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Facts

Large manual

By 1. July 2020August 16th, 2022No Comments

Facts

Large manual

2020-07-01

Everyone of us tries to write great or great manuals, the Scottish artist Ross Sinclair already succeeded in 2000. A stranger to the branch, this is what it had to come to with all the efforts for digitalization and networking.

Now the size (13 x 10 m) is at first sight due to the medium, not all of us have that at our disposal. But the manual is also impressive in terms of content, as some very big issues were addressed. If these 10 action steps do not inspire you to act, they might make you think and doubt. Not least because the author leaves it open to the reader to decide “YOU SHOULD” or “YOU SHOULD NOT”. A solution for us technical writers to encourage active reading and conscious decision making? Probably not.

Ross Sinclair said the following about his instructions on the wall in the magazine “Neues Leben”: “An honest attempt to bring us all together, turn us all upside down and shake us until it hurts.

But what’s actually behind these wall-sized instructions?

During a stay in Leipzig, Ross Sinclair found many fading “wall paintings” from GDR times that praise the good things in Soviet life. For example “Those who walk with the Soviet Union will be the winners of history”. At the same time, large-format advertisements of the new colorful world and its products were already on display.
Sinclair now wanted to take this style into the new era with his mural in this completely anachronistic style, and contrast it with current mantras of late capitalism.
The instructions on the wall are part of Sinclair’s Real Life project, which was created in 1994 when he had the words “Real Life” tattooed on his back. Since then, Real Life has become a performance project that can be found in a variety of Sinclair’s exhibitions and art projects.

www.rosssinclair.co.uk (PROJECTS / 2000 / Real life and How to Live it, No.1)

find it on Google Maps (for all who want to visit the great tutorial at Schumachergäßchen 1-3 in Leipzig)