Info, Acknowledgments, Copyrights
Tympanum is a journal of Comparative
Literary Studies that emphasizes the many filaments that run between art, theory,
architecture, philosophy, and literary study. The composite works presented in
Tympanum reflect the diverse connections that currently comprise these
heterogeneous modes of research and practice.
What's in a name? The name Tympanum is, all
at once (1) a typographer's term that was used in early book production, where
a tympan designated the iron frame covered with parchment, on which one placed
the paper to be imprinted; (2) another word for the eardrum, the oblique
stretching of tissue between the auditory canal and the middle ear that allows
one to hear; (3) an architectural term for the pediment that sits atop the
cornice or frieze of a building. By extension, it is perhaps also a place to
gather under and to discuss ... for instance, philosophy.
Tympanum 4 will publish essays by (among
others) Jean-Luc Nancy, and the art of On Kawara.
The Contributors to this Issue:
Jean-Luc Nancy teaches Philosophy at the University
of Human Sciences in Strasbourg. He has published widely. His books in English include
The Sense of the World (1998), The Gravity of Thought (1997), The
Muses
(1996), The Experience of Freedom (1994), The Birth to Presence (1993) and The
Inoperative Community (1991).
Soun-gui Kim is a multimedia artist who has
taught at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Marseille since 1974. She
studied Art at Seoul National University, and Semiotics and Esthetics at the
Universities of Aix and Nice. Her most recent publication is "Nuages
paresseux," ed. La main courrante (Sept.1999).
Georges Didi-Huberman, philosopher and
art historian, teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Science Sociales in
Paris. His recent works in English include Fra Angelico: Dissemblance and
Figuration
(1995) and the collaborations In The Interior of the Body: An Anatomical
Encyclopaedia from the 18th Century (1999) and Giuseppe Penoni (1998). In 1997 he
curated the exhibition L'Empreinte at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Zaha Hadid is the principle architect of the Office
of Zaha M Hadid in London. She has won numerous international design
competitions, including the recent competition for the Contemporary Arts Center
in Cincinnati. Her art is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.
Rome Credits: Zaha Hadid with Patrik
Schumacher.
Competition Team: Oliver Domeisen, Ali
Mangera, Christos Passas, Sonia Villaseca, Jee-Eun Lee, Sara Klomps, James Lim
Bergendy Cooke, Jorge Ortega, Shumon Basar, Markus Dochontschi, Woody Yao,
Graham Modlen, Hemendra Kothari, Barbara Kuit, Ana Sotrel, Zahira Nazer, Jim
Heverin.
Models: Florian Migsch, Kathy Wright, Jin
Watanabe, Helmut Kinzler, Thomas Knuevener, Sara Kamalvand.
Animations and 3D CAD Studies: Christos
Passas.
Dragan Kujundzic teaches Slavic Literature in the
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Memphis.
He has published numerous articles on Slavic literature and culture. His most
recent book is The Returns of History: Russian Nietzscheans After Modernity (1997).
Peter Woodruff is a Ph.D Cand. in CompLit, working
on the history of writing. He has studied at the Johns Hopkins University and
the University of Konstanz.
Alisa Hartz is a Ph.D student in CompLit at Brown
University. She holds an MA in Translation from the British Institute in Paris,
and a degree in Philosophy from Swarthmore College.
All essays and artwork are copyright their
respective authors and artists, unless otherwise noted. The design is © Peter
Woodruff 1999.
Jean-Luc Nancy's essay and Soun-gui Kim's letter
were first published in the exhibition catalogue to her 1997 multimedia
installation "station 0 time", in Tchon An, Korea - eight stills from
which are reproduced here.
Georges Didi-Huberman's essays were
originally published in French as "Le Paradoxe du Phasme" and
"Images-Contacts" in Phasmes by Les Editions de Minuit © 1998.
They were translated by Alisa Hartz © 1999. The photos of the Jardin des
Plantes are © Georges Didi-Huberman.
The sound clip used for Benjamin Memorial:
Portbou, Spain is taken from Xvost and Aukcyon's CD "Zhilets Verzhin"
SBI Records © 1995. The lyrics are Velimir Xlebnikov's. Oleg Garkusha was kind
enough to sign Peter's Winnie the Pooh book during a visit to St. Petersburg.
He thanks him once again here.
The ambient sound that loops in the
background of the main page, and the opening vocal clip for this issue of
Tympanum, are taken from MC Solaar's paradisiaque Polydor © 1997.
The design for this issue was made on a
Macintosh G3 PowerBook, and was tested on Netscape Navigator 4.6 and Microsoft
Explorer 4.1.