two things: (1)
become her other, "a third-world,
Self-consciously
working-class,
hostile
male"
while meditatingon the processes of her
overtly
recognitionas such; and (2) "Move withoutmoving."38Beginning
withthe former,Piper's transformation
into an independent and
separate image of her opposite allowed her to move beyond the
limitsof her own selfwhile also making explicit how the Mythic
Beingis the sign par excellence of its essential formlessnessand
elasticity,the self-conscioussite of other people's economic and
epistemicwanderings.Appearing to be hollowed out, the Mythic
Being "exists only in the perception of those who read his
At the same time, however,because his monologue
thoughts."39
weaves into and out of self-awareness,
it compromises a causal
argumentlinkingwhat the spectatorssay about MB and what he
thinksabout himself.Because it is unclear who MB is apart from
whatis expressedin his monologue- existingas a perceived "neutralobject withproblematicidentity,"
as itwere- Piper argues that
his "propertiescannot be categoricallyenumerated."40Significantly,the necessarilyaimlessfinitudeof MB is extended byPiper's
own infinitudewhere, through disguise, she is able to wander
along the limitsof her desire and freedom ( CruisingWhiteWomen
and Strutting
' 1974).
By incorporatingher own diary entries into the ongoing
monologue of the MythicBeing,Adrian Piper was able to tell and
unteli her story.Piper's personal historyis dispersed throughout
MB's monologue, allowing her to at once publicly objectify,
release, and transcendthe limitationsof her personhood. At the
same time,however,MB's monologue is told as a series of diaryinspiredyetnonethelessdislocatedmantras,"meaninglesssounds,
depersonalized expressions ascribable to anyone and everyone:
Of essentialsignificanceis the fact
They are common property."41
thatthe Mythic
is
Being physicallyrendered as a "thirdworldoverly
hostile male."42It is preciselybecause MythicBeingwas modeled
afterthe racialized and sexualized outlaw figuresof Piper's New
York- "alcoholics,panhandlers,freaks,crazies" (et al) - thatexac-

Springand Fall 2006

123

erbated the xenophobic response to "what he said about himself."43Xenophobia here is furthercompounded by MB's associationwiththe street,the "enablingabsence" ofwhite,middle-American civic presence.44 Being in the street, being the street,
disruptingtraffic,
Piper's Mythic
Beingis an independent,abstract
object that speaks someone else's storywhere the someone else
refersboth to Piper as well as the xenophobic voiceoversof the
city-citizen.
As Piper herselfargues,racismand sexismproduce a cultural
situationwhere bodies of color become the site of a radical invasion, "foraysinto my selfhood designed to render my interiority
What the eye widened
transparentto an eye widened in terror."45
in terrorpresumesis thatthe "anomalous objects thatdo not conformto our presuppositionsof whatexperience should be like or
whatobjectsshould be like"windup not enteringconsciousness.46
Theybecome eitherrepressedor ignored.
ofMB, then
The self-conscious
racializationand criminalization
evasion but does
not onlyanticipatesthe invasionand repression/
the workof externalizingthe personal. "Look but do not touch."
What'sgreat,though,is thatthe storyMB tellsto the ears and eyes
widened in terror,both is and isn't his story,both is and isn't her
story.The fullstory,in fact,is nevertold.There is a long historyof
fullstoriesnevertold,whereobjectsof ethnographicand empirical
interestwithholdor obscure theirstory.Hartmanidentifiesthe traditionof the duplicitousnarratoras itoperateswithinthe slavenarrative.Like theex-slaveHarrietJacobs's"loophole"thatat once protected her from the pursuitof her master and the abolitionist
reader,Piper's MythicBeingsimilarlyworksto conceal "observer
action."47
fromobserved,[allowingfor]unobservedoffensive
s "unobservedoffensiveaction"consistsof his abilBeing*
Mythic
ityto release Piper's privatestoryinto the worldin a formthatdisabled the empiricalpull of the observer.48Fred Moten describes
this "unobserved offensiveaction" as Piper's interventioninto
"beholding"where beholding means "mess[ing] up or mess[ing]
withthe beholder."49Returningto Piper, this criticalexercise in
of
beholding enabled the subsequent release and transfiguration
her past into "meaninglesssounds, depersonalized expressions
ascribable to anyone and everyone"allowingher to momentarily
transcend the "limitationsof [her] personality and physical
appearance."50In the contextof the Mythic
Being,Piper's personalitywas dispersedinto the guttersand half-closedears of New York
City.Mythic
Being'sphysicalappearance, whichforPiper is primary,
is characterizedbya radical otherness,a blacknessthatis pure surface and visuality.
It is preciselythroughthe use of blacknessas a

