Capricious is a series of experimental scripts on the arbitrary disappearance of irrational objects
ca⋅pri・ci・ous, adj (kə'prɪʃəs) 2020 -
{
{impulsive; unpredictable; determined by chance or whim rather than by necessity or reason;
lacking firmness, purpose or devotion; implies an incapacity for steadiness and an inherent tendency to change "a capricious summer breeze"
given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behaviour.
changing according to no discernible rules;
“I don't believe in random occurrences or blind chance, though I know the patterns of this world are capricious and terribly complex. " — Leslie Marmon Silko, letter, 21 Aug. 1979”}
ΤΗΕ SHEDDING OF THE TAIL, A NON-CANON CHARACTER STUDY ON A MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE
in dialogue with Roni Horn’s monologue “Saying Water” and other fabrications.
A para-myth about the origins of the Capricornus constellation is found in scattered references on websites, disguised as part of the mythological rule.
Capricornus, the smallest constellation in the zodiac, is located in an area of the sky called the Sea or Water, among the many constellations associated with the water element, such as Aquarius, Pisces and Eridanus.
Imagining ibex by the sea.
Five of the stars of the Capricornus constellation, with denominations approved by the International Astronomical Union, are named Algedi (the kid/ the goat), Alshat (the sacrificial sheep), Dabih (the lucky star of the butcher), Deneb Algedi (the child’s/ goat’s tail), and Nashira (the bearer of good news).
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The shallow roots of a "fabricated" myth on the becoming of the Capricorn constellation can be traced back to forums of the 2010s. Its various authors since, interpreting the story in a slightly different way in each of its quotations, adding small details, building upon the canon, set in motion the structure of fiction, in a way compatible with the activation of oral traditions, and thus, original myths. The construction of this story, or better yet, tale, begs the question of its validity, not being backed up by multicultural source material and discoveries, but rather being more in the field of fan fiction, outside of the “canon” events and characters of deep rooted mythology. The story is straightforward, unrefined and rudimentary, as is the ancient fabrication of the creature Capricorn.
The tale refers to the sea goat, found in ancient Mediterranean mythologies, with slight variations, but on an obvious common ground. It is an aquatic creature with a tragomorphic upper body and a fish tail. Such a conjunction seems simplistic, random, unprocessed, primitive but also absolute: the creature is constructed of two incompatible halves stuck together. It is testament to the imaginative ability to dismantle, reconstruct, make associations.
Capricorn is a descendant of the titan Kronos - in etymological relevance to the word χρόνος (chronos, meaning time). In the report in focus, the sea goat inherited from its ancestor immortality and the power to control time and the seasons. The creature’s own descendants are innumerable, born from its own multiplied eggs, share its form and flood the seabed. They have the capacity to speak and sing and are loved by all gods. They tend to scatter and travel far but always return, in an endless cycle of slow motion in the water [01/09].
One could associate the existence and disposition of the sea goats to the water surrounding them. The healing properties of water allow them to exist as a paradox, a multiplicity, curing the scar or the seam of their polar anatomy. Water transforms, sways and swirls, circulates and whirlpools, hides and returns. The story describes an eternal introverted choreography in the water, without evolution [02/09]. Water inhibits time, allowing only a partial oscillation of the form. Water is both fluid and absolute, a transparent boundary, a filter.
In the English language, there is the etymological correlation of the words dismember and remember. Dismember: dis + member, to dismantle, to split into pieces, to divide. Remember: re + member, to recall, (literally) to recompose (in one's memory) or to bring together again pieces that had been divided. Synonym: Recollect: re + collect, to gather again, to regroup.
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The Capricorn children are fatefully inclined towards the land. They travel far to reach the beaches, where they lie and bathe in sunlight. The longer they remain unsubmerged, their tails dry out and drop, with goat legs emerging in their place. Water isolates, the passage inwards or outwards disintegrates and transforms [03/09]. Borderline nature is allowed only within it.
Things solidify outside of its protection [04/09]. The seams are torn and the children acquire a new concrete wholeness, but it is not their physical integrity that is threatened. Their displacement, the shedding of their tails [05/09], leads them to losing the ability to speak and to forgetting their water origins and each other. They lose themselves in the mountains and join the herds of the land. Dismembered and recomposed, they are led to oblivion.
Τhe sea goat is immortal but alien, the only remaining creature of its kind. Practicing its powers, it reverses time to bring the children back, pulling them at the bottom of the sea, but they remain charmed by the light and are soon again lost on land. The endangered creature repeatedly turns back time, but the outcome is unchanged: it watches its descendants vanish and with them, any trace of their generation and shared remembrance [06/09]. In each effort to change the course of events, it places itself as the only fixed point in time and memory [07/09], being the only one to experience and testify to their annulment.
The creature -unique and strange, the last of its kind - is led to dissociation and loneliness [08/09]. Eventually, it decides to release the children from the time loop imposed on them and they are free to roam the land. The last rupture occurs, the last point of intersection [09/09].
The parties never return, never converge again. The immortal Capricorn addresses Kronos, in search of some way to cease to exist, to disappear. The Titan ejects the creature onto the celestial sphere and disperses its parts that illuminate the sky as stars. The Capricorn watches over its children wandering the mountains.
