Reframing the House of Dust has been a whirlwind of a two-week class. I am so pleased with the amount of work we got done on it as it was a fairly large project to take on during the interim. I didn’t exactly know what to expect at the beginning, but now looking back, it has been an incredible learning experience.

One of the important things I took away from this class was how to expand my process of materials development. When developing a project, I tend to think practically and with materials already in mind. During the early stages of designing the new House of Dust, which is now the House of Glass, we each chose a quatrain that spoke to us. I chose a quatrain based off the practicality of building it, whereas members of my group chose quatrains based on phrases or thoughts that interested them. It has been fascinating to see how different people develop ideas and projects and how we can mesh the practical and imaginative together to design an interesting and thought-provoking idea that can be transformed into architecture.

While working with students from different metiers on this project, I learned to think more openly and without any constraints for the first part of the development of this house, and as a result, we came up with three diverse and original designs. I enjoyed working with everyone in the class, and I thought the discussions were relevant and engaging. Developing poetry into architecture is something that was initially foreign to me, and the process of this transformation has been interesting and rewarding.

In addition to expanding my viewpoint on structure development, the collective nature of the class and the methods that were used in developing the design was another aspect of the project that I thought was helpful and also relevant to current Calarts culture. The initial goal of Calarts was to have all types of artists under one roof working together, and I think this class in particular allowed me to experience this. Often we don’t stray much from our particular metiers, but this class allowed for us to not only get to know each other but quite literally build something together.

Another aspect I thoroughly enjoyed about this project was the juxtaposition of the creative development phase and the very practical building phase. Not only was the development of ideas fascinating, but at the beginning of the week, I didn’t know much about building a structure, and now I’ve gained many new and useful skills. It was very rewarding to watch students from critical studies, music, and dance pick up a hammer or nail gun and learn to use it. Everyone worked so well together, and it was a very positive and communal environment.

-Erin Demastes, School of Music

Re-visiting an artistic process that was executed long ago is something I do very frequently as a musician performing pre-existing pieces of music, but the House of Dust seemed more specific to the time of its inception in some ways, which made the act of re-visiting this work in particular distinct. For me, there was a persistent question throughout the process: “What am I accomplishing by building another House of Dust?” Through the course of the process, I found many answers. On a pragmatic level, the idea of having a space on CalArts campus that was unique, open, and student-run was very appealing, especially since I had heard from a few alumni-turned-professor that there was a time when every space was student-run, and the idea of moving towards this idyllic version of CalArts had been on my mind before engaging in the course.

More challenging to understand was (and is) the artistic sensibility behind constructing a new House of Dust when the original poem and structures seemed to be a self-contained iteration of an artwork in which the process of creation and/or execution was integrally linked to the artistic concept. This was the larger question that made me critically and fundamentally re-think my own understanding of artistic creation. With the House of Glass, I found many small answers and questions along the way that I’m still coming to understand.

Seeing that Maud and Sebastian’s initiation of the project was inspired by their fascination with the translation from language to architecture framed this re-visitation as a sort of research opportunity. Art as research is an idea I already had a strong affinity for, so this excited me. We engaged with the original iteration of the work, spoke with the artist herself, and tried our hand at the same translation process, all of which could provide various levels of insight into how language can be translated into architecture and allow for a comparison of how people perceive linguistic and architectural forms. In addition, the translation process was collaborative between people of all different artistic practices. In this way, it resembled the Delos Symposiums of the 60’s and 70’s, which similarly called on people of all different fields and professions in order to ensure that the discussion of ideas was informed by a complex network of knowledge (although the House of Glass project and Dioxadis’s ideas in initiating the Delos Symposiums have notable differences of intent).

