"This is theater. It's what I do." Kurt lays it out straight for his Oriental Art and Mythology class in 2001 at Sacramento State University. Moving through a description of the administrative and academic structure of the university to Buddhist esoterica, the problems humanity has brought to the world, the difference between bullshit and horseshit, and finally to his stack of 45-rpm rock and roll records, this first lecture of one of Kurt's last classes as Professor Emeritus harkens all the way back to his early days of teaching at UCLA nearly 40 years before. As Homer Banks sings "You got to do the best you can with what you got" and it bounces off the classroom walls, Kurt cheerfully joins in.
Lletters to the Llama by Chico Carboneri
Assuming yet another of his myriad manifestations, Kurt dons the costume of Chico Carboneri sitting before his IBM Selectric typewriter hammering on the keys to the universe. Jumping between discourse and self-reference, wending its way into the trajectory of Omasters, Kurt plays Buddhist notes interspersed with crossings into Laws of Form. "An eye to FORM--The page TOP COPY, and the carbon and the carbon page are inserted. Shakuhachi's mind wanders into the KRYPTOCOSMIC realm, blending with the spirits of Dr. Jose Que, Primo the Fool, Z-Number (first of the cardinal states, with all appropriate deference to the form of the face of the void, being given a name which may be called: VOID, ZERO, THE WHOLE, THE ALL, ALLAH, BUDDHA.
HUMANISM
In this excerpt from his monumental and masterful work A Ball of Twine: Marcel Duchamp's 'With Hidden Noise' Kurt von Meier examines humanism, its transformation into "individualistic humanism" and as an art historian provides an honest account of humanity's often dismal history. He writes, "The history of catastrophes is not often taught. Nevertheless, an objective account of destruction ought to be contemplated by serious educators, busy extolling themselves for the imagined accomplishments of their self-titled humanistic research. It would serve as a darkly instructive reminder about the flip side of pride. Otherwise, there seems to be self-deception in writing about art and culture without, from time to time, stopping to take stock of humanity at large, in the conventional real world...If there is sometimes a Polyanna complex on the part of scholars who write as though they have just come from, say, the planet of lost art historians, as Howard Zinn reminds us the newspapers and many of the grimmer historians also ignore the history of creativity and kindness."
AN AMA ZING
Here's another example of Kurt's poetic stream-of-consciousness, a meandering journey through the deep and connective tissues of his mind and feelings. It's difficult to tell over what period of time he wrote all this; the breaks and shifts of topic are sometimes sudden. As with his hand-written daily notebooks, Kurt worked in fits and starts. In a moment of self-reflection, he writes, "This is, in a way, an essay in imaginary statecraft/Stadtkraft powerrealestate. Aside, aside... This was before I knew Kafka, and the plot structure of a movie such as Fail Safe, in which each successive line is a freak-out such as to reverse the values of the previous line or plot event on the order of a periodic shifting of figure/ground, much as the values of the real and the imaginary interplay in certain mathematical equations (Eg. Newton in letter to Leibnitz, June 13, 1676)."
Popular and Fine Arts - A UCLA Lecture 1965
In this class-note transcript from 1965, Kurt delivers a straightforward art history discussion of an essential shift in 20th century painting: the rise of Cubism and its meaning. "Before Cubism, there had always been one point of view. This is specifically manifested by the theory of one point perspective formulated in the Italian Renaissance. This perception from one point of view was prevalent all the way through the 19th century," he states. His lectures would become less traditional and more theatrical as time went on; this lecture is "all business."
The OMASTERS - Primo
Primo "the fool" plays a central role in O'Masters; he's one of the crew struggling to figure out how to navigate the star-ship Adamantinos away from the black hole towards which it is falling. In this short sequence, Kurt advances the story line by introducing aleatory and intuitive navigation elements, essentially clues in a cosmic puzzle. "A scorpion image referenced volume One of Science and Civilization in China, with the number 10,000. Scorpion in a sand circle, two to the sixth power, 64. Sixty four squares: chess, the Zoroastrian game of Asha, zero-sum, black and white, Ahriman and Ahura Mazda, the I Ching."
