Winner AIGA Book Award
Winner International Book Design Award [Leipzig]
Exhibited and collected widely
“Versations resounds, echoes, and repeats in loud and soft—You almost cannot ever be the same once you’ve touched, felt and sensed this book… Do not miss
this book. It touches, it should
be touched.
Umbrella Judith Hoffberg
“Versations is one of the most brilliantly conceived and executed books of the past decade…”
Pharos Mathew Jennett
Excerpts from the introduction:
versations
is a study of human dialogue
a look at the poetics of communication
made up of sixteen characters
eight conversations
each in their own space
yet somehow co-existing
simultaneously
____
versations is a graph of the patterns of speech
____
it is a look at the polyrhythms
polyemotions
and polyhysteria
of the human experience
____
each unit of speech
correlates to a unit of thought
____
the shape of each conversation
is based on the qualities
of that interaction
____
characters are listed
at the top of each page
____
time moves from top to bottom
____
notations that occur on the
same horizontal line
are performed simultaneously
____
line lengths are determined by
breath breaks
as in verse
but the reading
as in conversation
is generally fluid
____
typographic stylings
such as bold face or italic
are used to indicate
particular emphasis
volume
or emotion
____
some characters
on the other hand
are more monochromatic
Here is an excerpt of a dialogue between Bruce and Alison. For this web-setting, Bruce is cast in a sans serif bold and Alison in a serif Roman. In the book, their flirtatious conversation (which takes place as they watch a paddle tennis match on Venice Beach) moves across the page in circular waves.
no
it’s just that i had
i was living with this lady and we broke up
like last week
i didn’t know you were living together
yeah we lived together for a while
got out
it didn’t work out
she wants to go to new york and dance
and i told her
NO WAY!
oh yeah
are you sad?
yeah
i’m sad about that
and my folks doing that whole rubbernecking
picking them up and driving them
they’re not real independent
my father doesn’t want to drive here
are they old?
not chronologically old
but physically mother has gotten very old
doesn’t walk well
and she’s always worried about her heart
running around with her nitroglycerin pills
she’ll probably outlive me
my mother’s been like that
she’s been taking those pills
ever since i can remember
she always thinks she’s about to die
my grandmother too
ever since i can remember
she’s been scared of dying
she’s eighty-five now and she can drop dead
any minute
how long your folks been here for?
i’m taking them to mexico tomorrow morning
i just said what the fuck
she can die
she die in mexico she can die here
it doesn’t make a difference
no i’m kidding
uh
she can go shopping in tijuana
she’ll love it!
how long you going for?
just two days
then we’ll come back either
oh man
look at that backhand!
she is so good
powerful
oh is she good!
i used to enjoy this game
me too
but i can only play with somebody i know
and like
exactly!
i’m the same way
but i don’t know anyone anymore
since rob and i. . .
i used to come out here
look for someone who wanted to volley
i played for months like that
then i started getting
sucked into doubles games
hated it
i don’t like doubles to begin with
i like to run around the court
but if you’re playing doubles you just stand there
that’s why i joined the westside Y
because they have a good aerobics program
is that what you take?
yeah
and for running
but my running is going down now
the other day i was pulling a run
and i just couldn’t go
arrrrhhhh
maybe you need to take a break
and do something else
that’s why i thought the hell with it
and joined the gym
i can always lose some weight
you look good to me
bulging pants
although i always think you look good
you know that
i’m one of your supporters
it’s good to hear a little support
i need it
well i feel it
i’m thinking of becoming a nun
a recluse at least
a nun? right up my alley
you can join my church
yeah?
i want to be a priest
we can have a real weird church
that sounds like fun
but then i might be in the same condition i’m in now
uh oh
what’s that?
you know
it could be just another game
ahh
the game
yeah the game
don’t play it as a game
do what you want to do
i have no rules
i only do what i like to do
well i do too
but there are only so many things i like to do
well it’s your own fault
OH
no no no
I don’t mean that!
i can find things to do
I always know how to have fun
it’s just that. . .
it’s difficult to find somebody to spend time with
arrrrhhhh
that’s why i really jumped on this thing
when i found this woman
and i liked her
and she was real supportive
and uh
she wanted to move in
so i let her
you let her?
it was that kind of thing you know
she didn’t want to hassle going back and forth
oh look at that backhand!
and now she went to new york to become a dancer?
she is a professional dancer
and you know
they got to put ALL their energies into dance
otherwise they’re not professional
it was starting to get on my nerves
she has ballet class in the afternoon
she teaches two classes in the morning
then she’s not around in the evening
with the social activities
all pertaining to dance?
supposedly
and she’s living in MY house
i’m picking up ALL the tabs
because she has NO money
and she’s coming home late at night
ALL exhausted
can’t move a muscle
you know
not tonight not tonight
sounds awful
don’t get me wrong
she’s a great lady
a HELL of a dancer
it was just starting to wear thin
not because of the money
you know money’s not that important to me
but i told her
it would be nice if you helped around the house
do the things i don’t like to do
uh huh
i do all the LADY things
i cook better than most women i know
i’m not real fancy but i cook good
uh huh
but i don’t like to
you know
i’m not gonna make curtains
right?
i’m not gonna do flower arrangements
i don’t do the pretty things in the house
so we had an argument
and she split for two days without calling
and i got really mad
so you’re free now
yeah i’m free
and i’m sad in a way
but i don’t really mind it as much as
i thought i would
i’m wondering
if you go through it so many times
through
so many relationships in your life
if it stops affecting you in the same way
i don’t want to ever get like that
yeah
no
i mean
me neither