The idea of translation played out in a different way when discussing the quatrain that should be used and the design which should accompany a given quatrain. The House of Dust project had to be translated into this more contemporary House of Glass, which would be placed in a different social and political environment. I imagine that the characteristics of the events, issues, concepts, etc. that exist in the psyche of the designers are significantly shaded by the time and environment in which they live, and that this “shade” can be generalized, to some extent, to other people in the same time and environment. The group of students re-visiting an older work of art, with our respective psyches all being influenced by a similar environment and belonging more or less of the same generation, put this translation process into action. It must be said that the process and results were far from unrecognizable compared to the original House of Dust – perhaps because the environment in which we constructed the House of Glass was CalArts campus, where Alison Knowles also constructed an iteration of her House of Dust. Still, there were moments in which the collective opinions of the group were unanimously in favor of decisions that reflected our contemporary psyche and ran contrary to some element of the original work.

-Nigel Deane, School of Music

In working on the project, Reframing the House of Dust, I was particularly fascinated with the community approach to designing with the force of time pushing up against us. The team dealing with the assignment had a variety of interesting backgrounds and experiences which led to one of the most fruitful design experiences I have yet to experience. Dance, Art, Music and Critical Studies students all joined together in this two-week long workshop to revisit a historically rich project and redefine its presence in a contemporary setting.

Much of current contemporary design in the US seems to be influenced by “Design Thinking”, a type of thinking which was adapted for business purposes by Stanford professor David M. Kelley, who later on founded the D.School at Stanford and design consultancy IDEO. This strategic and linear approach is often stereotyped as tech agencies of Silicon Valley using colored Post-Its on large white boards and streamlining the inherently messy work of creatives to make design seem glamorous for all.

With Reframing the House of Dust, more of an art-driven approach was taken. The process was nonlinear and unorganized — improvisation at its best. Inspired by the performative elements of Fluxus work, in particular the use of scores as a methodology, this design approach was fluid and organic in contrast to Design Thinking. It was much like the core ideas that CalArts fostered through the counter-educational approach of its earlier days.

-Julianna Bach, School of Art

The original House of Dust, in its physical form, was constructed by CalArts faculty member Alison Knowles, who was also an important part of establishing the Fluxus art movement. Her seminal role as a poet and writer along with Dick Higgins helped shape the poetic aspect of the movement. House of Dust began as a computer-generated poem, in which thematic elements were entered into a computer with specific components to each quatrain. To my surprise the thirty pages we read contain some images and metaphors that feel powerful and purposeful.

Poetics and writing are my primary practice, which made the Reframing the House of Dust course extremely beneficial for me and my work. It has given me new insight into form — form beyond literary elements, even bordering on the sculptural. To physically construct the house based off of a piece of writing was wildly inspiring for me, as poetry off the page is an endeavor I have not yet explored.

-Jessica Wolford, School of Critical Studies

Reframing the House of Dust was a unique experience for me. Rarely at CalArts are we asked to craft a structure for public consumption. Especially as a writing student, I’ve always felt that part of my education as a working artist should include a study of architecture and lessons in building strong foundations. I did work as a stage hand for a while after college and I also built sets and walls for a set company in New York, but mostly I was a designer and did not have a significant hand in the construction. This class taught me once again how important it is to continue that kind of work.

The building sessions were my favorite part of the process. The work flow was clear and it did not feel influenced by any hierarchies. It was more than egalitarian, and the spirit of our working relationships (even in the small design teams) seemed to permeate the design of the House of Glass. In this time of spiraling de/evolution, the House of Glass is a poignant meditation on the uncertainty and radical extremes we are facing from each other and our environment. It is a structure that can be modified, changed, and even taken apart, but not destroyed. I don’t think we set out to make something political, but rather something that felt safe. Our walls don’t connect to a roof, our walls are mirrors, inhabitants can choose to be seen or disappear, and the foundation is strong. The House of Glass gives me the impression that we were designing from a profoundly emotional place.

