not reading

(Books and their uses) an experimentation with osmosis

I wanted to read these books but I decided to do otherwise...



Work surrounding the not reading of Les Mots, Jean Paul Sartre


The text I wrote for this project:

"I have been impersonating a reader; copying the behaviour of a reader so well that anyone who cared to notice would think that I have read Les Mots."

And I think that this could be used to open the not reading manifesto.


Drawing, from Les Mots



Drawing theory, various titles
19 books, words read = zero

Instead of reading I made alternate book covers

Art book cover drawing
Drawing of a book cover - part of the series of book cover drawings produced for Library Interventions, an exhibition at Leeds College of  Art library, 2015

Drawing constraint alternative book cover
These covers remain on the books and have been re-shelved in the library for permanent use
 


Matter and Memory by Henri Bergson, loaned from the British Library. Used to lean on while drawing. Words read = zero

Instead of reading, I used the books to lean on while drawing

Practical use of a hard backed book
Matter and Memory: as workstation

The historic debates of the 1930s between Ernst Bloch, Georg Lukács, Bertolt Brecht, Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno. Borrowed from the library for 2 months, used only to lean on when drawing. Words read = zero

leaning, not reading - books loaned from the library but not read
Aesthetics and Politics: as workstation

Live Theory by Slavoj Zizec. Words read = zero

Slavoj Zizek Aesthetic Theory book drawing work
Live Theory: as workstation


An ongoing project where I re-type Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. Currently the project stands at:
pencil drawing graphite on paper a brief history of time
Graphite on paper
size:  48.6KB
pages:  21
words:  11773
total editing time:  612 minutes

a-b-r-i-e-f-h-i-s-t-or-y-o-f-t-i-m-e


The re-typing has been exhibited as a 2 meter long print out of the 11773 words with a heavy layer of graphite applied to the first 50 centimeters. Graphite is Carbon, the fourth most abundant element in the universe and occurs in all known organic life on earth.

 I have circled individual letters,  in order, to spell out A Brief History of Time as a way of suggesting planetary orbits or as a way of suggesting Carbon compounds.





The Nabokov Papers: 29.
When Vladimir Nabokov was a Professor at Cornell University the main principle of his lectures was to convey the idea that novels should not aim to teach and readers should not empathise with characters. Readers should aim for a 'higher' aesthetic enjoyment by paying attention to details of style and structure.
This book attempts to: 'Make notes on the number three' in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Buy this book THE METAMORPHOSIS by (Helen Frank) | Make Your Own Book




And...


(Film, installation view and documentation of Film of a flip book of a film of a flip book ad infinitum. Installation, projected film loop onto office paper). Watch here Vimeo
Further documentation
(Snapshot, 1 minute 34)





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