The pervert's guide to ideology Partie Trois/Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life

"The basic insight of psychoanalysis is to distinguish between enjoyment and simple pleasures. They are not the same. Enjoyment is precisely enjoyment in disturbed pleasure, even enjoyment in pain, and this excessive factor disturbs the apparently simple relation between duty and pleasures. This is also a space where ideology, up to and specially religious ideology, operates. 

If you read intelligent Catholic propagandists and if you really try to discern what deal are they offering you, it's not to prohibit, in this case, sexual pleasures. It's a much more cynical contract, as it were, between the church as an institution and the believer troubled with, in this case, sexual desires. It is this hidden, obscene permission that you get: you are covered by The Divine Big Other, you can do whatever you want. Enjoy. 

This obscene contract does not belong to Christianity as such. It belongs to Catholic church as an institution. It is the logic of institutions at its purest. 

This is, again, a key to the functioning of ideology. Not only the explicit message (renounce, suffer and so on), but the true hidden message: pretend to renounce and you can get it all." 

"El conocimiento elemental del psicoanálisis consiste en aprender a distinguir entre el disfrute y el verdadero placer. No son la misma cosa. Disfrutar es disfrutar precisamente del placer perturbado, incluso del dolor, y este factor excesivo perturba la aparentemente simple relación entre el deber y el placer. Este también es un espacio en el que la ideología, incluso y especialmente en el caso de la ideología religiosa, opera.

Si lees a propagandistas católicos inteligentes y si realmente intentas discernir qué trato te están ofreciendo, no se trata de prohibir, en este caso, los placeres sexuales. Es un contrato mucho más cínico, entre la iglesia católica como institución y el creyente trastornado con, de nuevo en este caso, sus deseos sexuales. Es este el permiso oculto y obsceno que obtienes: estás cubierto por El Divino Gran Otro, puedes hacer lo que quieras. Disfruta.

Este contrato obsceno no pertenece al cristianismo como tal. Pertenece a la iglesia católica como institución. Es la lógica de las instituciones en su estado más puro.

Reside aquí, de nuevo, la clave del funcionamiento de la ideología. No solo su mensaje explícito (renuncia, sufre y todo eso), sino el auténtico mensaje oculto: haz ver como que renuncias y podrás tenerlo todo."

Text by Slavoj Žižek from The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012).

Toutes les photographies prises le 18 septembre 2017 à Montreuil, Paris, France. Merci spécialement à Barbara, Gilles et Shia Labeouf parce que they will not divide us.

It's okay to be desperate and alone at the Café Lehmitz

It was the next-to-last night in Hamburg for at least a long while. I was being punctual for the love of God and just when I reached bingöl Döner Kebab Backshop, Sahar texts to say she needs 40 to 45 extra minutes. It was the place I had a muffin for dinner at on the first night I saw the red blue green yellow lights of the Reeperbahn. No good deed goes unpunished.

These days I am wise enough to know that I'd rather let myself be found at Café Lehmitz every single night than all Wednesdays at Thomas Read or anywhere else, but up to that particular day, I was way too afraid of all things that looked like I belonged to. The blues and the bass and the abyss had been luring me since that early March evening but, see: life is easier when you pretend you're into tekkno in Northern Germany 2016. That time around was different, though, because I had 40 to 45 extra minutes and this leaving-town-tomorrow sadness somewhere around the upper body that allows folks to finally be fucking free.

I am not racist, but I would have struggled to see the black gentleman playing guitar hadn't been for his star-spangled banner, boss of the Plains cowboy hat. He was rocking some red facial hair and Jimi Hendrix jacket as well, and flirted with the darkest, most under-aged ladies in the room. He goes by the name of Lord Bishop and leads a band called Lord Bishop Rocks and that's all I want to know for today. I sat right in front of him on the bar and he avoided my camera as much as he could. Guess the admiration is always stronger when never reciprocated.  

On the right side I had a shirtless hero playing air crucifixion and painting portraits of career-dead idols, oil on wood. He was truthful and savage and I was between his wide-open legs. I was grateful and he didn't seem to mind. I could have stayed down there forever but 40 to 45 extra minutes went by and Sahar is never unpunctual twice a day, so I left for the billiard at Silbersackstraße with her and her brother Nader. It's okay to be in love for a short while.

All pictures taken on 22nd July 2016 at Reeperbahn's Café Lehmitz, Hamburg, Germany.