The House of the Glass embodies the core idea of Fluxus: the process is the work, regardless of the final product. The end result of our house is beautiful, but the discovery of the design was the real artistic endeavor. I really connected with the process of creating scores as a way to find resolution through abstraction. The scores I’ve been reading seem to share a narrative that gestures at a larger conversation about the ways we can communicate.

Fluxus is especially intriguing when it asks me to do something I do not believe in. The eschewing of narrative in favor of the conceptual is something I’ve always railed against. My own work, primarily interactive writing in a “choose your own” style, has always thrived on the decentering and rejection of a traditional narrative structure. I create labyrinthine narratives (akin to a dossier) that readers lose themselves in. A narrative is a conceptual experiment, and we are wired to make meaning out of everything. If the score doesn’t have a narrative our minds will craft one. That solo action interests me less than a shared generative experience. A spectacle is much less intriguing than an activity. Narratives are static, but they begin a process of tasks for users and roles for readers to inhabit. They are activated when you allow them to reach your imagination. I would argue that by building the House of Glass we have narrativized the score we created, and the ongoing activation of the house will continue it. We will rebuild the house each time we see it and I believe our personal memories and stories about the construction are the true activation process. The house is a silent collection of very loud stories.

-Charlotte Simpson, Interschool in Critical Studies and Theater

What an interesting process it was building the House of Glass. This course was an amazing opportunity to be part of history, collaborate with other creative minds from different backgrounds, and work hands-on to produce a unique creative space for the institute.

For me, learning about the history of the House of Dust project was very important. The Fluxus movement and the concept of the score has always really interested me because of the transformation of the normal and mundane into something performative. In learning about the original house, was saw how in Alison’s 99 Red North event an apple or a set of car keys could be a central interactive piece in a work of art.

I love watching systems that seem so calculated and stiff create whimsical and thought provoking combinations that feel much more human than they do machine. The House of Dust poem is the perfect example of this phenomenon.  Though it originated with a mathematical computer sequence, the product is a poem that is very visually striking in the mind’s eye and is even political at times.

I am also intrigued by the score as an invitation — an invitation to play. I strongly believe in playfulness being part of art. I often feel disconnected with art when it is serious and unapproachable. Why not physically engage the viewer and invite them to cross the line into performer? I am looking forward to seeing how our version of the House of Dust becomes activated by the “viewer.” I hope it can function as a standing invitation to create. Even within our class I could feel a buzzing eagerness to continue creating in the house once the initial construction was complete.

Though everyone in the class was creatively oriented, not many of us had extensive experience with architectural design. I think that amateurism helped us to produce the product that we did. It was Imaginative and uninhibited at the beginning which, though we had to get more realistic once physically building the structure, allowed for a unique space.

The construction of the house was incredibly empowering for me. I learned new things about construction and was able to take ownership of that knowledge right away. As a dance major, I am most familiar with the creation of the ephemeral, therefore it was extremely rewarding to be able to have a tangible finished product that exists even when I do not call it into being with a “5, 6, 7, 8.” Furthermore, while building the structure, I was also building relationships with artists outside my métier. The collaborative nature of this project felt like the perfect way to honor that CalArts legacy of collaboration.

-Lila Deering, School of Dance

Most students entered the construction site with minimal to no experience in carpentry yet sought help from teachers and fellow collaborators for any tips and tricks. I enjoyed sawing chunks of wood in times of need for those who did not trust themselves with anything sharp and dangerous. This class and workshop only allowed twelve total hours for constructing the House of Glass. We finished eighty percent of the overall construction from nothing.

-Sam Beckett, School of Dance

A house of glass, on an island, using all available lighting, inhabited by collectors of all types. The house has pieces of colored and uncolored plexiglass. It lives on a wooden island on top of a large concrete slab, which lives on the campus of CalArts, which is on a large piece of property within the city of Valencia, a part of the state of California. I find the complexities of what the house stands for to be a metaphor for the complexities of the Fluxus movement. Reframe the House of Dust, never to repeat the original, but to form a contemporary version of a modern work of art.

