M O V I N G   I M A G E S

Man(hatt)ichea Mon Amour from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

Max City from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

The Good, The Ugly & Badabing from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

DemoGraphics from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

Elevator Shoes from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

EthniCity from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

Concrete & Clay from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

Sky Witness from Eric Darton on Vimeo.

T E X T S

Born Witness
Scroll of Wonders
¡AHORITA!

Born Witness and Scroll of Wonders are narrations in journal form that sought to weave together my observations of self, city and world during the extraordinary latter years of the new century's first decade. ¡AHORITA! is a mostly visual record of right now, whenever that moment may have occured.

A Pocket History of These Projects
I initiated writing Born Witness in late February 2007 and began sending it out in weekly installments that November to an email subscription list of approximately one hundred people. Thus between the writing and transmission of installments there was a generally a lag of between nine and eleven months, which meant that much of the material narrated no longer qualified as news but was not yet so distant as to feel “historical.” This situation occured as a result of circumstance rather than strategy, but to my surprise, it seemed to work for readers.

In September 2008, I finished writing Born Witness and sent its last installment nearly a year later in August, 2009. While BW was still being transmitted weekly, I began what could be called a “son of” journal project, Scroll of Wonders. By way of describing the difference between them, BW is the more literary-feeling, while SW draws freely from diverse external sources and is visually much zippier. SW also reflects my increasing engagement with Spanish – part of a long struggle to install, however clunkily, a parallel linguistic operating system, and participate more fully in hispanohablante NYC and the wider culture of the Americas.

Both BW and SW share the same episodic model: that of the kind of 19th century novel published by newspapers in weekly chapters and hence carrying a greater urgency than a printed book. But the analogy only goes so far for several reasons, including that these are works of nonfiction whose “plot” the author did not create, but rather bore witness to. My intent was not to produce a fully articulated work, but rather to weave the strands of whatever material arrived out of the world around me together with the weft of my own associations.

The last installment of Scroll of Wonders was sent out in February, 2010 and I was surprised and delighted to find that in a bit over two years, the subscribers list had more than doubled, largely via word of mouth.

I initiated ¡AHORITA! in late May, 2010, as a kind of 60th birthday present to self. It takes the form of an associative mix of visual and written material intended to surprise readers and the author alike, not least with the sublime force of the moment.

However you come upon these works, please do not feel obligated to read them comprehensively or even sequentially. Unlike conventionally-written stories, there is nothing lost by dipping in and out the flows of these texts as time and desire permit.

Last, but not least, should you feel moved to, please feel free to pass along any installments you wish to people in your own circle. I am always grateful to readers who spot typos or errors as well as for any and all responses evoked by call of these materials.

To download BW, SW and ¡A! installments from the Archive, click here