Guest post by Joan Hawkins, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Media School at Indiana University.
Wounded Galaxies 1968: Beneath the Paving Stones, the Beach
Symposium and Series of events Feb 5, 2018-Feb 11, 2018
Bloomington, Indiana
The Sixties were a turbulent period, characterized by major revolutions in scholarship, politics, culture and the arts. Indiana University, in conjunction with the Burroughs Century and the Indiana University Cinema, plans an academic symposium welcoming scholars, archivists, filmmakers and others interested in exploring the intellectual and artistic legacy of 1968, during its 50th anniversary year. The conference will be held on the beautiful IU campus and will be hosted by Indiana University’s Media School; the Indiana University Libraries (including the Lilly Library and the IU Libraries Moving Image Archive); and Indiana University Cinema.
Accompanying the symposium will be a series of films curated by noted film critic and scholar, J. Hoberman (who will also be delivering a Jorgensen lecture) and an exhibit featuring rare and unique items from the IU Library Collection. Greil Marcus (Lipstick Traces and Mystery Train) and McKenzie Wark (The Beach Beneath the Streets) will be giving keynote addresses at the conference, along with renowned musician Annea Lockwood.
In addition, there will be an art exhibit featuring prints by Rikki Ducornet at the iFell Gallery, along with a spoken word performance drawn from her writing and experimental music performances including a recreation of Annea Lockwood’s Burning Piano piece and performances by Tomeka Reid and The Muttering Sickness taking place in various locations around Bloomington.
The film series, art exhibits, music and spoken word performances are open to the public, whether you are participating in the conference or not.
If you would like to present a paper at the conference or for more information, contact Joan Hawkins (jchawkin@indiana.edu) or visit our website https://jwvicker.wixsite.com/woundedgalaxies. Call for Papers.
If you would like to participate in planning and putting on the conference and event series, enroll in MSCH X 370 1968 Experimental Art-Politics Conference Practicum.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (subject to change)
| Monday, February 5 | |
|---|---|
| Public Events | Birthday Party for Burroughs; Blockhouse |
| Tuesday, February 6 | |
| Public Events | |
| 7:00pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| The Society of the Spectacle (1974) – Introduction by Charles Cannon | |
| Wednesday, February 7 | |
| Public Events | |
| 5:00pm | PERFORMANCE – Dunn Meadow, Indiana University |
| Annea Lockwood performs Piano Burning On the surface, Piano Burning is precisely what it claims to be: a defunct upright piano is publicly set ablaze. Situating it as a musical composition, however, emphasizes the constructive aspects of this otherwise perplexing exercise. One’s attention is drawn to the sounds of the piano as it is transformed by flame, an especially beautiful concept given the otherwise unplayable condition of the instrument. It is given a voice and an audience one final time, saving it from a future of obscurity and decay. |
|
| 8:00pm | Reception and Art Opening – TBD |
| Thursday, February 8 | |
| Academic Symposium – Indiana University Cinema | |
| 2:00pm | Registration Begins |
| 5:30pm | Greil Marcus Keynote |
| Public Events | |
| 7:00pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1969) with America (Third World Newsreel, 1969) – Introduction by J. Hoberman | |
| 10:00pm | PERFORMANCE – TBD |
| Tomeka Reid performs | |
| Friday, February 9 | |
| Academic Symposium – Indiana University Cinema | |
| 8:00am | Coffee & Mingling |
| 9:00am | Academic Session #1 – Title TBD |
| 10:45am | Academic Session #2 – Title TBD |
| 12:15pm | Lunch |
| 1:00pm | Academic Session #3 – Title TBD |
| 3:00pm | J. Hoberman Keynote/Jorgensen Lecture |
| Public Events | |
| 7:00pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| Uptight! (Jules Dassin, 1968) with Black Panthers (Agnès Varda, 1968) – Introduction by J. Hoberman | |
| 10:00pm | PERFORMANCE – TBD |
| Saturday, February 10th | |
| Academic Symposium – Indiana University Cinema | |
| 8:00am | Coffee & Mingling |
| 9:00am | Academic Session #4 – Title TBD |
| 10:45am | Academic Session #5 – Title TBD |
| 12:15pm | Lunch |
| 1:30pm | MacKenzie Wark Keynote |
| 3:00pm | Break |
| 3:30pm | Academic Session #6 – Title TBD |
| Public Events | |
| 7:00pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| La Chinoise (1967) with Invocation of My Demon Brother (Kenneth Anger, 1969) – Introduction by J. Hoberman | |
| 10:00pm | PERFORMANCE – The Blockhouse |
| The Muttering Sickness (TMS) performs The Whole World is Watching | |
| This site-specific response to Chicago 1968 and its connection to the Beat legacy will include a live reading/sound/image intertextual exploration of the reportage of William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, and Jean Genet for “Esquire” magazine on the DNC riots, footage of the 1968 events, and the direct overlap with the current fraught political climate. TMS will interrogate these themes further through Burroughs-inflected strategies of cut and interference. “The Whole World Is Watching” deals with an historical event (the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago) in a unique and creative manner by taking the firsthand accounts of Terry Southern, Jean Genet, and William S. Burroughs and presenting them as a performance. This show will engage the audience with provocative subject matter and confrontational aesthetics, and they will come away with increased understanding of those events in Chicago. | |
| Sunday, February 11 | |
| Academic Symposium – Indiana University Cinema | |
| 11:00am | Brunch & Roundtable – Title TBD |
| Public Events | |
| 3:00pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| Daisies (Vera Chytilová, 1966) with Kusama Self-Obliteration (Jud Yalkut, 1967) – Introduction by J. Hoberman | |
| 6:30pm | SCREENING – Indiana University Cinema |
| Skidoo (Otto Preminger, 1968) or Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (Oshima, 1968) – Introduction by J. Hoberman | |
Joan Hawkins is an Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Media School at Indiana University. She has written extensively on horror and the avant-garde. Her books are Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-garde, and Downtown Film and TV Culture 1975-2001. She is currently co-editing an anthology on William S. Burroughs. She is an active member of The Burroughs Century and The Writers Guild at Bloomington.