-Felicia St. Cyr, School of Dance

The process of translation that we underwent for this project was cathartic. I love how the idea continued to evolve and ended up being something totally unique from the historical House of Dust. It redefined what is a house and what it means when you exist within this intimate space. I think the whole process was very organic and seemed to connect all our minds into one for a moment allowing the project to come to its full fruition.

For me, one experience from the first week that was really meaningful was when our individual group had to come up with an event score and then perform to decide which quatrain we would choose to translate into a design. Our group created an event score which required that we fly paper airplanes with our chosen quatrains written on it and fly them: whoever’s flew the farthest would be chosen. I think that act was incredibly in the vein of Fluxus because it took everyday things that are around us and made it into a poetic statement, filled with childlike simplicity and of course, a sense of humor.

What was interesting is that everyone in our group seemed to be fixated on the same words “friends” and “lovers,” from the quatrains. It was as if we were already in sync on some subconscious level. I noticed this with other groups as well and I found it fascinating to see a group mentality already forming from the very beginning. I do not have much experience with collaboration so this was a new thing for me.

Another moment that really struck me was the video meeting with Allison. I think that was incredibly surreal and that’s when it really hit me that Allison Knowles was seeing us and our ideas and was actively participating in recreating a historical work of art. It was very meaningful to see her and hear from her. Before this, to me she was just another artist I admired from afar, but this experience made her a human being and a fellow collaborator, and that meant a lot to me.

Finally, I enjoyed the process of building the House of Glass. There is nothing like bringing an idea physically to life in a way that is tangible. It also will make it more meaningful when we use the space in the future, to know, that we helped to bring this work to life from the ground up. There are few greater satisfactions for me then to create something and this was on another level, because it was much bigger than me and my studio. It was created by a group of artists, for the CalArts community, and pays homage to the historical House of Dust. It felt like a piece of history in the making and it was thrilling.

I feel that at the end of the day we succeeded in what we set out to do. We didn’t allow the original design of the house to restrict our imaginations and went far beyond to create the House of Glass. I imagine the House of Glass will be a place of dreams, it is whimsical and unique and colorful and I feel that will inspire others to think beyond their limits and imagine the impossible. It is my hope that people will put care and love and joy into whatever they contribute to the house and I look forward to seeing how it will continue to evolve throughout this semester.

-Juliette Sandoval, School of Art

The House of Dust, and by extension the current 2018 iteration of it as The House of Glass, is not just a poem translated into architecture, but a space in the making. It’s a space settling within an institution, a space that morphs and changes according to the demands and commands of its participants. Each activation is a like breath making it come alive, grow, expand and contract when it is deactivated. What the House of Dust was, and what the House of Glass can hopefully be, is a new kind of “institution” one that is not rigid, static and formal but one that becomes a possibility for the imaginary through the direct interaction and activation of its inhabitants, visitors, viewers, curious passers-bys, performers and space invaders. Its governing body is non-hierarchal, non-structural, its only structure is the Google event calendar where anyone is welcome to plug in their event details.

The House of Dust expanded on the perception of what a communal space can be outside of the traditional institutional model. The House of Glass is a platform that will measure where we stand today as a communal society, how we care for each other and our shared spaces during violent political shifts of power, blatant misogyny, sexism, white supremacy and patriarchal heteronormativity, how we gather and work together under fascism. I wonder if The House of Glass can be a space where we can decide who we want to be, how we share and talk about challenging topics. And I see it as an opportunity to platform the joys of sharing space and imagine what a collective means to us today, and how do we see ourselves as in a world that’s largely driven by neoliberal, capitalistic ideologies that divide and destruct communities. The House of Glass can be that unique opportunity to learn and take joy in our own diverse CalArts community.

