"Learning to Love You More is both a web site and series of non-web presentations comprised of work made by the general public in response to assignments given by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience."
What drew me to the site/project was its interactive nature, that it went beyond people communicating online. Because of the site, people actually went out and did something and those somethings contribute to the further development of the site. Like Things I Will Mail You, easier ones (like draw a constellation from someone's freckles) have more completed assignments but all of the ones I've checked have some reports.
The most recent assignment involves Democracy Now:
Go to http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl and watch the current show. When the segment is over, choose someone from the news who made an impression on you. Imagine that you are them, and act out a moment of their day today. Choose an ordinary moment, one without dialogue, when they are alone - maybe the moment after they hang up the phone, or before they go to sleep. It doesn't matter what they are doing, only that you try to feel what it feels like to be them today, given what you know about their life right now. Take a picture of this moment, with the help of a self-timer or a friend. Don't bother dressing up like them, don't worry if you aren't the same race or gender as them. (And don't choose going to the bathroom, everyone else will do that.) Send the caption for the photo in an email - it should include the relevant news, for example: Monday, August 13, 2007: After Resigning as Presidential Advisor, Carl Rove Looks into The Refrigerator
Here's one of the reports:
Daniel Post
Los Angeles, California USA
Wednesday, January 9, 2008: After lending his support to candidate John Edwards on stage in New Hampshire, Desperate Housewives star James Denton reads the label of his new facial cleanser.
- Allison
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