Friday 31 December 2010

One Minute Manifesto

Back in August at the wonderful Forest Fringe, the marvellous Lucy Ellinson curated a series of One Minute Manifestos - three 60 second texts every day, delivered to the audience gathered for one of that evening's performances. Delivered from halfway up the stairs, they were timed strictly and you were stopped on 60 seconds exactly. They were both fun and terrifying to do, and it was a great project. Mine was posted on the Forest Fringe blog at the time, and I meant to post it here, too. But, in the end, New Year's Eve feels like the right time.

**

This is a true story.

Two friends stand admiring something.

I’m not actually sure what they are admiring. I think that it is a building – a Gothic Cathedral, stone arches, buttresses and towers soaring.

But it could be a bridge. I’m picturing Clifton Suspension Bridge, though it could be the Forth Road Bridge.

Perhaps it is a machine, or an engine. I know that one of the friends likes vehicles.

It could equally be a painting, maybe something by Pollock, or Picasso’s Guernica or anything by Paula Rego. Or a sculpture – perhaps the figures on Crosby beach.

Let’s say that it is a building. And they are admiring it.

The first friend says, “It’s amazing, isn’t it, to think that this was built by ordinary people.”

“Yes, but,” says the second friend, “everything is done by ordinary people.”


**

1 comment:

Hannah said...

Lovely, and actually writing a 60 second manifesto for 2011 mightn't be a bad way to start the year... *ponders*