What happens when we surrender some degree of control over the creative process? This practical workshop explores the cut-up methods developed by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin and their idea of the “Third Mind,” an unexpected creative intelligence when “two minds collaborate.” We’ll enact this through a series of “anti-rational” strategies where materials are cut apart, rearranged, and recombined. We’ll experiment with cut-ups and related aleatory, chance-based, and ludic techniques for generating new ideas, language, images, and connections. Along the way, we’ll consider how randomness and play can disrupt habitual ways of thinking and become practical tools for creative work across disciplines.

Instructor: Dr. Davis Schneiderman