26.11.12

Shelley Jackson - Skin


The Skin video rearranges 191 words from the original story into a whole new story that is read aloud, collectively, by the words themselves. Originally commissioned by the Berkeley Art Museum, it was on display on their net art portal from March 1 - May 31, 2011.
"Shelley Jackson's story 'Skin' exists only in the flesh -- the flesh of about 2,000 volunteers. In 2003, when she wrote the story, she called for participants to each be tattooed with a single word (some also get a bit of punctuation, like 'ankles,' with the comma included). The story has never been published in any other form...[For] the Berkeley Art Museum, Jackson has cut together video footage from a small set of participants to tell a new sub-'Skin' story. Recently Jackson e-mailed them to ask that they record a video of their word tattoo, and to say the word. From those words recorded by participants, she's edited and assembled a new story." - Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times

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