Perverse Library: Experimental approaches to literature

Working with an English contemporary artist

Simon Morris

Participants will work collaboratively to transform a large open plan studio space with plenty of wall space into a perverse library by re-reading through one-another's book collections. All participants in the project are asked to bring their ten favorite books. Each day will feature a themed lecture, individual writing time and reading breaks.

The project draws inspiration from Mel Bochner's 1966 work, Working Drawings and Other
Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to be Viewed as Art by sitting a conventional office Xerox photocopier at the centre of the space and using this machine to read our way through each other's publications, enlarging pieces of text, reducing other sections or repeating certain words or phrases. These copies will then be collaged on to the wall of the space, transforming the creative studio into a literature house. As Marshall McLuhan observed back in the sixties, Xerography allows everyone to be their own publishing company. At the conclusion of the week a public reception will be held to invite friends and family of the participants to view the textural environment of the Perverse Library.

Please note that course availability is contingent on sufficient enrollment and that classes are subject to cancellation.