Performa Seeks Writing Fellows

POST BY PADDY JOHNSON

Screencapture AFC

Good news for writers looking for additional publishing venues: Performa is seeking writing fellows in association with the Biennial. This will give writers the opportunity to work with Performa artists, participate in seminars and public events, and contribute reviews to the blog and essays for publication in 2010. This is an unpaid opportunity.

Editors note: While we support Performa’s program, we would like to see writers get paid for their work. As such, we can only recommend this program to people who are just beginning their careers. UPDATE: Art Fag City was sent erroneous information this morning from those working on the project. Apparently there is as of yet an undetermined honorarium for those writers chosen for the project. From the updated release:

There is an honorarium for Writing Fellows 1-22 Nov, and future collaborations across NY and the UK will be fully funded (for stage two of the programme taking part in the UK in FEB  2010).

The deadline for applications is October 3rd.

Call out for Writing Live Fellows

Are you an artist, performer or writer engaged in live and interdisciplinary art? Are you an interested in collaborative and experimental approaches to writing? Would you like to be part of a trans-Atlantic art writing community?

If so, you could be part of Writing Live …

1. ABOUT WRITING LIVE

Writing Live is a contemporary critical writing programme for seven professional writers, developed by Open Dialogues, Performa and the Space Between Words.

Writing Live writers will be Writing Live Fellows at the Performa Biennial of International Performance Art in New York in November 2009, during which they will participate in workshops, work with Performa artists, and contribute to a curated platform of experimental critical writing in collaboration with Performa 09.

Writing Live Fellows will continue to work collaboratively with Performa artists and with each other, to feed into a programme of UK-based seminars and public events, and to produce a shared publication in 2010.

The Writing Live Community will be an equal community of 7 peers working in the intersection between art, writing and performance, focussed on international and intergenerational cultural exchange.

Writing Live Aims

* To stimulate intergenerational, international and cross disciplinary debate around visual art performance and writing in relation to contemporary practice and the history of art
* To explore critical writing and debate as discourse and practice, and to highlight the interconnectedness of art and writing about art
* To integrate the practice of writing on and as performance into UK and US organisations, and to enhance connections between academic practice and the wider artistic field
* To provide networking and professional development opportunities for performance writing practitioners, and to produce high quality writing in response to Performa 09
* To develop sustainable partnerships between UK and US organisations and art/ writing practitioners as well as between UK and US Universities

Writing Live 09 will:

* Will bring different writing practices from different cultures together
* Work with Performa, as well as established partners and projects in UK and US
* Conduct a series of events and micro-workshops across the city
* Involve writers, artists and public across the arts spectrum — dance writers and poets, young and experienced writers.
* Cross pollinate writing approaches across countries, generations and practices
* Work between the spoken and written, developing both critical writing's processes and its realization in multiple forms — from written essays, live projection and street manifestos, to scores for critical writing and spoken essays.

Writing Live Propositions:

* What is the future of experimental critical writing and how is it being informed by its past?
* How might different histories of engagement with art, writing and textual practice, in two cultures the UK and the US, be brought into productive dialogue through Writing Live 09?
* How might Writing Live 09 expand the horizons of expectation around critical writing at Performa, to include work with visual/textual practitioners, artist scholars experimenting with writing's forms, and artists working with text?
* How might Writing Live 09 inform the critical creative discourse about art writing?
* How might the practices of different generations — from avant-garde pioneers to recent graduates — be brought into contact?
* How might Writing Live 09 inform future arts policy around the professional development of writers?

2. PROGRAMME

During Performa 09 International Biennial, November 2009, New York

As Writing Live Fellow at Performa 09, you will:

* Collaborate with Performa artists
* Prepare content for, and participate in, three high quality collaborative art writing workshops taking place between the Writing Live Community and high profile invited guests
* Contribute to a curated writing platform in response to Performa 09
* Attend a wide range of events in the Performa 09 Biennial programme
* Attend and participate in a public event about Writing Live and Performa 09

After Performa 09 International Biennial

* As Writing Live Fellows at Performa 09, you will continue to build relationships with Performa artists and to respond to their work for future publication with Writing Live
* As members of the Writing Live Community, you will feed into a UK programme of seminars and public events
* Throughout, you will be an active member of a supportive community of international and intergenerational practitioners.

