Constructing my story

20Oct07

left luggage

Just to back track a bit. I arrived at the station, put my bag in a left luggage locker, wondered town, found a hotel, took a small room in the attack and set to work. I had printed 50 photos with passport sized images of my face on. I bought a new pair of sharp scissors and spent the evening cutting the photos up into the standard passport size. There is something very satisfying about cutting up photos with a newly bought pair of sharp scissors. Especially if they are photos of you.

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As I sat there snipping away I couldn’t help feeling a bit like a slightly weird character in the books that I like to read (Delillo, Auster, etc) An outsider with issues and a mission, working late into the might, absorbed in his own narrative. All the symbols were there; the arrival in an unknown town, the left luggage locker, the small room in the attic, the new scissors, the solitary man, the weird mission to find a doppelganger. It all seemed so literary… In a way I think that is precisely why I keep on developing these strange performances. For a small period of time (the duration of the performance) I consciously try and live like a character from a novel, because it seems to be novels that have really shaped the way that I understand life, and sometimes represent an unattainable existence (conceived from beginning to end) which I aspire to.

So whilst on the one hand these ‘performances’ in public space appeal to me on a sort of theoretical level (the fact that the audience you are dealing with is not necessarily a gallery going audience etc) I guess much of my motivation is pretty selfish. I just want to make my life a bit more exciting for a while. Well, lets see what happens. Its midday, the sun is shining, I should get outside and get to work! Until later.

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Filed under: saturday 20th   |  4 Comments

4 Responses to “Constructing my story”  

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  1. 1 LilO on October 21, 2007 said:

    oh this sounds like a sam kind of adventure, somewhat Amelie Poulain, non? (hope I’m not lowering the tone of your literary/artistic references and influences).

    I like the idea. But do you think you really have a doppelganger sam?! anywhere? let alone in Bonn? I would say you are unique, in the very best way. Having said that, my mum said she bumped into her doppelganger in Cape Town (completely by chance I might add), many years ago, and it was a very surreal experience. so maybe (s)he’s out there sam. But it’s a bit like trying to find a boyfriend/girlfriend, only when you stop looking do they pop up… hehehe, well, we’ll see. you can tell me all in paris next weekend xxxx

  2. 2 doppelgaengers on October 21, 2007 said:

    yo lilO (as in don). so far it is quite an adventure. spent the evening peppering bonn with passport photos of me. and then retracing my steps and taking photos of the photos… a very strange feeling. amelie is a great reference. i love that film. would love to know the details of your mum and her doppelganger. must be very very strange.

    so far i have been playing it cool in my search, employing slightly covert tactics. soon i will have to step it up (step it up, step it up, its alright : stereo mc’s) keep posted for more. see you very soon. s

  3. 3 bn on October 23, 2007 said:

    Two small and timely typo’s (or did he mean it?). Dig the idea of ‘wondering’ around a new town, and as for your small room in the ‘attack’, that pretty much sums it all up, no!?
    Feeling it, Ben

  4. 4 doppelgaengers on October 23, 2007 said:

    bn. well, the typos were unintentional, or consciously unintentional. confirms my thoeory that i am at my best when i don’t realise it (eg unintentional jokes). truly have been wondering this town ‘tho. dig it much more that i expected. anyway, its late, i’m in the hall of the hotel as the foyer is closed (no internet in my attack) someone is snoring in room one and its time for me to go. laters. s


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