@VirtualSoundSilence on Instagram

This is such a weird moment in history. We have all rearranged our lives around this new normal, yet we find ourselves oddly busy and stressed and anxious and fearful and unsure of what the future holds. It’s a lot to take in, and even more to manage in a healthy way.

My hope with VirtualSoundSilence is to create an environment for reflection and pause. A way to record our collective inner experiences; our thoughts, ideas, impressions, and feelings of this moment in time.

What I am asking you to do is to use your place of residence for a short writing exercise that will connect you to how you are feeling right now. All you need are a few tools: a phone that takes pictures and has a voice recording app, your favorite writing instrument, and a quiet place to think/write. After you finish the writing exercise, I would love for you to send me one photo and one voice recording via WeTransfer (see directions on next page). Once I receive your files, I will edit them together into a short video and post on Instagram at @virtualsoundsilence which was created as a space for people to come together to collectively share what our community is feeling during this challenging time. Feel free to share and invite people to participate in the project.

Instructions

1. Find a place to write. It should be somewhere where you’ve never written before.

2. Once your writing space is set up, ask yourself “What do I see? What am I looking at? Take a picture of what you see from your point of view from your writing space. Save that picture because I am going to want you to send it to me. 

3. Ok, now the writing part. Freewrite[1] for 30 - 60 seconds (or more if you like) on these prompts: What are you seeing right now that you didn’t see before? Who/what are you grateful for today? What is vital about this person or object right now? What will you hold onto after this is all over?  

4. Re-read your paper and circle or underline what you like about what you wrote. What pops off the page, what gets you excited, what idea can you add detail to? Are there any themes that emerge? What are the strong images, metaphors, or patterns in the language? 

5. Now we distill our ideas into something a bit more poetic. It’s an exercise I like to use called the “Telephone Poem”. Write your phone number down the left side of a fresh piece of paper, area code included. These numbers now represent the number of words you are allowed to use on that particular line.

6. Using the word restrictions on each line, find a new way to write the thoughts, ideas, impressions, and feelings that you expressed in your free write. There is no right or wrong way to do this part. Allow yourself the freedom of being and doing and saying exactly how you are feeling right now.

7. Once your poem is complete, record yourself or someone else reading the poem.

8. Send your POV Picture and audio file with your poem to virtualsoundsilence@gmail.com via www.wetransfer.com. (If you are unfamiliar with WeTransfer, it is a free service that allows you to share files online.)

[1]  For those that don’t know, a ‘free write’ is stream- of-consciousness captured on your paper. You can follow no rules or all the rules. Just put your pen to paper and go! Don’t think, just write. Don’t stop or reread. Write what you think. If you're bored, write that. If you're unsure what to say, write that. If you hate me for making you do this, write that. But don’t stop. Just get it out and onto the page.

VirtualSoundSilence is graciously funded by Asylum Arts through their Digital Creativity Grant.