A creative, open-minded audience at an extraordinary festival – ideal conditions for an experiment.
We invited our visitors at the Open Source Festival to contribute to a sequel story. Each co-author only read the immediately preceding episode, not the whole story. For this setup, we took a little inspiration from a creativity technique called “Cadavre Exquis” that the Surrealists developed about a hundred years ago. We used our smartpads to capture the handwritten episodes and drawings on paper and digital – and to convert them into text and images for this blog. The result is a literary roller coaster: very spontaneous, very free and something of everything: thoughtful, bizarre, melancholic, hilarious. You can feel the festival mood.
A big ‘Thank You’ to all the authors – for a creative world.
Enjoy.
Please find the complete set of handwritten episodes here »
Note: Most of the authors came from Germany and we asked them to write in English for you.
A never-ending story
The bus suddenly stopped. She must have been sleeping. It took a few seconds, then she saw the handwriting on the window right next to her head. She was sure: it hadn’t been there a moment ago.
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She turned away and looked back at the window. The handwriting was still there but it said something different: “You’re on the wrong path of life” She didn’t know what this meant but also didn’t think about it any longer and kept going to the coffee shop she planned to meet her friends in.
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What should I think about ? Every time the same, drinking coffee or wine, meeting with friends but no one tells me how they really feel. So are you interested in what I feel? She wants to talk about the big point of life, but who else wants the same, in this open-minded but masked life?
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Having all these deep thoughts I suddenly woke up. It was all a dream. Now I realized it is already much too late.
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I’ve been there many times before. I know the way by heart. And my bike finds its way through the neighborhood almost by itself. But this time it felt different. I was agitated. Mad. But hoping for more. Joe.
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The neighborhood looked much different than it usually did! Flowers had unusual colors such as purple and blue. Strangely large butterflies were flying around. I took a deep breath and marveled. There was no sound to be heard, except for the whirring of the butterflies. I felt lightweight somehow. The colors were so sumptuous, nature was bursting with power. But since I was curious I grabbed my bike and continued in the same direction … still excited of what was there to come.
(Translated from German: Die Nachbarschaft sah so anders aus als sonst! Blumen hatten ungewöhnliche Farben wie lila und blau. Merkwürdig große Schmetterlinge flogen umher. Ich atmete erst einmal tief durch und staunte. Es war fast kein Laut zu hören, außer des Surrens der Schmetterlinge. Irgendwie fühlte ich mich leicht. Die Farben waren so prächtig, die Natur platzte vor Kraft. Da ich aber neugierig war, schnappte ich mir mein Fahrrad und fuhr weiter in die bisher eingeschlagene Richtung … immer noch aufgeregt, was wohl kommen mag.)
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But then I saw a lion …
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… and it had the ability to communicate through its mind. I felt it was trying to tell me something important. Something that would change my life for good… It said…
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So if you can dream it, you can do it!
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Then my dream starts with me getting wings. And it continues with spreading these wings and discovering every detail of the earth from far above. And when that’s done I’ll check out the next planet. And when my dream is over I’ll remember the “you can do it” part you mentioned and my expectations will be high! So are you really sure about your words, my friend?
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Because I am aware that my power is limited in the real world, I can learn to do anything and be anything I want in my dreams, because in dreams I am powered by my imagination, which knows no bounds. But I want to know how to be powerful in the real world, because the living beings in the real world are actually real, with all their thoughts and feelings. I want to be there for them, because this world is cruel and if people like me are not able to gain power, no one can save them from the cruelty of this world.
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And every thought of human being, every idea is so powerful! So let us use this power to change the things we don’t like and to keep what we love…
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Love is the idea of a feeling. You have this feeling directly when you meet people. Sometimes love needs time. Sometime love changes, develops, is getting stronger, is reduced. Love has different faces. Be open-minded – you can [find?] love everywhere…
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Love keeps us going, but it’s not the only thing that matters. I think joy is vital for your life as well. It’s important for our health and pretty much like love, you can find joy everywhere. Find joy in the little, ordinary things and I’m sure that you’ll live a better life.
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What does ordinary mean to you? Is it your everyday coffee you share with a loved one? A good talk with a person you didn’t see for a while? Or some time you just spend with yourself. Go for the ordinary things and make them special for you and for others!
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To us the ordinary is the beautiful.
It’s the idea of sharing the daily morning coffee, going grocery shopping in the closest supermarket and taking the same route to uni/work every day.
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To dream your dream is the most important thing. Wake up in the morning and think:
One day I decided to go on a journey with all my family members. Africa, Australia, Hawaii… This was almost two years ago and now we’re just a few months before we will start our journey. Everybody can do it. Just start today.
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When I tried to think of what to pack I didn’t consider time or efforts, but just the feeling of being an improvised story myself.
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… Said the crocodile laconically and went back to being a quite ordinary toothbrush salesman.
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Thus, after all it seems that ice cream is a good idea to convince the little crocodile to calm down again.
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So it chose strawberry-cheesecake
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But it turned out, it was lactose intolerant, so…
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… I took a flight to Ibiza to celebrate it and the next morning
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We went to the beach enjoying the sun coming up. The water was perfect for a swim…
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So we took off our clothes, ready to jump into the water. But just when my toe touched the water, I saw it…
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What was it?
