Yalla ya Bascot (Go Biscuits), 2008, written text in English and Arabic
In July of 2008, Toleen Touq and I participated in an artist residency in the small town of Shatana in Jordan. While we were being given the initial tour of the town, we heard and briefly saw a car go by in the distance with a speaker attached to its side. The car roamed through the hilly terrain, the speaker repeatedly broadcasting in Arabic the following phrase, "Yalla ya bascot!” (Go biscuits). We decided that this could be the basis for a suitable collaboration, so we started looking for the "biscuit man." Each day we set out and asked anybody that we encountered if they knew anything about the biscuit man. After our daily walks we would sit down and try to recount the people that we met, what they said to us, as well as the visual details of the scene. Gradually, he became a larger than life figure. After much searching, we eventually found him. The text of this piece is a recording of our pursuit, as well as an inadvertent portrait of the town of Shatana. This project is a collaboration with Toleen Touq.
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On Tuesday, we started looking for the biscuit man.
We met three children on the road near the church.
One girl had a pink shirt.
One girl had a long neck.
The boy had a deep voice.
We asked them if they had seen the biscuit man.
They said that they had not seen the biscuit man.
They said that there is a shop nearby that sells biscuits.
They said that there was a truck selling watermelon.
They said that they do not know who the biscuit man is.
They said that they do not know when the biscuit man comes.
We walked further into town.
We met a man standing near his pickup truck.
He had a nice face.
He had a nice smile.
He had a gold tooth.
His hair was parted on the side.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
He said the biscuit man was from Neimeh.
He said the biscuit man comes every few days.
He said the biscuit man comes at noon, or sunset.
We walked further into town.
We met a man with a keffiyeh.
He had curly gray hair.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
We walked further into town.
We met a woman wearing a dark blue dress.
The dress had light blue and white embroidery.
She held Toleen’s hands.
She stroked Toleen’s hands.
She held Toleen’s face in both her hands.
She smiled sweetly to Toleen.
We asked her if she had seen the biscuit man.
She said that she had not seen the biscuit man.
She said that there are biscuits at a shop nearby.
She took us to the shop while holding Toleen’s hand.
She talked about Jesus.
She said that Jesus is in heaven.
She said that Jesus is our savior.
She took us to the shop.
The shopkeeper let us in.
We bought four chocolate bars.
We bought toffee caramel, cream wafer, vanilla wafer, and coconut.
We asked the shopkeeper if she had seen the biscuit man.
She said that she had not seen the biscuit man.
We bought two ice creams from her store.
We walked further into town.
We met a man at the end of a dead end road.
He wore a white djelabiyah.
He rested his left foot on the edge of the balcony.
He held a stick in his hand.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
He said that the biscuit man comes every few days.
He asked us to come into his home.
We walked further into town.
We met a woman with a dog.
She was standing in her yard.
She was hanging plastic bags onto her laundry line.
She spoke to us and said, “Come in my loves.”
We asked her if she had seen the biscuit man.
She said that she had not seen the biscuit man.
She said that the biscuit man could be here in one hour.
We walked further into town.
We met a man who was standing in his yard.
He was eating watermelon ice cream.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
He said the biscuit man comes every two weeks.
He said the biscuit man comes just once per month.
We walked further into town.
We met two boys who were sitting in a van.
We asked them if they had seen the biscuit man.
They said that they had not seen the biscuit man.
We said, “If you see the biscuit man tell him that we are looking for him.”
We walked further into town.
On the next day, we continued looking for the biscuit man.
We met an older man who was sitting on his porch.
He had long eyebrows.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said to wait while he went and got his son.
We asked his son if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
We walked further into town.
We met a boy with a red t-shirt on.
He was standing in his yard.
We asked him if he had seen the biscuit man.
He said that he had not seen the biscuit man.
His mom came out into the yard.
We asked her if she had seen the biscuit man.
She said that she had not seen the biscuit man.
We said, “If you see the biscuit man tell him that we are looking for him.”
We walked further into town.
We met two women sitting on the steps of a house.
There were three children playing nearby.
The woman on the right was wearing black jalabiya.
She was wearing a gold necklace with gold earrings.
The woman on the left was wearing a blue jalabiya.
The little boy wanted to play and fight.
The two women completed each other’s sentences as they talked.
We asked them if they had seen the biscuit man.
They said that they had not seen the biscuit man.
They said that the man with the gold tooth knew the biscuit man.
They said that the biscuit man only comes on Fridays.
We said, “If you see the biscuit man tell him that we are looking for him.”
She offered us some biscuits that she bought from the biscuit man.
She gave us a pink slip of paper from inside the biscuit box.
The slip of paper had the phone number for the biscuit factory.
Then man with the gold tooth drove by and stopped to talk.
The man with the gold tooth said that today he went to Neimeh.
He said that he did not see the biscuit man.
We walked further into town.
On the next day, we continued looking for the biscuit man.
We sat in the center of town with three children.
We waited for the biscuit man.
The man with the gold tooth drove by and stopped in front of us.
He said, “Goddamn this biscuit man – he never shows up!”
The little boy said that the biscuit man looks like a huge tree with branches coming out of his head.
The little boy said that the biscuit man is as tall as the street lamp pole.
The little boy said that the biscuit man’s car is as big as from the church to the red car.
The little boy said that the biscuit man’s biscuits are “this big,” while stretching his arms out wide.
The little girl said that today is Friday and the biscuit man should be coming.
The little girl asked her mom’s aunt about the biscuit man.
The aunt said that the biscuit man only comes once per week.
The little girl ran up to the house with the big picture of the king.
The little girl asked them if they had seen the biscuit man.
They said that they had not seen the biscuit man.
The little girl asked the woman near the red car if she had seen the biscuit man.
She said that she had not seen the biscuit man.
She said that the biscuit man used to come here every day.
She said that the biscuit man had not been coming since we started looking for him.
We walked further into town.
On the next day, we continued looking for the biscuit man.
It was afternoon when we heard the biscuit man.
It was afternoon when we heard his sound.
We heard his speakers in the distance.
The sound was getting louder.
We ran across the parking lot.
We ran further up the road.
We ran to find the biscuit man.
Then we found the biscuit man.
We found the biscuit man.
The biscuit man’s car was colored dark gray.
The biscuit man’s car had four doors.
The biscuit man’s car had a speaker outside the window.
The speaker was playing a song about his biscuits.
The biscuit man’s hair was black.
The biscuit man’s hair was pushed back from his face.
The biscuit man was wearing sandals.
The biscuit man was wearing pants.
The biscuit man was wearing a shirt.
The biscuit man’s shirt was the color of his car.
The biscuit man’s car was filled with boxes of biscuits.
There were boxes of biscuits and Turkish delight.
The biscuit man’s friend was with him in the car.
The biscuit man’s friend had on a purple shirt.
He sang the song about the biscuits that was playing from the car.
The biscuit man’s friend sang a song for the both of us.
We had found the biscuit man.
We had found him and his friend.
We had found the biscuit man.
We walked back to our home.
On the next day, we heard from the biscuit man.
Now the biscuit man was looking for us.
