QUESTIONS

CONCEPT NARRATIVE

I'm calling EDEN a 'concept narrative' because it may or may not be/become/befit any of a number of things, such as an experimentation in publishing, a blueprint for a performance piece, a crossover creation or something I haven't yet thought of. The idea is to keep it fluid and let it find both its own format and also the people who want to engage with it at whatever level and in whatever way that suits them.

Also, by emphasising the 'concept' element, I want to manage expectations as to the kind of 'narrative' this is going to be: I'm not particularly interested in plot here. I'm very interested though in people and how they connect with each other, in ideas and in situations and what emerges from them. You can make of this what you will, and that, to my mind, is the beauty of it.

METANYM

FREI is my metanym. I've invented (I believe) the term metanym to mean a real name that is used as a pseudonym by somebody who is normally known by another pseudonym. In my case: my actual, official and original family name is Frei, which happens to also be the German and Swiss German word for 'free'. For a complex host of reasons I dropped this name in my late teenage years, and when I moved to London at the age of 21 I started working under the name Sebastian Michael. I still use this name and most people know me by it. So FREI, particularly used in all caps and as an acronym too, is now effectively another layer of abstraction from what could be considered to be 'my' name; and it's also at the same time my 'real' name and my 'pseudonym', it's effectively a metanym. I like that.