A Visual Conversation on Michelle Greenblatt's ASHES AND SEEDS
with contributions by Stephen Harrison, Monika Mori | MOO, Jonathan Penton, and Michelle Greenblatt
in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"O sand O silk O galactic black wild—she dances naked, breathless, on the web-spread surfaces of Zodiacal light."
"Through the Dark"
by Alexis Moon and Jonathan Penton, in the Memorial to Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"We met behind the stones where our friends lay..."
"Revelation"
by Bernd Sauermann, in the Memorial for Michelle Greenblatt, January 2016
"A new year brings rain to a distant state of mind. Finally, the
weather has horribly broken. Finally, a curtain has parted to
reveal a curtain. Night falls like ashes and I mean this in the best
possible way..."
"Saxophobia"
by Glen Armstrong, January 2015
Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He also edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters.
Michelle Greenblatt reads from ASHES AND SEEDS
November 2014
Michelle Greenblatt, who became the Poetry Editor of Unlikely Stories: Episode IV in 2013, has spent nine years developing this 166-page narrative, exploring the horrors, potential and actual, of teen sexuality. Check out a twenty-minute reading from the book.
"Hello" and "The Rip-Hoff" by Matthijs Vlot
with an interview by Jeremy Hight, May 2014
"I will try to find as many good clips as possible and then I'm going to the edit stage and try to glue 'em all together, this can sometimes be quite a puzzle. Usually timing is everything, obviously when there is music involved, but also without it. Sometimes just a half a second more or less between two sentences can make or break a joke for example."
"Nonce.Executor," "molly departed, bloom departed," and "Ingenstans" by Talan Memmott
May 2014
Talan Memmott is a hypermedia writer/artist, and theorist. Memmott has taught digital art, electronic writing, and new media studies in the Digital Culture and Communication Program at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden, the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department at California State University Monterey Bay; the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Colorado Boulder, and the Rhode Island School of Design.
"Ethan has nowhere to go"
by Brian Vann, based on the missing short story by Jeremy Hight, April 2014
Brian Vann's interpretation of "Ethan has nowhere to go" takes camera input, meausures change, then uses that change to make bricks that get in the way of the little word fishes.
"This Is"
by Alan Bigelow, based on the missing short story "Ethan has nowhere to go" by Jeremy Hight, April 2014
"I replaced every word in the story with the word 'word.' I took the lines of his story, compressed them, and formed the phrase 'THIS IS A STORY.' I threw in some touch/mouse interactivity (with some help!). I added some visual backgrounds that seemed to suggest the nature and history of narrative. Our lives have an infinite number of permutations. So do stories."
"Ethan has nowhere to go"
by Aaron Avila, based on the missing short story by Jeremy Hight, April 2014
This is a collaborative piece with all elements created entirely for this work. Lauren Henny created an impressionist song to go along with the piece. She assisted with certain elements of the cinematography. She is also the lady acting in the film. The bulk portion of cinematography and all editing was done by Aaron Avila. He can also be seen acting in the film. He directed the film and dissected both the text and song to create something completely new from both.
Tom Bradley reads from We'll See Who Seduces Whom
by Tom Bradley and David Aronson, October 2013
On September 28, 2013, Unlikely Books released We'll See Who Seduces Whom, a full-color ekphrastic graphic longpoem with text by Tom Bradley based on images by David Aronson. Tom from their book at the release party at Innisfree Poetry Books & Café in Boulder, Colorado.
j/j hastain and Marthe Reed perform from pleth
October 2013
On September 28, 2013, Unlikely Books released pleth, a full-color call-and-response collection of ekphrastic poetry by j/j hastain and Marthe Reed. The authors performed from their book at the release party at Innisfree Poetry Books & Café in Boulder, Colorado.
&UNLIKELY
A group show in Denver, Colorado posted October 2013
On September 27, 2013, Unlikely Stories: Episode IV and Unlikely Books met at the Mercury Café in Denver, Colorado for an evening of literature, vocalizations, and visual effects. Performing were j/j hastain, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Frankie Metro, Lindsey Thomas, Jeffrey Spahr-Summers, and Tom Bradley, with Jonathan Penton as MC.
