ABOUT
I am a London born artist, writer and researcher living and working in Bergen, Norway.
My predominantly text-based practice concerns the exploration of different modes and acts of reading. I am searching for different ways in which I can find a body for text, experimenting with expanded forms of reading experiences that transcend the page. I do this by creating collective and controlled instances of reading through theatrical video and sound installations, durational vocal performances, exercises in conceptual writing and performative workshops. The works address instances of textual information overload, the empathetic potential of poetry, the temporality of the spoken word, the authorial voice and the interplay between text and music. Underlying the work is an awareness of the emotional impacts of digital culture, and how those impacts are manifested through language.
With a focus on intertextuality and multi-referentiality, I often work with reconfigurations and combinations of existing texts. The texts that I work from are sourced from a variety of origins, including classical and contemporary poetry and literature, internet help forums, video game narratives, cultural theory and philosophy, heavy metal lyrics, and original writings of my own. I like to test different experiences of reading, of narrative, and of language — often to exhaustion.
Along with Robin Everett, Pedro Riva, Lucila Mayol and Audrey Hurd, I co-run the Bergen based art collective TEXSTgroup. TEXSTgroup run performative workshops in reading and writing and also release publications under TEXSTpress.
I am currently a Research Assistant in New Media at Bergen Academy of Art, and throughout 2020 I am a writer in residence at Lydgalleriet, Bergen.
studio(at)samuelbrzeski(dot)com