Tim Youd: the typwriter is holy the poem is holy
Artist Tim Youd retypes entire books and Beat poetry onto single pages using the authors' original typewriter models, transforming literature into layered, abstract drawings during this live performance and exhibition. Paired with Con/Text, a group show of text-based contemporary art. Presented for the region-wide Further Triennial.
January 15, 2027–May 23, 2027
Presented in partnership with The Further Triennial, Tim Youd’s the typewriter is holy the poem is holy brings the Los Angeles-based artist’s “100 Novels Project” to the Bay Area.
Youd will start with a retyping of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, which documented Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters forays from the Santa Cruz hills on the Further bus. Youd will then retype volumes of poetry by Beat Generation writers, in locations across the Bay Area, on the same make/model typewriters the authors themselves used. Consider, for example, Allen Ginsberg at City Lights or Joanne Kyger in Bolinas.
The Process & The Artwork
Youd’s process is to retype entire books on a single page, in a multi-day/week performance. The top sheet is backed by a second sheet, the text is overwritten again and again, and the paper becomes distressed. When the retyping is completed, the two sheets are separated, and mounted side-by-side in diptych form. The entire novel or volume of poems is there, but entirely illegible. These drawings will each by mounted on the wall at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History as Youd types his way across the Bay Area through the full run of the triennial.
To date, Tim Youd has retyped 84 novels at various locations in the United States and Europe. Residencies at historic writers' homes have included William Faulkner's Rowan Oak with the University of Mississippi Art Museum (Oxford, MS), Flannery O'Connor's Andalusia with SCAD (Milledgeville and Savannah, GA), Carson McCullers' Childhood Home (Columbus, GA) and Virginia Woolf's Monk's House (Rodmell, Sussex).
Concurrent Exhibition: Con/Text
Presented in conjunction with Tim Youd's performance, the MAH will host Con/Text: Exploring Language in Art. This group show highlights text-based contemporary art alongside pieces from the MAH’s permanent art and history collections. Featured artists include Kristin Bauer, Francisca Benitez, Peter Madden, and Ned Snider.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Further Triennial.
This exhibition and performance series is presented as part of Further Triennial—a region-wide celebration of Northern California’s creative and cultural life launching in spring of 2027. Supported by Further’s Community Impact Fund, this project connects the MAH with non-profit arts organizations across the Greater Bay Area to highlight regional connections.
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