Typewriter Talk / Tim Youd, typing 100 novels project

**Posted by KatLondon** 07-6-2016 05:40:57

Hey, do any of you know about this artist? SO interesting. Basically he is typing out 100 novels, on the same model of machine they were written on, on ONE piece of paper (with a backing sheet), in a place that is meaningful to the original writing of the novel - he performs the typing and then mounts the two pages as a diptych. AND he makes cardboard replica typewriters.

I really like the finished pieces, actually. Rather mysterious and haunting. (You do sort of have to not think what he's doing to the platen; but, for the machines to be reliable enough to keep going on, he must be maintaining them, too).

There is a lot of internet coverage; I've just chosen this article to show youall because it has the best selection of photographs.

**Posted by Uwe** 07-6-2016 10:09:52

Well, that's one way of covering up your typos...

**Posted by igotztowrite** 07-6-2016 15:20:40

I've read a few articles and videos about this artist. I'm not too impressed LOL ... I think of art as being more unique. Ask any one of us, and we could do the same. I fail in the arts miserably so I'm impressed by many artists, I don't know if I would spend the time to do this strictly based for artistic reasons. Art = to each its own!

**Posted by Repartee** 07-6-2016 21:42:05

You did not mention that the author of the article twice called the SG-3 an electric typewriter. Uwe will tell us whether there was an electric version and whether it had the same model name or some other name, but the one pictured is surely a manual typewriter. I don't track how many sheets I get to a backing sheet but I have used one a few times too many, which first announced itself by the paper slipping. The paper was something entirely different from what it started as - compressed to the thickness of a sheet of onion skin and slick.

**Posted by Uwe** 08-6-2016 10:03:32

Repartee is right, it is a manual, not an electric typewriter. And there was no such thing as a SG3 electric. Olympia's electric standard at the time of the SG3 was the SGE ("Sehr Groß Elektrisch" - very large electric).

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 08-6-2016 16:23:07

Uwe wrote:
Repartee is right, it is a manual, not an electric typewriter. And there was no such thing as a SG3 electric. Olympia's electric standard at the time of the SG3 was the SGE ("Sehr Groß Elektrisch" - very large electric).

Yeah, I'll say!! I've owned one or two of these elephants at one time or another. A Remington-labeled Olympia I had dressed out at 58 lbs. (not too familiar with what it would weigh in metric measurements, though), but that sucker was HEAVY.

**Posted by Repartee** 09-6-2016 18:21:41

Uwe wrote:
...there was no such thing as a SG3 electric. Olympia's electric standard at the time of the SG3 was the SGE ("Sehr Groß Elektrisch" - very large electric).

Ah... perhaps you means something like this...

Gotta get me one of those Sehr Groß Elektrisch ! I'm a sucker for gross weight.

I've noticed several photos of the SG-3 with no paper injector. Did Olympia discontinue that feature after the SG-1?

**Posted by TypewriterKing** 09-6-2016 18:33:37

Yup, that image is just about accurate. Incidentally, I once owned an SGE with a paper injector. It depended on how deluxe the typewriter was, I suppose.

**Posted by KatLondon** 10-6-2016 07:00:20

You're all right - I did clock the SG3 but didn't remark on it. Well, I did you a favour, leaving something to talk about!

The art itself is partly about the performance, the process - it strikes me that it's largely for the artist, in terms of his experience, but that's okay. It is an application of the physicality of the typewriter we all say we like so much, overlaid onto the idea of creation.

I like the diptychs, they're evocative and tantalising and a little bit tragic... And the cardboard models are fun (& also a little bit tragic). Art, like literature or cooking or religion, is many things.

**Posted by Uwe** 10-6-2016 11:43:53

Repartee wrote:
Gotta get me one of those Sehr Groß Elektrisch ! I'm a sucker for gross weight.

May I suggest a Lexikon 80E then? It's four pounds heavier than the later models SGE, even more if it has the optional carbon ribbon system. One could argue it's the effects of pasta versus sauerkraut

Repartee wrote:
I've noticed several photos of the SG-3 with no paper injector. Did Olympia discontinue that feature after the SG-1?

No. The paper injector, along with a few other features, were only included with the L model. I only have a couple of SG3 models with the injector, all the others don't, which makes me wonder if budget-conscious businesses more often than not opted for the base model.

Paper injector on the SG3