September 26, 2004
William and Talan Take Stockton
I went out toward Atlantic City this weekend to hear William Gillespie and Talan Memmott read. On Friday, they kicked off Scott’s Digital Arts and Electronic Literature Series this semester at Stockton, as promised. It was great to hang out and talk shop with those three throughout the weekend; I also enjoyed getting to talk to Stockton and community attendees at the reading who were interested in e-lit. The longer format allowed Talan to take us through some of several pieces, including a good bit of his in-progress piece dealing with René Margritte, one that joins visual transformations and 3D-like spaces (somewhat like those seen in Lolli’s Apartment) with the art-critical vein of his writing (seen also in The Berth of V.ness and Self Portrait(s) [as Other(s)]). William read from and discussed Table of Forms, The Unknown, 2002, and Trade Names, also talking about the form of 20 consonant poetry that he invented. I’ve heard Talan and William read many times before, sometimes in blitzkrieg readings (which I’ve been guilty of organizing). The short showcases have their uses, but it was good to hear these two go through some of their work in more depth out at Stockton, where I got a better sense of the overall questions, structures, and themes that their work engages.
September 26th, 2004 at 11:21 pm
Thanks for the write-up, Nick. I thought that William and Talan both put on a great show. It was also great to camp out with the three of you for the weekend and to talk e-lit. I was also proud of the beachhouse wireless network, which handled more screens than people without a glitch. At one point when the four of us were sitting around the diningroom table, working on separate and varied projects, I thought “THIS is what happens when e-lit folks get together.” Of course, after I cooked up some (pretty darn toothsome, if I do say so myself) mussels and salmon and I couldn’t get you guys to close your damn laptops, I thought, “THIS is what happens when you invite e-lit folks to your place for dinner.”
Thanks to all for a great weekend.
September 28th, 2004 at 1:38 pm
… was a very good time, hashing it out over salmon hash …
Was good to get a chance to show some of the newer stuff, stuff that isn’t yet available.
Thanks Scott for the invitation and the hospitality. Good luck with future events!