The winner of our George Condo Short Stories Competition is Clare Hill with her entry titled, On The Edge. Inspired by The Psychoanalytic Puppeteer Losing His Mind, the artist George Condo and Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff chose Clare’s piece as the winner from hundreds of entries.
Clare has won a signed catalogue, limited edition Mental States playing cards and tickets to one of Southbank Centre’s Creative Writing courses.
A shortlist of thirty stories have been selected to appear on Ether Books iPhone app. Download the app to check if your story made it on to the shortlist.
If you entered the competition you can claim your free George Condo notebook by emailing competitions@southbankcentre.co.uk with the title ‘Condo Notebook’.
Many congratulations to Clare Hill, and thanks once again to all who entered. You can read Clare’s entry below.
On The Edge by Clare Hill
Empty eyes scan the darkness, looking for evidence of life after death. Haunted by memories of his wife and child, he moves through the world like an automaton. Cloaked in grey to suit his mood, he follows a wooden manikin towards a sea of a million teardrops, his heart like a lump of driftwood.
Searching for the invisible makes him blind to his puppet’s sudden animation. Tugs on the strings go unnoticed, until the reversal of master and servant is complete.
The marionette has strong ideas on the direction they should take. Past the forest of sighs, across a deserted beach of cold, moonlit sand, it leads the puppeteer to the edge of a cliff.
‘Jump and it will all be over,’ a scratchy voice from a painted mouth speaks, ‘or cast off the bonds of grief and live the life you have been blessed with.’
It drops to the floor in a tangle of limbs, all vitality spent in getting the man to this point.
The puppeteer looks over the edge of the abyss, seeing nothing but a yawning emptiness in his future. Sweet oblivion.
Tenderly, he picks up the dead doll. He prays something better awaits the spirit after using up its precious time on Earth to save a foolish old man. Wiping away tears for his lost loved ones, he cuts the strings, casts the figure into the chasm and walks away from the edge. He doesn’t look back.
George Condo, The Psychoanalytic Puppeteer Losing His Mind, 1993. Image courtesy The Genevieve and Ivan Reitman Collection © the artist
Filed under: George Condo Tagged: | george condo, Hayward Gallery, ralph rugoff, short stories, Southbank Centre
Two days since posting, and no comments. Have all the other competitors gone off in a huff?
I really enjoyed the Clare Hill’s piece, and also the final shortlist.
I also had an opportunity to read four of the top 30 on the Ether App – by snatching my son’s iPhone4 and hiding for a while. The App doesn’t work on crusty old iPhone3′s, and it’s a devastating blow to the self-worth system to be confronted with that bald message. I found at least one absolutely brilliantly written piece on the site, (it is not in the final five), and would love to read all the top 30. Is there any chance of them being posted on this blog?
My own modest effort was unplaced. I made it into a short film, which can be seen on my Youtube tristano3 channel. The piece is called Rembrandt Reflects http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5awOdCpsY
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the organisers, and wow! to George Condo!
Where is the short list?
Oops, pressed “post comment” before I’d finished – Where is the short list? Other than on the app – that’s only available for iPhones, which stops me accessing it. Is there a URL on here? Thanks.
Ooh nice story!
Hm I don’t have an iphone… would love to read the other stories though!