This coming Saturday:

JOHN FORBES
Ars Poetica




















John Forbes scrutinizes the latest issue
of New Zealand literary magazine 'Landfall'
at 'a-little-loungeroom-reading' poetry party
at our home in Ultimo, Sydney
in Summer 1996



On January 23rd, 2008 it became 10 years since the terrific Australian poet, John Forbes died suddenly, at the age of 47. To mark the anniversary of his death, John’s fellow poets, his family, friends, fans and poetry-lovers in general, are invited to come and remember his life and work.

Readers include: Jaya Savige on the influence of John Forbes’ work on a younger generation of poets, Pam Brown on knowing John in the 1980s in ‘Petersham Days’ and John Tranter, Alan Wearne, Steve Kelen, Rae Desmond Jones and Gig Ryan.

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Raving against the space
where the poem sounds
like a revolving door that
makes the noise a car makes
bumping into the dole –
that’s the target.
                 John Forbes, ‘Ars Poetica’

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free event
3.30pm for 4pm
Venue: gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe
RSVP: gleebooks - 9660 2333
Info: Click here

Books available at Gleebooks:
John Forbes Damaged Glamour
John Forbes Collected Poems
Ken Bolton (editor) Homage To John Forbes
published by (Brandl & Schlesinger)

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Ngapartji Ngapartji is the title of a theatre piece currently in performance in Sydney. It is ambitious, unwieldy, sometimes rough-edged, sometimes perfect. As a theatre experience, it is very powerful. It tells the story, in Pitjanjatjara and English, of the dispossession of Indigenous people by British nuclear tests at Maralinga in the South Australian desert in the late 1950s/early 1960s. But it has a global reach that encompasses Afghani, Japanese and Australian soldiers’ perspectives on atomic testing. It is told through dance, story, song and film. Hearing Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime and Bob Dylan's The Weight and other songs in Pitjanjatjara is a unique pleasure.

ngapartji ngapartji :
I give you something - You give me something



Produced by Big hART, a group of professional artists, arts workers and producers who have been making work together for 15 years – creating theatre, film, television, painting, photography, dance, new media and radio.

Big hART most often works in small communities around the country, with people experiencing the effects of marginalisation in regional, rural, and geographically or socially isolated communities. Big hART experiments with the process of making art with such groups over three-year periods, honing the quality of their work, which is showcased in national and international festivals and media. This often creates new opportunities for participants, helps build skills in communities, assists regional development and helps foster a more inclusive Australian culture.

In addition to Ngapartji Ngapartji, Big hART is currently running a number of other projects around Australia, including Gold (Griffith and the wheatbelt, NSW); Lucky and No Comply (Tasmania’s north-west coast); Street Survivor (Melbourne); and Radio Holiday/Drive-In Holiday (north-west coast, Tasmania) and has recently completed the Northcott Project (Surry Hills, NSW) and Junk Theory (Cronulla, NSW).

Performance Information : click here
On now - Season Ends: 10 February 2008
Belvoir St Theatre
25 Belvoir St,
Surry Hills
Sydney

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Peter McGregor
anarchist, hedonist, academic, writer, activist, friend
1947 - 2008



Obituaries :

one
two
three

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This is the film, Rock My Religion, that was a component of the retrospective exhibition of Dan Graham’s work that, when I saw it some years ago in Paris, provided the impetus for my poem
Patti Smith Was Right

Patti Smith was right

these cold, known objects
                            are not very likeable –
      aluminium frames
         & curved glass with optical tricks –
but I am ‘at ease’
     at this show,
there are some nice little-grin ideas –
        like television 
              screening outside
          on the suburban home’s front lawn,
& time-delay verité videos
  to amuse the usually uncrackable
                                   hardened gallery-goer

  ∇

have I flipped ?       into a strangely placid
           political zone         a lack of clutter
  and environmental concern -
these things are so simple,
                   two hours here & I begin to enjoy
                                             Dan Graham
more than Soutine, Braque, Delaunay,
     Bourgeois, Basquiat, Sherrie Levine,
         Agnes Martin -               although
I can not deny my memory 
         of her beautiful mid-1960’s picture -
                        ‘Milk River’ -
nor her small collection
             of pick-up trucks -     the green Chevie
     glinting with polish – the very driveable
  Dodge parked
outside her desert home.

  ∇

I spend over an hour watching,
    surrendering to
          Dan Graham’s big “Rock/God” video
that makes a simple
           anthropological connection 
              between US tribal & religious ritual -
 group dancing, shaking, speaking in tongues-
                                      and mosh pits and rock music -
          so when Patti Smith sings
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins
                               but not mine”
                                                   I am converted.

  ∇

Patti Smith was right,
                     twenty-five years ago,
to say that rock music,
              meaning, then, for her, punk-rock,
would replace          painting
                                           & sculpture
     as representative of untranscended
                                                    life itself.

You can find brief notes on Agnes Martin here

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the NOW now 2008
is on this coming weekend
18 - 20 January
at Wentworth Falls

for program and tickets click here

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Went to the cinema today. What a truly great film - I'm Not There. (Me neither, maybe.) Todd Haynes is a brilliant film-maker. The musicians include Tom Verlaine, Jeff Tweedy, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Cat Power with a fabulous rolling organ just like The Band's, Sonic Youth, Richie Havens, Antony and the Johnsons and, and, and just listen to Stephen Malkmus singing 'Ballad of a Thin Man' and the gorgeous, bright kid, Marcus Carl Franklin, the only actor who actually sings in the film - 'When The Ship Comes In' - and Cate Blanchett and the other actors' perfect lip synchs. Lateral timing, layering, representation of how identity is never fixed, how anyone is a different person every five/ten/whatever years and Bob Dylan is an imaginative imagination. Post-modern, beautiful and terrific.





of course you can click on it to see this retro 70s poster in larger format


http://www.IMNOTTHERE-movie.com

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John Forbes
Ars Poetica




Raving against the space
where the poem sounds
like a revolving door that
makes the noise a car makes
bumping into the dole –
that’s the target.
                 John Forbes, ‘Ars Poetica’

On January 23rd, 2008, it will be 10 years since the death of the Australian poet, John Forbes, at the age of 47. To mark the anniversary, John’s fellow poets, his family, friends, fans and poetry-lovers in general, are invited to come and celebrate his
life and work.

Speakers include: Jaya Savige on the influence of John Forbes’ work on the younger generation of poets and Pam Brown’s memoir, Petersham Days.

Readers include: Pam Brown, John Tranter, Alan Wearne,
Morgan Smith, Steve Kelen.

John Forbes' …insistences are always exciting, both intellectually and viscerally. He marries The Vulgar and the Elevated in a fashion no one else does, demonstrating the true function of Popular Culture and Cultural Studies is as subject matter for poetry. His vision is constantly making the ordinary extraordinary. His always brilliant similes renew the world, and the word…
                 Don Anderson, cover note to 'Damaged Glamour' (1998)

Saturday, February 02, 2008
3.30 for 4pm Free Event

Venue: gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe
RSVP: gleebooks - 9660 2333
Info: Click here

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                Ken Searle


                INTROSPECTION : New Drawings

              Opens: 6-8pm Wednesday 16 January 2008
              Closes: 5pm Saturday 2 February 2008

              Watters Gallery
              109 Riley St.
              East Sydney

              Tel: 61 2 9331 2556
              info@wattersgallery.com
              www.wattersgallery.com

              Hours: Tues and Sat: 10am - 5pm
              Wed, Thurs, Fri: 10am -7pm


                 click on image to enlarge

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