The hosting structures are in tension with the institution of umwaku. What makes such comment stirring is not so much its unsolicited delivery, but its pre-emptive, anticipatory resonance to a possibly feared, relatively undesired image of the oneself. The notion of umwaku is of an animistic origin. For Nzeyimana this is umwaku: a piece of information, some news, or a comment, actual or false, that is troubling to the mind. As the day advances, this comment grows on you to become agitating, and your disturbed mind prevents you from working restfully. The person may tell you that your shirt is dirty, or the person may find that you are not looking good in this or that way. In Nzeyimana’s words, this may be very banal. Suppose, Nzeyimana says, early in the morning you are up for some task, and you meet someone who makes a stirring comment to you. In our conversation, Nzeyimana mentioned the notion of umwaku. I visited Nzeyimana last year, and we talked about the meaning of rest and its role in the shaping of our subjects. I think this resonates with the words of philosopher Jean-Paul Martinon in London, who writes that, “The encounter involves asymmetrical movements of generosity that could not take place if there were no symmetrical movements of egoity,” and that “the encounter involves a ‘doing’ that has no objective and yet could not take place without the setting up of objectives.” Īlso the words of Isaïe Nzeyimana come to mind, a philosopher working in Rwanda. At stake in these hosting structures is the idea of a reserve of a doing, a reserve of encounters. I find it useful to think of the spatial arrangements and instruments as “hosting structures.” Perhaps these hosting structures point to the overflow, or maybe also underflow of an expectation as caricatured above. An agreement then is the structuring of contingencies into stabilized codes, and here resides the tension. Maybe then, once such arrangements are reached intuitively and left unannounced, we may call them expectations. When an agreement is put into words or made visible in some way, we speak of a contract. If the instruments you create allow slippages to happen-moments that exist outside of the program or calendar of the institution-perhaps this distinction between “expectation” and “anticipation” could be fruitful?Ĭhristian Nyampeta: Perhaps anticipation is related to a promise? I amuse myself by thinking that, day-to-day, encounters are organized following spoken and unspeakable promises. This might seem instrumental, but on the other hand there will always be something that escapes the design. This makes me think of how you speak of the physical environments that you create as tools that you construct in order to create spaces of encounter. ![]() So it would seem that we’re speaking of potential or prolepsis. Today, we use the term in the sense of expectation or looking forward, but anticipation has an element of preparation or forestallment that should prevent it from simply being used as a synonym for expectation as representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished. Sifting through the etymology of the word, it basically entails “to cause to happen sooner,” or “taking care ahead of time " This original meaning of literally “taking into possession beforehand” suggests an awareness of something to come. Jonatan Habib Engqvist: Let’s start with the notion of anticipation. A Conversation between Christian Nyampeta and Jonatan Habib Engqvist
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