I'm taking a further a look into the uses of existing/found words and how others may have used them to make new creations, performances and so on. On of these resources for streams of text is the internet. In looking at the internet and especially YouTube, its always worth starting with the king of YouTube Adam Buxton.
I first came across Buxton's work when I attended a Creative Networks event last year where he was the guest speaker for that month. Buxton's career is made up of silly comedy like videos that have been taken to the platform of YouTube. He also uses YouTube and existing videos and content to produce more work which can be found in his television show 'Bug'.
His show Bug takes videos, mainly music videos from YouTube, showcasing the weird and wonderful that are out there. He also does a section where he talks through the comments made by people toward the video in question. He performs them as he would imagine to what the person would act, look and sound like. All under a jokey tone, analysing the conversations that arise and turning it into a stand up style of comedy.
The idea of voicing over words, and turning them into a performance is one that interests me. Rather than write from a blank sheet, it takes the approach of taking a page of existing text and molding it into something new. By not editing the comments, Buxton uses the misspelling, bad grammar and slang as a commentary on how the internet is used and the type of communication that arises. Also to make it funny.
Also I have noticed the successful YouTube videos that get the audiences, are quite short, straight to the point, usually funny and/or memorable. YouTube is instant entertainment with an demanding audience, if art is to become a part of it, it would have to mould to that also.
Final Piece
