‘Reading as a Contemporary Art’ at the ICA was a sell-out in the Friday Salon slot on the 5th of July. An enthusiastic audience participated in group reading (aloud and silent) with St Augustine and Forbes Morlock, did a dictation by Sarah Wood (who also organised the day and plans an issue of Oxford Literary Review on Reading as a Contemporary Art), looked at the visual traces left by Kate Briggs’s reading of Henry James, heard a series of striking reading-performances by Sharon Kivland, watched a book-shimmy by artist-philosopher Hester Reeve, heard a talk that was also a reading of part of his new ‘Field Guide to Proust’ by poet Peter Jaeger, listened to scholarly and highly inventive papers from Brian Dillon and Nicholas Royle, and heard about how Stephen Benson and Clare Connors teach MA students creative critical reading at UEA – one of Kent’s CHASE partners. It was diverse and engaging, and drew in literature and poetry people, fine artists, readers of theory, art writers, non-academics, undergraduates, PhD candidates and others. There was upbeat discussion during the day and afterwards in the ICA bar.
Related events:
Reading as a Contemporary Art 2: the Oxford Literary Review seminar 2013, with Nicholas Royle, Geoffrey Bennington, Paul Davis, Peggy Kamuf, Elissa Marder, Forbes Morlock, Michael Naas and Sarah Wood, all presenting material on Derrida’s essay ‘Che Cos’e la Poesia?’
and
Reading as Contemporary Art: the response of artists and writers to a page in a book held in the British Psychological Society Library.’ This will be a Senate House Library event run by Sharon Kivland, related to a ‘Stories of Psychology’ conference at Senate House the same day, and part of the Bloomsbury Festival. 5-7.30 with drinks, Tuesday 15th October 2013.