An Introduction to Kim Asendorf
with Questions by Jeremy Hight, September 2013
"My visual work is based on similar strategies, I am looking for new concepts to create something new. Programming is like the best tool to do so. If you do not just copy all the existing algorithms but develop your own, you can easily surprise yourself and literally discover new aesthetics."
An Introduction to Laura Beloff
with Questions by Jeremy Hight, September 2013
"I have always been interested in the relation between human and environment. In other words, I take for granted that human is enhanced with technology (phones, players, pads, eye-glasses, hearing aids etc. at the moment and more nano-scale enhancements in the future) while our environment gets increasingly enhanced (through GM and other developments)."
An Introduction to Steve Roggenbuck
with Questions by Jeremy Hight, September 2013
"if you wanna keep things old school and only make 50 print copies of a chapbook, i genuinely respect that—you can cultivate an intimate, beautiful community that way. but there are huge opportunities to reach people online if you want. i'm personally really excited to reach thousands of people multiple times a day with my poetry, interact with them, and make a living from it."
Four Videos by Jeremy Bailey
September 2013
"I love stand-up comedy and decided to employ the tactics of some of my favourite comedians, using self-deprecation to create change in a way that people feel is approachable because it's entertaining."
"Lucid Possession"
by Toni Dove, February 2013
"Lucid Possession" is a live cinema performance mixed and animated in real-time using cutting-edge motion-sensing technologies to perform complex layers of media. Musicians and a video DJ control robotic screens, lights, sound and video that merge to present a contemporary ghost story—a poetic musing on noise management—and on self-perception and fame across virtual and real social spaces.
"Discotrope: The Secret Nightlife of Solar Cells"
an audiovisual performance by Amy Alexander, Annina Rüst, and Cristyn Magnus, February 2013
"At the heart of Discotrope is an unconventional projection system: a disco ball that has been modified to use solar cells as mirrors. The ball rotates slower or faster according to how much light reaches the solar cells on the ball and creates fragmented projections on surrounding walls, floors, surfaces and people. We've written custom software to project videos onto the ball and have developed a live audiovisual performance around the system."
"Art Game"
by Pippin Barr, February 2013
"Experience the exhilaration of making art you really believe in! Experience the agony of rejection by the curatorial team! Consider selling out and just making what people seem to want! Change your mind again and follow your dreams! Be a star of the art world! Be a horrible failure! Be an artist!"
"Planet Beethoven"
by Genco Gülan, February 2013
"Planet Beethoven" is a video-art piece by Genco Gülan. Video footage is from the artist's endoscopic left ear examination by Dr. N. Tan Ergin at American Hospital, Istanbul. Sound is the reversed version of L. von Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 In C Minor, Op. 111.
"The Deleted City"
by Richard Vijgen, January 2013
"Contrary to popular belief, the internet does forget. Geocities was one of the first massive online communities and subsequently one of the first to perish. With the deletion of 35 million home-pages not only did we lose the texts and images they contained, but also the structure, concepts and spirit of the community that created them."
Photography Is Easy
by Leslie Thornton, January 2013
Born in Oakridge Tennessee, Leslie Thornton is an acknowledged pioneer in media whose early works first addressed the interplay between cinema, video, installation and improvisation in a manner that prefigured many contemporary media strategies. Best known for her 26 year long serial Peggy and Fred in Hell, she has exhibited worldwide.
CityFish
Interactive Fiction by J. R. Carpenter, January 2013
"Although CityFish is intrinsically about dissonance—between past and present, fact and fiction, home and away—I am not sure yet how to reconcile this new dissonance—between the lines of the story I wrote and the new lines of this coast. In particular, I am concerned with the harsh economic dissonance underlined by the situation still facing those hardest hit by Sandy."
"rhetorical atolls emerging"
by Jason Nelson, December 2012
Born from the Oklahoma flatlands of farmers and spring thunderstorms, Jason Nelson somehow stumbled into creating awkward and wondrous digital poems and interactive stories of odd lives, building confounding art games and all manner of curious digital creatures. Aside from coaxing his students into breaking, playing and morphing their
creativity with all manner of technologies, he exhibits widely in galleries and journals.
"Qua Insurrection"
by Mayakov+sky and Brian Ang, the Interdependence Issue
A cinépoem and musical score by N.O.Koumoundouros, a.k.a. Nicholas Komodore, with a recitation by Brian Ang, from his poem "Theory Arsenal."
