FREE PRESS is collaborative project between seven artists/writers exploring economies of ideas and alternative modes of dissemination and exchange. Each Free Press writer has produced a case study detailing how they would like to interact with a reader.
A Call for Readers was sent out in May 2009.
Below is the Call for Readers sent out for the project ‘Skilful Honesty’ (formerly known as ‘Transit’):
“I offer the reader an exercise in truth and deception. I offer you the opportunity for artful manipulation and skilful honesty. I offer you an excuse. You offer me a reason. The writer will send the reader a set of excuses. The reader will respond with a set of reasons. The two narratives will be fused, manipulated and altered by the both the reader and the writer. Decisions will be made, actions will be taken, conclusions will be drawn, consequences will occur, stories will be changed..
My ideal reader is someone who is interested in taking a leap outside of their everyday life, using a slight shift in perception to affect change in their environment and that of the writer. A reader who is interested in collaboration and where the roles of writer and reader touch, overlap and flow into each other.”
- Nine readers responded the the above.
- Each reader was sent a set of four excuses as a way of starting off the correspondence.
- The readers then supplied a set of reasons.
- The reasons and excuses were used to start the narrative, which grew over the correspondence as the reader and writer added and edited to each others words.
- Each reader was made the main character in their story.
- Snippets of information gathered on the readers (via Google) were inserted into the correspondence.
- Each reader was unaware that there were other people involved, through some did come to realise this.
- At the end of the correspondence each individual narrative was woven together to form a whole story.
- The names of the other Free Press writers were used as a front for the correspondence.
- Gmail addresses in the names of the other Free Press writers were set up to aid this deception.
- The other Free Press writers were unaware of this happening.
- At no time was the name of the real writer used in the correspondence.
- The correspondence lasted from June 2009 to November 2009.
- Four people dropped out of the project along the way, leaving five readers at the end of the correspondence.