Elliot Anderson: Greenhouse

It was a rich follow-up discussion with Elliot Anderson and Amy Trachtenberg this past Sunday, which included a little "field-trip" down to the Greenhouse--a kind of counter-atrium?--set up for the occasion beneath a redwood. Some notes should be forthcoming.

I prepared the following notes as part of my introduction to Thom Donovan’s talk, “Allegories of Disablement,” on July 23, 2008, which took place over a potluck dinner last nite, with 18 people in attendance. I’m posting these notes here for comment and elaboration as they might contribute to a description for a new Nonsite working group / curriculum.

As I mentioned last nite, it’s been exciting to see this discussion around “poetics and disability” emerge, not only because of the obvious value of its content, but also because it illustrates how the provisional and still fledgling framework of the collective really can enable a self-organized curriculum to take shape organically. Following the various threads of the discussion has been like watching an amphibious discourse emerge from the marsh, as it imagines its own terms, problems and questions without recourse to sanctioned coordinates of knowledge to measure the success of its becoming.

Amber DiPietra began the discussion by pitching an inquiry in a post dated 5/04/08, responding to a call for agenda items for the Nonsite meeting that month, and this was quickly followed by posts by Eleni Stecoupolos, Patrick Durgin and Robert Kocik (excerpts of which appear below). This immediately suggested the sort of traction necessary to sustain some generative work around Poetics and Disablement. Thom’s talk last nite no doubt extended this, pointing toward areas for further research, collaboration and event planning. (The text of Thom’s talk will be forthcoming here).

I’m wondering if the following notes can contribute to the process of generating a description for such a curriculum, which will require some collaborative writing. Please respond with ideas/suggestions as to how we might amend this proposal, as well as any thoughts about how such a project might take shape: reading groups, events, discussions.

Poetics of Disablement: Notes//July 23, 2008 Read more

As a way of introducing tomorrow nite's talk/discussion, "Allegories of Disablement" [see events], as well as being in the general interest of the emerging curriculum around disability and poetics, I'm posting this excerpt from a recent exchange between Robert Kocik and Thom Donovan (the whole text of which will be posted here soon):

<<Every kind of work I do deals in disability. To make matters worse (even richer) I went to the collective’s site and re-traced the history of the disability discourse—combining Amber DiPietra’s “How can we have a dialogue around disability and poetics, not just at the political or social level, but at a generative level--one that begets new experiments in writing? To live with or study disability is to be constantly questioning form and constantly working toward formal innovation—whether that is through accessible architecture or the far reaches of cyber humanity. How can this be translated to syntax and the raw stuff of poetry?” with Eleni’s: “disability founds aesthetics— for all persons, not just those with disabilities. If we became conscious of that, perhaps we might start to see how all our conditions determine our forms...”, and the demand becomes a pan-demand—wanting a way of working in which there’s no discrepancy between activism and formal poetry innovation (which is an age-old imperative) by means of embracing disability (which is almost entirely unheard of).>>

--Robert Kocik

See also the discussion thread beginning with a post by Amber DiPietra:

http://www.nonsitecollective.org/node/397

SF Bay Area:

Come out for a potluck dinner followed by a talk and discussion facilitated by Thom Donovan.

Wednesday, July 23
Dinner at 6:30
Talk at 7:30
Rob and Lee’s home in SF Mission district
email for address and directions:
rob[dot]halpern AT gmail[dot]com

Thom’s talk will pertain to the recent discussion on the website around disability and poetics, while considering work by Brenda Iijima and Robert Kocik.

“How might an art of ‘disability’ potentialize the body under threat of harm, erasure and (mis)representation? I believe this question addresses relations between poetics, performance, movement study, architecture/design. How might the poem itself be a site for recomposing (or ‘remembering’) the body thru ‘disability’ — a term which implies for me not the opposite of capability or ability, but its inverse counterpart? How also can language sites, like poems, offer tools for disability, just as disablement reveals sites of potential conceived as virtual power, or powers yet-to-be. And how, through, disablement, may we gain keener insights into what a ‘body can do’ as a means of ‘overcoming fitness’ (Kocik)?”

— Thom Donovan

Bay Area Nonsite General Meeting:

Monday, July 21 at 7 pm
Get Lost Travel Books
1825 Market Street
San Francisco (betwn Valencia and Guerrero)

Join us to discuss ongoing and future Nonsite projects, including Thom Donovan’s proposal for a Nonsite symposium in New York. (See Thom's recent blog post for the text of that proposal.)

A workbook page will also be posted where you can add items to the meeting’s agenda.