I learned a few weeks ago that I have a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, courtesy of the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, to collect and embroider Twitter "poetry." Yay! I am so excited!
I envision a web of interconnected tweeting between myself and poets, both self-defined and accidental, throughout Brooklyn and really everywhere. Sometime this spring or summer, I plan to have a live poetry reading with a responsive embroidery circle. The embroiderers will try to record the poets' words, but since they won't be able to stitch quickly enough, they will end up embroidering what they remember, resulting in new "found/accidental" poems.
The beauty of Twitter is in its ephemeral nature. But this ephemeral quality is exactly what I'm trying to counteract:
I find our obsession with disposable communications sad, and long for a sense of permanence and meaning. That's why I'm embroidering tweets, and also why I'm seeking writers who use Twitter to say something important to them.
So you, yes you, blog readers, can help. Tweet me @IvivaOlenick or @EmbroideryPoems. I need you, yes, you!
One of my first embroideries for this project appears below. Thanks @postcrunk for the words, which seem to have resonated with so many people.
Don't use Twitter? That's ok. You can follow along via my new blog for this project.
How wonderful! I can't wait to see how the responsive embroidery circle works. This is a fantastic project!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I can't wait to see, either!
ReplyDeleteI have been bad about reading my blogs so a little behind. but i love the love poetry reading embroidery circle idea!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joetta! We miss you here in Brooklyn - thanks for checking in with me!!
ReplyDelete