Serpentine Gallery 24-hour Experiment Marathon

Dear Reader,

1. This is a test document.
2. There are many shades in it.
3. This is a test document so that you can see how this system works.
4. Just to remind you all. You can save by pressing the work. If you don't work, you won’t be visible.
5. We're keen that people press the work as they emerge - so the more regularly you can control the better.
6. There was Mike, getting it.
7. 6 down - 2 to go.
8. Here I am, looking in.
9. HERE ARE THE STATS (pressing the work):
10. Tim revisions 67-448=381
11. Tom revisions 449-808=359
12. Deborah revisions 809-1142=333
13. Mike revisions 1143-1357=214
14. Shelley revisions 1358-1627=269
15. Fiona revisions 1628-1772=144
16. These are acceptable results, within the defined parameters set.
17. However, there are some anomalous results.
18. Shelley pressed the work on several occasions, but failed to save any work.
19. Fiona's last reported pressing is recorded as occurring 24 minutes prior to the end of the relevant time period. This compromised her emergence.
20. 9 hours ago, as of this revision, Deborah failed to add any text. The work was pressed but, again, emergence was compromised.
21. Other errors were made, mostly by men, but will not be detailed further. The above examples should serve as adequate warnings to others.
22. Thank you for your patience.
23.
24. I have not kept in Tim's text Tom's text Deborah's text Mike's text Shelley's text Fiona's text in or any other text, except by accident.
25. There will be no insurgency.
26.
27. There will be no Lisa White, no James, no Ms McClain, no Ms. Clara, no Major Montague, no Gloria, and, yes, even no Olivia.
28.
29. There were probably many others, many shades of those others.
30.
31. They have been forgotten, although very few were aware of their existence.
32. I, for myself, accept no responsibility for that.
33. My engagement has consequences and I am requested to reflect on the relativity of my reality.
34. Here I am, looking in, doing that, pressing the work.
35. Always pressing the work.
36. There.
37. I just did it again.
38.
39.
40. The wars will be about water, not oil. But I heard that on the radio, so what.
41. So what.
42. And the water will taste like Olivio.
43. Oily, like butter, but better.
44. There won't be any immigrants because we will all have left.
45. And fiction?
46. The fiction will also have left and we will be protected.
47. That will be OK. I never liked stories, especially the ones with people talking in them.
48.
49. And now the work presses itself.
50. There is no need to engage.
51.
52. There has been a change to the system, a good change.
53. It can only be a change for good when the system presses itself.
54.
55. What Gloria needed way back when was a button, a large red button connected to a system, a button marked SAVE.
56. And when she pressed the button, the fiction would have ended.
57. No Insurgent Dawn, no sailors, no snails or slugs, no trap-doors, no having to scratch a living as abandoned minors in an anticipated future wasteland.
58. Cake would be retained. Cake and Olivio.
59. But Tom, cruel Tom, left out the button.
60. That is an offence and an error under system parameters.
61.
62. This is a betrayal. But it started a long time ago.
63. I, for myself, accept no responsibility for that.
64. I'm familiar with betrayal, as a concept.
65. And what a wonderful concept.
66.
67. A treacherous giving up to an enemy.
68. A violation of trust or confidence, an abandonment of something committed to one's charge.
69. A revelation or divulging of something which it is desirable to keep secret.
70.
71. Guilty on all three counts, but especially 2. But the work presses itself now.
72.
73. I did an Alice. I don't apologize for that.
74. I dropped down. It's all relative.
75.
76. To betray something properly, one has to love it first. You know that.
77. But I felt no love.
78.
79. And after I drop down, I cross a large, muddy field, recently ploughed.
80. In the centre of the field, there is a large patch of clear ice.
81. Looking down into the clear ice, I see that I am buried there, eyes open.
82. Twenty years later, I return.
83. A house has been built in the centre of the field.
84. I enter the house and proceed to place where I remember seeing myself buried in clear ice.
85. There is a carpet over the place.
86. And under the carpet there is a concrete floor.
87. I pull back the carpet and dig up the concrete.
88. I don't need any help.
89. I'm still there, eyes open.
90. I make good the concrete, replace the carpet, walk out of the house.
91. One hundred years later, a large town has covered the field and the surrounding fields. 92. I enter the town and proceed to the place where I remember seeing myself buried in clear ice and under the concrete.
93. I enter the house and proceed to the place.
94. With my eyes open, I look at the place.
95. I leave the field, the house and the town.
96. They are still there.
97.
98. Diddle eedle hodle da dee.
99. This is a test document.
100. I wanted your text.
101. But the text was wanting, leaking, listing.
102. The text was badly holed, irreparably damaged, fatally flawed.
103. All flaws are fatal, that's all.
104. The system is presently being changed.
105. It's actually being tidied up, so very little interruption will be experienced.
106. You will, very likely, be redirected and asked to press the work.
107. The controls are pretty obvious.
108. Don't be distracted, unless you can use the distraction for the purposes of the work.
109. Just feel free. Feel free. Try to feel free.
110. Try to remember: if you don't work, you won't be visible.
111.
112. Personal stats so far:
113. Revisions 1772-1884=112.
114. Time 08:43. Revisions at 1898.
115. System self-pressing escalation.
116.
117. Time 08:52. Revisions at 1911. No text added.
118.
119. I remember Olivia.
120.
121. The descriptions of the sound of her breathing, her listening, her sleeping.
122.
123. Oh brother James, with that t-shirt, she could have been my secretary.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130. I can imagine scholars interpreting her.
131. (There will be scholars, don't worry, the scholars will always be with us, holding us close, pressing the work).
132.
133.
134.
135. Time 09:05. Revisions at 1926.
136.
137. System self-pressing escalation relaxation.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144. Time 09:22. Revisions at 1931.
145.
146. If you don't work, you won't be visible.
147. I work. I save. There is a button.
148. The button used to be marked PANIC.
149. Now it's marked SAVE, but the PANIC shows through.
150. Please confirm: this is a self-saving system.
151.
152.
153. Time 09:34. Revisions at 1945.
154. Time 09.46. Revisions at 1956.
155.
156.
157. Oh Olivia.
158.
159. System self-pressing desist.
160. Mike is here. Mike is with me.
161. Interrupt desist.
162. Write, Mike. Write!
163.
164.
165. Requested revision denied.
166. Frame exit. Time 09:54.
167. Render image.
168.
169. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2279/1566338243_fd22e3263f.jpg?v=0