Bagggbaggga Babou

"Hi! What's your name?!" Just like that, as if she knew people since forever but happened to not know their names. "We're neighbours!" Everything she says, she does in such mellow manners that is at times heart breaking how easily can one pass over the fervour in her eyes, carpe diem. "I may look 30 but at least I don't look 14!" Gangster with the most pink cheeks, she's larger than life and just as frail, Gandolfini style. "I'm so lost!" She'll open herself up, strip herself down, put her skin apart, Brigitte Bardot and you still won't have seen a thing. "You know the story of the song Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd?" You can try your best to teach her a lesson while she doesn't even bother to stop teaching you ten per step. "What's your second favourite band?" You meet her and next thing you know Frank Zappa is French and has Titties 'N Beer "You know the story of the song Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd?" She seldomly tells the same story twice, never in the same way. "Who doesn't like kissing?" Oh she'll take you fly so high you'll forgive her when she can't get no higher. "When I throw parties my friends say my music is depressing!" Oh she'll drag herself so deep you won't forget it when she doesn't take you with her. "It's a traditional dish from Mali!" Biggest appetite with the tiniest stomach, eats her own hunger and she's full. "Everyone assumed we were childhood friends!" The only thing her heart has ever hurt is itself. "I know I'm not an artist and I'll never be, I'm not good enough, but I love art so much, though!" It's quite a challenge keeping track of all the times you were born again next to her. "There are some people I can't respect!" One does not simply start a discussion and then stand up, leave and pretend it's over just because it's 5 AM and the sun rises at 4 in Germany, 1984, big brother is watching you. "It's okay, I can pay for art!" Humblest devil in the snobbiest disguise. "Today I slept two hours, I'm dead!" She gets some rest out of reading Russians and next morning she wakes up with her eyes already wide open. "I'd never go to an exhibition alone!" She's already been to all places, also to those she's never been to before. "I wish I liked my grandmother like that!" She'll be happier than yourself for the magic you encounter. "I hate French people who don't know how to write in French!" Kanye West sandwich with tomato on top, spread some Nutella on it and she'll be yours for breakfast. "¡Yo aprendí el español en Argentina!" Wise beyond her height, predictable below her years. "I'm French, it's in my genes!" You've never been to Paris until you've been to Paris with her, and you've never been to a party until you've heard her retell hers. "My cat is so stupid!" If you give her a reason she'll give you a chance, and if you don't give her nothing she'll still give you one. "Have you read anything from Victor Hugo?" Her film taste is very shitty and her shit is very tasty, both Music and Lyrics. "My sister needs me!" Most times she's not aware of how delicious she is, upside-down oyster, soft on the outside and unbreakable inside. "I know I'll be fine, I'm always fine!" Closest thing to Ines de la Fressange that you've ever seen. "People care!" Rappelle-toi Barbara, il pleuvait sans cesse sur Hambourg ce jour-là. "Guys, seriously, I'm super scared of rats!" Rappelle-toi Barbara, toi que je ne connaissais pas, toi que ne me connaissais pas. "He calls me Bárbatine and her Clementar!" The only thing in this world she'll rather do instead of talking is talking about how much she talks but not as much as this friend who's into fashion. "I have too much grey, but I love bordeaux, you know this colour?" You'd get along with all her friends, they're late everywhere, just like you, just like her. "My dad and my uncle talk in a language they only understand themselves!" Hey hey people I'm Babou Brown, they say I'm the cutest gal in town, and that's how you get her to marry you. "Of course, because all my friends are so awesome!" When you enter a room, she's the first thing you see for the night and the last hug you'll need in a month. "I love hugs!" She got the least French English accent in the whole République from YouTube videos of Chinese dudes. "My city is so cool, there are lots of art stuff!" Montreuil will suddenly become the furthest place on Earth. "Who wears polos anyway?!" Channing Tatum and Pete Doherty with wine, whatever floats her boat, you'll be down for it. "Suzzie looks less crazy because she's Asian but she's actually worse than me!" Wearing just lipstick and moonshine, you shrink as she grows, spins and floats. "In those days you just want to push your limits as far as you can, you know?" Noir Désire, Télephone, Nina Hagen, sounds so charming every time she says she gets it all from her dad. "I made a list to see if I had been in more countries than my father!" She can lead a nation with a microphone, with a microphone, with a microphone. "Of course I'm curious!" Show her holy cards of the saints you wished you had faith in and believe. "Of course-eee, because I'm so awesome-eee!" They will often tell her she's more special than she thinks and best part is she's more special than they thought. "Of COUGGGSE-EEE, because I'm SO awesome-eee!" She'll mumble certain things and give you a certain look and dress like a flapper in certain punk boots and the world will crash and burn and you'll never learn how to carry on again. "I love you when you're singing that song and" I got a lump in my throat cause. 

"Never change, okay?!"

All pictures taken on 10th April 2016 at Marienthaler Straße 48B, Hamburg, Germany. Special thanks to Barbara for being my first muse and the only one I will ever tell things to.