Output details

‘Barefoot in the Head: Futurological Poetry’. Incorporating curated performance event at BHQ (Performa 09) New York, 12 Nov 2009; edited book: Rowlands, A., Beasley, M., & Russell, J. eds. ‘Barefoot in the Head: Futurological Poetry’, Article Press, Birmingham, 2011, ISBN 978-1-873352-15-1; authored chapter, Russell, J. ‘A largely intolerable combination of two mainly unconnected texts: 1. Description of the Barefoot in the Head event, at BHQU, NY, 12/11/09; 2. Fictioning and the End.’ in Beasley, Rowlands and Russell (ed.s) Barefoot in the Head. Birmingham: Article Press, 2011: 69-84; and performance: John Russell. 'Based on an image of a performance […]’ 2009 at Bruce High Quality Foundation University, 12 November 2009.

Developing from archival research at the University of Reading’s Brian Aldiss archive, this project took the form of a co-curated performance event, solo performance, co-edited publication (Article Press, UCE, 2011) and authored chapter. The performance event was scheduled as part of Performa, New York, 2009 - the most prestigious performance festival in the world and the book chapter written in response to the event (including my own performance). The curation of the event drew on Aldiss’s conception of poetry described in his novel ‘Barefoot in the Head’ (1969) as a model for the exploration of the excessive or ‘figural’ potential of spoken word performance. The event included work by internationally renowned artists such as Dan Fox, Dexter Sinister, Will Holder and Bruce High Quality University, and collaboration with NYU, Whitney and Columbia Universities. The publication was funded by UCE, Birmingham, as part of the Art Writing Network with Goldsmiths, Birmingham University and University of the Arts, London. My own performance took the form of a theatrical ‘withdrawal of labour’. During the whole event I sat in the middle of the auditorium, wearing a tee-shirt printed with a text explaining my intentions, covering my eyes with my arm, looking down at the floor. An image of the performance featured in THEFIRST/LASTNEWSPAPER, Dexter Sinister, New York, issue 5, 18 November 2009. My chapter in the co-edited book tried to make sense of the event and performances from the perspective of my own intervention at the ‘centre of things’ - unable to see (only listen). As a gesture of ‘absenting’ myself melodramatically from a position of (curatorial) responsibility but at the same time performing a passive aggressive insertion of myself into the centre of the event as an (art) object.