REMAINDER is a work examining who we are and what we leave behind. This durational performance (and publication) found me searching the Glasgow School of Art stacks for an entire day, 20 April 2019.
Most of what was inside books were slips of paper, GSA Library receipts and other bits, torn or cut, to use as bookmarks. Why were these pages important? What would the information on them do for their readers? Some of what I found was sentimental – a postcard written in German to someone’s "dear" granny, a “shatterproof” ruler that had been broken. A few things defied my understanding. Why would so many people leave seemingly important notes they’d painstakingly written inside the books they’d borrowed? Why would they make drawings and tags and other personal marks, only to leave them behind without a care?
Who do we think we are leaving our marks?
Being remembered by those who come after us.
Being noticed by those who are now.
Does it make us immortal?
Is it our progeny? Our legacy? Our art?
Is it the promised afterlife we don’t believe in,
but hope for beyond all reasonable doubt?
Leave no trace.
But
Remain.