-Gosia Wojas, School of Art

A diary on the search of newspapers for a performance of Alison Knowle’s Newspaper Music

Attempt 1

Trying to complete any task in LA without a car is pointless, so I will finally learn how to drive by looking for foreign newspapers all around town. This should be easy, even if paper newspapers are not that popular right now, LA has people from everywhere.

The second easiest place to look for them other than my half Mexican half Armenian neighborhood (the non-art district part of North Hollywood) is the Burbank airport. So easy it ends up not even being an option. That tiny grey construction that somehow can fit a considerable amount of planes has two international newsstands: one inside, only accessible with a plane ticket, and one outside: international newsstand, in this case, means news from other states. One good thing: I learned to make a U-turn, which I’m pretty sure is only legal in California. In Argentina, you can’t even make a left turn in a two-way street if there is no left turn light.

Attempt 2

From CalArts to Santa Monica with public transportation, you almost have enough time to read a short book. Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Léger. She drives all over Pennsylvania looking for the exact location in which Barbara Loden shot her wondering Wanda, the girl who made a wrong turn and arrived late to her own bank robbery. There is a big International Newsstand in Brentwood near the Aero Theater, two birds with one stone. It’s raining, good excuse for letting my partner take the car and meet me there instead. A new definition of international newsstand appears: a place where you can find magazines from all over the US, some from Canada and one Mexican newspaper. Looks like a free trade agreement. I’m losing hope and when we leave the theater, just before midnight, there is a fog so think it actually looks foreign.

Attempt 3

I make a list of every Consulates in LA hoping I will grow up and get on the highway soon. Also, a list of people who will be here for the performance, and people I don’t know but seem friendly. A number of Trafic magazine comes in the mail for my Thesis research, if I don’t find a French one this might be enough? It’s too small, too thick and from 2013. Maybe not. Still, everything these days sounds like cars. I wonder if Tati ever came to LA?

Rhanna tells me she speaks Farsi and has Newspapers at home, but she’ll have to practice beforehand as she has to mentally translate the alphabet beforehand. Sounds cool. She knows some Armenian people, so I hope the neighbors are Newspapers aficionados. Maybe in the bookstores from some neighborhoods, they have news from home, so I make a list of neighborhoods. So far I have Little Armenia, Little Bangladesh, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Ethiopia. All the MA students are from Western Europe and Latin America. Kirsty shows me a newspaper in Scotts, but they don’t have a paper edition. I’m thinking if I have to have an English one I’d like Kirsty to do it with her Scottish accent, or maybe my friend Andrew from Australia. Or Sara Ahmed. Have you heard her say “no”? She uses almost all the vocals, she says something like “neoau”.

First highway experience, back from CalArts, 10.30 pm. We watched a film from Guinea-Bissau/Germany/Portugal in class, I wonder if we have any Portuguese or Guinean people at CalArts? If I find some, I’m sure the teacher from that knows some Portuguese.

Attempt 4

Saturday Newspaper Food Tour: we will spend the whole Saturday going to different neighborhoods looking for food and newspapers. I need my partner to help me get on the highway for the first time with actual traffic (heading downtown on a Saturday). Where there is food from somewhere there is someone who might have a tip. We draw a map on my phone and get in the car. The fear of changing lanes situates us in the wrong highway, but we see a sign somewhere that says historic Filipinotown and we get out and walk around looking for stores and restaurants. Finally, we find one, they have a newspaper in English with news from all over Asia. Well, it’s something. We drive around and find a temple in Westlake, but it’s closed and I don’t know which language is that language.

We drive to The Last Bookstore and it’s Saint Patrick, the streets are full of people dressed in green with nametags and bottles in paper bags. I miss being able to have a drink or two in the street or the park. In the Bookstore they don’t sale newspaper, so we look around a little and drive to Little Tokyo. In a store a nice guy who insists we have been there before tells me there are two Japanese Newspapers, one is Lalala, I miss the other name, but the location is the food market inside that beautiful plaza full of lamps and stores. Of course, wherever you can find supplies from Japan there will be Japanese news. There we find not only the two newspapers but a ton of magazines. We take it all, the future is bright for everything we want to do except having Ramen, all the places are full.

