Exchange Ratings

BY Penny Modra

Danielle Freakley is a Melbourne-based artist, currently working on a performance art project entitled The Quote Generator. Begun in October 2006, the project involves Danielle speaking in the form of cited quotations over a period of three years. In respect for the work, the rest of this article will appear as cited quotes.

“The Quote Generator asks you what percentage of your speech is habit, vomit and spiel…The Quote Generator is a regurgitation library to live by…The Quote Generator is a semiotic experiment and a performance art project…Language is already stolen, we already quote all the time…The Quote Generator is a concentrated overdramatised version of a very natural process of repetition and assimilating information.” (The Quote Generator Rules, 2006)

Danielle kindly interacted with us about it. (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Hello Danielle, thanks for this interview. (Penny Modra, March 2007)

G’day. (Burke’s Backyard, 1987 – 2004) Special thanks for taking the time (Race and Racism: Essays in Social Geography, 1987) it’s kind of you. (Diana: Family’s Grief: Princes in a Sea of Sorrow, 1997)

Is it true that, for three years you will speak only in quotes, always citing the source? (Penny Modra, March 2007)

It is not that simple, daughter. Nothing is that simple. (Pocahontas, 1995)

What is the purpose, for you, of the Quote Generator project? (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs. (Guy Debord, 1931 – 1994) All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature; the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost – the most legitimate passion nature has bred into us. (Marquis de Sade, 1740 – 1814)

What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbours, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all. (Voltaire, 1733)

I really think I am nobody, if you work as an artist you destroy yourself. The more you work, the less you exist and each time you do an interview a part of yourself disappears. It seems awful, but it can also be a good thing, since it is easier to make art than to live. It’s a choice one makes. (Christian Bolatnski, 1996)

Does this project lead on from, or connect to your earlier work in any way? (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Yes. (Optus, 1991)

Through this experience so far, have you discovered anything new about social interactions? (Penny Modra, March 2007)

I knew it was all hopeless, I was sick with longing and my clothes felt miserably tight. (Vladimir Nabakov, 1955) I felt like I was a scared little kid, I was like… it was above my head, I don’t know. (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004)

My disease grew upon me, for what disease is like alcohol. (The Black Cat, 1843) Shall I recover of this disease? (The Book of Ezekiel, The Bible, 735BC – 715BC) Small Talk. (englishclub.com, unknown year)

How do people react? (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Callin me a fool man. (Breakin’, 1984) Such was the traditional role of the fool, the town clown or village idiot, who through the hilarity of his gestures provided an inverted and ironic mirror for contemporary culture. (Nancy Spector, 1999)

If the people stare then the people stare, oh I really don’t know and I really don’t care. (The Smiths, 1984) Bring hither the skin diving suit with the bottom cut out, and unleash the rampant wildebeest. (Red Dwarf, 1991)

I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo. (Radiohead, 1992)

You know what? I don’t give a damn about my reputation. I don’t give a fuuuuuck! You know what else? I don’t give a shhhiiiit! (Fatherfucker, 2003)

Have you felt frustrated? Are there things you have been unable to express through quotes (and do you think that these may have been completely original thoughts, never though before?) (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Faster than you could say Shallow Grave. (Hooray for Boobies, 1999) Seriously. (Channel Ten, founded 1965) The Antidote for pleasant moments. (Red Meat Comics, 1997) Like lovers in mine arms nestled vipers to my breast. (Dusk and Her Embrace, 1995) I’m a loser. (Married with Children, 1987)

Do I have an original thought in my head? My bald head. Maybe if I were happier my hair wouldn’t be falling out. Life is short. I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I’m a walking cliché. (Adaptation, 2002) Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. (Society of the Spectacle, 1967)

Most people are other people, their thoughts someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. (De Profundis, 1905)

Thanks so much for your time. (Penny Modra, March 2007)

Thank you. (Deep Throat, 1972)