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16 octobre Is this the place?Over the years I've done a whole series of pieces in collaboration with visual artists including Bridget Jones (not that one), David Annand, David Edwick and David Paton. I don't know why so many of them are called David. I've worked on a variety of sites from Darlington to Ambleside, and Newcastle to Dumfries, but I've never really pulled this work together in terms of presenting it clearly as a strand in my writing. Yet collaboration, whether with artists, musicians, or other poets -- whether on shared projects or through translations -- is an important part of the way I see myself working.
Why I haven't explained that coherently must rank alongside why I write in Scots but live in England, and why my books aren't a neat exposition of two or three themes that everyone can see are punchy and/or contemporary, ie I'm otaku, a withdrawn solipsistic geek who likes to make up artificial families he can then sulk about. But if you've come to this site through any of my writings you already knew that. The point is I wish, in WS Graham's immortal phrase, to 'try to be better'. Hence this.
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This first posting is about a project I did as part of Graingertown's public art initiative in Newcastle city centre. This was 'Tyne Line of Txt Flow,' which you can see in Thornton Street, off the Westgate Road, a collaboration with artists Carol Sommer and Sue Downing completed in 2005.
 Here's what the official site says:
'Tyne Line of Txt Flow is a 140m long stream of text. The text comes from Roman messages found locally, printed text from the time of King Charles the 1st and text messages collected in 2002 on the day of the Newcastle Sunderland derby. These are identified by translation into SMS text form. William Herbert has written a response making reference to the Skinner Burn flowing under the street.'
There are a number of reasons why this brief description is accurate but infuriating, but I am now capable of confining myself to two. 'Found locally' implies they were lying already edited in the street, and their inclusion was somehow self-evident. 'William Herbert has written a response' implies I had nothing to do with the finding locally (and that my name is 'William Herbert'). You can perhaps guess my peeves, which relate to a suspicion that occasionally crops up in dealings with the visual arts, that language is not felt to be interesting in itself, and all that text-based projects really need is 'some words' as a kind of design element. (This also manifests itself in the half-digested theoryspeak which crops up in lesser galleries' press releases.)
The artists came up with the great idea of having a continuous strip of steel set into the pavement, and wanted to work with text messaging (then devised a wonderful series of imaginary icons to illustrate my text, including Roman underpants and pixellated pints of ale). But first of course I had to come up with some words, and a binding concept. I settled on uncovering points of technological shift which might be equivalent to text messaging, but these had to be local to the North East. I wanted the text to reflect on how the whole way we communicate can suddenly alter through such techological breakthroughs, and whether that fundamentally affected our personal interrelations and indeed our sense of personality. Communication, not just between individuals, but between historical periods, became a 'hidden river,' equivalent to the Skinner Burn, now tidily flowing underground .
In the Roman period texts were sent between forts on Hadrians Wall (and possibly across Northern Europe) on thin strips of wood. These were the emails of their days, and the foremost collection in the world is in Vindolanda.
In the Dark Ages, the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels, the codex amiatinus, and Bede's History of the English People, all from a couple of tiny monasteries in the North East, changed the way we thought about books and indeed the knowledge that could be gathered in them. To continue the techno analogies, these were laptops compared to the gatherings of text that had preceded them.
Then, on the outset of the English Civil War, Newcastle again became a centre of change when King Charles's court had to shift up north. Naturally, part of the king's attempt to maintain authority was dependent on his ability to issue and distribute proclamations -- and so the first printing press to hit the North East arrived shortly after. From pivotal moments like these to the first newspapers, pamphlets, and finally mobile phones, somehow doesn't seem like quite so large a leap.
