World of Text

Sekula (4:06pm): Wow bro! I’m realizing
I really couldn’t live without text!!!
Brecht (4:07pm): Ya me either, I’d die if I
couldn’t twitter…
Sekula (4:07pm): No not that kind of text!
I mean text incorporated into my art. I
am a photographer n my work wouldn’t
mean shit if it didn’t include text
Brecht (4:09pm): Oh that kind of text lol!
I agree, I’m big on Fluxus, we use a lot of
short texts (scores) which are totally
essential to our conceptual work.
Sekula (4:09pm): WTF’s a score?
Brecht (4:12pm): Duh… scores are
simple instructions to complete
everyday tasks, that are then performed.
I also call these scores chance events or
happenings, it’s sooo important in my
world of art making :)
Sekula (4:13pm): Hmmm interesting...
The text I use are anything but brief.
Actually, I’m working on a piece now
called This Ain’t China. It just wouldn’t
be the same if I couldn’t use text.
Brecht (4:13pm): Oh ya? What kind of
text does it use?
Sekula (4:15pm): Well it is a series of
about 90 photographs, distributed
into a sequence of five groups. I’m
gonna install the photographs into
the art gallery and hanging above each
group I’ll have an entire book
attributed to it. The books are gonna
be hung on chains and a chair below
for the reader to sit down and read the
text. I consider the piece to be a sorta
photo-novel with actual books!
Brecht (4:15pm): Wow thats interesting
my piece is similar (in some ways) to
yours.
Sekula (4:15pm): How’s that?
Brecht (4:16pm): LOL well I use chairs
too in the piece I’m currently working on,
it’s called Three Chair Events … I would
consider my work more conceptual
though… I’m all about chance. You could
call my work anti-art
Sekula (4:16pm): Huh? Anti-art? What
kind of piece is this?
Brecht (4:18pm): Well my piece is an
installation as well but it’s not set up for
the audience to view it in that way, I
actually set it up to sort of blend in with
the gallery. The actual parts to the piece
are pretty minimal but like I said it’s all
about the simple everyday chance
occurrences that I’m into…
Sekula (4:19): Okay, so it is chance you
are after? What significance do these
everyday “occurrences” hold?
Brecht (4:22): Well in my piece I
arranged three chairs, one black chair
I set in the bathroom, one yellow chair I
set outside the front of the gallery doors
and the other chair was white and setup
under a spotlight. The action of someone
sitting on the chair, or even passing it by,
is reframed as an “event”.
Sekula (4:23): I still don’t get it? And
where is your text???
Brecht (4:24): Oh ya, that’s what I was
getting at. The score I talked about earlier,
like a lot of my other scores, was set up like
this… It has a title, and then three possible
occurences…

Three Chair Events

-Sitting on a black chair
Occurrence.
-Yellow chair
(Occurrence.)
-On (or near) a white chair.
Occurrence.

Sekula (4:25pm): That’s your text?
Brecht (4:26pm): Yep, that’s it!
Sekula (4:29pm): Wow bro... your text
sounds kinda lame, I use text to set up
a multi-faceted narrative between books
and photographs, that are totally
interdependent in getting my point across.
My work actually has purpose and a political
aim. I critique contemporary late capitalism,
making critical contributions on questions
of social reality and globalization, and focus
on the imaginary and material geographies
of the advanced capitalist world. The text in
your "piece" sounds like a joke!
Brecht (4:31pm): Thats just it dickfor!...
How'd I know you wouldn't get it?! And I
wasn’t going to say anything but your
piece sounds pretty wack, just another
boring installation. One more numbnut
unable to escape his institutional bubble
Sekula (4:32pm): hahaha please! you
have no idea! I will never get
douschenozzles like you! Peace OUT!
Brecht (4:32pm): Mmhmm, later
dickwad :P