NOTES FOR FUTURE SURVIVORS

The decision to write by typewriter (a child’s typewriter from a discontinued 1970’s model that I had to hand spool the ribbons onto) was a response to the sheer volume of writing that I typed on computer whilst editing and re-editing what I thought was going to be a ‘traditional’ format document.  There was no trace of the hand in this digital production, everything could be erased, cut, pasted – I wanted to signify that some of the things that I had written (at the beginning this was the fictional components) were distinct from that and had more value to me.  The typing of them was an act of commitment to what was being expressed.  The typewriter signalled a return to showing the trace of the hand in writing. 

The decision to hand type allowed me to adapt the writing to a form (index cards) that could be transported to the site and importantly, be something that is non-linear, that could potentially be mapped or distributed differently than word processed content is.  With typed or hand cut content, there was the possibility of multiple configurations. It has a different texture and became adaptable to being for instance, script cards selected by the subjects reading them in the filmed interviews.  

The sources are:

Heavens Gate Exit Statements