REV-

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\PUBLIC ART\ 10 sec 1 bayt

Connor Dickie, putting up a competition poster in a public square in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 2009.

Artistic Director: Marisa Jahn
Technical Director: Connor Dickie
When: Fall 2009

Supporting Organizations:
CEC Arslink Global Arts Lab
REV-, Sogd Cultural Education Center. Bactria Cultural Centre,BreakArts

Jurors: Naim Hakimov, Director of the Sogd Cultural Education Center, Ulmasi Hol, Tajik poet/editor; Sameev Abdumavlon, editor; and Habiba Jalilova, anchorwoman for Tajik TV

Many Tajiks are aware that for those cell phone users who have a plan with the Central Asian telecommunications company named Babilon, the first ten seconds of any phone call are free. To take advantage of this freebee, strategic users have developed a new art form – the ten second conversation.

Inspired by this contemporary cultural form and the Tajik tradition of 2-verse poetry (or ‘Bayt’), in Fall 2009, REV- initiated a competition for the best ten second poem. Those living in Tajikistan were eligible to participate by calling a number and recording their poem which was instantly published online at 10sec1bayt.com. The jurors, a group of prominent Central Asian poets and a television personality, selected three winning entries. The selected ten second poems were then published over the radio airwaves, on the television, in the printed newspaper, and during the national news hour in the form of a ten second text scrawl.

The project’s title, ‘Bayt’ (pronounced ‘bite’ in English), refers to both the Tajik word for the short 2-verse poem popularized to Western audiences by the Rubayat, written in the 12th century by poet Omar Khayyam. ‘Bayt’ also resembles in sound the English noun that means, ‘a small piece’ (as in, “Just a bite”), and the ‘byte’, an internationally recognized unit used to measure quantities of digital data.

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Connor Dickie, putting up a competition poster in a public square in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 2009.	Artistic Director: Marisa Jahn Technical Director: Connor Dickie When: Fall 2009 Supporting Organizations: CEC Arslink Global Arts Lab REV-, Sogd Cultural Education Center. Bactria Cultural Centre,BreakArts Jurors: Naim Hakimov, Director of the Sogd Cultural Education Center, Ulmasi Hol, Tajik poet/editor; Sameev Abdumavlon, editor; and Habiba Jalilova, anchorwoman for Tajik TV
Many Tajiks are aware that for those cell phone users who have a plan with the Central Asian telecommunications company named Babilon, the first ten seconds of any phone call are free. To take advantage of this freebee, strategic users have developed a new art form – the ten second conversation. Inspired by this contemporary cultural form and the Tajik tradition of 2-verse poetry (or ‘Bayt’), in Fall 2009, REV- initiated a competition for the best ten second poem. Those living in Tajikistan were eligible to participate by calling a number and recording their poem which was instantly published online at 10sec1bayt.com. The jurors, a group of prominent Central Asian poets and a television personality, selected three winning entries. The selected ten second poems were then published over the radio airwaves, on the television, in the printed newspaper, and during the national news hour in the form of a ten second text scrawl. The project’s title, ‘Bayt’ (pronounced ‘bite’ in English), refers to both the Tajik word for the short 2-verse poem popularized to Western audiences by the Rubayat, written in the 12th century by poet Omar Khayyam. ‘Bayt’ also resembles in sound the English noun that means, ‘a small piece’ (as in, “Just a bite”), and the ‘byte’, an internationally recognized unit used to measure quantities of digital data.
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