michele drascek: What is white? notebook project. January 15, 2008

WORK IN PROGRESS!

Materials:
WHAT IS WHITE? Notebook:
black cover, white letters on black background, 9,3 x 14,3 cm. each.
WHAT IS WHITE? T-Shirt:
white cotton, white letters on black background, size S and L.
WHAT IS WHITE? Box:
white box, white letters on black background, size derives from numbers of notebooks completed.
WHAT IS WHITE? Photographies:
colour photographies, photographic paper , 21 x 27 cm. each.

All designs of WHAT IS WHITE? notebook project is a gafo/gabrielli fabrizio design.

The very first moment I saw the topic of “WHAT IS WHITE?” Contest, I immediately took my notebook and wrote the first thing that crossed my mind: Sophie Scholl die Weiße Rose (The WHITE rose) resistance group student from Munich executed by the Gestapo in 1943 This question swiftly brought to my mind - stream of consciousness – a photo of a young female student Sophie Scholl, published in the book The White Rose which I read in my first university yearS. My mental association is one strong and complex memory. What mental associations will others activate? Before I commence my work, I write a lot. Writing is a fundamental step in my creative process. The contest raised a question, I answered in writing and the idea for the WHAT IS WHITE? Notebook project was born. The curiosity, to find out from other people what is their first association/idea/answer that comes to their mind (the idea of passing your provocation on others), making it a survey tool for Terminal00, brought me to Ljubljana. I was walking about with my first notebook, asking people to answer a query, on the spot and everywhere: in bars, libraries, during a dinner, before a concert, on the street, etc. My notebook has now a plentiful collection of impressions. The idea – already in course - is to make a small library of notebooks, linking various Balkan metropolises: in each of these cities, there will be one “WHAT IS WHITE?” notebook in circulation. Collaborators with notebooks are ready to ask the question, documenting the answers of the local people. The simultaneous circulation of notebooks in different metropolises is a part of the project idea: to cover such a wide and complex geographical, social, geopolitical and cultural area like the Balkans, with the local circulation of a traditional documenting tool like a notebook. Literally, these notebooks physically cover a geographical space! Information Technologies (email, websites, etc.) would be easier and faster to manage, but decontextualised and therefore fruitless. Then there is handwriting: every personal and peculiar mark of the interviewees, on the entire Balkan territory, which is still politically difficult, will be a part of this unique collection. What a strong metaphor! Once filled in, notebooks will be sent back by mail to the point of collection: Ljubljana, Slovenia. The notebooks will be packaged in a “WHAT IS WHITE?” box, which will be sent to London. This will represent another visual tool during the transport phase that will have an active role of asking the question, creating curiosity. The result of the project will be left to judgement directly to the public: notebooks of different origins will be exhibited in a unique small set and exposed on a white bookshelf (I will construct an hand made one), ready for consultation and reading. The challenges are numerous: with what differences – minor or relevant or more, conflicting – will answer the public to the provocation in various Balkan countries? What difficulties will the compilation of the notebook encounter? Therefore, how long will the filling in take in different metropolises? Will there be a constant recurrence of answers? Will there be new curiosities discovered? Etc. The project is accompanied with a “WHAT IS WHITE?” T-shirt. To wear it is like to ask the question. This is another contribution to evaluate the curiosity of people, sent to all collaborators of every metropolis, who will have to document with a photograph, in a public or private place, the presence of this simple visual suggestion in their city. All the photos will then be exposed together in the library of notebooks. Some people, who saw me wearing the t-shirt, already asked me what it is about: "It’s about responding!" Therefore, I collect more ideas on the subject.
[* It was required to write all answers in English language, and where not possible, in the language of the place of origin.]