Loputtomuus libretto

Lauri Mäntysaari – Henriikka Tavi: Endlessness (‘Loputtomuus’)

Libretto translated from the Finnish by David Hackston

(Finnish text below)

But who has any right to find fault
with a man who chooses to enjoy

a pleasure that has no annoying
consequences,

or one who avoids a pain
that produces no resultant pleasure?

Albedo, Barents Sea, 2022

The coal is black.
The snow is white.

Even in this picture, the sea like
asphalt, the gloomy dockyards

Don’t believe your water-smudged eyes

Only the sunlight
only the ice-light

has stained the water grey
it bobs there for a moment

before being sucked into the depths.

The more light the water absorbs,
the more profound the darkness.

The steaming, oil-dark sea.

right

good to see you there

right
and what else

right! right?
What else?

riiight

right?

right!

Right then,
let’s get started!

Let’s begin:
I want to talk today

I want to, today
I want to talk

I walk to talk about the weather today.

you can ask and comment
if something comes to mind

feel free

you can interrupt any time

Six times six
nine times nine

six times six equals
nine times nine

“O in O”,
O equals zero

any questions? shh.
Quiet back there!

Never the omega without the alpha
never the end without the beginning

0 is emptiness
A hiatus between existence and

non-existence

What does 9 want?
Does the beginning have to destroy

everything in its way?

Any questions yet?

Thus:
Therefore!

and in between them emptiness

and existence
and emptiness

silence and emptiness

si=no
yes=no

and on top of this
Nota Bene!

Système Internationale d’Unités

SI, that is
the International System of Units

the unit of time is the second,
abbreviation s

the unit of electric current is the
ampere, abbreviation A

the unit of length is the metre,
abbreviation m

the unit of luminous intensity is
the candela, abbreviation cd

the unit of mass is the kilogram,
abbreviation kg

the unit of substance is the mole,
abbreviation mol

the unit of thermodynamic temperature is
the kelvin, abbreviation K

Any questions yet?
You have to ask questions.

You have to ask
only one question

What if all this ceases to exist?
What if there’s no heat anymore?

What if there’s no time anymore?
What if there’s no light anymore?

What if there’s no weight anymore?
What if there’s no substance anymore?

What if

SAMCDKGMOLK

NO MORE QUESTIONS
What is it?

I’M TALKING NOW:

Amok is a Malay word often used in
the sense of running amok:

this presumably dates back to the
traditional Malay manner of

committing suicide.

The word amok literally means
a lack of contr…

Amok is a Malay word often used in
the sense of running amok:

this presumably dates back to the
traditional Malay manner of

committing suicide.

The word amok literally means
a lack of control.

The word is often used to describe
mindless rampaging with a weapon.

The phenomenon is found in all cultures.

The psychological basis of running amok
is a psychotic disturbance that

manifests in primitive conditions,
and when a person is caught up in this

disturbance,

they slay all passers-by.

This is no little amok
but

SAMCDKGMOLK

creating a new time,
new dimensions

a new weight that isn’t weight anymore
the light is extinguished and a new

light appears

electricity stops flowing
we don’t need electricity anymore

there will be new electricity

and warmth will freeze and
matter will darken:

SAMCDKGMOLK!!!

A new world order
is being constructed

in front of our very eyes.

FEAR

HEATS UP
COOLS DOWN

THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU
IT’S ABOUT NATURAL VARIATION

CLOUDS GOVERN THE ATMOSPHERE
HIGH-LEVEL CLOUDS HEAT THE THIN ONES

LOW-LEVEL CLOUDS COOL THE THICK ONES
THE HUMIDITY WARMS US

MARS IS WARMING
PLUTO IS WARMING

IT WAS HOT IN THE MIDDLE AGES
IT WAS HOT IN 1934

IT HASN’T WARMED SINCE 1998

THE BURDEN OF PROOF
IS NOT ON THOSE WHO DOUBT

thermometer
air-conditioning machines

cooling machines fans
(out of service for 4 years)

the factory’s drainage system

the shadow from the neighbour’s house
concrete

Conclusion:

air-conditioning machines are
the greatest cause of global warming.

Nor again is there anyone who loves or
pursues or desires to obtain

pain of itself,

because it is pain,
but occasionally circumstances occur

in which toil and pain can
procure him some great pleasure.

To take a trivial example, which of us
ever undertakes laborious physical

exercise, except to obtain
some advantage from it?

But who has any right to find fault
with a man who chooses to enjoy a

pleasure that has no annoying
consequences, or one who avoids a

pain that produces no resultant

pleasure?

Hear the ear, silence the fear:

This morning I woke up early
as the sun was drawn across

the water’s surface,
two ducks swam after it,

along the furrow the light left behind.

The wind pushed the water westwards,
but the west doesn’t bat an eyelid,

and though the world might collapse,
the west isn’t going anywhere.

Everything travels westwards
on its natural orbit,

the sun, the cars, the ducks,

the wind and the water,
a few stray autumn leaves swing

on the branch of a tree,
from there to here, from west to east,

as fully as they should,
so much that you can almost feel it:

and even if a chasm opened up
right here,

as it should, just as it should,

the sun the imperishable
the sun the giver

the sun, always on its orbit,
from here to there,

remember to rest now and then

the sun at the gates of heaven
almost singing:

all conditions are time,
the ears of time: listening

words eat: the ends of bricks
binding their time, working

the clock, does a lot of great work,
vultures are born

And nobody likes pain for pain’s sake,

and that’s how it should be

Like the sea only yesterday,
the sand was rippling,

but now it has been cut down,
covered with sand,

turned into a beach,
the colour of sand,

the colour of beaks,
neither rushing nor hushing the sea,

when they move, isn’t everyone
part of something greater,

and nobody likes pain for pain’s sake,

the way warm and cold currents flow
through an ocean,

water wanders the earth,
from one end to the other,

like traffic.