A report by Andrew Jeffrey on the symposium Projectivisms:Way-making the Contemporary Projective, University of Cardiff, May 2018 mentions my performance there of ‘threaded insert’. It is published in the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry 10(1).
The discussion of the relationship between who is in charge in the interaction between a human being and digital technology was then exemplified by Mark Leahy’s (Independent Scholar) ‘“The threshing floor of the dance” A performance of threaded insert’. Leahy appeared in white gloves and bow tie in the centre of the room. He then put in some ear-phones and began making statements, ‘Agape, we perform’, moving forward a set number of steps, changing direction, moving again, making statements, ‘a portion of depressed hair’, describing the room, spelling out words, walking forward, spelling out words accompanied by a basic sign language, walking out of the fire escape, re-appearing through a different door. The performance with variations and repetitions lasted for twenty minutes. It turns out that Leahy was responding to various instructions played at random from MP3 files. All the contents derived from guides for ‘proper’ speech, conduct and bodily deportment. It made me think that Leahy was showing “what he is as a creature of nature (with certain instructions to carry out)”.
Jeffrey, A., (2018). Projectivisms >> Symposium Way-making the Contemporary Projective, University of Cardiff, 8th–9th May 2018. Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry. 10(1), p.10. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/biip.82
