A New Cultural Sector: MANUSCRIPTS IN EXHIBITION

A New Cultural Sector?

MANUSCRIPTS IN EXHIBITION

Manuscripts in exhibition, defined as – ‘Sequential display of a Manuscript, each page a separate art object (Prose/Poetry) on the walls of an exhibition space, along which the public walks, viewing/reading, having paid a GATE FEE’. An Art Gallery of 2-5 rooms could carry a large collection of poems or about 5 short stories (depending on length). Each page-as-art-object pinned direct, mounted or framed. Art Centres usually only have one exhibition space (ain’t necessarily so) thus a large collection of stories would probably be exempt. In a gallery, framed work is preferred. It can be costly. One of the significant features of this kind of publication is that it should be open to anyone. A frame would add £8 to £15 to the cost of each page-as-art-object.

The MAJOR advantage of this kind of publication is that it is the least expensive ever devised. A writer only needs to run off ONE print run of a Manuscript then exhibit. Financial feedback coming from the gate fee. What is being sold is the EXHIBITION. The visual/literary phenomena displayed. The publication as art installation. The writer chooses how to display the work – pinned, mounted and pinned, framed/hung on the wall. Other options – pinned or hung from both sides of centre room hung or standing panels. Laminated, pinned to trees in a woodland walk. 50 pages-as-art-objects printed in a commercial publisher onto coloured A3 paper, using coloured inks could cost in the region of £2.30p per sheet. The whole publication would cost £115 for the display. If you print on your own computer with coloured inks to A4 size, it would be a lot less. A3 black ink on white paper? 20p per sheet? So - £10 the whole project. On top there would be – Master Copy, art work material, work space lighting/heating, gallery research, transport to gallery costs. Perhaps this would be a further £50. Step it up in terms of presentation, mounts might add £20, frames, at £8 each, quite a lot more - £400. To sell the literature/art work as well as exhibit it, framing would be wise, but costly. The first option would allow most people to publish. Theoretically THOUSANDS of people could attend. That would be down to the gallery to engineer with publicity/advertising. Initially, the SENSATION OF THE NEW might also help kick-start interest in your area.

Galleries have a tendency to exhibit paintings, pottery or sculpture (very odd) and have tight parameters as to what they show. Few exhibit anything related to books. There is a scattering it might be worth approaching. Art Centres usually have exhibition space and are not as commercial as galleries. However, they tend to be elitist (Art Grad work only – please) However, some might have a degree of latitude about who/what they exhibit and be prepared to exhibit poetry or prose. Poetry more likely, since that has been seen occasionally. Most have ‘exhibition policies’. If your work don’t fit with this – it will be rejected.

Craft/art shops could also be approached, but only if the work is framed, poetry good quality, images well executed. You would, in the main, be establishing a precedent. Mss in frames are rare and, as far as I know, yet to be displayed in many art/craft shops. Pottery, paintings, figurines, mobiles, glass work – yes. Literary work – no! There is, as stated, a scattering of text image artists, but they won’t be putting their work around to many art/craft shops. The display of literary work in Book-Deco and related forms is a NEW CRAFT. The writer working on a series of levels to create Literary Art and Craft objects. But such work competes with the established crafts of pottery, glasswork, wood carving and the arts of painting and sculpture. It is likely that many art/craft shop owners/managers will be imbued with an ‘insider/outsider art’ attitude. This summed up as – ‘If you’re not creating work in the established, tried and tested, moulds, forget it. We don’t have the space to display cutting edge art/craft by unknown artists/craftsmen. It is too much of a risk’. They would make economic decisions, not aesthetic decisions. Their priority being economic survival as a business, not promotion of avant garde art/craft or the support of freedom of expression. Indeed, a lot of the inhabitants of the ‘superstructure’ (shops/galleries/art centres) in the U.K. could not give a damn about freedom of expression. Are only interested in ‘art/craft that will sell’. Which mainly means ‘more of the same with slight amendments’ – variations on ‘The Italian Form Painting, the Vessel, the Fixed piece Sculpture’. A commercial attitude that mitigates against originality and innovation. – unless ‘system approved’ (artist has a degree from a London art college).