I never saw something so amazing and beautiful before. There were colors like all over the rainbow and wings so big as of an angel. It came near, so near that I could touch him and then…
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Well at the least I thought so, but there ain’t no words in the world to describe the feeling overcoming me. It took me quite a while to realize I was dreaming. I was dreaming a sleepless dream of happiness and sorrow…
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It… It was perfect. I couldn’t find words. I wanted to ask – ask why this had to happen. I thought it was the end. I thought I wouldn’t be happy anymore. But now… I’m free. I know why this had to happen.
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And now I can see her smile and it’s the most beautiful thing in this universe. I saw her cry, I saw her angry. She was a mess. But now she is laughing, dancing and jumping around.
The way she laughs, the way she dances… It just makes me happy, ‘cause I love her so much.
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She rode a horse, a horse with no name. The horse has three legs, humbles so gently and swiftly arriving at two-legs-City. One leg hit the floor, her other still on the horse:
She came down like a dancing elf and I suddenly felt like smiling… forgetting all my worries…
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But then the horse turned into a Unicorn! A burning, screaming Unicom that flew right into the sun. It wasn’t too bad because it was a demon after all. A demon of the unholy lands of Katharon. The most unholy place besides Tokyo. Tokyo is bad! Don’t go there! It’s weird. Trust me…
Well, what else could I say about the unicorn-demon?
Her name was Daniel. It identified as Daniel. Too bad her friends mocked her for that. And then! Everything exploded! EXPLODED! In blue and green flames. And sometimes purple ones. And Throkar the most unholy demon fought against the raging bull and threw pokeballs at it. Ding. Ding. Ding. Oh he catched him! He gave him the name Billy. Billy the bull.
Lol.
And then Harry woke up in his bed under the stairway: “What the f***?” he thought…
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to himself… “where am I? I thought I was in school! ‘Then all of a sudden someone kicks the door . It was a very big man. At least 3m tall! He is bearded, looks homeless and carries an umbrella with him. He says: ‘Harry! You’re a wizard!’ Harry looks confused. He thinks that the guy must be on drugs. Then a wormhole opens up next to him. The tall guy with ‘snakey’ skin jumps out of it. ‘I am Lord Voldemord’ he screams in anger.
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So you know, just like dance like you’ve never danced before and move like you’ve never moved before. So, come on enlightened what a surprise. diggin. flowing device. Please, close your eyes. Spread your wings and move like you’ve never moved before. I wanna climb all mountains, climb up the hills to get thrills just reach you all. Stay in, just stay in harmony.
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Then you can also be Batman and fight the King Mutant Super Turtles, who are just like the regular Turtles but with Laser BEAM Eyes. And beware of the wolf riding super hunters. They will hunt you down and force you to drink Club Mate.
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The wolves are howling from far. The moon shines bright and the silence is overwhelming. She takes a sip from her glass. The taste is strong, salty almost. And bitter. She recognizes it from a distant point in her memory. Had she tasted it before? She’s not sure. The mind takes off all of a sudden. She shivers. Then, there is this sound. At first, she doesn’t recognize where it is coming from. Then she knows. He is there. Right behind her.
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It was not him.
Then goes the Peter Rabbit story.
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“Where are you flying, Peter?”
“I am flying where the wind will take me.”
(Translated from German: „Wo fliegst du hin, Peter?“
„Ich flieg dahin, wohin mich der Wind treibt.“)
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I hope that we could stay together and that we will have many cute kids
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And when the children become older we will travel around the world to our favourite places. We will enjoy the sunset in the African desert and swim through the Atlantic, like you promised me several years ago.
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But actually where we are now is
Hawaii!!!
Aloha!!
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And “wave” is ”moana”! We are surfing it. Maybe diving through it, swimming against it, and then again rolling towards the shore. Gently rising in the sea building constantly higher before breaking fiercely. Tumbling around, and then softly crawling the beach.
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And unexpectedly, without us being able to anticipate it, suddenly the big and gray old man appeared. The shark of all sharks! The shark with the sharp teeth, whose nose was bleeding, and who never brushed his teeth.
(Translated from German: Und unerwartet, ohne dass wir es ahnen konnten kam plötzlich der große, graue alte Herr.
Der Hai aller Haie! Der Hai mit den spitzen Zähnen, der, dessen Nase blutete, und der sich nie die Zähne putzte.)
He came, he swam towards us and surprised us.
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We closed our eyes, hoping that it wouldn’t be too painful, when he turned away from us and moved in a different direction. We were surprised but followed him, knowing that this wouldn’t end well. Suddenly we saw him stopping abruptly and asked ourselves what could have happened. But then we saw it…
(Translated from German: Wir schlossen unsere Augen und hofften, das es nicht zu schmerzvoll wird, als er kurz vor uns abdrehte und in eine andere Richtung schwamm. Wir wunderten uns und schwammen hinterher obwohl wir wussten, dass es nicht gut enden wird. Plötzlich sahen wir wie er abrupt stoppte und fragten uns was passieren sein könnte. Doch dann sahen wir es …)
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It was either me or the fish. I slowly approached. I had the spear in my strong hands. I aimed at the fish precisely. The fish looked at me as if he wanted to say: “Are you serious brah?” Although I was frightened to death I attacked…
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The fish decided to fly. Then she realised she can’t fly, she didn’t give up. She swam further through the ocean, until she found a strong wave. She knew, now is the time to take the opportunity to catch the wave and final fly. So who said fishes can it fly?!
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But nobody said that fishes can’t fly?! So what’s the big deal? Maybe because she believed she can’t fly. It’s technically impossible for the bumblebee to fly. But she’s doing it anyways!
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[to be continued…]
Please find the complete set of handwritten episodes here »
Photos by Johannes Boventer
