NOTE: The subtitles which structure this text — from prologue, 15 to footnotes, 73 written out in the form of an index— are citations taken from Alejandro Cesarco's Index, (a reading), 2008, on view in the exhibition.

prologue, 15

Lately, there has been a proliferation of exhibitions revisiting conceptual approaches to writing and reading, as well as to publishing [...] At the present moment, however, replete as it is with digital language, i-pads and other e-reader literally beckoning 'to be read', traditional modes of writing and reading are 'facing a challenge' of a most severe kind..

Undoubtedly, there is an urgency in discourse — in part provoked by an ever increasing acceleration of new technological in(ter)ventions on the one hand, and an elegiac stance towards traditional modes of writing and reading on the other. Therefore, it seems pertinent to turn to the artworks themselves and to consider how meaning is produced through the very process of reading. Among others, the notion of reading re-addresses issues of (im)materiality and space, reading as public/private, individual/collective activity, silent and aloud. The experience of encountering the works within the exhibition's discrete venues thus forms an integral part of the reading activity. A constructive and even 'performative' process, it gives rise to one's own associations and ideas.

art, 10, 37, 66; as reading practice, 1-3, 17

Read as a line taken from an (imaginary) index, the exhibition's title refers first and foremost to the writing of Uruguayan author Felisberto Hernández (1902-1964), being the exhibition's starting point. While the 1997 publication Œuvres complètes regroups Hernández's work according to its 'poetic affinities', SHORT FORMS, OTHERS, 25 is to be understood here as an attempt to go beyond any literary classification, by introducing spaces of indeterminacy. Besides, this exhibition explores the question of ‘fragmentary’ or elusive reading — that is, reading which resists and unsettles the reader, whilst every reader/visitor is given an essential role. The latter is not merely a receiver, but also a producer.

reading, 6, 14, 23, 58, 59, 72; as creative act, 27

Norah Giraldi dei Cas in Las formas breves de Felisberto Hernández y de Juan Carlos Onetti discusses the 'short forms' in Hernández's oeuvre, stressing the association of ideas, (...) as well as the cuts and suspension points that delimit, like silences, the brief spaces of his writing(...). Derived from the Latin forma brevis, the literary 'forme brève' is a short form of writing, eliciting the creative imagination of the reader. Wolfgang Iser, in The Act of Reading, asserts that "the reader's enjoyment begins when he himself becomes productive, i. e. when the text allows him to bring his own faculties into play."

reading (cont.); mise-en-scène of, 75

The exhibition's parcours is thought of as a reading in itself subject to suspension points and interruptions due to the architectural disposition of the exhibition space, allowing for intervals in which the reader finds his/her own involvement and (s)pace. In the introductory quote, Felisberto Hernández addresses himself directly to the reader, asking the latter to interrupt, as often as possible, the very act of reading. For the narrator, these moments in which reading is at a halt represent a vital part of his writing. Between text and reader, spaces are opened up for imagination. A blank space is also a pause, a pause for reflection.

indexes, 76

An index is usually provided to facilitate a (re)reading, to assist and orientate the reader, using alphabetical lists of names, or other categories in reference to the pages on which these are to be found. In its fragmented form, i. e. isolated from its source, an index is above all associative. It may be considered as an interpretative method to a fictional narrative (Alejandro Cesarco), or simply read as poetry (Helen Mirra).

dialogue, 2

Further dialogues between the works are created, asking for the reader's complicity when faced with a footnote on an otherwise blank wall — taken out of (con)text — (Cesarco). A series of drawings composed of anagrams offers a two-fold reading oscillating between text and image (Anna Barham). To fully engage with the three-dimensional writing, the counter forms of letters — literally strung together — ask to be deciphered (Tania Mouraud). Conceptual poems are composed of individual letters (Ewa Partum), these are scattered, dispersed, and thrown into the air, into the sea.

Here, writing may be seen as an act of reading and reading an act of rewriting, despite the works' often 'illegible' nature, i. e. an archival list of invented words (Fabio Kacero), or book pages composed exclusively of punctuation marks (Claire Morel).

Focusing on the act of reading within a certain spatial relationship and composition, the reader — depending on his/her readiness to follow the work's distinct disposition — literally ‘sets the work in motion and so sets himself in motion too’ (Ján Mančuška). Words and text fragments are projected into the space at an accelerated speed, drifting in non-linear movement over walls, floor and ceiling (Charles Sandison)

reading (cont.); silent and aloud, 8-11

Reading does not only limit itself to visual, but also to auditory experiences, processes of reciting and (repeated) listening. It is important to note that Felisberto Hernández 'composed' his texts to be read aloud. In his self-reflexive writings, one finds descriptions of both auditory sensations and recitals in front of an audience. Yet what happens if the recited literary text resists a full understanding (Amélie Dubois; David Lamelas)? This perfomative aspect of 'reading' may be found in other ‘formes brèves’, here multifariously composed of several lines — as short, continuous contributions to ‘All The Stories’ (Dora García). Still other writing awaits to be transmitted (Nina Beier & Marie Lund), proposing not only additional readings, but also some, wilful, misreadings.

footnotes, 73

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Anja Isabel Schneider
[Exhibition’s curator]