124

Discourse28.2 & 3

portable,defensivesurfacethat Piper experimentswiththe freedom of being everywhereand nowhereat the same time.In other
; she can explore what it
words, as Piper occupies MythicBeing,
means to be all surface,all aggression,and all confrontation,a
"staticemblem"of "everything
you mosthate and fear."51
Being all
surfaceis perhaps the end of objectification;however,as willsoon
become clear, Piper's deployment of MythicBng's fungibility
enables her protectionbehind his defensiveand offensivesurface
of her (Piper) intewhile,at the same time,sustainingthe integrity
and
riority privacy.
To be sure,thisabstractcriminality
and condensed hostility
his abilityto be "everything
most
hate
in
and
fear"
you
conjunction with the methodical, purposeful dispersion of the private
details of Piper's life, then, provides the perfect nexus for the
MythicBeingto be everywhere.Because MythicBng is physically
rendered as a black, workingclass male, his "criminal"otherness
subjectshim to an arrayof pseudorationaldefenses.As Piper herself anticipates, xenophobia becomes the force that "coerces
[MythicBeing into] an unknown [and unknowable] absence."52
Further,Piper observes,the businessof "defendingourselvesintellectuallyagainstwhatwe perceiveto be a boundaryviolation"succeeds in "poisoning"the experience of the unique "singularity
of
the object or person."53If Mythic
Beingcannotbe rationalized,what
he saysis not received.
What's more, pseudorationalityallows Piper's life to be dispersed into the streetsof New Yorklike the bullets of a machine
- the detailsof her life
gun. Withouta properwitness,Piper's story
and personhood are released into the anonymous citystreets.
Further,in an ironic twist,blackness provides the occasion for
Piper's own (transcendent) movement against capture where
something like freedom- essentially transient and errantbecomes possible. Inasmuch as MythicBeing'spresence as an irrational "other"guaranteesthatwhat he saysabout himselfwill fall
beneath the empiricalregisterof the unsuspectingpasserby,so too
it becomes much more profoundthatwhathe speaks are the contours of Adrian Piper's subjecthood. In a paradoxical maneuver,
xenophobia becomes the particularly
complicatedsitewherePiper
is both subjectto as well as eludes the capturingpull of the empirical ey Through MythicBeing,Piper achievesthe conditionof an
abstraction.Her "personalityand physicalappearance" are dislocated and released fromselfhoodso thatshe can experimentwith
being an abstraction.
Approximatelythirteenyears after the completion of the
1967MythicBeingseries,Piper published AdrianPiper:Reflections

