LA PLISSURE DU TEXTE a distributed authorship project for
ARTEX, december 11 - 23, 1983

In early 1983, Roy Ascott was invited to propose a work for the exhibition "ELECTRA 1983" - a survey of the use of electricity in art - organised by Frank Popper for the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville Paris. Ascott's proposal was to use the ARTEX network both as an organising instrument and as a textual medium for the creation of a world-wide, distributed narrative - a collective global fairy tale.

On July 13 he posted a description of the project and call for participation on ARTEX and artists and groups in 11 cities in Europe, North America and Australia agreed to join the project. In November each participant was allocated the role of traditional fairy tale character: princess, witch, fairy godmother, prince etc.. (see message below)
Beyond the simple idea of a fairy tale, Ascott did not suggest a story line or plot - the artists were simply asked to improvise. The result was that, due to the differences between time zones and the nature of improvisation, the narrative often overlapped and fragmented in the manner of the surrealist game of "Exquisite Corpse".

La Plissure du Texte was active on line 24 hours a day for 12 days - from December 11 to 23, 1983 and, although every location should have an identical copy of the complete text, for some unknown reason all versions are somehow different - there is no final or definitive version of the text. There is a version on line (rather fragmented and incomplete) that was captured on disc in Toronto by Norman White: <www.normill.ca/Text/plissure.txt> (371 k).

La Plissure du Texte was conceived and coordinated by Roy Ascott, network organisation was by Robert Adrian, coordinators at the various locations were: Bruce Breland (Pittsburg); Hank Bull (Vancouver); David Garcia/Annie Wright (Amsterdam); Eric Gidney (Sydney); Helmut Mark/Zelko Wiener (Vienna); Greg McKenna/Tom Klinkowstein (San Francisco); John Southworth (Honolulu); Norman White (Toronto).


PHOTOGRAPHS

ARTEX message from Roy Ascott assigning the roles for La Plissure du Texte,
November 5, 1983



<> MESSAGE ID
MSG TITLE
DATED
:  ASCOTT 13
:  LA PLISSURE DU TEXTE
:  NOVEMBER 05 1983

FULL PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS IN EXPRESS MAIL TO REACH YOU BY
12 NOVEMBER. PROJECT FORMALLY COMMENCES 1700 HRS GMT DECEMBER 8.
PROJECT THROUGHOUT WILL BE IN ARTEX MODE. WILL NOT, REPEAT.
WILL NOT BE IN CONFERENCE MODE. SUGGEST APPROX 2 HOURS
EACH DAY OR EVERY OTHER DAY FOR LOGGING IN.
NOTE MY TELEPHONE NUMBER, 072 550 151     ADDRESS NOW:
64 UPPER CHELTENHAM PLACE, MONTPELIER, BRISTOL, ENGLAND
STORY WILL BE GENERATED FROM POINT OF VIEW OF FAIRY TALE
CHARACTERS, AS ASSIGNED TO EACH TERMINAL LOCATION
ASSIGNMENT OF CHARACTERS FOLLOWS:
ALMA, QUEBEC
AMSTERDAM
BRISTOL
HONOLULU
PARIS
PITTSBURG
SAN FRANCISCO
SYDNEY
TORONTO
VANCOUVER
VIENNA
BEAST
VILLAIN
TRICKSTER
WISE OLD MAN
MAGICIAN
PRINCE
FOOL
WITCH
FAIRY GODMOTHER
PRINCESS
SORCERER'S APPRENTICE
FULL TEXT AND BIOS WITH PHOTODOCUMENTATION OF ALL
TERMINAL LOCATIONS IN ACTION WILL BE PUBLISHED
BY CANADIAN CULTURE CENTER IN 1984
BEST OF GOOD WISHES
ROY ASCOTT


ACCEPT       (Y/N)  ?  :  Y
MSG ACCEPTED       :  ASCOTT   13

scan of original press text