"Speed Reading" (New York)

­Date: November 14, 2009, 6–8 pm
­Location: Definitions Gym, 19 Union Square West, New York

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A 90-minute relay race of sorts, this sweat-filled event featured 24 writers and artists taking turns reading texts on the notion of speed while jogging/running/ambling on three treadmills positioned side-by-side. Each reader's contribution was a maximum of 4 minutes and was drawn from a novel, manifesto, poem, philosophical treatise, children’s story, timetable, recipe, parable, scientific experiment, instructional manual, dictionary, or any other relevant genre.

Participants included: Sasha Archibald, Fia Backström, Jimbo Blachly, David Brody, D. Graham Burnett, Alexandra Cardia, Jenny Davidson, Jeff Dolven, Julia Feldman, Paul Fleming, Matt Freedman, Lizzie Harper, Shelley Jackson, Julia Jacquette, Craig Kalpakjian, Jeffrey Kastner, Gabriel Larson, Claire Lehmann, George Makari, Lytle Shaw, Jude Tallichet, Christopher Turner, Aleksandra Wagner, and Kristofer Widholm.

Huge thanks to Definitions Gym for hosting this event. This event was Cabinet's contribution to Performa '09. A version of "Speed Reading" previously took place in Montreal at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Nicholas Potter's "Enterprise Dog Power" treadmill, designed to power butter churns and other small farm machines, ca. 1881.