-
Teaching Hysterical Literature to the next generation at Parsons/New School, NYC
-
Russian Hysterical Literature fan “Ivan the Bear” has updated his fun audio remix site. You can turn the buzz on and off, listen to one or all of the girls reading, or, you know, not being able to read.
Crank up your audio. Freak out your neighbors.
Edit: link fixed, works now!
-
Hysterical Literature: Session Seven: Amanda
Amanda visits the studio and reads from “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess.
See the rest of the series, and commentary on it, here.
(Source: youtube.com)
-
Moments of real intimacy are becoming elusive. However, it seems, photographer Clayton Cubitt has found one.
“Rather than present them as objects of sexual satisfaction, as they would be in porn, the women involved in this art project are the subjects of their own erotic satisfaction. They choose what books they read, as well as the selected passage from the book. While they read aloud, their minds focus on the well-crafted sentences and verses of the literature, their breathy voices pronounce the words in a calm and deliberate cadence, but their bodies slowly begin to tingle with the teasing pleasures leading up to climax. Breathing shifts, words are mis-spoken or dropped, their bodies squirm, smiles spread, hands wipe perspiration from the face, and eventually, their entire focus shifts from the intimacy of the words to the intimacy of their pleasure, from their minds to their bodies. It’s captivating to watch. Imbued with all the great guilty pleasure of voyeurism.”
-
They copied all they could follow, but they couldn’t copy my mind, so I left them sweating and stealing a year and a half behind. -Kipling
-
French television network CANAL+ ran a segment on Hysterical Literature on their program L’Oeil de Links. Embedded here, my segment comes on at about 10:00. Featuring clips and interviews with me and Session Three reader Danielle. I’m voice-overed in French for those of you who might be curious about how I’d sound in a Francophile Kung Fu movie.
-
Here's an hour-long interview with me for Canadian radio
I had the great pleasure of talking to Michael McDougal at The Public, a weekly Toronto radio program. Michael was an excellent interviewer, and I talk fast, so we covered a huge range, from my fashion work to my Long Portraits, from my work with Die Antwoord to Hysterical Literature.
Here’s Michael’s blog post on the experience:
“And when speaking about the harmony he creates in his work by balancing radically different esthetics, he says “The source of life, for me, is the simultaneous existence of both the tragic and the sublime. I think the two can’t exist without each other, and that informs all of my work.”
So it was an occasionally uncomfortable, eye-opening experience speaking with him about his work, which documents clashing cultures and challenges common definitions of art. Most people dismiss something as ‘art’ when it’s too out-there. In Cubitt’s case, though, many dismiss his work as not-art because they do get it—or they get the surface, anyway. But hiding under the in-your-face is much measured contemplation, so our conversation did not go as I’d expected.”
-
Hysterical Literature: Session Six: Solé
Solé visits the studio and reads from “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. Directed by Clayton Cubitt. Subtitles (CC) available in French.
Update: Solé wrote down her thoughts about the experience, and her fears and motivations here.
(Source: youtube.com)
-
On the aesthetics of Hysterical Literature: Sandy
The reaction to the recent release of a special edition of Hysterical Literature for Sandy relief has been overwhelmingly positive, and has already resulted in hundreds of dollars of donations to support both the project and relief efforts for survivors of Hurricane Sandy. Keep them coming, and when I’m able to disburse the funds I’ll keep you posted on how and where they help.
But I’ve also received a few emails from a small but very vocal group of fans that are not at all happy with the aesthetic I chose to employ for this session. Let’s call them the “Dylan Goes Electric” contingent. I’m quite happy that many of you have been so taken with the series that you’ve taken the time to bemoan this recent visual diversion, your complaints are taken as a sign of your deep affection for the mainstream sessions.
I could spend some time talking about the reasons for my aesthetic decision to make this fundraising effort look apart from the main series. I could talk about how the aesthetic relates to creating an emotional state of chaos and obscurity, of dreams or nightmares, of seeking what’s lost and finding what remains, and how this relates intimately to what the survivors of the storm are feeling. I could talk about how this aesthetic calls back to some of my earlier projects, most notably the Dreampod Sessions I launched on Nerve (2003), and the Magic Interview video piece (2009) which was a kernel of inspiration for what later became the Hysterical Literature project. This won’t make sense to shallower followers of my work. When I say shallow, I mean those who only know me for this one project, not as a judgment on their aesthetic taste. But I also mean shallow in the sense of those who are only salaciously interested in these for orgasms, which are only one aspect of the concept.
But that won’t matter, because on some level, the negative reactions are essentially just hating New Coke. And that’s fine. I’m not the type of artist that feels the need to do the same thing over and over again, and visual and conceptual experimentation is core to my artistic process. In this sense I’m more like Araki, and less like Helmut Newton. More like Nick Knight, and less like Herb Ritts.
But I’d love to give those who love Hysterical Literature but hate the Sandy session a chance to put their money where their mouth is. So, I’ll make you a deal, if you can yourself donate, and share this link with enough of your friends that we’re able to raise $2500 for support of the project and Sandy relief, I’ll happily release a traditional black and white session of Amanda. You can follow me on Twitter for updates on donation totals.
Talk is cheap. Support the project, do a good deed, and satisfy your taste for the original aesthetic all at the same time. Donate now!
-
Hysterical Literature: Sandy Relief
Support the Hysterical Literature project and benefit survivors of Hurricane Sandy at the same time. Visit the link and donate using the Tip Jar button. 50% of proceeds go to Hurricane Sandy relief, directly to groups on the ground in the effected areas. (if you reblog this, please include a link to the Vimeo video page so people can donate. Thanks!)
Amanda visits the studio and reads from “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare. Directed by Clayton Cubitt. Background visuals by Volkan Ergen.
-
A Russian identifying himself as “Ivan the Bear” sent me a link to this amazing Hysterical Literature audio remix toy. Fun!
-
The amount of time humanity has spent watching Hysterical Literature.
-
There’s a different sort of pleasure in watching Teresa wrestle with her own pleasure.
“At one point she interrupts her narration with a polite, “Excuse me.” At others she pulls herself together with a concerted effort to continue reading before finally giving in after the line, “There is no earthly power but Satan.”
-
Hysterical Literature: Session Five: Teresa
Teresa visits the studio and reads from “Sexing the Cherry” by Jeanette Winterson. Subtitles (CC) available in French.
Update: Hello Daily Dot and Autostraddle and Reddit and Focus.de
(Source: youtube.com)
loading…
