BOXES

Copyright©2008-Allen Sutterfield

In 2006, in Toronto, I began placing my texts in wooden teaboxes I bought at the many Dollar Stores in that city. I replaced the 20 teabags with 20 texts, but included one teabag also. The idea was, to enjoy a text or two while having a cup of tea! These proved quite popular but since it was a very labor intensive project, I produced less than 50 that summer, all in the wooden box format.

When I returned to Chengdu this past summer, it suddenly occurred to me that ANY kind of container could potentially be used in the same way. Packaging is a conspicuous part of modern commercial life. It was no problem to suddenly find I had all kinds of good containers for my texts. Pasteboard teaboxes, of course, were a convenient starting point but, lightbulbs, toothpaste, Kraft Dinner, mosquito killer, printer cartridges, ballpoint pen pack, film cartons, cigarette packs (which a friend gave me, I don’t smoke!), the list goes on and on. So I began selecting and packing texts in all the different kinds of packages. I call this series “MAKER’S DOZEN.” We have the expression in English “Baker’s dozen,” which refers to the number of cookies or pastries you get at the bakery. An ordinary dozen is 12, but a”baker’s dozen” is 13. So I put 13 texts in each package. I began with very small packages which made 13 an attractive number but I kept the same number for even larger packages for the most part. The wooden teaboxes, a few of which I brought from Toronto, still have 20 texts, however. Another variation is Chopstick covers: I found they accommodated a pair of texts very conveniently, so there are 2 texts in each chopstick cover. Longer story texts I placed in special bags, and called them “Bag-o-Tales,” to pun on the French bagatelle, referring to a trifle or a certain kind of game, and, more obliquely, to the ’baguette’ or long slender loaf of bread.

Thus, I will have a “Bag Launch”, not just a “Book Launch.” A first, actually, since I did not have an official launch of the teaboxes in Toronto. This is very much in keeping with my aims as a writer and visual artist. My primary aim is to establish nexes or “meeting points” or “connecting points” between art and everyday actuality. All of us do endless shopping. By placing my poems and texts in familiar product containers I seek to make writing as available and convenient as any other product in the mass market. Not that writing or creating is itself a “mass market” item or activity, but because the mass market is a common feature of contemporary urban society. I do not think poetry or creativity is well served by remaining aloof from the marketplace. Quite the opposite! I would prefer to find poetry right alongside face creams and breakfast cereals and jello boxes in any grocery! This is a direct slap at that unfortunate development in the past that placed poetry and art on a high pedestal knowable and approachable only by an aristocratic few. I do not wish to make writing or any other art devalued or undervalued by locating it in the marketplace. Rather, the reverse. There is no danger to art itself, real art will always require real sacrifice on the part of those who produce it. But the accessibility of the products of art is an entirely different matter. I think art can only benefit by being more readily viewable and available to humans at large. Artists are notoriously marginal in economic terms in modern life, in Toronto as elsewhere. Most live on or below the poverty line. Greater accessibility could alleviate this problematic aspect of the artist’s life. By reducing the distance between creative work products and mass market items, art itself comes closer to all people, it becomes a visible and potent presence in the everyday world. I think this can have very positive results for both artists and public.

So, I say welcome to Sabrina’s Country Store, specializing in texts by Adze! Have a look round and buy some texts, to store alongside your groceries and toothpaste once you get home. Let art be a part of your everyday world—you won’t suffer for it! You might even come to enjoy things in a way you never thought of before!

That’s the key word: Enjoy!

Allen Sutterfield