Reanimation Ceremony : of David Wojnarowicz last public reading

FREE, RSVP list is now full. There will be a standby line the night of the event.

Please note: limited seating available. First come, first served.

In 1992, shortly before his premature death due to the AIDS epidemic, David Wojnarowicz read in public for the last time at a benefit for Needle Exchange held at the Drawing Center. The texts he read were excerpts from his own writing, such asClose to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration(1991) andMemories That Smell Like Gasoline(1992). Organized in conjunction with a … is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12, and taking the form of a poetry performance, the program will begin by playing the original audio recording of Wojnarowicz, followed by readings by Shiv Kotecha, Filip Marinovich, and Anna Vitale.

a … is alter(ed): Open Sessions 12 features artists Joeun Aatchim, Kenseth Armstead, Ludovica Carbotta, Billy and Steven Dufala, LaMont Hamilton and Ester Partegás.

Open Sessions is a two-year artist program of interdisciplinary events and exhibitions focused on drawing, organized by Rosario Güiraldes and Lisa Sigal.

POETS

Shiv Kotecha writes poetry, fiction, and criticism. He is the author ofThe Switch(Wonder, 2018) andEXTRIGUE(Make Now, 2015). Creative and critical writing can be found in Frieze, Art in America, and The Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere. He is currently a PhD candidate in NYU English, finishing a dissertation titledDecomposition as Explanation: The Forms of Duration from Poe to Post-Conceptualism.

Filip Marinovich is the author ofWolfman Librarian(Ugly Duckling Presse, 2015),And If You Don't Go Crazy I'll Meet You Here Tomorrow(Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011), andZero Readership(Ugly Duckling Presse, 2008). His new bookThe Suitcase Tree is forthcoming from The Operating System. He teaches the poetry seminar Queering Poets By Sun Sign at The Page Poetry Parlor in Chelsea Manhattan.

Anna Vitale is the author ofDetroit Detroit(Roof Books, 2017),Different Worlds(Troll Thread, 2017), and several chapbooks. Recent writing has appeared in Alienocene, Full Stop Quarterly, and Jacket2. She hosts the Tenderness Junction on WFMU in Jersey City and teaches at the School of Visual Arts and the Bard Microcollege at the Brooklyn Public Library. In fall 2018, the pamphletOur Rimbaud Mask about David Wojnarowicz's Rimbaud series, was published by Ugly Duckling Presse.

Image caption: David Wojnarowicz reading at a benefit for Needle Exchange, The Drawing Center, 1992.