Please join us in the Bay Area this Labor Day Weekend for a unique collaborative event.

Sunday, September 5, 1-7pm, Studio One, 365 45th Street, Oakland,
Monday, September 6, 11am – 2pm, 21 Grand, 416 25th Street, Oakland

THIS EVENT IS FREE.

We are convening around the notion of labor and poetics. Because issues of labor and money are integral to so many of our lives as artists, we hope that gathering as presenters and participants will highlight the particularity of our struggle to “do two jobs,” that is, make artworks and earn a wage to support ourselves. For the many of us who are not employed by the University, the occasions for speaking in and with a group concerned with poetics and politics in a formal way are rare. We think and hope this gathering will be a positive model for thinking cooperatively in the future.

Our participant-presenters:

Chris Daniels (as deputized by Pamelu Lu), Steve Farmer, Samantha Giles (as deputized by CA Conrad), Andrew Joron, Kevin Killian, Lauren Levin, Dana Teen Lomax, Laura Moriarty, Jason Morris, Vanessa Place, and Cedar Sigo. We are also glad to be able to present short texts from Pamela Lu, George Albon (as deputized by Stacy Szymaszek), and Rodrigo Toscano.

The gathering will include two events. On Sunday at Studio One we will have a day of presentations. On Monday (Labor Day), we will reconvene at 21 Grand Gallery for an open, informal, but hopefully rigorous conversation about issues and ideas raised in Sunday’s presentations and performances. This will be a potluck brunch at 11:00 a.m., with moderated conversation from 12:00pm to 2:00pm.

A detailed schedule of presentations will be available shortly before the event.

As we are organizing this in our "free time," we do of course need your help! There are several ways you can help. If you can host out of town attendees, furnish supplies for the potluck brunch, have video or other technical skills, or would like to pitch in and lend a hand facilitating the event itself, we would love to put you, uh, ‘to work’! Please send us an email and tell us what you can offer.

Finally, this community event is open to all, and there will be no door charge. We would be quite grateful for help defraying costs of the event: for those who would like to contribute cash, we have set up a PayPal account. Money will go towards space rental costs, supplies, and tech.

Feel free to spread the news! We hope to see you there!


david brazil, suzanne stein, brandon brown, sara larsen, alli warren

SAVE THE DATE: Labor Day 2010/ Convocation

Please join us in the Bay Area this Labor Day 2010 for a unique collaborative event.

Partly as a response to the form of the academic conference, in which invitees share the common condition of working in the academy, we are organizing a gathering in which poets who survive by other means are able to present in a formal structure that encourages conversation about poetics and social life.

The topic for this first convocation is therefore LABOR, and we have invited a number of poets and writers to prepare short presentations around how they earn a living.

Because issues of labor and money are integral to so many of our lives as artists, we are hoping that gathering as presenters and participants will highlight the particularity of our struggle to “do two jobs,” that is, make artworks and earn a wage to support ourselves. Because we are not employed by the University, the occasions for speaking in and with a group concerned with poetics and politics in a formal way are rare. But we think this gathering will be a positive model for thinking cooperatively in the future.

Specific locations and exact times remain TBD, however the overall structure of the event looks like this: Sunday afternoon and leading into evening, we'll gather in the East Bay to hear the presentations. Afterwards, we'll have drinks and socially process the material from that day's event. On Monday (late) morning, we'll all convene again to have brunch. At brunch, the presenters along with the audience will have an open, informal, but hopefully rigorous conversation about issues and ideas raised in the performances of Sunday.

We would especially like to encourage attendance by as many of you from outside the Bay Area as might be interested in participating. Because we understand that out-of-pocket travel can be quite expensive and difficult, we will do everything we can to try and help find accommodation and defray the cost of meals. And the weather is usually quite perfect here around Labor Day, if that’s any more persuasive.

This event is open to everyone, and we hope to see as many of you here as possible. This is also something to share with others. Travel will be easier if done in pairs or small groups, and absolutely no one is discouraged from participating.

We'll also look into the possibility of Skype or other forms of broadcast, in order to include as many as might wish to engage.

Times, locations, and a list of presenters shortly forthcoming.

We hope to see you there!

David Brazil, Suzanne Stein, Brandon Brown, Sara Larsen, Alli Warren