automatic writing: connecting with your muses, avatars, and spirits

automatic writing:
connecting with your muses, avatars, and spirits

eine zoom-klasse zu techniken des "automatischen schreibens“ mit der dichterin, konzept- und performance-künstlerin sandra huber (montreal, kanada)

welche art von text gilt als literarisch? warum sind bestimmte texte von jeder literarizität ausgeschlossen? die kanadische dichterin widmet sich seit jahren den “verfehmten” schriften von spiritistischen medien in seancen, bei denen kein(e) autor(in) mehr spricht und schreibt, sondern das subjekt gesprochen und geschrieben wird. schon die surrealisten nahmen in ihrer écriture automatique bezug auf alte geisterbeschwörungen und hofften so das schreibende bewusstsein auszutricksen. in heutiger zeit reichen die algorithmen der neuen maschinen, um unsere texte von unseren intentionen abzukoppeln. dank der autokorrektur-funktion z.b., oder ganz aktuell: mithilfe von ChatGPT.

sandra huber im vorwort ihrer abhandlung “spirit scripts”:
“in our daily lives, our interaction with text is already ‘automatic writing’: autofill features on smartphones make it so that each sms is a collaboration between person and machine, while writing interfaces, such as the one i am using to compose this document, make it so that we all ‘look the same’ in writing. what does it mean to undo how we think of ‘automatic’ and how we think of ‘creative’? what does it mean to summon invisible collaborators such as spirits and avatars?
we have seen how, throughout modern history, knowledges that connect to spirit worlds and divination practices have been violently overridden by colonial, imperial, and rationalistic systems. attempts to contain modes of being and thinking were forcefully put into play in the 16th century, at the same time that witches were being eradicated in europe, that the transatlantic slave trade was taking place, and that the so-called ‘new world’ was facing widespread colonialism. a practice like spirit writing recalls the fact that standardized writing practices have had a violent history and are ready to be unsettled.”

>> sandra huber introduction (mp3 audio)

termine

12 unterrichtseinheiten

mo, 22.5.: 17 bis 20 uhr

di, 23.5.: 17 bis 20 uhr

do, 25.5.: 17 bis 20 uhr

fr, 26.5.: 17 bis 20 uhr

(voraussetzung: internetzugang mit kamera und mikrofon)

teaching language: english

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2 geförderte teilnahmen
wir bieten für diese klasse zwei geförderte plätze an, für die keine teilnahmegebühr anfällt. bewerbungen bitte senden an: sfd@sfd.at mit:
- motivationsbrief (auf englisch)
- kurzbio (max. 1 seite; auf englisch)
- adreßdaten
bewerbungsfrist: 28.4.2023

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teilnahmegebühr: 70,- €

begrenzte teilnehmer:innenzahl!

>> anmeldeformular (pdf download) (restplätze!)

sandra huber

is a writer, researcher, and educator. she holds a phd in interdisciplinary humanities, where she focused on the media and techniques of contemporary witchcraft, and is currently assistant professor and area coordinator of interdisciplinary studies and practices in the fine arts at concordia university. sandra has been engaging with automatic writing / spirit writing for more than 20 years and has published on the topic as well as held residencies and workshops focused on this practice. in 2021, sandra received a grant from the canada council of the arts to develop exercises to help others engage with automatic writing — she'll be presenting these exercises at the sfd workshops, alongside information and resources; ultimately, automatic writing frees the creative spirit while connecting with the spirits, muses, and avatars around us. she currently lives in tio'tia'ke / mooniyang / montreal where she tries to find more time for fresh air, astrology, cats, and sunsets.
in the past, sandra attended classes at the vienna poetry school with anne waldman (usa) and gabriel rosenstock (irl); she also gave a lecture/reading at the sfd festival "the death of the author (reloaded)" in 2014.
publication: assembling the morrow: a poetics of sleep (talonbooks 2014)
sandrahuber.com

(c) angel aura