Springand Fall 2006

125

1987 (The Alternative

Museum).As part of her reflections,Piper
In Flyrecallsa recurrentdream, "one of [her] mosttreasured."54
I
her
recordof
from
the
dream
describes
;
flight. quote
ing Piper
ingsat length.
somerI spring
theground,
from
turns,
highleaps,tour
jets,
executing
thesefigures,
canstay
I float
andtwirls.
saults,
twists,
effortlessly
through
dance
intheairforas longas I like.Myballetandmodern
suspended
I runandleap,flapping
transfixed.
MissCopeland
watches,
teacher,
my
andoften
land
closetotheground
I amflying
Atfirst
andtakeoff.
arms,
andflapping
to.Butbyrunning
without
further,
faster,
leaning
wanting
farabovethepeople
and higher,
I eventually
ascendhigher
harder,
tocatchmebythefeet
belowme,whoarewatching,
marveling,
trying
I soarabovethem,
anddragmedown.
leaving
gliding,
twisting,
dripping,
andnotwithout
Thispartisnoteffortless,
inthedistance.
them
anxiety.
cannot
sothatthey
farabovethem
I havetowork
hardtostay
sufficiently
tokeep
andenergetic
maneuvering
flapping
getatme.Ittakesskillful
I relaxintomyability
tostay
it.Eventually
thematbay,butI manage
as longas I conbehind
evenleavethem
afloat
abovethem,
completely,
tofly
torestanddecidewhere
I alight
ontheroofofa building
centrate.
won't
sothey
aheadofthem,
onthemove,
thatI must
next,
stay
realizing
on
I trytoavoidlanding
meanddragmetotheground.
catchupwith
I feelthe
aroundmyankles,
handsclosing
... I feeltheir
thesidewalk
twistoutdoors
meas I emerge
again,nowspinning,
glasscrasharound
air.I flapmyarmsgenintothecoolnight
offthesidewalk
ing,bouncing
tothetree
abovethestreetlamps,
tops.ThistimeI've
effortlessly
tlyfloat
andthe
sexual
I
it.
am
made
desire,
disembodied,
invisible,
pure
really
indoors
andout,aremyold
nightholdsno fearsforme.Itsspirits,
and
andalongside
andwecoilthrough,
around,
friends,
objects,
people,
oneanother,
knowingly.55
shamelessly,
exuberantly,
Piper's dream of flightwhere flightmeans leaving one's ground,
sidewalk,and body providesan especiallyinsightfulglimpse into
what the MythicBeingoffered.At once the MythicBeingwas pure
surfaceand visualityas well as racialized and sexualized errancy,
enabling Piper to momentarilyimagine what being without a
localizable personhood might feel like. Flyingspeaks to this
desire. The desire to be withouta proper body,a localizable personhood susceptible to the diagnostic-empirical,
economic, and
In
of
the
encroachments
many
ways,just like
spectator.
epistemic
occasion of
the
describes
;
perambulatory
MythicBeing Flying
desire."56
sexual
"pure
What is also tremendousabout the dream of flyingis that it
and "disembodiment"can be infused
describeshow "invisibility"
with qualities otherwiseassociated with immobility,
unfreedom,
and philothese
and
revaluing
performative
By
negativity, captivity.
not only
of
the
conditions
conditions
as
freedom,
Piper
sophical
cites herselfas part of a long traditionof black radicals who,

