Portfolio Opportunity #16: Robert Kelly @ the Anthology Film Archives

"If there is an answer here / I solve it by studying the shadows / (which are the same color as skin / clothes house wood sky) / and taking them to be the subtle / footprints of everywhere. Here / is everything the light refuses." - from An American Dish

Robert Kelly

Brakhage, in his Letter to Yves Kovacs (On Surrealism), writes about restricting the "motion" of "motion pictures," saying,

I cannot, at this time suggest a more useful analogy than 'crystalline structure,' turn [Robert] Kelly's crystal around in my head, letting it dissolve like snow "settling crystals locking and unlocking with crystals" as he suggests, re-freezing it again and again.

Robert Kelly, a poet of amaranthine powers, who has published more books than you can shake a stick at, has been a constant influence to poets, artists, and filmmakers alike for the past half a century. On Saturday, May 7th, the Brooklyn Rail and the Anthology Film Archives (headed by Jonas Mekas, by the way) are hosting a day of readings, lectures, and performances in celebration of Kelly's service to the artistic community and his 75th birthday.

Here is a link to the event page: http://logicoftheworld.blogspot.com/

As you might be able to tell, this is an incredibly rare and special event. It is also FREE and very long (10AM - 5PM). If you decide to attend (and I sincerely urge you to!), you certainly do not have to stay for the whole time. Hopefully I can get an approximation of the schedule, so we'll know when Mekas is speaking (or doing something! I don't know what to expect, entirely, but I'm sure that it's going to be hard to miss), etc. UPDATE: The program guide is up on the event website. Jonas Mekas is going on right at 10 AM, sharp! As for the rest, wow! It's going to be a great day.

Finally, the opportunity:

Much like previous opportunities, attend a few -- or more!-- of the scheduled programs, taking notes and transcribing quotes of interest. Because I am currently (and I may update this) unaware of the composition of the programming, it is hard for me to tell you exactly what to write out of this experience. You may, as has been previously detailed in other like opportunities, write a short review of the panel (2-3 pages, double spaced) that uses direct quotes in service of enlightening a trend, poem, work of art, film, attitude, etc. mentioned. What could work in this instance would be picking a single quote from the discussion and using it as a guiding principal in your review. In this review, try to not let your writing drift toward making "good/bad" generalizations and judgments; rather, state and explore what you learned from the experience and what unique ideas you left with. This review can be expository or narrative, whichever you feel is appropriate. I'm also willing to entertain any other ideas for a reaction piece that may come to mind. Just send me an email with your idea.

Due: 5/13