5 June 2007

OuLiPo

A playful exploration of this post-war French literary movement, OuLiPo is an acronym that translates as "workshop of potential literature" most famously explored by Georges Perec and Raymond Queneau. The tenet of the OuLiPo is to create literature with constraints (not using the letter E an infamous example, or replacing nouns in texts with other from the dictionary). Video below of reading from Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style.

The principles of the OuLiPo have increasingly been taken into other art forms and this night featured performances of theatrical works from the OuTraPo ("workshop for potential tragicomedy"), developed by Stanley Chapman, the only British member of the OuLiPo. Video below of Stanley Chapman and Rational Rec presenting his new play: the lobster who fell in love with a tin opener.

A new audio-visual work, A Documentary Saga of the OuLiPo (in three parts), by video artist Rees Archibald, composer Matthew Shlomowitz and keyboardist Andrew Infanti was also presented.

Also featured book stalls by Bookworks, Artwords Bookshop, Dalkey Archive Press, Strange Attractor and artist Amy Prior.