Jen Bervin, "Verso, A Million Random Digits (Rand Corporation, 1955)." Handwoven cotton and wool facsimile, 11"h x 9"w, 2010.

A weaving made for Reanimation Library's show at Charles Goldman's storefront gallery GRIDSPACE in Brooklyn in March. The library invited a group of artists and writers to respond to one of the most intriguing books in its collection: The Rand Corporation's 1955 classic, A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates.

I typed these works on a Brother Correctronic 50. The scale is quite small. Just a bit smaller than what you see here. I think of them as scores to be performed on a loom or with needle and thread.

 

All of them were made following intensive time spent weaving cloth structures on the loom. There are just a handful of little studies here and there are many, many more I've been amassing. They were inspired by Anni Albers' typewriter studies from Black Mountain College (the impetus for my desire to study weaving). It was quickly apparent to me that her profound understanding of cloth structure gave her a unique perspective on the gridded space the typewriter offers. I thought, "I know nothing about the typewriter yet."

-Jen Bervin, June 2009