V.
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I feel torn between writing a narrative framed like a narrative and writing in a more open and fragmented way. There is a different logic, a different continuity possible—one that still feels like a narrative but that operates in the gaps. I guess the question could be, can these methods work together? Together, are they time as a child playing by the sea?
with words that don't exist
I wanted to touch the color blue. I wanted to move through the words, the pages—to hold the story and let the story hold me. Standing on a hill by the sea, I wanted to sing a song, but I couldn’t find the words. So I made 'With words that don’t exist,' using VR as a platform for writing and developing stories that maybe can’t be told, only held.
This research project turned performance explores writing narrative in and as a virtual platform. Through both traditional 'analogue' methods of writing and creating virtual workspaces for developing and editing the story, this project celebrates, challenges and expands my way of writing—a way that is embodied and spatial, archival and performative. As I try to write the story of a presence on a hill by the sea in this dual and dialectic​ way, what comes out are pieces of a poetic script that I perform in a live VR writing session. As a whole, this project is an experiment in alternative ways of accessing and generating narrative that exploits the conceptual and technological virtualities of writing, narrative, character and memory. (2020)