Help me learn more about these innovative works
January 23, 2012 9:32 AM Subscribe
Tell me more about Xul Solar's invented game and language, please?
Xul Solar is a continued source of fascination for me. Artist, inventor of languages and games, mystic, and noted friend of Borges - Solar has done so many, many interesting things. But there is not very much material about him (at least in English). Two of his more discussed works were his pan-chess, a strange and ever-changing mystical alternative to chess, and his pan-lingua, a language which could be used to express creative ideas in brand new ways. However, I haven't been able to find descriptions of either of these works that are any deeper than what's in the Wikipedia article. Can anyone recommend any sources? I took out every English book I could find when I was still at university, but couldn't find any detailed descriptions of these things whatsoever.
Xul Solar is a continued source of fascination for me. Artist, inventor of languages and games, mystic, and noted friend of Borges - Solar has done so many, many interesting things. But there is not very much material about him (at least in English). Two of his more discussed works were his pan-chess, a strange and ever-changing mystical alternative to chess, and his pan-lingua, a language which could be used to express creative ideas in brand new ways. However, I haven't been able to find descriptions of either of these works that are any deeper than what's in the Wikipedia article. Can anyone recommend any sources? I took out every English book I could find when I was still at university, but couldn't find any detailed descriptions of these things whatsoever.
Can you read spanish? The bibliography at the Fundación Pan Klub lists some texts about it. Or maybe you can contact them for more info?
I own the Xul Solar Museum catalogue which, if I remember correctly, had good essays about his inventions but unfortunately it's stored in another country.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 1:09 PM on January 23, 2012
I own the Xul Solar Museum catalogue which, if I remember correctly, had good essays about his inventions but unfortunately it's stored in another country.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 1:09 PM on January 23, 2012
Response by poster: lucia_is_dada, i'm afraid my spanish isn't good enough for something like that. But contacting them would be a good idea.
jontyjago, that would absolutely wonderful. a friend of mine was in BA for the semester and introduced me to solar to begin with. i've been wanting to go to that museum since i've heard about it. thank you!
also, i just saw in another topic that someone pointed out that it's possible to get private tours to see museum works, even if those works are in storage. i remember hearing that a pan-chess set is in the Met or the MOMA or another New York museum. I'm going to take a look and see what more I can find out about that.
thanks!
posted by taltalim at 2:46 PM on January 23, 2012
jontyjago, that would absolutely wonderful. a friend of mine was in BA for the semester and introduced me to solar to begin with. i've been wanting to go to that museum since i've heard about it. thank you!
also, i just saw in another topic that someone pointed out that it's possible to get private tours to see museum works, even if those works are in storage. i remember hearing that a pan-chess set is in the Met or the MOMA or another New York museum. I'm going to take a look and see what more I can find out about that.
thanks!
posted by taltalim at 2:46 PM on January 23, 2012
Was this (Xul Solar: Visions and Revelations) one of the books you’ve already seen? If not, then it contains a few odds and ends in English about pan-chess and pan-lingua (though again, little concrete detail). If you’ve not read it I can scan or transcribe the relevant passages for you. The source generally cited there on these subjects is Xul Solar: Entrevistas, Articulos y Textos Ineditos.
There’s also a photo of a pan-chessboard in the Visions and Revelations book:
http://www.spamula.net/blog/i44/solar119.jpg
posted by misteraitch at 3:36 AM on January 26, 2012
There’s also a photo of a pan-chessboard in the Visions and Revelations book:
http://www.spamula.net/blog/i44/solar119.jpg
posted by misteraitch at 3:36 AM on January 26, 2012
Response by poster: misteraitch:
I don't believe that's one of the books I've seen, unless it had a drastically different cover. If you were willing to scan those sections, I'd be extremely grateful. Though I've also been able to find basic information on both of them, and I'm trying to find anything more detailed.
I read in a book of Borges interviews that the rules of pan-chess were ever changing, and that Solar once had a following of many young men who would play the game, but that Borges found it's ever-changing nature too frustrating. I also know that each piece corresponded to multiple symbols, so that each playing of the game was a unique act of creative expression. Or something. The really basic stuff I've managed to find (including the pictures of the game) only serve to intrigue and confuse me even more!
posted by taltalim at 12:10 PM on January 26, 2012
I don't believe that's one of the books I've seen, unless it had a drastically different cover. If you were willing to scan those sections, I'd be extremely grateful. Though I've also been able to find basic information on both of them, and I'm trying to find anything more detailed.
I read in a book of Borges interviews that the rules of pan-chess were ever changing, and that Solar once had a following of many young men who would play the game, but that Borges found it's ever-changing nature too frustrating. I also know that each piece corresponded to multiple symbols, so that each playing of the game was a unique act of creative expression. Or something. The really basic stuff I've managed to find (including the pictures of the game) only serve to intrigue and confuse me even more!
posted by taltalim at 12:10 PM on January 26, 2012
Response by poster: I just remembered that the book that I had found was the Gradowczyk book
posted by taltalim at 12:13 PM on January 26, 2012
posted by taltalim at 12:13 PM on January 26, 2012
With apologies for the delay, here are some scans from Xul Solar: Visions and Revelations:
- from ‘Working Papers: An Introduction to a Xul Solar Retrospective’ by Patricia M. Artundo pp. 196-7 (notes p. 199).
- from ‘Let The Stars Compose Syllables: Xul and Neo-Creole’ by Jorge Schwartz p. 205 (notes p. 208).
- from Xul Solar’s San Signos: The Book of Changes by Daniel E. Nelson, p. 211 (notes p. 215).
- from ‘Biographical and Artistic Chronology’ by Teresa Tedin, p. 249.
posted by misteraitch at 12:03 AM on January 29, 2012
- from ‘Working Papers: An Introduction to a Xul Solar Retrospective’ by Patricia M. Artundo pp. 196-7 (notes p. 199).
- from ‘Let The Stars Compose Syllables: Xul and Neo-Creole’ by Jorge Schwartz p. 205 (notes p. 208).
- from Xul Solar’s San Signos: The Book of Changes by Daniel E. Nelson, p. 211 (notes p. 215).
- from ‘Biographical and Artistic Chronology’ by Teresa Tedin, p. 249.
posted by misteraitch at 12:03 AM on January 29, 2012
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posted by jontyjago at 1:08 PM on January 23, 2012 [2 favorites]