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installation/intervention
Content: Without the Words, Shaky Black Line is Left (Editorial) by (c) merry Heart by (c) merry GET-OUT, GET-UP (installed in the space) by (c) merry NE! by (c) merry The Value of WORDS by (c) merry censXred ‘o’ by (c) merry Typing by (c) merry
17. 4. – 22. 4. 2012, Olomouc, Czech Republic AFO – International Festival of Science Documentary Films
Artist’s statement: During the festival, visitors were offered free copies of magazine Respekt (media partner of the festival). One of the copies was intervened into and then installed back into the festival premises. Did these copies find their attentive readers when everybody is used to internet or/and pdf files? Do the printed media have still some future? This intervention was made to show the beauty of paper and to point out to the confused festival visitors, that there are things you just can’t do with your pdf. The expectations were that nobody will even notice the existence of some subversive copy of the magazine (since nobody actually reads them even when they are lying there in heaps and for free).
Even though these interventions into one magazine seem simple and naïve, there is a deep meaning under every one of them. You can try yourself to find them. Documented in the form of pdf and published on issuu.com.
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(c) merry
taking place in April, 2012 at the 47th International Festival of Science Documentary Films, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Without the Words, Shaky Black Line is Left (detail)
Heart (detail) Cut out heart shape. Cut out hearts were scattered throughout the magazine.
Heart (detail) â?¤
Get-out, Get-up (one part)
2D pictures as 3D objects Several pictures were torn out of the magazine and installed as 3D objects in the festival area where they remained till the end of the festival.
Ne!
Ne! (detail) In the interview with Czech artist Roman Týc (about his dweling in prison for the sake of his art), all the negative words were circled (and little linguistic joke with a picture of war weapon added).
(Note: „ne“ means „no“ in Czech and functions as negative prefix as well – that’s why all the negative words begin with ne-)
The Value of WORDS
Headlines, paragraphs or groups of words were cut out from their original place in the magazine and glued somewhere else. Sometimes in hardly noticeable manner. Question: Are we attentive readers or do we just buy the printed media as a habit, fetish, something poshy, because we wanna show that we like tradition and using the internet is low, that we are inteligent, or do we actually read and try to understand the stuff?
censXred „O“
In this article, every preposition „o“ (with the meaning about, of, on, for, during, at, with..., depending pretty much on the context) was blackened, questioning the importance and replaceability of words in language we use. Are we even noticing the words we are using?
Typing
Reverse remediation of printed text. The beginning of one article was manually transcribed by hand with blue ballpoint on the white places of the same page. Thus 1) reverse-remediating the printed text, 2) leaving enough space for interaction – the reader can continue in this work begun.
Table of Content
At the last page of the magazine, Table of Content was added, summarizing all the works (or rather things) I did as a part of my intervention to this printed media. It goes: AFO-RESPEKT – Content: WITHOUT THE WORDS, SHAKY BLACK LINE IS LEFT by (c) merry; HEART by (c) merry; The Value of WORDS by (c) merry; censXred ‘o’ by (c) merry; TYPING by (c) merry; NE! by (c) merry; GET-OUT, GET-UP (installed in the space) by (c) merry The thing was dated 1992 (front page of the magazine says 2. – 15. 4. 2012)
On the top of the page, the following description was handwritten: THIS PIECE INSTALLED AT AFO (ACADEMIA FILM OLOMOUC, FILM FESTIVAL). IF STILL THERE AFTER THE FESTIVAL ENDS, PLEASE SENT HOME. I LIVE AT YouTube.com. THANK YOU.
On the bottom:
NOT STEALING APPREACIATED. STEALING DEMANDED.
I’ve never heard about the AFO-RESPEKT ever after...
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(c) merry