Retyping as art

Performance artist Tim Youd retypes famous novels word for word on old typewriters. The only change he makes is that he leaves out all the spaces between the words, producing page after page of unbroken text. He does this as performance art events at museums, art galleries, coffee shops, etc.

I figured that since typing was his thing, he'd probably be a pretty good typist. But as can be seen in the video, he turns out to be a two-finger, hunt-and-peck typist. Although a relatively fast one.



More info: TimYoud.com, StraitsTimes.com
     Posted By: Alex - Tue May 01, 2018
     Category: Art | Performance Art





Comments
The famous San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen, described himself as a two-finger typist and he did that for more than forty years. I'm a ten finger touch typist but I didn't start with computer work in mind. As a high school student in the mid 1970's computers didn't exist for anyone other than hobbyists. At the time it was unusual to see any boys in those classes.

On a side note, Harlan Eliison once disparaged L. Ron Hubbard as a hack writer who would use a roll of butcher paper rolled into his typewriter so that he didn't have to put in a sheet when he finished a page. Ellison had a point as most of Hubbard's science-fiction work is unreadable.
Posted by KDP on 05/01/18 at 01:10 PM
Maybe he's channeling Truman Capote whose attitude towards Kerouac, Wilson, et al was: "That’s not writing, that’s typing."
Posted by Phideaux on 05/01/18 at 01:30 PM
I wish I could upvote Phideaux' comment.
Posted by Joshua Zev Levin, Ph.D. on 05/02/18 at 03:45 PM
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