Writing and working with text … presenting text … presenting words has caught my imagination. It is something that we have done at various times over the past two weeks. And it is something that I have reflected back upon during my time here. Text, words, or language are not the usual material that I work with – at least not in my practice, they belong in other distinct (that word again) areas: proofreading, application writing, … blogging.
John 2, workshop 2.2:a
- write a text reflecting on yesterday’s walk – handwritten, approximately one side A4 paper, double-line spacing
- underline (single line) all the nouns, underline (double line) all the verbs
- sequentially trade/swap nouns and then verbs with others in the group
- read the text to the group
John 2, workshop 2.2:b
- read the text yourself
- select two sentences or phrases
- collate the sentences/phrases (we rolled a die/dice to determine the order)
- read the collaborative text
John 2, workshop 2.2:c
- write/create a score to perform/record the text
- perform/record the text
I really appreciated the processes through which my text left my possession and became a part of our collaborative text. The processes were playful, sometimes chaotic, requiring attention to detail, accepting chance and change. Our collaborative text was abstract and non-sensical, and at the same time it belonged to us – it embraced our individual experiences of having done things together while being a manifestation … exposition(?) … of our having done them as a group.
Note to self: find other artists to collaborate with