🧠✨The Nexialist #0012

In Case of Amnesia, Waters of March, Window Swap, Lesbian Gaze, Dyke Camp, Campingdisco, Tesla Things (in Amsterdam), Chronosonder and more...

Welcome to The Nexialist, the newsletter that takes you camping ⛺️

In the second Nexialist, I mentioned Alive Inside, the documentary that shows how music is helping treat Alzheimer’s disease. This week I decided I would make my own playlist: In Case of Amnesia, Play This. It’s a personal work in progress that I just started this week, and I want to include songs that have strong connections to memories: childhood songs, songs my parents listened to at home, teenage years with my cd-player, songs that I sang loud on road-trips, or screamed the lyrics in parties, songs that remind me of my exes, of my friendships, of making love and break-ups… I thought I would share this here, so if you want to create your own, it might be a fun exercise to access what these songs are. Also now, when I’m listening to something that rings an important memory, I just add it there. I hope I don’t need to use it, but oh well…

⛈Águas de Março

Of course, this song is already on my life playlist. If anyone asks me what my favorite Brazilian song is, I have to say this one (even if there are too many to decide.) In 2001 it was voted the Best Brazilian song ever by more than 200 journalists. Who am I to disagree with that?

In Águas de Março (Waters of March), Elis Regina and Tom Jobim sweetly sing about the rainy season at the end of March/Summer in the Brazilian southeast, poetically and positively referring to the inevitable flow of life towards death. The lyrics are quite imagetic, each verse painting an image in your head: “a stick, a stone, it’s the end of the road” (you can see the full translation here). The video/song is full of magical moments: around 1:30, Elis seems to be eating dessert while listening to Tom’s voice, and the scat singing, in the end, is so funny and cute to me.

Now, living in Amsterdam, there is still a lot of “waters” in March (as well as during the other eleven months), but hearing it as spring approaches and not autumn is something else. Who would say this song could get even better?

🌶Elis Regina

Elis Regina was one of Brazil’s most iconic musicians, with such a unique voice and attitude. Last week, a remastered version of her 1966 album, Elis, was released, on the date of her birthday. She would be turning 76 if she were alive. It’s worth listening.

🪟Window Swap

Such a simple and perfect idea for these times: Window Swap lets you take a little trip to someone’s window anywhere in the world. Now they are even partnering with musicians, so you can look through their window and listen to their album. Wholesome content 🥰

👩‍❤️‍👩Lesbian Gaze

Since I learned the term Female Gaze, my brain has not been the same. It’s like I can tell when something was not made/directed/whatever by a white cis straight man, like it usually is. A couple of weeks ago my sister recommended me Anne+ (Now on Netflix), and I’m enamored. It’s so refreshing to watch content made by queer people:

ANNE+ is a drama series about the (love)life of Anne, a twenty-something lesbian living in Amsterdam. In each episode we learn more about Anne and her past and present love interests as well as her friends, family and colleagues. The focus is always on Anne “plus” someone in her life. ANNE+ is a light series about identity, relationships and finding your place in the world. It was initiated because of the lack of positive queer representation in film and television. The ANNE+ team is composed of mostly female, queer filmmakers who feel personally connected to the series and want to make a difference.

Just for the reasons above you should watch it. But I’ll tell you what I experienced when watching the first season (6 episodes, 10 minutes each, you won’t regret trying it). It feels so intimate to watch her stories. So familiar. I fell in love so many times while watching it, with Anne and with her lovers. It seems like the characters are real people. Also, it feels so nice to see the streets of Amsterdam on screen and watch a non-cliche tragic lesbian story. I want more entertainment like this! (Subtitles in English are available).

🏳️‍🌈Dyke Camp

This reminded me of another term I recently learned: Dyke Camp. In this 2018 article from The Outline, Mikaella Clements introduces us to this cultural movement that is only growing since then. First, I need to fill you in a bit about Camp, in case you’re not familiar. It was a pretty big word in 2019 due to its fashion invocation at the 2019 MET Gala:

Susan Sontag was the first person to attempt to properly define camp, in her seminal 1964 essay “Notes on Camp.” Her approach has been debated in the 50 years that have followed, particularly in her emphasis on camp as something that is all style over content. But her initial definition of camp as a sensibility marked by artifice, stylization, exaggeration, theatricality, playfulness and irony still holds up fairly well, particularly in her announcement that the “essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural.”

