We Sure Are 2021 Ready!

We Sure Are 2021 Ready!
Video
 
Indeed, all of us are ready for a healthy 2021. Truly hoping you have all made it through 2020 ok. We can’t complain, as we stayed healthy & productive throughout. Like for many of us, travelling gigs were cancelled though most only postponed or “zoomed”. Below, what’s coming up in the new year & some of our 2020 highlights. May justice, peace & health be on everyone’s schedule. If you are in NYC, remember that we will have to vote again & it is an important mayoral election. There is numerous candidates officially launching their campaigns — the Democratic primary is this 22 June & the general election 2 November. It is an important one since the NYC police department still needs to see serious deep changes. Profound & structural reforms are essential to address systemic racism, brutality & basic injustice. The word “Defunding” may scare  liberals but there are real problems (financial, cultural, etc.) Just look at the NYPD budget & its opacity. As an exemple:
—  Portugal’s total defense expenditure for 10.28 million people: $ 2.53 billion in 2020.
— NYC’s Police Department: for 8.3 million people, $11 billion from the City’s budget are allocated to NYPD’s operating budget.
Voting locally is super important and please join us in keeping the pressure on!
1 billion may have been “reallocated,”  but 80% of NYPD’s members belong to a Union that officially endorsed the despicable & democratically ousted Trump.
    As Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative says: 
“We cannot build our safety on punishment.”
   Meanwhile, keep in touch, stay healthy & together we can Resist, Persist & Assist.
   Bon anada, e schéint neit Joer!                               
   
   Nicole & Pierre

 
A CRÊPE-COOK-ALONG chez Nicole & Pierre
JANUARY 1st, 2021 8 AM EST
 


If you missed our Crêpe-Cook-Along video on January 1st for the legendary Poetry Project’s 2021 New Year’s Day Marathon, which this year was a 24-hour continuous online broadcast featuring readings and performances from a global cast of more than 200 poets, writers, artists, musicians, dancers, and theatre-makers – devotees of the avant-garde and demimonde, proud visionaries and iconoclasts working at the edge across language, time, and place you can see it here & please don’t forget to contribute here
And if you’re really serious about cooking along with the video, download the list of necessary ingredients here.
 

 
DOMOPOETIC KARSTIC-ACTION EXHIBITION
June 4 – July 7th 2021

Nicole Peyrafitte & Pierre Joris’s new domopoetic works are based on three word-concepts:
Les nouveaux travaux domopoétiques de Nicole Peyrafitte & Pierre Joris  s’appuient sur trois mots-concepts
RESIST    PERSIST    ASSIST
Actions paintings/Videos /Textes

Galerie Simoncini — 6, rue Notre Dame L-2240 Luxembourg 
 


Pierre’s 2020 

Books:
Fox-trails, -tales, & -trots: Poems & Proses (Black Fountain Press, Luxembourg)

Concluding 53 years of translating Paul Celan’s literary oeuvre:
Paul Celan: Microliths (Posthumous prose) (CMP )
Paul Celan: Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The Collected earlier Poetry (FSG)

Agadir by Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, translated with Jake Syersak, Dialogos Press, 2020.

Readings & Interviews:
LitBalm Reading November 2020
Celebrating Paul Celan: An Evening with Pierre Joris and Paul Auster Nov 2020
Writer’s Against Trump   August 2020
Woxxx Interview with Isabel Spigarelli September 2020

Pierre received the 2020 Prix Batty Weber, the Luxembourg national literary prize that is awarded every three years since 1987 to a Luxembourgish writer for the entirety of his work. Interview by Florent Toniello in Woxxx. His Fox-trails, -tales, & -trots: Poems & Proses was shortlisted for the Luxembourg National Book Awards.

The British daily, The Morning Star, named Microliths one of its two literary “Books of the Year.”