We drive to Chinatown and start looking for markets. Someone on a food place laughs when I tell him why I need newspapers. We chase a man that is carrying one but he’s faster. We can only find bazaars and all full of tourists. We enter a place to get something to drink and the woman has a small newspaper. I ask her where did she get it but she almost doesn’t speak English. What she does speak is Spanish, so she asks her son what I’m asking. They fight a little and he sends me to church a few blocks away. As we walk there, more saint Patrick people appear. The church is closed but there is a place to make phone calls across the street. They have two different newspapers.

It’s getting late so we set the map for the last place, dinner and news. We go to Koreatown, this time I know exactly where to go: a market inside a plaza, where my favorite restaurant is. Tons of newspapers and magazines. I might be now an expert in finding newspapers I cannot read. The driving seems easier, I drive all the way back home and then to Santa Clarita where all the foreign MA students are having dinner.

Attempt 5

So far I have Asian and Latin American newspapers. Maybe I can get some via Amazon or eBay. But all I find are newspapers from important dates that are yellow and expensive. One Libèration cover says Patty Hearst has been captured. Meanwhile, Luiza and Tadas from the MA go searching for International newsstands in the Santa Clarita area, but they have stopped selling them years ago or only have Spanish and English ones.

Attempt 6

First day of solo driving. My passport was rejected again in the DMV so I am extremely careful not to make any mistakes. I drive husband to work to practice with an instructor one last time in the most difficult conditions: LA morning traffic and City of Vernon’s heavy truck traffic. I have planned a day of food markets and Consulates. Many, many times I take wrong exists on the highway but I end up finally in Koreatown where someone told me there is a Filipino Seafood Market that has newspapers. When I get there I see it has closed, but I get an Asian Daily News in a bakery next door. My map says I’m also in Little Bangladesh so I start walking around. I’m starting to worry that people would be offended when I ask them for a Newspaper in a language I don’t speak, but so far everyone has been extremely nice. A man gives me a Newspaper in Bengali and he says his language is the fifth more spoken language in the world. I soon realize I’m two blocks away from the place we were going to stay when we first got here and I regret not being able to. The people around are nice and the food is amazing. But there are no people from Bangladesh in school that I know of, so I ask two women from a grocery store if they know any places where they have foreign newspapers and the tell me they might sale Hindi Newspapers in a grocery store nearby. I drive there (the driving is OK for now) but they don’t. My technique for the day is going in every place that might have a tip on a newspaper, as all the traditional places are not working. So I start going to Laundry places, groceries stores, and restaurants. Then I drive to Miracle Mile to try and get into some consulates before they close (some close at noon on Tuesdays, which I found out thanks to the map). The drive is extremely odd, I wish I could attach a map of the road for you to see, but it’s through 3rd street, which changes abruptly from Koreatown to Little Bangladesh and then suddenly It’s all expensive houses. I find a three-hour parking spot in a Ross Dress for Less and start walking. I realize all these places that are not subway accessible or have film centers, I don’t know them. So I get really distracted by everything: LACMA is there, and the Tar Pits, and that Bernie Sanders cafe. The German Consulate people are on their lunch break and I can’t find the Chilean consulate (I have one Spanish Newspaper but I think some friendly neighbor help would be good). The Brazilian consulate people tell me they only have tourism magazines. I walk around those enormous blocks, but all the Restaurant are not really managed by people from those places, and they have no newspapers. Finally, I find a building that has many consulates: Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and Belgium. I ask the security people if I can go up and they tell me to which? I answer to all, and they look at me funny. It is a little suspicious, even if I explain the project. Finally, they let me in, but I have to check in every time I want to go up to a different one because the elevator only works with a special cart. First I try to go to the Turkish one but I don’t understand what floor they sent me to and I end up going down and up again to the Turkish embassy. It’s close but they let me in and they give me a Newspaper that it’s lying there. I go down and up again to the Egypt consulate and there are lots of people there. I see a pile of newspapers but I don’t dare to take one without asking, even though everyone is talking and I don’t understand who works there. Someone looks at me and makes a gesture that I interpret as “don’t be silly, take one”, so I do and I leave. I hope I’m not freaking anyone out, I’m so afraid about the US foreign politics that I get a little paranoid that everyone is as paranoid as I am, it’s silly but I still do. (down and up again) The people of the Belgium embassy ignore me and after I while I leave. The South African Embassy is already closed. I change buildings to the German consulate, and they tell me they sometimes have some German Newspapers but no one reads them and they throw them away, but they give me the names of some, maybe they can send me one.

