The Manifesto of the Tape Player

Karel Nepraš "Great Dialogue", 1966 

wire, textile, laminate, varnish

The Manifesto of the Tape Player

1. How to talk.

1.1 Tell a story.

2. How to ask.

2.1.Tell a story.

3. How to listen to us.

4. How do we listen to each other.

4.4. It is like looking into the mirror.

1.2. Never lose the tempo

1.1.1. It does not have to be short.

1.3. Present the topic as problematic, but never lose enthusiasm.

1.2.1. Do not allow pauses, when talking about one thing always hook it with the next topic.

7. How to choose the topic.

5. How to know the other.

1.3.1. Do not get melancholic.

2.2. The purpose of the question is to avoid topics getting exhausted.

2.1.2. Ask in a way that the other one has to tell a story.

6. How to listen to the other.

6.1. (Look again  at 2.1.2.) So you can rest while listening to a story, rather than having to concentrate on direct answers.

6.2. Never give direct answers.

1.4. Always illustrate your story.

1.4.1. Use your facial expressions, your hands, if necessary you legs, and all the items in your bag.

0. Monologue is the new religion black.

1.5. Talk about your self

1.5.1. I did..., I heard..., I know..., I thought…, I went… etc.

1.6. Do not be afraid to dominate.

1.6.1. Be nice.

1.7. You are not a mediator.

1.6.2. Do not expect others to agree. (Look again at 1.5.) It is a monologue.

1.8. Know what interests the other.

1.10. Do not be ashamed to be a tape player, but be aware.

1.9. Every conversation you have can end up as a starting point for a project.

1.9.1. Talking is a medium not a method.

1.9.2. This manifesto describes talking as a medium as well as a method.

4.1. When I know the story, I ignore the story and search for where it is leading me this time.

4.2. I listen only when it is interesting for me.

4.3. It is not about listening, but keeping the tempo.

3.1. Do not forget you are participating in a play.

3.2. The purpose of the monologue is not to keep quiet.

3.1.1. You are part of the play.

3.1.2. If you try to step out of the play, the tape breaks.

3.1.3. When the tape breaks, the monologue turns into an inner monologue.

3.1.1.1. You can choose the role and you can win, but do not forget it is a story, not a competition.

5.1. Do not care.

7.1. The topic does not matter.

7.2. You have to care about the topic. (Look again at 1.9.)

Indrek Grigor and Šelda Puķīte

Prague, 2013

In August 2013 we visited Prague, and, among other things, did talk, behind a few glasses of beer, our local contact Rita half unconscious.

The next morning, feeling a bit guilty, we happened to visit Jaroslav Kučera’s exhibition  "How I met people" (Theresian Wing of the Old Royal Palace at Prague Castle). Among other photos from the genre of social street photo, in which Kučera is working, there was one particular portrait of a man sitting in a shabby beer bar. The photographer had added a story about him, saying that this man was called by the others the tape player, because he would always and constantly tell stories, never shutting up.

The feeling of total solidarity overcame us, and we decided, in search of redemption, as well as justification, to write “The Manifesto of the Tape Player”.
First part of the manifesto was composed in the morning of August 16 at Grand cafe orient (cafe situated in one of the most famous cubism influenced houses in central Prague) and the second part in the evening of the same day (which was our last evening of staying in Prague) in Cafe Rybka.

Jaroslav Kučera Prague, Družba buffet at Václavské square; 1975

From time to time I had a little beer with him and he was talking and talking all the time. 

They called him Record Player.