Books Still? Week 2

A cut-up I started in 2011 and have not yet finished.

Three workshop exercises to get us thinking about reading, and designing for readers:

1. Dictionary page cut-up:
Take the two dictionary entries provided, cut all the words out and rearrange them to create a new entry. Use all of the words and punctuation marks. Layout and paste down the new entry onto an A5 page, considering the page composition (positive and negative space, how the arrangement of elements affects the pace of reading).

Further resources:

• Tristram Tzara's Dada Manifesto, particularly instructions on making a Dadaist Poem.
• Jeff Noon's manifesto 'How to make a modern novel', published in The Guardian, arguing that writers should borrow techniques of film makers and musicians: jump cuts, freeze frames, slow motion, remix, scratch, sample.
• Graham Rawle Woman’s World, (shown in class) particularly the 'making of' with annotated pictures of process, including experiments he didn't use in the final work.

2. Erasure:
Read the page of text provided. Read it again. Choose three aspects of the text to focus on, e.g. adjectives, nouns, metaphors, repeated words, themes. Using three graphic treatments – strike-through, black out, cut out — assign one graphic treatment to each aspect and apply it to the text.

Further resources:

• The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia
• Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer

3. Cut-up concertina book:
Choose one of the texts provided. Using only the pages supplied, cut-up the text and redesign it as a concertina, flower-fold or x-fold book. You need to complete this within an hour – draw up a grid, be systematic in your approach.