The Blind Elephant Omelette
Food and cooking, for Kurt, were components of ritual, an opportunity to connect everyday activity to the sacred. When writing about food and cooking, Kurt used the opportunity to bring ritualized awareness to others, in hopes perhaps of imparting some sense of sacred wisdom to his readers. This essay contains a recipe, of course, but also much more. "In our sated sophistication, many of us are all to eager to cut ourselves off from the mass of humanity whose daily concern with basic conservation, filling the belly, is not to be gainsaid. We are enjoined, therefore, to regard cookbooks, injunctions for the preparation of food, as closely analogous to sacred scripture--indications for feeding the psyche and practicing the arts of clearing consciousness."
Ruminations on the Synod at Whitby
Sometimes reading von Meier can be overwhelming, other times humbling. The sheer scope and range of Kurt's knowledge can be daunting to those less well educated. Such is the nature of this rumination, so filled with references (now hyperlinked) that this essay alone contains enough material for an entire course of study. Like poet Robert Graves, Kurt held the Celtic tradition in high regard, and shared Graves' appreciation of the unique loss it's demise has been to western culture. "Within months of the Synod, plague struck," Kurt writes, "The Sword of Gnosis sunk once more into the obscurity of the soil, the map of its treasure guarded by the Abbess Hilda when the keys were usurped by a Papal control."
Professore Dottore in the Bathhouse
In addition to his scholarly, mystical self, Kurt was a sensualist. Food, drink, smoke and sex fueled his imagination and his life. In this fictional short tale, we find Kurt's alter-ego Jose Que indulging his sensual side in a bathhouse as he floats in the tub contemplating his navel. A sexy rendezvous with Joyce James stimulates an orgy of number sequences and passages from Finnegans Wake playfully tossed between the two lovers. "In the dawn we shall see swords," mused Que, as if in prophetic trance. "But for 1132, on page thirteen, we have 'ants or emmets wondern upon a groot hwide Whailfisk,' d'ya hear?" Joyce deliciously rolled her words into the brogue. "Which lay in a Runnel." Que continued the line. "I do not hear your injunction," she punned,"and would not unless you lay first for my pillow, love."
The Secret Ball of Twine: A Lecture from 1986
Though no printed copy of this lecture appears in Kurt's archives, a tape recording does exist, and now transcribed in written form, accompanies the digitized recording. This guest lecture was delivered at UC Davis in 1986 during the presentation of a replica of Duchamp's sculpture With Hidden Noise that had been created by UC Davis graduate student Tamara Blanken.
Of particular note here is Kurt's analysis of the secret object within the sculpture, and conjecture as to its nature. His "by the numbers" approach was used in his 1991, 350,000-word magnum opus in which he concludes the hidden object that makes the "hidden noise" is a six-sided die, such as used in playing craps. He does not disclose that conclusion in this lecture, but he does hint at it several times. Unusually, Kurt reads his lecture, rather than simply speaking extemporaneously, and at times sounds like he's hurrying; the tape (and transcript) ends before he did, unfortunately.
Kurt would appreciate, perhaps, that this lecture transcript was created via speech recognition software, and subsequently was corrected for accuracy by a human being.
Sabbatical Leave Request - 1982
In this draft, Kurt requests Sabbatical leave in order to "continue and complete research in the area of Formal Art." Seeking to bring his interest in esoteric systems of knowledge and wisdom into western institutional education had been a pet project for many years; in this leave request, Kurt formalizes that project. "Much of the subject matter referred to in this outline has been introduced en classes at CSUS (Mandala, Art and Mythology, Art 3); the expansion and refinement of the curriculum are projected as obvious benefits."
Wood, Paper, Pope
In this short paper from 1982, Kurt traces the heritage of human expression, and connects the topic to trees, paper and social manifestations of form. It's a typically round-about von Meieresque trip; with his copy of the American Heritage Dictionary at his side, he examines the roots of the tree of knowledge. One never knows where Kurt will take you, and as this paper concludes it's swimming within the current of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce.
Lecture on Navajo Blankets - Mount Saint Mary's College - 1969
Still living in Los Angeles, but no longer teaching at UCLA, Kurt remained active. This is a recording he made of a lecture on Navajo blankets in his collection. He begins by talking about the act of using his Nagra tape recorder, but quickly moves into an hour-long, extemporaneous presentation covering Pueblo culture, Carlos Castaneda, global civilization and the loss of indigenous cultures. He discusses his blankets in detail, and their use as sacred devices; peyote ritual, mystical visions, caring for the planet, genocide, politics, LSD, and--it being 1969--cultural revolution.