126

Discourse28.2 f 3

[d] the broken and ravthrough"redressiveaction . . . transfigure

enous body into a siteof pleasure,a vesselof communication,and
a bridgebetweenthe livingand dead" but also extends redressive
action itselfto include the processesof objectificationand abstraction.57Piper muses,
Abstraction
isflying.
isascending
tohigher
andhigher
levels
Abstracting
ofconceptual
backandforth,
generalization;
soaring
reflectively
circling
around
abovethespecificity
andimmediacy
ofthings
andevents
inspace
andtime,
from
a perspective
thatembeds
themina conceptual
frameworkofincreasing
breadth
anddepth,a framework
without
horizon,
orbasement
. . . Abstraction
isalsoflight.
Itisfreedom
from
the
ceiling,
immediate
constraints
ofthemoment;
freedom
toplan
spatiotemporal
thefuture,
recallthepast,comprehend
thepresent
froma reflective
thatincorporates
all three;freedom
fromtheimmediate
perspective
boundaries
ofconcrete
toimagine
thepossible
andtransport
subjectivity
oneself
intoit;freedom
tosurvey
therealas a resource
forembodying
thepossible;
freedom
todetachtherealized
oneself
more
objectfrom
andmorefully
as a self-contained
determined
entity,
fully
byitscontextualproperties
andrelations,
andconsider
itfrom
as newgrist
for
afar,
themillofthepossible.
Abstraction
is freedom
fromthesocially
prescribed
andconsensually
freedom
toviolate
inimagination
the
accepted,
constraints
ofpublicpractice,
to playwithconventions,
or to indulge
them.
Abstraction
isa solitary
theconceptual
universe,
journey
through
with
noanchors,
nocues,nosignposts,
nomaps,
nofoundations
tocling
to.Abstraction
makes
onelovematerial
allthemore.58
objects
In Abstraction,
Piper describesbeautifullythe philosophicallyperformativeprocedure of abstractionas flightand freedom.In many
ways,becomingthe Mythic
Beingallowed Piper the freedomto 'Violate in public practice"the systemsof racistand xenophobic practice.59The violation itselfconsists in self-consciously"play[ing]
with the conventions"of white supremacistempirical visionconventionsthat assume the other as putativelyfixed in absence
and negation.60In the traditionof anti-slavery
resistance,Piper
elucidates how those places outside the purviewof empiricaland
rationaltrafficare profoundsitesof resistanceand redress.
, then,
Returningto Mythic
BeingbywayofFlyingand Abstraction
illuminateshow the art of self-abstraction,
made possible by conceptualismand black consciousness,providesthe conditionof possibilityof freedom. Among other freedoms transitorilygained
existsthe freedomof seeingwithoutbeing seen. A new viewpoint,
new visionsof blackness'srelationshipwiththe city.As Michel de
Certeau argues,being above the city- in his case, withinthe observationdeck of theWorldTrade Center- means that"one's body is
no longer clasped by the streetsthatturnand returnit according
to an anonymous law; nor is it possessed, whetheras player or

Springand Fall 2006

127

played,by the rumbleof so manydifferencesand by the nervousness of New Yorktraffic."61

Piper's movementabove the city,above
the nervousnessof spectatorialand xenophobic trafficis importantas it showshow the self-consciousdeploymentof Blacknessas
an abstractionallowsfora philosophicallyperformative
resistance
to captivity.
like the dreams narratedin Flyingand Abstraction
,
Ultimately,
AdrianPiper's Mythic
Beingseriesdescribesthe potentialfreedoms
embedded in the black radical recuperationof otherwisedehumanizing and devaluing practices. Through the complicated
and abstraction,Piper relaesesherprocessesof self-objectification
selffromthe violence of these public practices.In doing so, she
in thetransientbeautiesoffreedom.
movesabove and againsttraffic
Notes
1Saidiya
inNineandSelf-Making
V.Hartman,
Scenes
Terror,
Slavery,
ofSubjection:
Oxford
teenth
America
Press,
1997),12-13.
(NewYork:
University
Century
2Lindon
Uni: Seeing
Double
Blackness
andValue
Barrett,
(NewYork:
Cambridge
Press,
1999),19.
versity
3 Adrian
in OutofOrder/Out
Vol.1:
Smith
ofSight,
Margaret
Piper,"Flying,"
MITPress,
1968-1992
Selected
inMeta-Art,
1996),224.
(Cambridge:
Writings
4Hartman,
12.
5Ibid.,12.
6Ibid.,25.
7Ibid.,26 (myemphasis).

8Ibid.,26.

9Barrett,
56.
10Hartman,
37.

