Species of Spaces and Other Pieces (1974) is a collection of Perec’s observations and contemplations of things around or interior to space. Perec’s way of seeing is seemingly simple yet extremely systematic, free from any preconceptions and offering no conclusions. He constantly emphasized observing and recording everything he could see, especially the trivial, imperceptible, and outside the conventional meaning of the familiar routine or scene. Similarly, in The Gleaners and I, Varda (2000) uses the camera to present the reader with images and stories that others may not have noticed.
Perec (1974) and Varda (2000) both gave me sufficient advice in terms of observation and inquiry methods, Perec constantly reminded during his observations of the streets that ‘You still haven’t looked at anything, you’ve merely picked out what you’ve merely picked out long ago’ (Perec, 1974, p. 50). His effort to exhaust the subject, to dig into all the details and minutiae inspired me to categorize everything on the shelves, to look at the subtleties that differentiate them from each other, to identify aspects that seem unrelated. Again, Varda doesn’t use fancy professional photography techniques or tricks but gleaning to photograph gleaners, searching constantly for people, emotions, and thoughts.
Although the themes are not identical, there is a degree of similarity between Perec’s depiction of the bedroom and the bed (1974, p. 21) and my bookshelves — they are both familiar spaces that couldn’t be more familiar. How to perceive the banal and ordinary? Perec captures the ever-changing memories of this space. Returning to my subject, I can feel the memories of that time being activated in my mind as I revisit each book on the shelf. However space, things, and memory are fragile, and making a connection between text and memory is one way for me to have a dialogue with space.
In terms of form, Perec’s descriptions of places in terms of time as a variable inspired me. ‘I begin these descriptions over again each year. […] will thus last for twelve years, until all the places have been described twice twelve times. […] is nothing other than the record of a threefold experience of ageing: of the places themselves, of my memories, and of my writing.’ (Perec, 1974, p. 56) The places do not change, but those subjective aspects are able to be visible in the recollection of such writing. As a popular film critic once wrote, A movie is what it is about, it’s how it is about it. Likewise, for us, our what is how. (Rock, 2009) Censoring something but in an intentional way, recollecting and setting texts for books I have read at different times before, is also a way of reflecting visually on the books themselves, my memory, and the extent to which each book has influenced my thinking.
References:
The Gleaners and I (2000) Directed by Varda, A. [Feature film]. New York: Zeitgeist video. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN6mad94SmM [Accessed 1 October 2021].
Perec, G. (1974) Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, London: Penguin Books. pp. 1-96.
Rock, M. (2009) Fuck Content. [online] 2×4. Available at: https://2×4.org/ideas/2009/fuck-content/ [Accessed 15 October 2021].