Projects

By Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec
Online presenttion of the project

Online presentation of the project Reading Short Sentences by Gertrude Stein presents some elements of the work. The installation is an interpretation of the written play Short Sentences (1932) by Gertrude Stein.  The play consists of 561 mostly unrelated short sentences. Each is spoken by a different character. The author interprets the written play so that he allocates each sentence of the play to a unique reader that he records. He calls this practice distributed reading. In addition to the sound recordings of the sentences there is a video of the written sentences that are spoken by the chorus, and the sound recording of the names of all the characters, read by a single voice.

Online presentation includes two videos. The first video consists of the sound recordings of the first hundred names, accompanied by the written opening stage instruction. The second video consists of the sound recordings of the first hundred sentences read by hundred different voices. In between the sound recordings written chorus sentences appear in between the sound recordings.

Distributed reading

The practice of mediated and distributed reading involves substituting singular silent reader of the text with plurality of unrelated, isolated and scattered partial readers. Together they form a plurality of reading voices that transpose Stein’s written text on the sonic realm. This brings attention to the inaccessible aural qualities of the inner reading voice, and how it is affected when encountering plurality of characters in the play. Do we hear the sonic quality of own inner reading voice? When reading a play with various characters, do the characters modify the inner reading voice, or, does the inner reading voice unify the plurality of characters it is speaking for and lending them the selfhood of the reader? Is this inner voice singular or are there many? Does the possible plurality of inner voices indicate internally fragmented and plural subjectivity?

The play as a pre-echo of the contemporary lived reality

The final installation sonically embodies the fragmented and dispersed nature of (overheard) voices, which evoke situations of strangers passing by, continuous mobility, decentralization, isolation within a crowd, discontinuity, banality and continuity of distractions. By doing so the work acts as an imaginary re-connection between Stein’s play and the contemporary lived reality it might be capturing. A reality that was not entirely there yet when the play was written, but which is intensely present in the contemporary everyday life - on a busy urban street, in public transport, at an airport, or, zapping through TV channels, browsing the Internet, scanning through the radio frequencies or on the social media platforms.

Reading Short Sentences by Gertrude Stein is a part of artistic research project Reading Reading.

Names: Sher Doruff
In Order of Appearance:
Zala Česnik, Karmen Keržar, Katja Gabrijelčič, Špela Škulj, Hotimir Knific, Gal Škrjanec Skaberne, Kai Ottenheim, Taja Rajterič, Andreja Rauch Podzavirnik, Jaka Šimenc, Omar Ismaila, Nina Smerkol, Špela Trošt, Leon Curk, Luka Zagoričnik, Domen Pal, Tomo Per, Primoż Čučnik, Enej Grom, Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec, Olja Simčič Jerele, Alejandro Ramirez, Maxim Tyminko, Martijn Tellinga, Sonja Vulpes, Tomaž Grom, Laurie Cuitmans, Maja Šučur, Koen Nutters, Yannis Kyriakides, Aria Trošt Bargalini, Katarina Schwarzbartl, Becket MWN, Ana Pepelink, Arnisa Zeqo, Mirko Lazović, Bennett Hogg, Boris Baltschun, Irena Tomažin, Doug Barrett, Lore Gablier, Gabriel Paiuk, Agata Stoinska, Mario Assef, Andrea Knezović, Bojan Fajfrić, Maia Elisabeth Sørensen, Milena Bonilla, Alena Alexandrova, Vincent Verhoef, Jonas Kocher, Anne LaBerge, Huib Haye van der Werf, Klaas van Gorkum, Rune Peitersen, Edwin Zwakman, Elena Biserna, Nadim Abbas, Riccardo Massari Spiritini, Barbara Lüneburg, Marko Ciciliani, Matteo Casarin, Mika Cimolini, Natalia Domingez Rangel, Nathan Michelle, Sylbee Kim, Tjaša Podgornik, Hannah Cheney, Guy Koeningsteen, Heman Chong, Rumiko Hagiwara, John Grzinić, Ana Nikitović, Uroš Veber, Stefan Thut, Marlies van Hak, Nicolas Pelzer, Raviv Ganchrow, Panayotis Leftheris, Doris Prlić, Anže Sekelj, Dacho, Robert Pravda, Mint Park, Taku Mizutta Lipitt - DJ Sniff, Sander Breure, Iratxe Jaio, Anna Orlikowska, Lucas Norer, Sascha Pohle, Tina Dolinšek, Christina Li, Maria Lalou, Xander Kaskens, Jessye Luk, Magdalen Wong, David Drum.

Produced by:
Sploh Institute and Projekt Atol Institute,  Ljubljana SLovenia
Project supported by:
Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana, Mondriaan Fund – NL.