I realize that it’s about to rain and if I don’t get going to the Russian store I won’t make it in time for class so I walk-run to the car and get the navigation going. Of course, I take a wrong turn and I end up in Laurel Canyon, very uphill. That place is crazy, but I’m a little afraid to look around while I drive yet. It’s easier when I’m downhill. One thing about automatic cars that is better than the non-automatic one I took my test within Buenos Aires is that they almost never go backwards when you are stopping on a hill. Would it be possible to do all this LA driving with a non-automatic car? I keep thinking about that Thom Andersen film, Get Out of the Car. I guess my whole Newspaper car-experience idea was wrong (maybe for the right reasons). After I had a failed experience in the airport and International Newsstands, I picked the hard but more amusing option (maybe also because I don’t feel ready to drive to LAX yet and everyone else is busy at this point of the semester or gone). I’m happy with the Get Out of the Car side of the experience, but that’s not useful and I’m freaking out a little: my newspapers and performers don’t match, and I won’t have the car until Saturday to go be suspicious in any more consulates. I think there is also a class issue to this non-matching, who reads paper newspapers now? Who travels abroad for school and who does it for work or living conditions? In Argentina, many newspapers are printing less and less sections and making them online. Also, the online versions are more complete and up-to-date. Press people get paid less and less, LA Weekly fired all the paying writers and calls for “collaborators” now, stuff like that. The drive to the Russian store is long, sorry for the nonsensical thoughts. They have one newspaper, I think they charge it a little more because I don’t speak Russian, and why not? By the time I get to school it’s raining, new practice test. I also think there is something generational about Newspapers. I pick ¾ of my news from Twitter or from WhatsApp. I remember when Nisman died I found out on twitter, and an hour later or so it appeared in digital newspapers. I wonder if there is anything like slow press, like slow food or slow writing. I actually subscribed to two paper film magazines, but with film criticism, it’s almost always slow, the thing that is fast (and also Newspaper material) are reviews. Film journalists might be able to live on reviews (on and off) but I know film critics don’t.

Attempt 7

Now that I know I don’t have the car and I will be at CalArts all day until Friday, I start looking more obsessively for performers for the languages I need. I’m a little scared, all of the MAs are leaving before spring break but Claudia and Kirsty, Scottish and English. I don’t know that many people yet but the ones I know start a network of languages. Hande is Turkish and she knows some Russians, Josh is German and he knows someone from the Arab Emirates. Maybe Kate and Alexei are not going away. Some people on Facebook answered also. I suddenly realize I don’t have any English newspapers that are not the Hollywood one. But that’s easy. I am absolutely sure I will start collecting newspapers after this. I got a little obsessed. Finally, Josh’s friend who speaks Arabic appears out of the blue in the Cafeteria and we have lunch, we didn’t know but we share a class. She is incredibly nice, she is from Palestine and lives near the Echo Park Film Center so we make some plans for Spring Break.

Attempt 8

One way or the other people participating in the other performances have newspapers and join in, we are quite a crowd there in the waterproof picnic blanket, surrounded by newspapers. It will be our turn soon.

Lucía Salas