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doublepage · 2 years

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to visit / stay @d o u b l e—p a g e

If you would like to visit and or stay a while to work on a creative project @ d o u b l e — p a g e

get in touch first with some kind of outline of what you'd like to do during your visit:

d o u b l e—p a g e offers an intimate research lab space in Occitanie, intended to support practice-based research into creative and scholarly projects. It is not a conventional "residency." I live there and work/play there too but the house is far too big for me. i want it to be available as a resource for others.

The "house" has a particular interest in playful interdisciplinary work including combinations and isolations of “text character” in any "performance" of "sound" "language" "image" that converse with ideas of "projection," "shadow," "resonance," "weaving," "marks," "networks," "threads," “documents,” "material culture," “object value,” "belonging," "hauntology," "archives" and “home.” We also have a strong interest in forward poetries and lyric poethics of the troubadour and trobairitz, their contemporary resonance as well as histories and continuities of heresy. This is former Cathar country, traveled by the humanimal for 30-40 millennia.

There is a decent collection of 4-5k “little" and "small" and "micro" press books, — many but not all in "English" and "englishes" —with a particular focus on books made by poet-publishers from the Consortium of London Presses in London in the mid 1970s, some international visual poetries and sound and performance poetry volumes too.

The house was built in 1810 and is in Labastide-Rouairoux, a nineteenth century town in the Haute Languedoc National Park, Tarn, Midi-Pyrenees, France between Toulouse and the Mediterranean (Sète / Beziers / Narbonne / Gruissan / Perpignan). There were thriving weaving and glass manufacturing industries, but this is now a post-industrial small-town setting. Small means about 1500 people. More recently the house was operated as a "wellness centre" and "cabinet de kinésithérapie" and although this is not a “vacation” setting you may relax, recuperate, reflect and create here. The house is on the main road, a route nationale. It is NOT a rural idyll. There is regular heavy traffic between Toulouse and the eastern Mediterranean. Public transportation is good -- buses a day from Castres, through Mazamet to the Beziers and even on to the beach at Valgas. The fare is 2€ and the schedule is reliable. Mazamet has a tramline connecting with Toulouse.

There is a good boulangerie, Spar supermarket and newsagent very close (just over 100 meters) plus a pharmacy and two banks with ATM within a 3-minute-walk. There is a great local place for lunch (four courses plus wine and coffee for 15 Euros). You can walk straight up the forested mountains (Les Montagne Noire) from the house and there is an 80-kilometre bike trail going off down through the Minervois vineyards in Herault. That trail is good for walking both ways out of town. In the summer there are lovely forest swimming holes I can point you to. Here you are close to towns listed among the more beautiful in France such as Minerve and Olargues. 30-minutes-drive away is Gorge D’Heyric and Roquebrun.

You are entreated to do a little research into the area before you decide to come. Cities close by include Castres, Albi, Carcassonne and Toulouse the latter two of which have airports and train stations and are likely arrival points unless you are cycling or driving, or walking in.

— for 2022 (Ellen Dillon) and 2023 d o u b l e—p a g e is already "occupied" (Susan M. Schultz, Robin Tremblay-McGaw, Anne-Laure Coxam, LeeAnn Brown)

— in 2024 d o u b l e—p a g e offers space and town for artist-scholars over the months of of June / July / August and September until mid October.

— Residents at d o u b l e—p a g e can typically choose to stay from one week to 10 days (negotiable and flexible to suit your schedule your needs and your curiosity)

— Residents are not expected to pay accommodation costs during their stay in the d o u b l e—p a g e house, although contributing to food and doing a bit of cooking &c is most welcome. This is not air b ‘n’ b for studio-time.

— Residents are NOT expected to do anything, to produce, to make, to work on, to share, to show ANYTHING during their stay . They are encouraged to use their time as they wish, to draft, to explore work in process, to drift, to wander and slumber and dream : to do whatever you need to do.

— Please NOTE: This is suited to SINGLES and not to couples. It is not a romantic getaway. It is UNSUITABLE for children, sorry but the house is quirky and might even be considered a hazard.

WHAT D O U B L E—P A G E CAN OFFER YOU

1. time away from your routine

2. a room of your own to sleep in for the duration

3. access to and the use of "studio" spaces for trial display, rehearsal &c

3. simple resources for making diy printed objects / mock ups &c

4. a walled garden with shady areas

5. shared use of a full kitchen

6. an “off-site” rough empty adjoining house if you want to make site-based work

7. invigorating forest-mountain walks right out of the house

8. the "voie verte" 80 km bike trail passes with 100 meters (we have bikes)

PLEASE BE AWARE, r e p e a t -- this is not luxury accommodation. It is an old house with quirks. Bedrooms are on the 3rd floor (quite a lot of stairs -- about 30 to the top). Things "work" but it is not all-mod-cons. It is at the head of a valley and it rains a lot away from high summer. The weather is lovely (a lot of the time in spring to early fall) but there can be chilly dips.

Plan to enjoy your time at d o u b l e—p a g e. I will be your host and show you around the immediate and extended area a bit.

cris cheek

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