Event
First Thought Worst Thought: Tom ComittaPost an Event »
Royal NoneSuch Gallery
September 12 - October 18, 2015Info
4231 Telegraph Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 Google Map »Reception
September 12, 2015 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
First Thought Worst Thought: Tom Comitta
What if a 500-page book could be read in a minute? What if a novel could be written and published in a night? These are just a couple of the questions raised in Tom Comitta's exhibition, First Thought Worst Thought, an interactive archive of the 40 books written by Comitta between 2011 and 2014. The show maps a trajectory of book writing that edges on literature, visual arts, and music. Utilizing digital tools such as online text generators and copy and paste as well as pre-digital forms of handwriting and photography, Comitta displays a wide range of writing styles: travel writing, an art exhibition catalog, erotica, cookbooks, architectural plans, a children's book, and more. During the exhibition, Royal Nonesuch Gallery will be transformed into a reading room and dynamic archive. All 40 books will be on display accompanied by visual materials, including sketches and studies, video, and interactive software, to invite readers into closer engagement. Through this arrangement, questions surrounding the nature and limitations of the book go further: What if a book were legible to readers across all languages? What if a book were a park built in the mind? Comitta’s book works materialize these inquiries. The show will culminate in a three-hour novel writing event in which attendees will discover methods of speed writing and will write and publish a novel in one night.