As far as the actual pages-as-art-objects are concerned, a number of options exist for design. And no doubt more could be devised. You can – A) Work up TEXT IMAGES. This involves pre-designing the image with pencil/ruler and then typing the words into the design. You would, preferably, need a TYPEWRITER, not a computer. If this isn’t possible the only controls one has with the computer lay-out is – where you start on the page (high, middle, low), the number of columns or the widths thereof. With a computer you could locate the text – top, middle, bottom, down either side in narrow or broad columns of a variety of lengths, in squares or rectangles and combinations of all these. You can also determine the font and size of font. Since the works are going to be read in exhibition, from a distance of about 6 foot, large size fonts in bold are advised. But you can change the font – every word, sentence, line, paragraph or even letter! This would give the presentation are interesting textural variety.

You could add images, in different mediums, around the text fragments or poems, creating these on separate sheets (water colour/oil/dry medium/gouache) then cutting/pasting the text into the images. Finally, photocopying with a colour photocopier. Or create abstract images, with the text fragments seen as colour blocks. Get them printed in different ink colours and cut and paste again onto a master copy. Further enhance with paint and then copy again with a colour photocopier onto coloured paper A3.. If you keep the results in good condition they should carry for several exhibitions. All this visual art work should make for some very interesting, unique, publications.

The attending public have two choices. A) A linear experience, reading beginning to end. They are habituated to this. Although the form of publication is very different from Books, a recognisable element should be retained so that they are not totally alienated by The Newness. (We are creatures of set patterns and habits) The pages-as-art-objects could be in pinned/hung with numbers above them. To get into the linear flow follow the numbers. B) A fragmented experience comparable to the one suggested for scripts in exhibition (see previous article). They can take in the work in any order – backwards, from the middle outwards, start at the beginning and jump – whatever. This will be O.K. for a collection of short poems since there is no linear connection. For short stories it would complicate matters. But, add another new element to the activity of reading. The reader fits the story back together in his/her mind after viewing. Has, as it were, the memories first, then the linear reality. In either option, they should be able to – take their time; stop and examine pages for quite a while; chat to other readers/viewers about the work; sit and study particular pages; go out for a coffee/meal and come back; buy reproductions of particular pages (if offered) as they leave. An exhibition in the open air would mean pinning laminated pages to the trunks of trees down a woodland walk or in a park. Such an exhibition might make a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours on a hot summer’s afternoon. Sculptors place their works in the open air, why not writers?

All in all, the activity of reading is totally changed. Instead of clutching a small package in one’s sweaty hands, engaging in the one-dimensional activity of reading, shut away in a cocoon, one strolls in a relaxed manner from page to page having a multi-dimensional experience, appreciating BOTH the literature AND the art work it is contained in. At the same time one has the ability to socialise, meet strangers, listen to accompanying music, take in the works visually as art objects THEN as literature or both together or in the reverse order. Paying a LOT less for the multi-dimensional experience than one would for the single dimensional one of buying/reading a book.

If you choose to take this set of concepts on board, good luck. It won’t be easy – BOOK PUBLICATION is a monopolistic industry into which the young are brainwashed (by being offered no other option) to produce, appreciate, sell. Major innovations have come into being in other sectors since Caxton, The BOOK plods on, unchanging except for technological amendments to the presses. Laying waste whole swathes of forest every year (which Mss in exhibition certainly wouldn’t). ALL the inhabitants of all western nations are habituated to consume their fiction, poetry, educative Mss in book form. The monopoly form dominates everything (the taped Mss is for the blind. People who are not blind rarely use this product). MONOPOLIES ARE ILLEGAL. Book-Decos etc. open up a competitive field. Obviously, the more people who set themselves to self-publishing in these forms, the wider the field will spread. The greater will be the aesthetic enrichment of western societies.

P.S. I see, however, that the EBOOK recently came into being in the U.S. and is being marketed over here. I wish it well. I understand that a unit contains over 100 novels! And is very pricey – over £100 at present, though bound to come down. For a field that has had no direct competition EVER, I welcome this addition. Though I understand, the experience will be very similar to reading a book – small rectangular object one holds in one’s hand scanning the uniformly laid out print. The same form/experience with a technological twist. However, since it has a lot of moolah behind it, no doubt it will sell. But appear to adhere to the International Cultural Party Line of – ‘More of the same with slight amendments – please’. MANUSCRIPTS in EXHIBITION and the other developments, open up a whole new experiential ball game for both writers and readers of literature. The capitalist system might want to brainwash us all into cultural sameness-with-slight-differences, do we have to accept the imposition? We are INDIVIDUALS and have a right to be INDIVIDUALISTIC in creativity.

Tony welcomes your feedback and he can be contacted here.