11Barrett,
26.
12I arguethatperformances
area fundamental
methodpartofphilosophy's
inparticular,
from
theassumption
that
endowment.
ological
Myresearch,
operates
as thelimitof philosophy.
is a methodthatemerges
Ambulatory
wandering
inwhich
thestylized
or
toa Western
tradition
arecrucial
philosophical
metaphors
actsoftheeveryday
generate
meaning.
spontaneous
13Immanuel
Norman
Kant,Critique
, trans.
ofPureReason
KempSmith(New
York:
St.Martin's
1965),340.
14Adrian
inOut
NotesforMythic
Smith
Being,"
Margaret
"Preparatory
Piper,
MITPress,
Voll(Cambridge:
1996),101.
ofOrder/Out
ofSight,
15Adrian
Smith
in OutofOrder/Out
Margaret
Piper,
"Xenophobia,"
ofSight,
MITPress,
Vol.1
1996),189.
(Cambridge:

Discourse28.2 & 3

128

16Maurice
with
Adrian
AnInterview
'The Critique
ofPureRacism:
Berger,
18,no.3 (October
1990):10.
Afterimage
Piper,"
17Piper,
118.
Notes,"
"Preparatory
18Ibid.,95.
19Adrian
TheOngoing
toMyself:
Smith
Autobiog'Talking
Piper,
Margaret
MITPress,
Vol.1
inOutofOrder/Out
onAnArtObject,"
(Cambridge:
ofSight,
raphy
1996),30-31.
20Piper,
toMyself,"
32.
"Talking
21Ibid.
22Ibid.,42.
23Ibid.,47.
24Piper,
92.
Notes,"
"Preparatory
25Ibid.
26Ibid.,91.
27Ibid.,94.

28Piper,
toMyself,"
50.
'Talking
29Ibid.
30Ibid.

31Ibid.
32Piper,
98.
Notes,"
"Preparatory
33Ibid.
34Ibid.,96.

35Ibid.,97.
36Ibid.
37Ibid.,91.
38Quotation
Random
Man(NewYork:
Invisible
from
House,
RalphEllison's
ModSouth
A. Baker'sTurning
in Houston
1953), 46,appears
Re-Thinking
Again:
DukeUniversity
Booker
T.(Durham:
Press,
2001),14.
ernism/Re-reading
39Piper,
107.
Notes,"
"Preparatory
40Ibid.,94-95.
41Ibid.,112.
42Piper,
Vol.1
in OutofOrder
'TheMythic
/OutofSight,
Back,"
Being:Getting
MITPress,
1996),147.
(Cambridge:
43Piper,
94.
Notes,"
"Preparatory
44Barrett,
101.
45Piper,
in OutofOrder/Out
Present
I: Essay,"
andtheIndexical
"Xenophobia
MITPress,
Voll(Cambridge:
1996),246.
ofSight,
46Piper,
255.
"Xenophobia,"

SpringandFall 2006

129

47DonaldGibson,"Harriet
and theSlavery
Jacobs,Frederick
Douglass,
Debate:Bondage,
ofDomesticity"
inDeborah
andtheDiscourse
Garfield
Family,
intheLifeofA SlaveGirl:
NewCritical
Harriet
andIncidents
andRafiaZafar's
Jacobs
Press,
1996),170.
University
Essays
(Cambridge:
Cambridge
48Gibson,
170.
"Harriet
Jacobs,"
49FredMoten,
In theBreak
: TheAesthetics
Radical
Tradition
(MinoftheBlack
ofMinnesota
Press,
2003), 235.
University
neapolis,
50Piper,
oftheMythic
in OutofOrder/Out
Vol.1
"Notes
ofSight,
Being,1-111"
MITPress,
1996),118.
(Cambridge:
51Piper,
138-39.
"Notes,"
52Barrett,
5.
53Berger,
10-11
54Piper,
MITPress,
in OutofOrder/Out
Vol.l(Cambridge:
ofSight,
"Flying,"
1996),223.
55Ibid.,224
56Ibid.
57Hartman,
77.

58Piper,
224.
"Flying,"
59Ibid.
60Ibid.

61Michel
ofCalideCerteau,
ThePractice
ofEveryday
Life(Berkeley:
University
fornia
Press,
1984),92.