I would prefer not to

Morris writes without writing, publishing over ten books in which not a single word is his own. Of course, this plagiarist’s favourite book is Bartleby & Co. by Enrique Vilas Mattas. In a wide ranging presentation, Morris will talk about: writers who refuse to write; artists who just say ‘no’, the resurrectionists who reduced Michael Crichton, the author of the Andromeda Strain to tears; Andy Warhol and his surrogate Allen Midgette, the raving beauty with his high cheekbones, full mouth and sharp, arched eyebrows; Adam Chodzco’s missing actors from the cast of Salo; John Cage’s refusal to answer questions after lectures; and Chus Martinez posing as Mária Boston in order to persuade the Spanish author Enrique Vilas Matas to spend a week writing in public in a Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of Kassel as part of the contemporary art exhibition Documenta 13. Morris will also reveal his methodology, performing as a psychoanalyst. The participant would enter the room and make themselves comfortable on the couch. Morris, seated behind them— there but not there — would gently reach forward and touch their forehead and the collaborator would begin to free-associate…