HYPERTEXT MAGAZINE ASKED ERIN DORNEY, AUTHOR OF I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE: POEMS AFTER SHIA LABEOUF, “WHAT QUESTION DO YOU WISH YOU’D BEEN ASKED ABOUT YOUR WORK?”
WHAT DOES SHIA LABEOUF THINK OF YOUR BOOK?
Answer: To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I have tried not to tag him too much on social media throughout the course of this project, but I did recently reach out to the artist collective that he is a member of (LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner). I let them know about the book, and invited potential collaborations if they had any interest.
One thing I do know is that LaBeouf pays attention to his social media and internet presence. I can imagine that is an overwhelming task for someone who is in the public eye so much, but after reading upwards of 60 interviews with him in the past four years, I know that he’s not the type of person who can just ignore what other people are saying about him. He’s mentioned creating secret accounts, either on websites or social media, in order to participate in online communities without the notoriety of his past actions/accomplishments. So, I don’t doubt that at some point, my project has come across his radar.
I do hope that he is able to read the book at some point. While I can imagine that it might feel a little strange to read a book of poetry that’s been created from words you’ve spoken in public, during interviews you may or may not remember, promoting projects you may or may not still embrace, I think my erasure project falls within the realm of art that LaBeouf himself creates.
LaBeouf and his collaborators—Nastja Säde Rönkkö & Luke Turner—have been making art together since 2014, which is around the same time that I started writing these poems. According to the artist statement on their website, “Their participatory projects and performances utilise empathy, emotion and social interaction to foster new forms of communality across digital and physical networks.” Some past projects include #ALLMYMOVIES, where LaBeouf spent three days in a theater watching all of his own movies (livestreamed and open to visitors), and #ALONETOGETHER, where the artists spent a month in separate cabins in a remote part of Lapland (their only human connection was a video link to a small cabin installed in the museum in Helsinki).
What started as an exercise in “plagiarizing the plagiarist” (LaBeouf has spoken about plagiarism and copyright while dealing with his own controversies on intellectual property), has evolved to speak to many themes. I am using borrowed language to subvert personas, attempting to collapse the distance between celebrity and everyday life. I’d like to think that’s something Shia could get behind.
Erin Dorney is an amateur rockhound and the author of I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems after Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press, June 2018). Her writing has been featured in Dream Pop Press, Entropy Magazine, Yes Poetry, Passages North, and The Laurel Review, among other publications. Erin is cofounder of FEAR NO LIT and volunteers with VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. You can find more of her writing plus events and updates at erindorney.com and at @edorney.
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