The 2016 Pompidou Center Beat Generation show (currently up, in a revised version at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany) made it as number three in the art-site Hyperallergic‘s years-end list of the “top 15 exhibitions around the world” . The artist-critic Joseph Nechvatal writes: “The entire airy layout of the Centre Pompidou’s retrospective of the Beat Generation was flawless, delicately and luxuriously balancing the dim lighting requirements needed to show the mix of texts,paintings, photography, collages, ephemera, historical documents, magazines, book publications, jazz music, spoken-word recordings, and fantastic underground films. Its content was a hard rejection of American right-wing idealism, racism and homophobia”
In New York this past Sunday, (January 1st) , the St Marks Poetry Project (celebrating this year, fifty years) put on its 43rd Annual New Years Day Marathon Reading. Among the highlights, (from over a hundred-and-fifty-poets an artists) – the Project’s co-founder, Anne Waldman (see here)
January 6th – today we celebrate poet John Wieners birthday (previous birthday celebrations can be accessed here, here, here and here. See also our two-part Allen Ginsberg on John Wieners here and here
This year we draw your attention to this extraordinary lecture, “Love In The Archives” by John’s (posthumous) editor (editor of Stars Seen In Person – Selected Journals of John Wieners) , Michael Seth Stewart – an unexpurgated, enthusiastic, illuminating torrent on his work.
The Collected Poems.. and a biography are both still in the works, edited by scholar and editor Robert Dewhurst.
Meanwhile, Wave‘s recently-published Supplication (a selected poems), remains a remarkable and essential book.
As we noted here, on the very last day of last year, our dear friend, the poet, teacher, and musician, David Meltzer passed away. David’s obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle by John McMurtrie can be read here.
