About this weblog
I began this weblog as an exercise in deliberate idiosyncrasy in early 2001 and kept filling it during the 2000s, while I was struggling to find a place in the academic world and, well, in the world in general. The weblog was a constant in my life as I moved around, from Vienna to Hamburg to Vienna to Berkeley to Vienna to Heidelberg to Vienna, to mention only those stations where I spent half a year or more. I never much cared for building some kind of distinctive online presence with it, and frankly also didn’t care whether people found it too hermetic or idiosyncratic (that was kind of the point, people). I guess one could say that the whole point of the exercise was to fill the world with bad jokes, barely intelligible allusions, some stories, many observations and, in general, a heavy dose of smart-ass-ism. My academic work deals with Asian history and culture (mostly intellectual history and the history of philosophy), and you’ll find occasional ramblings inspired by these interests here, as well, including bits and pieces from travel in Japan (where I spent several years in the 1999s), mainland China, India, Taiwan or Thailand. I do keep my professional writing (and existence) separate from Camp Catatonia, though, and, as the disclaimer goes, views posted here are strictly my own and not my employer’s. Some posts are in English here, others in German, and there’s no system behind it.
Like this weblog, the digital ecosystem around it has changed. In the early 2000s Camp Catatonia was connected with kindred spirits that gravitated towards antville.org (you can also read Ekkehard Knoerer on antville.org and early weblogs in Merkur). In 2009 I joined Twitter, where most of my bad jokes and shorter observations could be enjoyed until late 2022, when I started moving to Mastodon — if you like that sort of thing; some images can be found on Instagram where I started posting in early 2022 to remind myself in these pandemic days that travel was a part of my life at some point (and is starting to become again, with moderation). In 2021 I began to post more and longer texts to Camp Catatonia again, but on a less regular basis. I enjoy doing so precisely because the chatter is now elsewhere, things feel quiet here, and this is not part of any instant feedback machine. It’s nice to imagine being read silently, and sometimes it’s nice to imagine not being read at all.
Camp Catatonia went through several technological iterations. Not everything has survived, so apologies for the occasional dead link and formatting glitch.
Enjoy!
katatonik / catatonique / sauer_lauwarm
Vienna, February 2022 (updated December 2022)
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