"An Open Letter to Bill Donohue, Catholic League"
by Jonathan Penton, October 2012
A video response to Bill Donohue responds to "Piss Christ", Bill Donohue's 2012 condemnation of "Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano
"Nos Echan la Culpa ¿Y los Bancos Qué? No Papers, No Fear in March on Wall Street South, Charlotte, North Carolina"
by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, October 2012
No Papers, No Fear organized a 150-person contingent to march on Wall Street South, Charlotte, North Carolina, before the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March for Our Lives
by Dave Id, October 2012
"The fact that law enforcement chose to come out with such a massive show of force, in full riot gear, contradicted what they had promised beforehand, that their presence would be non-intrusive and that no riot gear would be seen unless there was a serious disruption caused by demonstrators. There was no disruption, or even attempt at disruption."
"Curly Toes"
by Majena Mafe, September 2012
"This line of work focuses on performing the Sounded OUT by creating dummies and scores that are represented increasingly in the virtual vocabularies. They are between...and so nameless things that bulge and protrude into the language of non-sense. As thing, they are a sort of heard as they are approached through sites of both abjection and pleasure. And as in all language this sounded one is like perfume, they have an unpredictable indecipherable affect."
"Abstracting the Self: A study in primaries, secondaries, and a computer's will"
by Pall Thayer, September 2012
This work explores an approach towards the artist's self-portrait within the context of contemporary digital culture and real-time media delivery. The artist's laptop computer has been programmed to take a picture of whatever happens to be before it every two minutes. These images are then randomly combined in a constantly changing, composite "painting" that never quite completes itself.
"Lint People"
by Helder Sun, September 2012
Helder Sun's hands were the ones animating in the opening credits of that one season of South Park. He has been director of photography on many television shows including CSI Miami and on many music videos including Grizzly Bear's "Ready, Able." He is also an animator and artist. His animated film "Lint People" has screened at many festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Ann Arbor, Cannes, Golden Lion and Slamdance.
"Beer Mystic: Last Day on Earth"
a video-story by bart plantenga, August 2012
Beer Mystic is a novel about beer, mysticism, darkness, dogs, post-punk, and the streets in new york, 1987. It's excerpted in over 50 media outlets & zines, as well as Up Is Up And So Is Down [NYU Press] and was recently published in an online global pub crawl.
"The Human Mystery"
by Alan Bigelow, July 2012
"The Human Mystery" is a vision of extinction in an apocalyptic age. The reader navigates the work using a draggable button on a visual timeline of human evolution. Each "chapter" of the work, out of a total of seven, uses text, animations, audio, and images.
"David Cobb from Move To Amend: Righteous Anger and Non-Violent Revolution"
filmed by Belinda Subraman, July 2012
In 2002 David ran for Attorney General of Texas, pledging to use the office to revoke the charters of corporations that repeatedly violate health, safety and environmental laws. He did not win the office, but the Green Party of Texas grew dramatically during his campaign from four local chapters to twenty-six. In 2004, he ran for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket and successfully campaigned for the Ohio recount.
"Fared Warning"
by Vernon Frazer, June 2012
Vernon Frazer's most recent books of poetry include T(exto)-V(isual) Poetry and Unsettled Music. Enigmatic Ink has published Frazer's new novel, Field Reporting. In addition to writing poetry and fiction, Frazer also performs his poetry, incorporating text and recitation with animation and musical accompaniment on YouTube.
"American war veterans return their medals to NATO"
by Gael Maximiliano, June 2012
This video documents the American veteran protest at the NATO summit in Chicago, May 2012.
"La beauté est dans la rue"
by Mayakov+sky and Don Eli, May 2012
This poetry video combines the words of Don Eli with the classic madigral Moro, lasso, al mio duolo into the sociopolitic-artistic framework of Mayakov+sky. Mayakov+sky is a sociopolitic-artistic framework, by the way, combining dance, imagery, music and literature into film.
"We Love You – Iran & Israel"
by Ronny Edry, May 2012
"Lately, in the news, we've been hearing about a war coming while we the common people are sitting and watching it coming like it has nothing to do with us."
"Bob McDonnell's Virginia"
by Jerel C. Wilmore, April 2012
On March 3rd, a group of peaceful demonstrators gathered at Virginia's Capitol Square to protest the "Republican War on Women." This video documents the police tactics used against them.
