Postproduction

               Postproduction can be either a prequel or a sequel of an existing piece; it either follows on from a work or shows us what went before it. Postproduction can be the creation of a new piece of work inspired by previous works. Or it can be the edited version of an existing piece.

               Nicholas Bourriaud, in his book, “Postproduction: Culture as a Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World” 2002, talks of the different forms of Postproduction and how vast the art form is. People such as DJs and web surfers, according to Nicholas Bourriaud, are Postproduction artists.

               A literary example of Postproduction is the work of William Burroughs. Burroughs creates literary cut ups, combining some of his own work with that of Rimbaud, T. S. Eliot, Paul Bowles, James Joyce and Michael Portman amongst others. Burroughs uses what he calls the “fold in” method, where he folds two texts down the centre and places them together, then the text is read across. The text is further edited and rearranged as any other written piece would be. This results in a unique piece of post produced written work.

               David Bowie produces some of his work in a similar way to Burroughs cut up method. Bowie uses old diaries and poems that he has written, cuts them up into words or phrases and begins to arrange them into something new. These methods were inspired by Burroughs, in an attempt to ignite something that already exists in his imagination. This method was used in the creation of his lyrics for “Sweet thing” and many more songs.