So my job, as I saw it, was to select and edit key snatches of text from each of these periods, 'translate' them into txt, and write the linking poem which, arguably, made this feel like a single flow of human communication. Meanwhile Carol and Sue gathered some fantastic current text messages I also edited into shape. Here's the result:
Write messages
the hidden river also flows
Masclus 2 Cerialis Hs king , Hi . PLS , my lord , gv instructions on WotU Wnt us 2 du 2moro . R we all 2 rtrn W the standard , or just ½ of us? My fellow soldiers av no beer . PLS OrdA sme 2B sent
post-its of timber found in a bonfire
the Brittones , RathA MNE of Em cavalrymen , R Nked . Dey Dnt Uz swords , nor du D Brittunculi mount 2 ThrO javelins
notes to those brothers, your tent-mates, your mistress
Ive sent U 2 pairs of sox Frm Sattua , 2 pairs of SandLs N 2 pairs of underpants
these were the messages texted by legions:
Claudia Severina 2 her Lepidina , Hi . I Snd U a warm invitation 2 cm 2 us on SEP 11th , 4 my BDay celebrations , 2 MMD Mor Njoyable by Yr presence . gv my Hi 2 Yr Cerialis
Synods of sparrows, otters and whales
D presnt Lyf of mn upon Erth SEmz 2 M , n comparison W DAT Tym wich S unknown 2 us , Lk 2 D swift FlyT of a sparrow Thru D Hous wherein U sit @ supper n winter , W/yr ealdormen n thegns , yl D fire blazes n D midst , n D hall S warmed , Bt D wintry storms R raging abroad
Dark Age laptops built by monks
Eadfrith , Bish of Lindisfarne , originally Rote DIS B%k n Onor of God n St Cuthbert n D Hol Co. of saints who's relics R on D Isle . N AEthelwald , Bish of D islanders , bound it on D O/side n CoverD it . N Billfrith , D anchorite , wrought D ornaments on D O/side n adorned it W Au n W gems n gilded silver , unalloyed metal. N Aldred , unworthy n most miserable +:-) , glossed it n En W D hlp of God n St Cuthbert
Benedict that went to Rome
The (O--< flood threw DIS whalebone on 2 D fir mountain.The ghost king Wz :( Wen he swam On2 D gravel
Ceolfrith put his geography tome
D sparrow , FlyN n @ 1 door n immed Ot @ NothA , whilst Hes Witn , S safe Frm D wintry tempest; Bt Aftr a short space of fair Weather , he immed vanishes Outa yr SyT , passing Frm winter N2 winter again . So DIS Lyf of mn appears 4 a Lil yl , Bt of Watz 2 Follw or W@ went B4 we Knw Nil @ all . F , Thus , O king , DIS Nu doctrine tells us Smt Mor CertN , it SEmz justly 2 DzrV 2B followed
from Charles the First to a medical crank
We av a LPT Hre W all Hs trinkets , N DIS day I MD ReD 4 D king's hand a proclamation 4 D importation of butter; Itz NW printing , so R 400 of D former proclamation of pardon 2 D Scots
though a bishop preached his right was divine
I Knw Der Wr severall errata's in't Bt did not Tnk it Wrth WyL 2 amend . F U don't sell DoZe \O/ rtrn 'em . this Saywell S bad N Lo N pockett N N debt wou'd B willing 4 D $ 2 Instruct him . Yr spectacles hase bn mended MNE daies ago & lyeing by M F you'll ha' 'em sent Dey Shll
the bookish editor Button sent
EARTH-BATHING , or Animal purification , ftrengthening , or vegetation , Dats , immerfing or placing D Nked Human Bod , ^ 2 D chin , or lips , or RathA CoverD ^ OVR D Hed , Bt LevN D Iyz N nofe uncovered 4 feeing N breathing freely , N frefh dug ^ Erth , or N D s& of D Sea-shore, 4 3 , fix , or 12 hours @ 1 Tym , N repeatedly , hath bn recommended , N actually practifed , W conftant , N W infallible fuccefs , by Sea-faring Foreigners , as Wel as by D natives of gr8 Britain
the Earth Quack buried himself in the dirt
I can hear St James’ park wots the score ? Heidihi pineapplepie I’m on me way !! Hyper girls on a mad mission 2 batgirls house yippeeeeee !! Hi aimee. Say happy bday 2 ruth 4 me
the texts that flow from then to now
FanC a drink in the gosforth ? Bit of a school reunion . There’s this lad sitting opposite me on da bus n I think its ian . He’s got a seaton burn jumpa . Hiya Carly its Kayleigh . Wat time do u want to meet in town and where . How bout at the haymarket where all the skaters go at the statue at 12 txt bak
wars’ memorials mourn the spores
Lurkers doin little ol Wine drinking me for 4quid inc a fight by 40 yr blokes who shd no better - bargin - city of culture here we cum . Hey sparky have a look at the league cos Sunderland r Blow
birthdays, drink and football scores
Sorry I did’nt cotton on that it was difficult 2 talk I’m getting slow in my old age . U can get me any time but no worries . theres only one makem singin . Hello luv ! Hope your nails R goin well ? The match finishes at 2 so I shud B on time . I’ll see ya soon, cmon toon !! Love jona xxxx
but text machines that help us float
message sent |
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