Course Description

As part of the run-up to Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber, this workshop starts from the idea that the mainstream media are often an echo chamber of recycled and familiar narratives. In this workshop, participants will create their very own blackout poem, a unique piece of visual art using the text readily available in a found document—usually a page of a newspaper.
Participants will pick out a selection of words that, when read together, make up a poem and then, using black and coloured permanent markers, they will cross out all of the remaining text so that only their chosen words remain visible. They will be encouraged to experiment with colour and graphic design elements on the page while uncovering a hidden, original text of their own making. The finished piece will be framed at the end of the class for participants to take home.