 

Nicole’s 2020 

Karstic-Actions:
Resist-Persist-Assist w/ Pierre Joris — Nov 2020
Vote! : August 2020
Je me dé-suffis / I de-suffice myself  — July 2020
Salon Zürcher – March 2020
Kingston 2020 w/ Pierre Joris, Michael Bisio, Patrick Higgins — Jan 2020

Other Videos:
Pierre Joris’ reading for Paul Celan’s 100th Birthday — Nov 2020
Robert Kelly : A Celebration w/ Pierre Joris —August 2020
Pierre Joris: Beach reading — July 2020
Voilà! Cooking while Confined — March-April 2020 — 24 live cooking videos w/ Nicole & Pierre

Readings:
LitBalm Reading 

Publications:
The A-LINE Journal
Le chant de la Sirène Journal :
Time of the Poet Republic
Voice of the Trees

11 Women of Spirit at Salon Zürcher & Karstic-Action

11 Women of Spirit at Salon Zürcher & Karstic-Action
1- Kingston, NY. Cardinal (2020) 29.5 x 38.5 
2-Kingston, NY. Jaune d’Oeuf (2020) 29.5 x 38.5

I am very much looking forward to 11 Women of Spirit, a mini-art fair at Zürcher Gallery, 11 female artists representing themselves in the space. I will be showing recent Karstic-Action paintings.
Opening Reception: Monday, March 2, 6 – 8 PM
Closing Reception: Sunday, March 8, 5-7 PM
Open to the Public:
 Tuesday, March 3- Saturday, March 7: 12-8pm
Sunday, March 8: 12 – 7pm 
Galeriezurcher.com
33 Bleecker Street, New-York, NY.

 

 

Below, the video documentation & above, two paintings of our latest Karstic-Action at The Lace Mill in Kingston N.Y. Together with Michael Bisio (bass), Patrick Higgings (guitar & electronics), Pierre Joris (poetry), we wove, carved, painted, played, occupied, sung, worded , danced a 50-minute improvised action. 

Voilà! I am looking forward to see you in March and together let’s Persist Resist & Care and keep our spirits up !

Happy 2020 & more!

Happy 2020 & more!

Pastels on Canvas 52×24 — Fall 2019
Thank you Guillermo Gregorio for the permission to use this beautiful music
Rodchenko : Suite Part Two (1999) Album Faktura (released 2002 by hat Art/Hat Hut Records, Switzerland)

A HAPPY 2020 TO YOU ALL!

Pierre is finishing up several books for 2020 publications and gearing up for many upcoming trips & I locked myself into my studio making new paintings for upcoming exhibitions.
2020 is going to be very busy and we’re already scheduling 2021. See below for details & snapshots from 2019, but first a few dates to save:

EVENTS:

NICOLE & PIERRE
Sunday January 19,  2 PM – 8 PM:
Steve Dalachinsky Memorial
Artist Space
11 Cortland Alley, New York
Event details here

PIERRE
Saturday January 25,  7:00PM:
Poetry Reading, The Gallery at Atlas
11 Spring Street, Newburgh, NY 12550

NICOLE & PIERRE
Sunday February 2,  4:00PM:
Trialogues performance with Mike Bisio (bass)
The Lace Mill
500 Frank Sottile Blvd
Kingston NY 12401

PIERRE
Saturday February 8
Torn Page Presents
A Staged Reading of  “The Agony of Ingeborg B” 
play by Pierre Joris & directed by Vera Beren
435 West 22nd Street/ New York NY 10011
doors 730pm /reading 8pm

February 21
Spiritual Exercises: Robert Kelly’s Science of Becoming Aware
Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM  Room: Humanities  219

February 26-29
Abu-Dhabi, UAI — HAYE FESTIVAL
Thursday 27:   1.p.m.:  Conversation with Adonis, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi
Friday 28:        1.p.m.: PJ in conversation with André Velter
                        8:30- 10 p.m. Celebratory Readings for Adonis

NICOLE
March 2-8

“The 11 Women of Spirit” Salon Zürcher 21st Edition
Opening: March 2, 2020, 6-8 PM
open Tuesday, March 3 to Saturday, March 7, from 12 – 8 PM 
Sunday, March 8 from 12 – 7 PM
Closing Party: Sunday March 8, 5 – 7 PM
ZÜRCHER GALLERY, NEW YORK
33 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

 

PIERRE
Friday May 1
Celebration reading by & party for Robert Kelly on the occasion of the publication of “A City Full of Voices: Essays on the Work of Robert Kelly” (Contra Mundum Press).
The Poetry Project / St. Mark’s Church
131 E. 10th Street, New York, NY 10003

March 5-7
Rice University, Houston TX,
Paul Celan Conference — Keynote Speaker

NICOLE & PIERRE
June 7
Kings College, University of London
Jerome Rothenberg & Eric Mottram celebration

PIERRE
June 11-12
University of Chicago Center Paris
Keynote at Conference “Courts-circuits et visions disjonctées : œuvre et réseaux de Claude Pélieu/ Short-circuits and Fused Visions: The Works and Networks of Claude Pélieu”.

