PERFORMA POETRY SERIES

What if someone told u you were significant?


POETS AND DATES

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 6:30 - 7:30 PM | Heather Phillipson, Bunny Rogers, Andrew Durbin

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 6:30 - 7:30 PM | Ben Fama, Sophia Le Fraga

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 6:30 - 7:30 PM | Harry Burke, Morgan Parker

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The Performa Poetry Series introduces a program of Alt-Lit poets, a generation of young writers who came of age alongside the rampant proliferation of the Internet, whose works borrow the distinct and peculiar motifs of language online.

Across social media and digital spaces, these poets explore the written word unbound from the printed page and the stern formality of style manuals. Employing Tweet-like phraseology and the fluid and unfixed nature of text online, ideas take flight through abbreviations, Internet slang, and emoticons; the informal vernaculars that punctuate popular expression online. Camouflaged amidst the tone and look of the average Facebook status update or Tumblr reblog, Alt-lit speaks to an age where our sincere reflections and most private beliefs can be shared at an instant with the click of a button—published directly, spread widely, and preserved as a public backlog of visible memory.

Poets and artists participating in the series include Heather Phillipson, Bunny Rogers and Andrew Durbin, on Nov 5; Ben Fama and Sophia Le Fraga, on Nov 12; and Harry Burke and Morgan Parker on Nov 19.

The Performa Poetry Series is presented as part of Heather Phillipson’s installation Final Days (2015) and organized by Mark Beasley. The title of the series–“What if someone told u you were significant?”–is taken from Bunny Roger’s recent publication My Apologies Accepted (2014) published by Civil Coping Mechanisms. 

Image credit: Bunny Rogers, Sister Jackets, 2012; courtesy of the artist.