This publication is an excursion through Stéphanie Serra’s personal library and the result of many conversations that have taken place inside – and outside of time – with selected thinkers and artists. The author listened to them and let them dictate and describe the topics. Their voices rhythmize the text and appear in fragments, like echoes, or like an escalating dialogue.
The paragraphs of the essay are numbered in their original order (from 1 to 57), and then drawn like as lots. Thus the text can be read in at least two ways: As it was originally written, beginning with paragraph 1 on page 141, followed by paragraph 2 and so on; or in the random order in which it is now printed and bound.
The original French text entitled “Y voir clair à travers les mots des autres. La bibliothèque ouverte au dialogue pour saisir le présent. Vers une méthodologie de l’agencement” was written during a two-year research project at the CCC-HEAD in Geneva and was first presented in 2016. For this reprint in the paperback series fink twice, the text was translated into English by John O'Toole and redesigned by Pauline Piguet.