007. audience participatory reading
- Apathy Project, Baltimore, us@
- September, 1977
- The Audience was handed a folded 8&1/2 X 11" piece of paper with 2 pages from my book:
t he book
t he referent 4 wch consists of
t he non-materialized transparent punch-outs from a letter/whatever stencil
printed on it. Page 31 was on the front: this consisted of a grid of 15 X 15 1st 4 letters of words with each vertical column having every fragment begin with the same letter. The grid arrangement, the vertical organization, the non-referentialness, & the fragmentation were all meant to stimulate the reader to extrapolate & explore the text creatively. Page 89 was on the inside: this consisted of a fragment from a longer text in which all "e"s were substituted with "(v)"s. This fragmentation & substitution were meant to disrupt the otherwise linear narrative so that the reader's attention would drift off. The audience was then asked to read simultaneously from these texts in whatever way they wanted to which they proceeded to do.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
008. audience participatory reading
- Dave Kotofski's apartment, Baltimore, us@
- 1977
- This was a "private" reading with little or no audience other than Dave. Reza Baraheni, Iranian writer & freedom of speech activist (author of "Crowned Cannibals" - a critique of the Shah's regime) then in exile, read "linear, referential" poetry in English & Persian - & Marshall Reese, Kirby Malone, & I read, or otherwise presented, mainly "non-linear, non-referential" texts. I presented various "spatially expanded" writings which included hiding words & phrases in Dave's place for him to find later.
- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
to Personal Favorites: 1959-1989