mutating the signature

We (finally) finished curating Untelling Stories, the first “test flight” issue of Mutating the Signature. The curated issue is now laid out and available in an electronic format.

Our test flight was designed so that we, as publishers of Mutating the Signature, could have the opportunity to act in the curatorial role before inviting guest curators to work on future issues. This means we now have practical, not just theoretical, experience regarding how the entire process works. We also hoped to model some of the ways in which future curators might work together on their own issues.

We feel good about what we accomplished during this issue, both in terms of processing and curating the material.

The final piece can be viewed or downloaded at issuu.com or as a PDF file. The issuu version is embedded above. (If you are reading this post on an RSS reader, you will have to click through to the site to see the embedded document.) Or, if you prefer, you can view or download our PDF version of the collection.

This curated issue represents the final version of the work we drafted here on the site from Oct. 7 to Nov. 18, 2009. Revising the work collaboratively, determining the order of the pieces and laying them out in an attractive manner were much more time-consuming than we had anticipated. But the entire process was also nothing short of a blast. We would not trade the experience for anything, not even the ugliest luggage in the airport or an entire suitcase museum.

We hoped to have audio files for some of our pieces available by now, but with Dana’s viral or bacterial infection turned lung infection turned sinus infection turned bronchitis, the audio files have been delayed. We’ll get to them as soon as she is feeling better.

For those who have not seen the process section of Untelling Stories, where all the rough drafts and process notes reside, you can check those posts out by clicking here.

– Nathan Moore and Dana Guthrie Martin