Ok, let’s start with an except of a film on Burroughs.
Now, what’s a cut-up? How does it differ from a mix? Turntablism? & what does Burroughs imply by, “When you cut into the present, the future leaks out”?
With questions such as these in mind, today we’ll look at randomness as a method and cut-ups as a technique, beginning with cassette tape cut-ups.
In your clusters, you will cut-up a cassette tape and swap content with two other groups. We’ll then play back your cut-ups.
Since Burroughs experimented with film and text as well, we’ll cut-up a few books.
We’ll try the following methods:
(1) Sections (i.e., cutting down the middle and across the page) of a single book,
(2) Columns (i.e., cutting several pages into three columns) of a single book,
(3) Folds (i.e., one page into another) of a single book, and
(4) Permutations of 1-3 above with all three books.
How do these exercises influence our perceptions of time? Of space? Of materiality? Of embodiment? Of narrative?
