Commentaries - April 2011

Eat, pray, orientalize

Maori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith once wrote that the term "research" is "probably one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world's vocabulary...It is so powerful that indigenous people even write poetry about research."

the R-word. of course, there are dirtier words. and there are dirtier racialized words. and not only are there dirty words, but there are dirty racialized representations, whole narratives that cause those represented to feel anger, outrage, and distrust (and sometimes silence). on the non-othered hand, these narratives inspire some people to "Eat, Pray, Orientalize."

more dirty words in the indigenous world's vocab: National Geographic.

Richard Tuttle and Mei-Mei Berssenbruge

New York poetry reading, Dec. 18, 2010

Ricard TuttleMei-mei Berssenbrugge
Tuttle gave a very rare poetry reading with Berssenbrugge at the Sue Scott Gallery in New York,

Marcel Duchamp

He never had any why.

Marcel Duchamp on painting: "I don't believe in the magic of the hand." Q. "Why did you retire from the world of art?" A. "I couldn't tell you why. I never had any why... Painting always bored me."

From a television interview conducted by Russell Connor on the occasion of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts exhibit of the work of Duchamp’s brother, Jacques Villon, 1964.

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Here are the full details about the video:

Marcel Duchamp Interviewed by Russell Connor
Museum of Fine Arts Boston in association with WGBH-TV
1964, 29:02 min, b&w;, sound

Russell Connor interviews Marcel Duchamp on the occasion of the Boston Museum of Fine Art's exhibition of the work of Duchamp's brother, "Impressionist-Cubist" Jacques Villon (formerly Gaston Duchamp). Connor first introduces paintings, etchings, sculpture and lithographs by Villon, and is then joined by Duchamp, who discusses Villon's work and contributes his thoughts on art in general. This fascinating document gives the viewer a rare opportunity to hear the legendary Dadaist as he reveals observations on the state of art in the 1960's.

Presented by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in association with WGBH-TV, Boston and the Livell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council. Director: Allan Hinderstein. Lighting Director: Linda Beth Hepler. Video: Al Potter. Audio: Will Morton. Recordist: Pat Kane. Associate Producer: Thalia Kennedy. Executive Producer: Patricea Barnard.

Buy it here: LINK.

Sock it to him, sweet Tito

Lawrence Felinghetti's "Baseball Canto" sits in the (I'm imagining April) sun, early-season baseball, schmoozing with the left-field bleacher-bound grungy populaLawrence Felinghetti's "Baseball Canto" sits in the (I'm imagining April) sun, early-season baseball, schmoozing with the left-field bleacher-bound grungy populace. And makes the presences of blacks and Chicanos on the S.F. Giants into a reason for associating the limitations of the Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition and Poundian modernism and American conformity (the latter imposed by Irish umpires).

Sounding the Word: Foreword to Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies (Routledge)

from Harper's, March 2011


pdf

My foreword to Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies, just out from Routledge, which appeared in the March Harper's. Most closely related to PennSound, see an article by Michael Hennessey on the Giorno Poetry Systems and also Jesper Olsson on the poetics of the tape recorder.