“No time to fall deep and heavy—there are businesses to build, brands
to consult, and world-citizenships to obtain.”
–
https://thenewinquiry.com/crushed/
I spend a lot of my time on the Internet, loosely configured. For better
or for worse, I find myself circulating around the same websites,
looking at the same kinds of photos and memes and blocks of text, and
then I spend the rest of my time not at my computer - stretching,
drinking, talking, running, getting the bus, cleaning, cooking -
wondering if I spend too much time on the Internet. I’ve been thinking a
lot about luck and randomness online too, particularly in relation to
the world ‘offline’. In 1969, the artist John Giorno created a telephone
line called Dial-A-Poem, where you could call a number and have someone
recite a poem back to you. (it’s been decommissioned, and calling will
take you to a nail salon in New York, who are probably really annoyed)
I like the idea of calling a number with some idea of what comes out of
the other end, even if it might not be something you’ve been exposed to
before, and I like the idea of doing something with the intention of
connection, even if you don’t know what awaits on the other side. Jason
Polan, an artist I loved very much, passed away recently - he was on a
mission to draw every person in New York, (http://everypersoninnewyork.blogspot.com/) and drew every painting at MoMa twice. What I love about his work –
and the spirit he engendered - is that it was unfailingly sincere. In
the interests of sincerity, here are links to articles, videos, essays,
podcasts and websites that I, and people I know, have been turning over.
None of it is my own work, although some of it is my friend’s. I also
collected field recordings – from people I know very well to people I’ve
never met before – and Ana + Mackenzie (the two coders / curators who
have brought my sad, scrawled notes to life) placed them around the
cityscape, so you never know what you might be biting into. Please
enjoy!
Special thanks to Will Pritchard, Emma Rixhon, Jacob Middleburgh, Keegan
Gomm, Sarah Ahmed, Harry Harris, Sabrina Weiss, Vilde Hilleren, Gianna
Seglias, Ethan Coombridge, Lucas Wallenberg, Freddie Watkins, Shivani
Brooking, Catrin Harris, Hayley Harris, Anaelle Prioux & other people
who sent me sound recordings.
Notes
One - the links and audio recordings aren’t labelled deliberately. But
anything that’s potentially triggering has been labelled, and if you
find that something is missing a warning, let me know at
sanjanamvarghese@gmail.com
and we can try and fix it!
Two - please enjoy!