Event
Re-Engineering: Small (or Large) Machines Made of WordsPost an Event »
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
October 4 - October 4, 2014Info
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http://www.ybca.org/
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(415) 978-2700
Panelists:
Vikram Chandra, writer; author of Geek Sublime
Tom Comitta, poet and creator of the SF Guerrilla Opera
Michael Widner, Academic Technology Specialist for the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at Stanford University
Moderated by Matt Sussman, Re-Engineering Producer and Associate Editor, Art Practical
Introduced by Patricia Maloney, Director of Art Practical and Daily Serving
Forum Room @ YBCA
Part of the Open Cities/Art Cities Festival at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
As a conversation, Small (or Large) Machines Made of Words takes as its starting point the assertion by the poet William Carlos Williams that “[T]here’s nothing sentimental about a poem, I mean that there can be no part, as in any other machine, that is redundant.” More recently, writer and poet Vikram Chandra posits in his non-fiction book, Geek Sublime, that coders strive for the same clarity and eloquence as writers in crafting their form. Looking at hybrid cultural events including Stanford’s Code Poetry Slam and the “open source” SF Guerrilla Opera this panel will explore the intersections and limits of these propositions, looking at how poets and programmers perceive beauty in their respective forms, how processes of mechanization alter and produce their own kinds of affect, and what happens when efficiency and redundancy become aesthetic categories.
Immediately following the panel Vikram Chandra will sign copies of Geek Sublime, which the New York Times Book Review describes as “an exquisite meditation on aesthetics.”
Many thanks to Green Apple Books and Graywolf Press for making this possible.
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Re-Engineering is a series of op-ed articles and real-time conversations co-produced by Art Practical and the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts that invites constructive dialogue between the region's art and technology sectors. By bringing together seemingly disparate voices from both communities, these conversations underscore the creative impulses, capacity to take risks, and desire for positive social impact that these groups have in common. They also highlight the urgent need for a shared language between artists and creative technologists, one that might facilitate collaboration between individuals who have profound influence on the region's culture and identity but find themselves to be segregated from each other. Through such forums, Re-Engineering strives to bridge the chasm that has erupted with the city's rapidly changing landscape and arrest a growing sense of alienation.
About the Festival: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and Institute for the Future (IFTF) are teaming up to engage the public through a creative and generative weekend that looks at how we transform a city. The weekend consists of IFTF’s Maker Cities’ Conference (Oct. 3) and the Open City/Art City Festival (Oct. 4). Through a vibrant mix of art installations, speakers, participatory activities, performances, music, food, and play, IFTF and YBCA invite the Bay Area community to imagine how we can build a city that is more open, creative and inclusive.
For more details and full schedule, visit: http://opencityartcity.tumblr.com/
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Bios:
Vikram Chandra has been called “that rare thing, a writer who is simultaneously a master story-teller and a master stylist” (The Spectator). Chandra's bestselling novel, Sacred Games, is a sprawling tale of Mumbai's phantasmagoric criminal underworld and the unforgettable figures who populate it. Chandra is also the author of a short-story collection, Love and Longing in Bombay, which The New York Times Book Review called “a considerable achievement, one in which the author marries his storytelling prowess to a profound understanding of India's ageless and ever-changing society.” His first novel, Red Earth and Pouring Rain, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. Chandra has also been honored with the David Higham Prize, the Eurasia Region Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and numerous other awards. A graduate of Pomona College and the University of Houston, Chandra lives in Mumbai and California, where he teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley.
Tom Comitta is the author of ? (Ugly Ducking Presse, 2013) and SENT (Invisible Venue, 2014). Since 2011 he has published multimedia text-based art and writing by over 30 artists at calmaplombprombombbalm.com. From 2011-12, he co-composed and co-conducted nine operas with The San Francisco Guerrilla Opera Company, a roving sound poetry troupe that gave voice to street signs and leaked US embassy cables. One opera, Canyouhearmenow?, was covered by the Associated Press and USA Today, contributing to national debates over censorship in the digital age. Currently Comitta is a book designer and a facilitator of writing workshops at elementary schools. In 2015, Gauss PDF will release Collected Books: 2011-2014, an offering of the 42 books Comitta composed over four years.
Michael Widner works for the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and the Stanford University Libraries, where his job title is Academic Technology Specialist. He consults and collaborates with faculty and their research assistants on DLCL-based digital humanities and instructional technology projects. He also helps organize and present events for the Digital Humanities Focal Group. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. He is also the Director of Technology for Lacuna Stories, a digital research and teaching platform that emphasizes close reading, annotation, and connected learning.
Matt Sussman is Associate Editor of Art Practical for which he produces the Re-Engineering column. A longtime freelance arts journalist, Matt's writing has appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Art in America, The Wire, Flavorpill, Queerty, BUTT Magazine, and KQED Arts. He also works as Communications Manager at Bay Area Video Coalition.