Archive for May 2011
Aphrodite’s Left Turn / Wednesday 25 May / 7 – 9 pm
Aphrodite’s Left Turn
Wednesday 25th May 2011
A screenplay (published by FormContent) and reading of Scene 3
Aphrodite’s Left Turn is a screenplay conceived of by Samuel Dowd and co-written with Rebecca Bligh, Ben Cain, NaoKo TakaHashi and Isabel Waidner. It is inspired by an unrealised scenario from Frederick Kiesler (1890-1965). Whilst researching the life and work of Kiesler in Berlin during the autumn of 2009, Samuel discovered the following account, written by the polymath’s wife:
“To my astonishment he told me he [Kiesler] had composed a choreography and structured a film. Long after his death I found both, as working projects, in his archives. There were scripts and many drawings for both. The choreography was entitled “Ballet Massacre d’art”; the film “Aphrodite’s Left Turn”, For the film he had carefully worked out shot-by-shot drawings, sound descriptions, etc., and he had selected the cast. Edwin Denby was cast as THE YOUNG MAN, John Latouche as THE CHOIR BOY, Elissa Landi as APHRODITE, and his cat Sing-Sing as THE CAT. The prologue for the film started with:
First man (voice) “ Diogenes was a philosopher because he knew
how to live. He also solved the housing questions for everyone.
You know, slum clearance of the brain and city.”
-Lillian Kiesler, from the introduction to ‘Endless Innovations. Frederick Kiesler’s Theory and Scenic Design’
This account prompted Samuel to invite four collaborators to take on the task of re-inventing these characters, each writing the dialogue for one of the fictional beings whilst simultaneously inhabiting the guise of the originally intended cast member (all of whom, save ‘Sing-Sing’, were also writers in some capacity). Samuel provided the settings and loose plot from which these dialogues were generated (alongside an archive of visual material) – with each writer working in isolation and Samuel editing the responses into this multivocal, fractured yet uncannily cogent text.
Scene 1 was read at FormContent, London in January 2010.
Scene 2 was presented at The National Portrait Gallery, London on the 14th April 2011 as part of Electra Productions series of events Dirty Literature curated by Fatima Hellberg.
The publication is designed by: Atelier Dreibholz
The publication was kindly supported by The Henry Moore Foundation
Published by FormContent
X Marks the Bökship
210 Unit 3 Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9NQ
http://bokship.org
Opening of Nieves, London / Friday, May 20th, 6 – 9pm
With the launch of 3 new publications by
Jürg Lehni & Alex Rich
“News” – Headlines collected 14 February ~ 12 April, 2009
“Selected Footnotes from A Recent History of Writing & Drawing”
“Empty Words” – Playlist compiled September, 2009
and the boxset of all 4 including the previously published “Things to Say”
Come and have a look at a wide selection of Nieves titles,
and three new publications by Jürg Lehni & Alex Rich.
Nieves London map
at X Marks the Bökship
210 Unit 3 Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9NQ
UK
http://bokship.org
Towards a Physiological Novel / Wednesday 18 May at 7pm / Speaker: Jesse Olszynko-Gryn
# 5. Mothercraft books and the physiology of reproduction.
Speaker: Jesse Olszynko-Gryn.
Wednesday 18th May at 7pm.
When The Motherhood Book (1934) instructed the “wise modern mother” to take herself to the doctor “at the earliest possible moment,” far more was at stake than the heath and wellbeing of the individual. Interwar anxieties about production and reproduction fuelled public debates about population decline, criminal abortion, and “the unfit”. In this politically charged climate, the future of the race and nation depended on the science of motherhood, or “mothercraft”. Meanwhile, physiologists developed new “diagnostic” tests for pregnancy. Instructional manuals were powerful technologies that reinforced old notions of pregnancy as disease, but also established new social relations between women, doctors, and the laboratory. By examining popular marriage manuals, home nursing handbooks, and medico-legal textbooks that were published in 1930s London, this talk will explore the changing image of the pregnant woman’s body in homes, clinics, and courtrooms.
Jesse Olszynko-Gryn is a PhD student in the Cambridge Department of University Department of History and Philosophy of Science. He is working on a history of pregnancy testing in twentieth-century Britain as part of “Generation to Reproduction”, a Wellcome Trust supported project. http://www.reproduction.group.cam.ac.uk/
‘Towards a Physiological Novel’ is a series of 8 bi-weekly talks and screenings initiated by Sidsel Meineche Hansen on the subject of communication and Angst, and the production of noise and nervousness in an electronic era. The talks will operate as a mode of research for a physiological novel that examines how information circulates – how it, in physiological terms, is embodied, and consumed in our current society. The series will bring together a diverse range of theoreticians, artists and fiction writers whose works’ provide a flexible foundation for dealing with these ideas. The events are free.
Zines Launch / Preston is my Paris/ Friday 13 May, 7pm – 9.30pm
X Marks the Bokship presents Publisher of the Month: Preston is my Paris
Launch Event: Friday 13th May, 7- 9.30pm
On display will be the whole of the Preston is my Paris Publishing archive as well as original photographs and found objects that have been featured in the Preston is my Paris zine. We will also be launching 5 new publications that feature diverse subjects such as North East America, a Derby to Manchester train journey, a found map of Preston and a canal trip in Norfolk – these will all be available to buy for the first time here. Entry is free all evening and there will be a live DJ and refreshments available.
http://prestonismyparis.blogspot.com/
http://www.pppbooks.blogspot.com/
Re-portrait Yourself / Saturday14 May 2011, 2pm – 8pm
Re-portrait Yourself
Saturday14 May 2011, 2pm – 8pm
Visual flow coordinated by Waldemar Pranckiewicz
One big collective portrait will be created on Saturday 14 May at X Marks The Bökship. The Re-portrait Yourself event is about appropriating existing photographs from various documents and creating a new photographic work out of them.
Everybody is welcome to participate – all you need to do is bring a photograph of yourself, a partner or friend. This photograph should be taken from the following sources: passport, ID cards, driving license or diploma or any kind of certificate.
The photograph you submit will be re-photographed using a low quality mobile phone camera. It will then be printed out and used to create a spatial catalogue out of all re-photographed portraits.
The Re-portrait Yourself project focuses on portraits of yourself taken by others (or by an automated photo booth) which have then been used to represent you in your official documents. The more images you provide the better. Images of you taken in different periods of your life are also welcome.
You can as well get involved with the project by e-mailing a scanned portrait to: czas@free.art.pl (Please be aware that results of your participation could be used in the future projects or public presentations.)
Please Respond / Thursday 5 May, 3pm – 9pm
Please Respond
Thursday 5 May 2011, 3pm – 9pm
Textual interaction by Waldemar Pranckiewicz
Over a 6 hour period on Thursday 5th May you are invited to call in to the X Marks The Bökship at anytime to take part in the following scenario:
1. Create a sentence out of provided text material
2. Use a mobile phone to text the sentence to a chosen person/persons using the prefix: ‘Please Respond:[your sentence]’
3. Stick the sentence to the paper provided and write down any response that you receive.
The scenario, materials and any technical assistance are given – you perform a textual exchange. Every topic, name and comment written down, texted or forward is accepted. ( Please be aware that results of your participation could be used in the future projects or public presentations. )
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