Curricula

The Trouble With Atriums Is That They Translate Public Space By Voiding It

Rob Halpern — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:40:46 -0400

[img_assist|nid=443|title=Elliot Anderson: Greenhouse|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=400|height=262] 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.

Allegories of Disablement (Talk)

Thom Donovan — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:34:39 -0400

Here is a written version of my talk from last Wednesday. Thanks to Rob and Lee for hosting, and to all in attendance. It is great to see responses from Amber and Chris (at Nonsite), and John Sakkis at his blog. If anyone has any pics from the event (Lee? John?) and could put them up here it wld be great to have some visual documents. I will be putting the talk and ensuing conversation up in an audio form just as soon as I'm back in New York with the proper tech support.... Thom *** Allegories of Disablement: some consequences of form towards potential bodies Wandering the artist’s monographs at a University of Maryland library in the spring of 2006, I came across the following: Possibly, in earlier pieces, I used the body as a proof that "I" was there—the way a person might talk to himself in the dark. So, with that assumption—that the body was analogous to a word-system as a placement device—there was an attempt made to "parse" the body: it could be the subject of an action, or it could be the receiver, the object (it should be noted that most of the earlier pieces were kinds of reflexive sentences: "I" acted on "me." This initial fragment, from a monograph of Vito Acconci’s work, among other materials I’ve gathered in the past few years, has led me to a prospectus of sorts, if not an inchoate essay on what may be called “disability” in relation to practices in poetics, architecture, design, “live art,” and movement research. What interests me about the Acconci quotation, is how it may encapsulate a larger discourse occurring in the late 60s and early 70s. This discourse, I believe, concerns the constitution of subjects as they are extended in space by movement, language and image; it also concerns what I will call, after a remark by Martha Rosler conveyed to me by a student of hers in conversation, the performance of the body mediated by the imminent threat of harm.

Poetics and Disablement [2]: Notes for an Emerging Project

Rob Halpern — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:17:43 -0400

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

Poetics and Disablement

Rob Halpern — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:42:13 -0400

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): <> --Robert Kocik See also the discussion thread beginning with a post by Amber DiPietra: http://www.nonsitecollective.org/node/397

NONSITE || "Allegories of Disablement"

Rob Halpern — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:46:27 -0400

Start: 07/23/2008 - 18:30

End: 07/23/2008 - 22:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-7

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

NONSITE || General Meeting

Rob Halpern — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:45:32 -0400

Start: 07/21/2008 - 19:00

End: 07/21/2008 - 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-7

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.

Found in Translation // Trachtenberg and Anderson

Rob Halpern — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:19:03 -0400

Start: 07/08/2008 - 05:13

Timezone: Etc/GMT-7

Amy Trachtenberg and Elliot Anderson will discuss practices of translation with respect to landscapes and their inherent social ecologies.

Thursday night, at SF Camerawork. See events.

Elliot Anderson: GreenhouseElliot Anderson // Average Landscape: "Average Greenwood Lake"Found in Translation: Photo by Amy Trachtenberg

Kocik document and Disability and Poetics discussion

Eleni Stecopoulos — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:44:13 -0400

Just drawing attention to a document I've added to Curricula: Robert Kocik's "Proposal for Renovating the Feldenkrais Center in Manhattan." http://nonsitecollective.org/node/428 I link to it, as well, in my comment responding to the discussion on Disability and Poetics inaugurated by Amber DiPietra.

Robert Kocik, Proposal for Renovating the Feldenkrais Center in Manhattan

Eleni Stecopoulos — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:01:12 -0400

Proposal for Renovating The Feldenkrais Center in Manhattan

by Robert Kocik

GENERAL ISSUES AND IMPRESSIONS

DIMENSIONS

The dimensions of the TFC space are problematic—specifically the ceiling height. Upon entering the TFC room, one’s sense of space tends to waft up to the ceiling and get caught up in all the pipes, sprinklers, light fixtures, conduits and beams. Reinforcing this accent on ascent: all the existing lighting is upward, ceiling-lit. Currently there are too few features (furnishings) keeping one’s feet on the floor. The floor itself, unlike the original hardwood flooring in the hallway, is unattractive. These same dimensions are also responsible for the poor acoustic properties of the room resulting in a limited intelligibility of the voice. A listener in the space is receiving the same sound signal at slightly different times (first as direct sound, then as reflected sound and flutter echoes) which has the effect of blurring the intelligibility of the original signal. Adding furnishings will serve to dampen the reverberative effect. The proposed curtain-dividers are in fact the overall plan for absorbing the wayward waveforms. If for any reason the curtains can’t be installed, attaching short (2’ height) absorptive panels from the ceiling beams in between the sprinkler pipes, would be an effective second choice. Such a system would also serve to lower the ceiling and deflect attention from the mechanical systems.

LIGHTING

Without windows and hemmed in by bordering spaces, the TFC space effects a year-round hint of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Also, the existing standard cool white fluorescent lighting (as studies show) tends to adversely affect children with learning and behavioral problems.

from Presencing the Disaster: some consequential poetics after George Oppen

Thom Donovan — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:52:04 -0400

Hi everyone, Here is a section from a paper I wrote for the Oppen conference at SUNY Bflo the week before last, in relation to the work of Nonsite Collective and the poet George Oppen. Tho the section is already posted to the web I thot I'd post it here to share and for curricula... Thom ------------------------------------------------------------------ Discussing George Oppen with my friend Kyle Schlesinger recently, and contrasting his work with the collaboration of Taylor Brady and Rob Halpern, *Snow Sensitive Skin*, Kyle reminded me that the situation distinguishing contemporary poets from Oppen is not just a matter of generation and historical embeddedness, but of degree. When I proposed that the poetry of Taylor and Rob was a new kind of lyrical reportage, Kyle imagined the daily routines of the poets searching beyond mainstream newspaper dailies for indymedia sources, bringing to bear on these sources minds shaped by radical habits of thought, attention and action.