This is the outline of an event which has yet to be instantiated
It was designed for a programme at
Five Years
Called
How to write: reading groups
Which took place 1-17th May 2015
(Here I/we were Vladivostok Vax
Preamble
It was designed for a programme at
Five Years
Called
How to write: reading groups
Which took place 1-17th May 2015
(Here I/we were Vladivostok Vax
Preamble
A reading group is widely understood as “a
group of people who meet regularly to discuss a book that they have all read”
(Collins Dictionary). Such a group might be seen as sharing an
interpretation of a text the group become familiar with beforehand. This is
generally done by having a single text (book) which everyone
encounters in private and forms opinions about,
which are then discussed together at the public group.
We propose to extend this definition to
encompass ‘reading’ in the sense it is used in another context, that of psychic
development. In this wider sense,
‘reading’ can also be an act of non-rational, non-verbal expressing of
information, where the information is not verbally or linguistically codified, and
where the information is obtained from non-textual sources e.g. an object
(psychometry) or a person (telepathy, mediumship). For example, the process
might involve a ‘medium’ holding an object with closed eyes, and speaking aloud
the impressions she/he has of the object (life stories associated with it, any
feelings, impressions etc).
We want to work, as a group, to ‘read’ pieces
of writing, extracts of pertinent books
/ articles sealed inside opaque envelopes. The proposed group will consist of a number
of stages.
Stage 1: (pre-event)
We prepare a number of envelopes , each
of which is sealed with a text inside. Texts to be decided in week immediately
prior to event, and perhaps by someone otherwise unconnected with the event.
Stage 2: (event)
One envelope in turn is handed around
group members. Each group member takes it in turn to speak the ‘reading’ of the
text. One designated member transcribes the utterances using a laptop (or
similar). (Decisions to be made about what else, apart from linguistic
statements, are transcribed).
Stage 3: (event)
Once all readings are made, the texts
produced at stage 2 above are made the subject of a ‘reading’ of the sort more
commonly associated with a ‘reading group’.
Stage 3 produces a rational reading of
the texts produced in stage 2, where private interpretations are made subject
to public consensus.
Comments
We don’t need other people to take part
for this to be an event but we welcome engagement from watching to ‘reading’
and discussion (at all stages) from all who attend.
In the group, we want to look at the way in which reading groups
involve an interpretation and construction of meaning as a shared rather than a
solitary process. We also want to open
out the definition of reading and interpretation (through the ‘blind’ reading-practices
of psychometry) so they aren’t primarily rational, cognitive processes based on
the evidence of visible text but also irrational, emotive, invisible ones.