For many people, it’s a synonym of gay. It is indeed quite connected in the collective imaginary to the stereotyped gay man, but in its essence, it’s beyond that. It’s about artifice and exaggeration. Flamboyance. Baroque is camp. Fashion is camp. Lady Gaga is camp. In this article, even Donald Trump is said to be camp and I cannot stop thinking about it because it makes sense. Now back to Dyke Camp:

Dyke camp overlaps with camp in some areas, certainly. But in others it is completely different; it has its own electric vision. If camp is the love of the unnatural, dyke camp is the love of the ultra-natural, of nature built up and reclaimed, of clothes that could be extensions of the body, of desire made obsessive, of lesbian gestures or mannerisms maximized by a thousand.

And here’s the catch for me. If the Future is Female, of course, this movement is around us. And I’m here for it. I want more!

Read: Susan Sontag’s 54-year-old essay on “camp” is essential reading - Quartz

⛺️Campingdisco

Yes, when I first heard the term Camp, this is what I thought they were talking about. Turns out it’s the perfect excuse for me to show you more Dutch music that I’m proud to show, even if I’m not Dutch. I’ve talked about Merol before, and I’ll talk about her again, because… just watch this video.

🇳🇱Tesla Things (in Amsterdam)

Going back to that nice feeling of seeing the place where you live (or know) on the screen: Fokke Simmons released this fun song, and for me, it feels extra nice because I know some of these places. (Is it oversharing to say I have peed in that same urinal?) The first track I heard from them was Oh My, which was also recorded in Amsterdam parks.

💐So old?

It’s fascinating to see these colorized videos from the past. This one is almost 100 years old and it gives me this feeling of time traveling. This channel is full of them. I love seeing their looks, the way they move, their facial expressions. When I walk and bike through some of these places, and I just can’t wrap around my head how much history has happened there, and these videos help me build this imagination/feeling.

🕰Chronosonder

Some time ago I saw this video from Vsauce about Illusions of Time and it is real food for thought. It’s a 30-minute video that your brain will thank you after (or not, it might get a bit existential). Around 15 minutes in, Michael brings the term Protagonist Syndrome, as “the belief that you are the main character of the Universe.” Then he mentions Sonder, a term coined by John Koenig (author of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows), as the realization that you’re NOT the only protagonist.

I mentioned Sonder on the very first Nexialist newsletter, as “the realization that each random passerby—that person over there—is living a life as vivid, consuming and complex as your own.” Now, Michael throws at my face exactly what I feel watching these colorized videos or biking through the city and imagining how many people have walked these streets: Chronosonder: sonder not just for people over there, but for people over then.” 🤯

⏳Time in This Time: Time Capsule for the Present

Time has been doing strange things lately — things it’s always done. Moving slowly, looping around, flying by. We invited 9 artists and creators whose practices include time-based works, to make works on time in this time. To shine a little light on, and help us make our own sense of, time in a year that has gone by many names.

To close today’s Nexialist, I’ll share this project about the present. The funny thing is: I started using Harvest, who is supporting this project, to track the current project I’m doing with Envisioning, so I felt that was a sign I should take a look. And it was worth it. It’s always nice to see artists being supported and quality content being created, so I’m recommending it to you. The one above is by Ilana Harris-Babou, Making Due.

❤️If anything made your brain tingle, click like and don't hesitate to share it with the world. It helps The Nexialist to reach more curious minds. See you next week!🦦

---

🫀If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends. If someone amazing sent it to you, tell them you love them, and you can subscribe at thenexialist.substack.com. If you want to know what a Nexialist is, click here. If you want to introduce yourself or give me any feedback, I would love to hear from you. Drop me an e-mail or say hi on LinkedIn or Instagram.