January Reading Group: Selected by Ruth Barker and Catherine Street

Ruth Barker and Catherine Street are two artists whose individual practices exist in relation to both performance and the written word. Together they have chosen two extracts for Stills' January reading group.

In an extract from Sadegh Hedayat's hallucinatory novel, The Blind Owl (1937, translated from the Persian by DP Costello), a painter navigates a nightmarish world in which he is increasingly isolated and detached from his own actions. His unreliable perceptions of his own body and the objects around him suggest the blurring of mental and physical properties.

Meanwhile in a short extract from his recent book, Personal Agency (2008), philosopher Jonathan Lowe discusses ideas about the distinction between physical and mental properties and substances. He looks at the implications for the way in which we identify with our own bodies, minds and actions.

If you would to take part, both texts can be downloaded here: PDF1 and PDF2.

Ruth Barker is a Glasgow-based artist with a predominantly text-based practice. She develops performative and sculptural works for public contexts as well as gallery spaces. Click here for more infomation. 

Catherine Street is an Edinburgh-based artist whose practice incorporates writing, performance, video, installation and work on paper. She took part in the artists' residency programme at Stills in 2007. Click here for more information.