Benefits

* Collaborate with experienced art writing professionals from the UK and US as part of an innovate and high quality trans-Atlantic art writing programme
* An intensive, supportive and sustainable community of peers in which to develop your practice during Performa 09, and beyond
* Close contact with artists participating in the Performa programme with potential for ongoing relationships
* Contribute to a high profile, curated publishing platform during the Performa Biennial
* A future publishing outcome for collaborative work with Performa artists
* International networking opportunities through Writing Live members and partners: Performa, Open Dialogues, The Space Between Words and other UK/US partners.
* Access to the Performa Biennial, including free tickets.

3. APPLICATION PROCESS

There will be seven Writing Live Fellows, including Rachel Lois Clapham, Mary Paterson (both from Open Dialogues) and Claire MacDonald (from The Space Between Words). We are looking for four New York based writers to join us, one of whom may be a post-graduate student.

Interest and Experience

You will:

* Be an art/writing practitioner with experience of being published and edited
* Have experience working collaboratively with writers and artists
* Be interested in experimental, textual responses to visual art and performance
* Have an interest in and an understanding of Performance Art and its history
* Be committed to international and intergenerational exchange, and in forming long lasting working relationships with other practitioners.
* Be committed to all of the aims and activities outlined above

Logistics

You will need to have access to the time or equipment listed here in order to participate:

* Internet access
* Be based in New York and able to travel across the city
* Commit to contributing to three one day workshops and a one day public event, and to seeing a wide range of events in the Performa programme (dates to be announced)
* Be able to dedicate writing, research and development time to Writing Live during the Performa Biennial in November 09 (at least four days a week developing work for Writing Live, with additional time for seeing performances)
* Be able to dedicate time to sustaining relationships and developing new textual work with other members of the Writing Live Community.

To Apply

If you are interested in applying to become a Writing Live Fellow, please send a short CV (no longer than 2 pages) and a cover letter (no longer than 1 page) outlining relevant experience to opendialogues@gmail.com by 3rd October. Please include samples of your art/writing work.

We will respond to you by 5th October.

4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

About Open Dialogues

Open Dialogues is a UK based writing collaboration, founded by Rachel Lois Clapham and Mary Paterson, that produces critical writing on contemporary art. www.opendialogues.com

Space Between Words
Founded by Claire MacDonald, Space Between Words is an international collaborative network engaging with writing across the expanded field of literature, art and performance — including visual and language poetry, digital writing, performance, theatre, film, music and dance. http://www.thespacebetweenwords.org/

Performa Visual Art Performance Biennial
Performa Biennial was founded by Roselee Goldberg in 2005. Performa 09 is the third biennial of visual arts performance in New York and will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto. The Performa Biennials play a leading role in the development of the performance scene and in the development of critical debate around live art, including its integral place in the history of art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Writing Live Background
Writing Live brings together an international group of young critics, curators and artists to generate writing material related to PERFORMA 07. Writing Live is a continuation of the ongoing Not For Sale public education series, which features artists, authors, and critics discussing the current issues in performance and new media, and the related task of writing about art and artists whose work encompasses several disciplines at once. Writing Live develops previous Not For Sale activities including Writing on Performance and New Media – a two part symposium during the PERFORMA 05 biennial and the PERFORMA Summer Workshops of 2006. Directed: RoseLee Goldberg & Defne Ayas. Co-ordinated by: Rachel Lois Clapham (Writing Live Fellow), Rebecca May Marston (Writing Live Fellow) and Mary Paterson (Writing Live Fellow). Writing Live 2007 was part funded by Arts Council England.