October 2-3
Celebrating Celan at 100: Witnessing for the Witness.
Conference at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
DTBA

November 16, 6 p.m.
Celan at 100: Early Poetry & Posthumous Prose Books
Pierre Joris & Paul Auster
Deutsches Haus, NYU
DTBA

PUBLICATIONS:
Given that 2020 will be the 100th birth- & the 50th death-year of Paul Celan, there will no doubt be a number of other events around his life & work in which Pierre will partake. His final two Celan translations are coming out in summer & fall of this year: “Microliths  they are, Little Stones” (Posthumous prose) from Contra Mundum Press & “Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The Collected Earlier Poetry” from Farrar Strauss & Giroux.
& to RUSH even further ahead & then right back to SUM UP the year ending now:

NICOLE & PIERRE
February  2021
Galerie Simoncini, Luxembourg
Multi-floor Karstic Action exhibition, action-paintings, cooking & readings.

Notes from the Domopoetics studio:

So, some of our intense 2019 activity — such as the October/November visit to the prehistoric caves & overhangs of the Dordogne and, majorly, the 5-day internship at the Gargas caves in the Pyrenees, close to where Nicole was born & raised — was specifically undertaken as r&r (no, not rest & recuperation: reconnaissance & research) for the upcoming Karstic Action show.  

Those 2 weeks came after a first stop in Paris (& a 3-day trip to the Frankfurt book fair by Pierre) & continued with a week in our place in Bourg d’Oueil (r&r? no: family visits, & first tentative steps at making clay pots that may or may not become the food vessels for the 2021 actions) followed by 8 days that were supposed to be quiet, meditative (r&r? finally!) days in Venice with a yoga workshop, visits to galleries, churches & the Biennale. Except of course that we arrived as the Acqua Altas equinox tide flooded 90% of the city, the worst in 1/2 century, so that we also spent a fair amount in r&r (recon & research) to find, first rubber boots and then open food stores. Still, an intense time was had, too much to report here, though mention must be made of what was one of our favorites pieces at the Biennale: Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s (recipient of the 2019 Turner Prize) single channel video installation “Walled Unwalled” — for which, as it turned out, son Joseph was the colorist.

We returned to Brooklyn to the happy news that Joseph — as producer, this time — and Cameroon-American film-maker Ellie Foumbi’s feature project “Mon père, le diable” had been selected for funding in the 2019/2020 edition of the Venice Biennale College! Hopefully no one will need rubber boots for the film’s premiere scheduled for the Mostra de Venice end of August 2020!

Miles has been just as busy this year, with his second feature, “Dreamland” — starring (and co-produced by) Margot Robbie — premiering to very good reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. This fall “Gaslight” a mystery story produced by QCODE & written & directed by Miles aired to excellent response. You can check it our here. He has meanwhile also written a new horror-thriller film script — “The Hunter and the Fox” — for Annapurna Pictures & is at one of the many (& somewhat confusing to us) pre-production stages as he will also direct this film. 

In resistance and persistence forward into the new decade. Stay strong, keep your spirits up and do keep in touch,

Nicole & Pierre
 

2019 snapshots

 

Opening Weekend at la Galerie Simoncini au Luxembourg

Opening Weekend at la Galerie Simoncini au Luxembourg

Video capture Paige Mitchell

Amazing week (preparing, setting up, installing) and uplifting weekend (painting, reading, performing) at the Simoncini Gallery in Luxembourg. We had a three-day opening party during which we nomadically performed our collaborations moving across the three floors of the exhibition.

At the lower level we have installed a complete set of Pierre Joris’ publications — about 60 books & chapbooks moving between poetry, essays & translations. The earliest publications date from 1969; in 1990 begins the years of our collaborations: it includes art work I created for Pierre’s books & videos (12 are available at the galerie) on Pierre’s life & work.
The readings at that level thus focused on our Domopoetics world. The readings on the 1st floor (or 2nd floor in the US!) focused on my recent books & carnets as exhibited there. The performance on the ground level was dedicated to live Action Paintings — I made 5 this weekend! — with Pierre reading from The Book Of U, his new book of poems published by Editions Simoncini with my translation and illustrations for the limited edition.

