ARTSPACE: Bad Language / Juliana Spahr

Artspace and the Jar Foundation Present

Poet JULIANA SPAHR The first instalment of BAD LANGUAGE. WHAT POETRY IS.

Wednesday 16 May at 6pm. Auckland Art Gallery auditorium, corner Kitchener and Wellesley Streets, Admission free.

*

"We are growing into something and it is difficult. We are missing the words or missing the boat or missing the bridge by a few miles. It is like this. We are looking for changing. We are joining things. We join our narrative to other narratives, the narratives of prose or poetry or articles in Scientific American. We join our lives and others. We join relations. As a result we are trying to write an article, a piece called literary criticism about joining because in literary criticism we take a piece of something, take fragments, and string them together with our own commentary or commentary that is in reaction to something else. The commentary is designed to be narrative so as to cover up the fragmentary nature of quotation. This is the way it is with thinking, with gendering, with joining. Forms can carry all ethical positions, like people, all the positions, all the meetings and dividings. We are transition work." - Juliana Spahr, from "Spiderwasp or Literary Criticism", Spectacular Books, 1998.

*

BAD LANGUAGE. WHERE POETRY IS. Lecture/Readings by Seven Poets from New Zealand, Hawaii and New York. Organised by Leigh Davis and Wystan Curnow.

16 May JULIANA SPAHR Her "Fuck You - Aloha - I Love You" was published by Subpoetics Self-Publish or Perish, in 1998. "Response", by Sun and Moon, 1996. She co-edits "Chain" magazine, and teaches poetics at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

30 May IAN WEDDE Curates for Te Papa. He co-edited "The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse", 1985. "How to be Nowhere" is the title of his essay collection. He has eight books of poems and a spanking new collection, "The Commonplace Odes", is just out.

13 June LEIGH DAVIS "General Motors" is his latest poetry publication - see jackbooks.com. A director of Jump Capital, he co-edited the Te Kooti miscellany, "Te Tangi a te Matuhi", 1999, and co-founded the legendary "And" magazine.

27 June WYSTAN CURNOW Poet, critic, exhibition maker, and Artspace founder. His recent call for "High Culture Now!" has not been heeded. His work-in-progress is titled "From the Art Hotel". He teaches poetics at the University of Auckland.

11 July CHARLES BERNSTEIN "Republics of Reality: Poems 1975-1995", appeared last year; "My Way: Speeches and Poems", in 1999. With Bruce Andrews he edited the notorious "L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E" magazine. He directs the Poetics Program and Electronic Poetry Centre at SUNY, Buffalo - wings.buffalo.edu/epc.

25 July MICHELE LEGGOTT "As Far as I Can See", 1999, University of Auckland Press, was her fourth book of poems. She co-edited "Big Smoke" with Murray Edmond and Alan Brunton. She teaches poetics at the University of Auckland.

8 August ALAN BRUNTON "Ecstasy", Bumper Books, is his latest. Edited "Spleen", with Wedde and others. Still "concept leader" and writer/performer for Red Mole Enterprises. He co-edited "Big Smoke", 2000.

All at Auckland Art Gallery auditorium at 6pm (except Bernstein, live video conference at noon, venue to be advised - check our website: www.artspace.org.nz).

ARTSPACE IN MAY 2001

Flesh and Fruity / New Artists 2001; Meagan Blake, Darren Glass, Jae-Hoon Lee, Brigid McLaughlin, Roger Mortimer, Stuart Shepherd, Jodi Stuart and Rohan Wealleans; curated by Anna Miles. Opens Tuesday 10 May at 6pm. Until 2 June. Events: Artists' and curator's floor talk, Saturday 12 May at noon.

Bad Language. Where Poetry Is. Lecture/Readings by Seven Poets from New Zealand, Hawaii and New York. Presented with the Jar Foundation. Organised by Leigh Davis and Wystan Curnow. 16 May Juliana Spahr. 30 May Ian Wedde. 13 June Leigh Davis. 27 June Wystan Curnow. 11 July Charles Bernstein. 25 July Michele Leggott. 8 August Alan Brunton. Auckland Art Gallery auditorium at 6pm (except Bernstein, live video conference at noon, venue to be advised (check our website: www.artspace.org.nz).

JOIN ARTSPACE: Artspace supports development in contemporary art. You can be part of our work by becoming a member. Members receive invitations to all exhibitions and events, discount admissions to paying events, the right to vote in elections of new trustees, the right to stand as for election as a trustee, and free copies of Artspace publications. Membership comes in two categories: Ordinary, $30/$20 unwaged per annum; and Corporate $250 per annum. Corporate members enjoy special benefits including the opportunity to use Artspace for entertaining evening per year. If you are interested in joining Artspace, simply email us with your address and we will invoice you.

ARTSPACE

staff: Robert Leonard (director) and Sonya Korohina (administrator) trustees: John McCormack (chair),Derrick Cherrie, Paul Cullen, Steve Davies, Dominic Feuchs, Howard Grieve, Anna Miles, Monique Redmond, Francesca Rudkin and William Somerville.

hours: Tuesday - Friday 10-6 / Saturday 11-4 street address: 300 Karangahape Road, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand postal address: PO Box 68 418, Auckland, New Zealand phone: (64-9) 303 4965 fax: (64-9) 366 1842 e mail: artspace@artspace.org.nz website: http://www.artspace.org.nz

Artspace is a charitable trust whose mission is to present cutting edge contemporary art. Artspace receives major funding from Creative New Zealand.

© Scoop Media