The Next Performance

As a result of the recent module I studied, as part of my MA Creative Writing at Essex University; titled Writing, Poetry, Performance, created and taught by Dr Holly Pester,  I have decided I will undertake, as my next creative endeavour, the following performance:

As a gesture towards Erica Scourti's Life In AdWords and using the assembly techniques of Kenneth Goldsmith's book Uncreative Writing; through the platform of twitter and linked to this blog, the performance will be called 'Feeding my Twitter feed back to Twitter.'

Each day of May I will compose by 'cut and paste' from the days feed, short, haiku like collages (but not following the 5 7 5 syllable rule), which I will then tweet under the hashtag #twitterfeedcollage and #notmywords. I will also post on YouTube a video of me performing it.

This is all a bit new for me, and comes as a result of my studies of the Writing, Poetry, Performance module and the material we studied, and the subsequent assignment I wrote and submitted. This performance is not part of that assignment, or the module, or my MA studies, and it is not being submitted for marking or assessment. It is just me moving forwards with my own artistic endeavours, trying new things, and having a bit of fun in the process.

It's also a bit of a move away from Facebook as my main social media presence. I have been on twitter for a few years and want to make more of it, and I have set up a YouTube account. I am excited about this, which for me is the main ingredient. So not only can you read me, you can see me. How thoughtful I am.

It's an experiment; designed to lighten the mood and as creative play, although of course I am taking it seriously as an artwork, and am committed to it, and will put my time and effort into it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments as I progress. You can leave comments here or on Twitter. At the end of the performance I will review it to see how I feel it has gone, and will assemble the videos together as one piece; hopefully by then I will have learnt how to do it!.

Feel free to follow this on twitter @JonnaKing.

Go on, you know you want to.

Why I Am Supporting #twittersilence

Hello.
It is indeed a glorious morning. I am going to keep this very brief. And it's probably not even very well written. But I am posting it anyway.

Today I am supporting the twitter silence. I am staying away from twitter for the day. I am doing this deliberately and consciously to bring awareness to and in support of those women who have received the most vile and appalling violence, rape and bomb threats, via twitter, from men.

The ensuing 'response' from twitter itself (headed in the UK by a man) and the 'authorities' (mostly men) has been, quite frankly, alarmingly underwhelming. And worrying. The so called debate about freedom of speech has been pathetic. Since when did freedom to speak mean allowing this kind of behaviour. How much speaking do we need until we start doing what we know to be the right thing in the first place?

What summed the whole thing up for me was when one of the women contributing to the debate said, quite rightly, that this issue was not about freedom of speech or silencing freedom of speech, it was about an attempt to silence women.

There are so many arguments about today and whether to take part or not. 'Silence solves nothing.' 'It is giving in to the online trolls.' 'We need to be part of the debate not apart from it.'
All are valid. All have their place. I am not going to start arguing with those who are on the same side. Or join a team against others. I am taking a stand in support of.  It is a positive action. Silence can be a very powerful and effective weapon. We all know this. Sadly most of us experience the negative side of it. The heavy emotional blackmailing silence.

This is, in my opinion, a positive organised one. And I have CHOSEN to take part. Just as anyone with a differing opinion can choose not too.

So for me, it's not about doing the best thing, the most effective thing, or even the right thing. It's purely and simply about doing SOMETHING.

NUFF SAID.

Have a great day folks.