On Friday Man’ok performed on bass with us. On Saturday & Sunday Pierre DJ’d sound files by earlier collaborators Holland Hopson & Michael Bisio.

So far this has been a truly superb experience for us and, we hope, for the many visitors, from old friends to the people who came in because they saw the action in progress from the street.

The show will run until November 26 and a few more Actions will occur.

With many thanks to André Simoncini & Ingrid Anders and their incredible team of collaborators who made it possible.

Here is the first batch of documentation organized by sections:
Opening Weekend Actions:
Screen Shot 2017-10-22 at 23.55.29https://photos.app.goo.gl/cpcj1G78OSHnfvbb2

Ground Floor : Action PaintingsIMG_9402https://photos.app.goo.gl/bGESyWOB6cJvzzxm1

Basement floor : Domopoetics Zone
DOMOPOETICS ZONE
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5cnQFIUaOCzk30mO2

Upper Floor: Works by NicoleIMG_9392https://photos.app.goo.gl/zPfGJdZq6zGo2U7Q2

Galerie Simoncini Editions:
The Book of U / Le livre des cormorans

Poems by Pierre Joris
Translations & Original illustration Nicole Peyrafitte

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3x5r9g0dRrXeoAAo1

PRESS:
Pre-Opening article:
http://www.woxx.lu/exposition-et-performances-petit-traite-de-domopoetique/

And if you are invited to the finissage at 4PM on Saturday November 25!

*OrgaGinal* Show in Luchon – France

*OrgaGinal* Show in Luchon – France

From June 1-30

*OrgaGinal* : intallations/show/performance

Organic /Organique
Deriving from all and any living matter and primarily characterizes a continuous development between encountered elements.
Vient de toute matière vivante et surtout caractérise un développement continue entre des éléments rencontrés.

Deriving from living tissues or from transformations undergone by the products of living organisms.
Qui provient de tissus vivants ou de transformations subies par les produits d’organismes vivants.

Concerning, producing, favoring organization while inherently belonging to this organization.
Qui concerne, produit, favorise l’organisation et est inherent à cette organisation.

A person whose fantasy is in some way organic” Jean Cocteau.
”Personne dont la fantaisie est en quelque sorte organique” Cocteau.

Original/Original
Deriving from something that exists since its origin.
Vient de quelque chose qui existe depuis son origine.

Raw, initial, native, primal, primitif.
Brut, initial, originaire, premier, primitif.

Which comes directly from its author and its source.
Qui émane directement de son auteur et de sa source.

Created for the purpose at hand.
Qui a été créé pour les besoins de la cause.

Behaving in a manner that belongs only to herself and that may appear eccentric, extravagant, particular, singular.
Qui se comporte d’une manière qui n’appartient qu’à elle et qui peut paraître excentrique, extravagante, particulière, singulière.

My “origin” lies, here (written June 2016) in Luchon — where I was born in 1960 and where I lived until 1982. I have been in the US since 1987. First in San Diego and now in Brooklyn. My work as a pluridisciplinary artist leads to much travel, and thus to very varied works: performances, drawings, paintings, texts, voice work, film & video, cooking… I am not attached to one specific form or genre, I use what I need.
Mon “origine” se trouve ici (écrit en juin 2016), à Luchon, —j’y suis née en 1960 et y ai vécu jusqu’en 1982. Je suis aux USA depuis 1987. D’abord à San-Diego et maintenant à Brooklyn. Mon travail d’artiste pluridisciplinaire me conduit à voyager, d’où des travaux très variés: performances, dessins, peintures, textes, travail de la voix, films, cuisine .… Je ne suis pas attachée à une forme particulière, j’utilise ce dont j’ai besoin.

*OrgaGinal* is the portmanteau word which defines my in/quest to communicate with the ancestral female unconscious, but also with everything that permits heuristic discovery. That is to say, the art to search for what one finds; thus this mantra that has been following me for quite some time and that is also the title of my next film: “Things fall where they lie.”
*OrgaGinal* est mon mot valise qui définit mon en/quête pour communiquer avec l’inconscient féminin ancestral, mais aussi avec tout ce qui permet une découverte heuristique. C’est-à-dire l’art de chercher ce qu’on trouve; d’où le mantra qui me suit depuis longtemps et qui est le titre de mon prochain film: “Les choses tombent où elle reposent.”

Event with the exibition: Concert avec/ with Connie Crothers

Article in La Dépêche