Learning to Love You More

The best of the groundbreaking website learningtoloveyoumore.com, which asks ordinary people to complete out-of-the-ordinary assignments--with extraordinary results.

In a world obsessed with "reality" programming, the collaborative public art project known as "Learning to Love You More" offers a refreshing take on how actual people think, act, and love. Created by Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher, the web-based project, begun in 2002, offers more than sixty "assignments" that can be completed by anyone: "Write the phone conversation you wish you could have"; "Photograph two strangers holding hands"; "Draw a constellation from someone's freckles"; "Take a flash photo under your bed." Completed assignments are posted on the web site; to date, more than 5,000 people have participated in the project--artists and non-artists of all ages, from New York to Cullowhee, North Carolina, and from Tel-Aviv to Rio de Janeiro. For this book July and Fletcher have carefully curated a provocative selection of the most memorable submissions. These written and visual responses range from shocking and moving to hilarious and oddly brilliant. Together they create a pop culture collage that tells a larger story about life today. The result is an engaging, heartwarming, idea-sparking book sure to inspire, teach, and entertain.