Coincidence? You Decide
This single sheet, shingle-line-spaced typed paper was found floating among other documents in an unnamed file folder. It's typical of the way Kurt would sit down and set forth connecting all the dots on his mind that day. In this case, he moves from place to place but his interest in following the thread of ancient geographical reckoning is consistent. "With four points of the compass and two axes, Egypt used the net of coordinates for mapping the surface of the earth. This is an abstract, algebraic system for indexing precise locations on a spheroidal surface."
A Survey of Mozarabic Manuscript Illumination
In this paper prepared by for Professor Dr. K. Weitzmann of Princeton University in 1960, Kurt's command of art history and ability to write cogently on a subject is already quite evident. Kurt had previously spent a year at the University of Madrid while pursuing his undergraduate degree, which undoubtedly added to his interest in the subject of Mozarabic illumination. This is one of the shorter papers Kurt retained from his Princeton years; others, such as an analysis of Chinese scroll paintings were many times longer. His command of language--not only English--and the benefits of a classical education, combined with his extraordinary memory, made Kurt von Meier an exceptional student.
Preparatory Notes: Occidental Art and Mythology
As a teacher, Kurt was always preparing for his lectures, keeping notes and developing topics and themes for presentation.
In this set of class preparation notes for Occidental Art and Mythology in 1979, we find Kurt pulling from his deep education in art and culture as well as from news articles in the San Francisco Chronicle. It's unlikely that these notes were for just one lecture, but it's possible. His madness was his method; he lays it out this way: "...the stage show, slides in class, acting-micro theater within theater, demonstrations within the theater as they belong to the algebra or application through variables while in the theater of teaching, where something is shown as in the Elusinian Epoptea."
The Big Two Hundred
Here are a couple of short papers which may or may not have been written in sequence; they were found together in Kurt's archives. They are good examples of the way Kurt made entries in his daily notebooks, though in this case, typewritten. He would capture and reflect upon thoughts and events of the day--the title was derived from the wattage of the bulb in his lamp, for example--using a combination of outline headings, lists and discursive passages. There are literally thousands of such pages filling his daily notebooks.
On Audio: Kurt's Final Art History Lecture of 1966 at UCLA
In this, Kurt von Meier's final art history lecture of 1966 at UCLA, we hear a segment of him reading from various sources, playing music selections, and dedicating the lecture to poet Jack Hirschman, who had been fired by UCLA for supporting students opposed to the Vietnam War. After quoting a book passage by A.S. Neill, author of Summerhill - A radical approach to child rearing, Kurt then speaks of hate and the obstacle it poses in America. He concludes by playing "I've Been Loving You Too Long," a recording by R&B singer Otis Redding. Ironically, although loved by his students, Assistant Professor von Meier would find himself rejected by his fellow professors and university administration the following year--denied tenure by UCLA and forced to look for a new job.
The Notion of Reincarnation
Kurt lived many lives--simultaneously and in succession. Using his rich imagination and vast multi-cultural knowledge, he moved seamlessly between various states of being. Accordingly, his view of Buddhism's Six Realms of Samsara was contemporary: "There are two approaches to the Six Realms, so we receive the teaching. One is that we are reincarnated in each and every moment of awakening, as an ongoing process of continuous rebirth. That we are reborn instantly in Hell when agitated by our wrath; that we die and are tortured when we sleep, when we twist our realities about us noose-like; that we arrive, here and now, in the Celestial Lands with each wave of bliss, vibration of accord, harmony, resonance without and within."
The Ascent of Adamantino...
To engage with Kurt was to enter his world, a playful one filled with multicultural richness and soaring flights of imagination. In Kurt's fiction, one often finds him in one disguise or another; enjoying many emanations was his theatrical brand of self-referential paradox. In the text, he lays this out plainly:
"The realities of life end death, consciousness and physical manifestation, the nameable and unnameable Tao--these choice dichotomies, and the whole of Boolean algebra and binary logic, Leibnitz and the I Ching, the good Doctor wondered at and lived through as a trade-off between Interaction and Equilibrium in a comingled universe of reality and dream."
This story contains many characters later incorporated into Omasters, and this episode--filled with fine food, good coffee, liquor, hashish, cocaine and sex--highlights Kurt's sometimes all-consuming style of sensual energy.
