Reading on Reading: Ecologies of Reading

Emma Cocker

Reading on Reading is a series of experimental reading practices developed collaboratively by Emma Cocker, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin whilst working together in the Research Pavilion #3, Venice, 2019, for exploring what alternative modes of sense making are produced when reading is undertaken artistically, as an aesthetic activity. Reading on Reading explores three interrelated foci: How can aesthetic practices of reading: (1) Shed new light on the phenomenology (or how-ness) of reading? (2) Transform the often-solitary activity of reading into a shared or communal act — and explore what modes of sociality, solidarity and emergent ‘we’ emerge therein? (3) Operate as a disruptive process unsettling normative conventions of reading through focus on the poetic, affective and material dimensions of readerly experience? Within this artistic research collaboration, we consider the act of reading beyond the relation of the reader to a text read, as a micro-political or ethico-aesthetic practice through which to re-consider — perhaps even re-organise — the relations between self and other(s), self and world. Drawing upon Félix Guattari’s notion of ecosophy with its three ecological registers of environment, social relations and human subjectivity, in this exposition we consider how the modest practice of reading together could contribute to a wider ethico-aesthetic project: for cultivating shared poetics of attention, for the re-sensing of language through embodied vocalisation, for tending to the temporary gatherings of ‘we’ that reading together affords. The aim of this exposition is to share the reading practices tested and explored in and through the collaboration of three artist researchers, alongside reflection on the questions and concerns emerging within this enquiry. Whilst operating as a document or archive of a specifically time-bound research activity, the intention is that our reading practices have scope to be activated by other readers.

[PRACTICES]

[APPENDIX]

REFERENCES

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[THEMATICS]

POETICS OF ATTENTION

SITE + SUBJECTIVITY

VOCALISATION

Re-sensing: whenever I encounter a disturbing word, I read it out loud.

I repeat it with different tones. I try to listen as if I hear it for the first time.

DOCUMENTS / REFLECTIONS

Re-sensing was tested by Emma Cocker, Cordula Daus and Lena Séraphin in the interior spaces of the Sala del Camino on 8 May 2019, following by a period of reflective conversation that we recorded and subsequently transcribed.

Example 1) Re-sensing that occured by chance during a conversation

It happened in the middle of a sentence – my colleague said ‘understanding’and she pronounced the word in such a way that a new understanding popped up in my mind. And it seemed to me as if I had heard the word for the very first time. I heard

under^standing

It must have been her British English accent or a peculiar distraction from the usual meaning, an off-setting from the sentence that surrounded the word which caused the shift. A shift in my hearing habit. The change in tone shook my understanding of the word. And something new came forth.

The word became physical, topographical. Like a sculpture in the air.

under^standing

All of a sudden, I stood under the under which lead me to a rethinking of the very act of understanding. The one who _understands needs to be receptive enough in order to access what wants to be understood.

In daily experience though, the opposite often occurs. Person A tells person B of her/his experience and B says: ”I totally understand you. When my friend died last year, etc.” Instead of listening and trying to _understand, B comes up with an analogy from her/his life. Instead of simply listening or maybe not understanding, the listener starts to conflate experiences. Re-sensing, it seems, made me identify a new phenomenon – overstanding. Next time, maybe A should just say to B:

Stop ^overstanding me!

ARCHIVE/DOCUMENTS

Example 2) Re-sensing "lieben" [loving] intentionally through dictation into an English voice recognition device, 0:51 min.

ARCHIVE/DOCUMENTS

Example 3) Re-sensing "gap" with the help of a benevolent reader attending to the graphic appearance of the word

C: When I tried to re-sense gap for the first time by pronouncing it myself, I couldn't help to associate it with an American fashion label. It took me quite a time to get rid of this association. Repetition helps a lot here. Can you say it again, please?

[Showing a sign]

GAP

Benevolent reader: GAP…GAP…GAP…

C: Thank you. Can you do this one, now, please.

[Showing a sign]

gap

Benevolent reader: gap

C: In general, I feel „gap" is deeply unsatisfied. It gapes. (Die englische Lücke klafft kurz auf.) Before I can even sense it, it’s already over. It’s like a burp.

[Showing a sign]

g a p

Benevolent reader: g a p

C: Gap starts from a guttural g leaning very much over the a. The g leans forward and the p leans backwards into the a. The a sits there, threatened, in the very middle. Can you do it one time again and a little slower maybe?

[Showing a sign]

g a p

Benevolent reader: g a p

C: The size, shape and flavour of the gap very much depends on who is doing it. In your gap I sense a kind of… I don’t know… in contrast my pseudo British English gap sounds bigger but sadder. Can you try to do these?

[Showing a sign]

gap

Benevolent reader: gap, gap, gap.

C: Now I saw an animal doing strange things with its mouth, gapping all around. Thank you very much for your help!

PRACTICE DESCRIPTION

Take any text or a text you have a special interest in. Read as if you were just reading. Read in your inner voice. Try to stay attuned to each single word. When you come across a word that is disturbing, you speak it out loud. Do not think about what it is. Keep on repeating it. Let it sound, let it mean something, let it mean something else, let it mean nothing, sense and re-sense it over and over.

Re-sensing is a practice of excessive repetition linked to remembrance. It is alos a poetological technique for the simultaneous recalling and ridding of meaning within language. One tries to evoke and forget the meaning of a word or name at the same time. Once you have made yourself familiar with the exercise, you may want to try different forms.

Re-sensing can be done

... intentionally with and through words you wish to free from sense or gain access to [e.g. 'woman', 'man', 'machine', 'love'; or alternatively names like 'Helsinki', 'Deutschland', 'Francisco']. Try to repeat the word you have in your mind as many times as necessary by varying your intonation, acccentuation and way of speaking. Ask another person to say it. You may show the word in printed form. Vary fonts, size and style and ask the speaker to interpret those. Listen carefully.

... or it may just happen through slippages, glitches or sudden shifts in the perception of a word. This is most likely to occur in the ear of someone who is a new to a language. Or to a native speaker listening to someone speaking with an accent.

A middle way to achieve it

... is to flirt with the non-sensical. Try to read a text in the most unusual way, in an intonation strange to yourself (see sound example below). This way, re-sensing might just occur to a word or even a whole word constellation.

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