pHugitive Press Site:

Pedestrian overpass, north Nanaimo St. overlooking Vancouver's inner harbour

Text: Alexander Dovzhenko, The Poet as Filmmaker: Selected Writings, translated by M. Carynnyk, MIT Press 1973.

Date: August 21, 2004

 

 

The project was very hard on my legs especially, and I found it difficult to walk afterward. The people I met during the experience were really interested and kind. I was especially happy about a couple fellows who came down to the bridge at about 2:30 in the morning, and sat at the other end of the bridge drinking a few beers for a most of the night, occassionally coming over to catch up on the text as I progressed. At 6:00 I had managed to complete more than half of the span, and the first few dock workers started coming to the bridge on their way to work. Most stood perplexed, and read for a short time. Each worker was careful to step only on the foot holes I'd left in the text. They greeted me quizically, but with a smile and words of encouragement. When I left, I watched from above, people who had hurried past earlier came back to the bridge, and now read the text entirely. I noticed it was very common for people to read it from the end to the beginning, rather than as one normally does, from start to finish.(see videos)

For further updates on the Abridgement Series, as well as other works of public literature in and around Vancouver visit:

www.pointlesshysteria.com

The idea for using chalk as a medium for public literary works comes from Mike Schertzer, fugitive publisher extraordinaire, whose works be seen online.

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TEXT EXCERPTS

VIDEO SAMPLES