Unnatural Acts

July 21, 2010
Presented by Les Figures Press, 21 – 24 July

Taking its name from the historic collaborative writing marathons led by Bernadette Mayer and others in NYC during 1972-73, Unnatural Acts will explore the themes of hunger, war, and desire through public acts of collaboration.

Beginning with two days of installation and performance by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin, a group of ten writers/artists will gather on the third day to write together over the course of eight hours.  In a daily ritual inaugurated on the fourth day, the outline of a new person’s body will be traced onto the bodies of text until the exhibit closes on August 11th.

21 July 12-5pm: Installation, 5-5:30pm:  Performance of Hunger Texts Read in the Dark by Amina Cain

22 July 12-5pm: Installation, 5-6pm: Street Performance of 4000 Words 4000 Dead by Jennifer Karmin

23 July noon-8pm: Unnatural Acts 8 hours of collaborative writing. Collaborators include: Harold Abramowitz, Tisa Bryant, Amina Cain, Teresa Carmody, Saehee Cho, K. Lorraine Graham, Jennifer Karmin, Laida Lertxundi, India Radfar, and Mark Wallace.

24 July 2-3 pm, Artists’ talk, 4-6pm: Collaborative Reading and Artists’ Talk.  Readers include: Harold Abramowitz, Tisa Bryant, Amina Cain, Teresa Carmody, K. Lorraine Graham, Jennifer Karmin, India Radfar, and Mark Wallace.

Amina Cain is the author of the short story collection I Go To Some Hollow (Les
Figues Press, 2009), and a forthcoming chapbook, Tramps Everywhere (Insert
Press/PARROT SERIES).  A recording of her story “Attached to a Self” was included
in the group show A Diamond in the Mud at Literaturhaus Basel in Switzerland in
2008; other work has appeared in publications such as 3rd Bed, Action Yes, Denver
Quarterly, onedit, Sous Rature, and Wreckage of Reason: Xxperimental Prose by
Women Writers.  She lives in Los Angeles.
Visit Amina’s website at aminacain.com

Jennifer Karmin’s text-sound epic, Aaaaaaaaaaalice, was published by Flim Forum Press in 2010. She curates the Red Rover Series and is co-founder of the public art group Anti Gravity Surprise.  Her multidisciplinary projects have been presented across the U.S., Japan, and Kenya. A proud member of the Dusie Kollektiv, she is the author of the Dusie chapbook Evacuated: Disembodying Katrina. Walking Poem, a collaborative street project, is featured online at How2. In Chicago, Jennifer teaches creative writing to immigrants at Truman College and works as a Poet-in-Residence for the public schools.
To see Jennifer’s work, visit aaaaaaaaaaalice.blogspot.com

Collaborators:

Harold Abramowitz‘s recent publications include Not Blessed (Les Figues Press) and A House on a Hill {A House on a Hill, Part One} (Insert Press). Harold writes collaboratively as part of SAM OR SAMANTHA YAMS and UNFO, and co-edits the short-form literary press eohippus labs.
See his work at http://www.eohippuslabs.com.

Tisa Bryant is author of Unexplained Presence (Leon Works, 2007), co-editor, with Ernest Hardy, of the anthology War Diaries (AIDS Project Los Angeles, 2010), co-editor of The Encyclopedia Project’s Encyclopedia Vol. 2 F-K, due out Fall 2010, and has work forthcoming in Animal Shelter 2 and Mixed Blood.  Her creative process demands she write longhand, one of her favorite words is ‘autochthonous,’ and she teaches in the MFA Writing Program at CalArts. See more at http://www.encyclopediaproject.org.

Teresa Carmody is the author of Requiem (Les Figues Press, 2005), and two chapbooks:  Eye Hole Adore (PS Books, 2008), and Your Spiritual Suit of Armor by Katherine Anne (Woodland Editions, 2009). She lives in Los Angeles and is co-director of Les Figues Press. See more at http://www.lesfigues.com/lfp/24/requiem.

Saehee Cho holds a BA in Literature/Writing from The University of California, San Diego and an MFA in Writing from Calarts.  She has just
completed her first collection of short stories tentatively titled Form, Composite.  Her work has been featured in Shrapnel and Ex Nihilo. See more at http://www.thesproutandthebean.com.

K. Lorraine Graham is the author of Terminal Humming (Edge Books). Visual work appeared in the 2008 Zaoem International Poetry Exhibition at the Minardschouwburg, Gent, Belgium and the Infusoria visual poetry exhibition in Brussels and Ghent, 2009.See more at http://www.spooksbyme.org.

Laida Lertxundi, (Bilbao, Spain) works on film making non-stories with non-actors that play with diegetic space and a particular sound and image syntax to create moments of downtime, of a time between events. Her work has been shown at MoMa, Lacma, Viennale and the New York Film Festival views of the Avant Garde among other places. See more at  http://www.laidalertxundi.net.

India Radfar is the author of four books of poetry: India Poem (Pir Press), the desire to meet with the beautiful (Tender Buttons Press), Breathe (Shivastan Publications) and most recently, Position & Relation (Station Hill/Barrytown Books) and one chapbook, 12 Poems That Were Never Written (Mind Made Books). She has lived in Los Angeles for the past 6 years. See more at http://www.stationhill.org/authors/profile/230-India_Hixon_Radfar.

Mark Wallace is the author and editor of more than fifteen books and chapbooks of poetry, fiction, and essays. Most recently he has published a collection of tales, Walking Dreams, and a book of poems, Felonies of Illusion. See more at  http://wallacethinksagain.blogspot.com.