Video turned up of my reading of Italo Calvino’s ‘Visibilty’, part of a project instigated by Danielle Ledda at University of Cagliari in Sardinia on Calvino’s ‘6 memos for the next millenium’. Playing from other manc improvisers here.
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David Birchall 
lovely playing, but curious to know what it has to do with Calvino? Not being a smart-arse,I’m genuinely interested!
Haha no fair question!
Daniele gave each of us a copy of the set of essays “6 memos for the new millenium”. In the essays Calvino discusses aesthetic and practical conditions for creation of new literature after year 2000. We were asked to respond as improvisers to the aesthetic ideas discussed in one of the essays, titles were;
1. Lightness
2. Quickness
3. Exactitude
4. Visibility
5. Multiplicity
the 6th he never wrote as he died before he could
Have a feeling i was actually playing to some of the ideas in the lightness essay rather than visibility! There’s a great line in it about being light as a bird is, in control of yr movement rather than light like a feather which is subject only to external forces. The essays are full of little allegorys like this which have implications for creative actions.
Of course really its an intellectual framework placed over a process which is spontaenous and motor driven as much as anything; working with the essays was perhaps more to do with recognising in the content of the writing elements of my own practice and processes.
x
interesting, thanks. I’ll have a look for a copy of those, really love Calvino’s writing. Have you read the story about the boy who lives in the trees, never touching the ground?