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.
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
Right now we are in the final stage of readying a 3-tier 5-week show at the Galerie Simoncini in Luxembourg-City. The opening is Friday October 20 at 6 p.m. and we will be conducting performances throughout the weekend.
The exhibition runs from 20 October to 26 November. The address of the Simoncini Gallery is 6, rue Notre Dame, Luxembourg, GD of Luxembourg. Phone: +352 47 55 15. — www.galeriesimoncini.lu
First floor: ACTION PAINTINGS — on 20 October at 6:30 p.m. and on 21 & 22 October at 4 p.m. Paintings created live by Nicole Peyrafitte — “Painting here is an intuitive and physical resultant, a kinesthetic experience” — with Pierre Joris reading from The Book of U / Le livre des cormorans translated by Nicole Peyrafitte & published for the occasion by Editions Simoncini in both a bibliophile & a paperback edition.
Basement: DOMOPOETIC ZONE — An installation by Nicole Peyrafitte of Pierre Joris’ literary universe.
Here you may consult the complete collection of Joris’ books, Peyrafitte’s illustrations & covers for many of these, as well as a range of videos of Joris by Peyrafitte.
2nd floor: RECENT WORKS by Nicole Peyrafitte.
THINGS FALL WHERE THEY LIE / LES CHOSES TOMBENT OU ELLES REPOSENT
THINGS FALL WHERE THEY LIE, a 58-minutes cinéma-vérité documentary feature directed by Nicole Peyrafitte is in its final stages of completion & has already been submitted to various festivals. We will keep you updated and will share a trailer very soon. Meanwhile here is the synopsis:
A filmmaker invites 4 characters for a 5-day visit to Bagnères-de-Luchon, the once-upon-a-time famous and fashionable spa town in the French Pyrenees. The four visitors are Eric Sarner, a poet, translator and broadcaster born in Algeria, now living in Berlin; his wife Katalin Pataki, a Hungarian-born librarian — they met when both lived in Uruguay; and Yuko Otomo, a poet and visual artist born and raised in Japan, who lives in New York with her husband, Brooklyn-born poet, visual artist and jazz critic Steve Dalachinsky. The film follows this group of real-life characters as they are prompted to react to a daily itinerary of (old folklore) events, mysterious (burial) places, excursions, and locals revealing — or not — the connections to the many layers of the town’s and the filmmaker’s history. Can Karl Marx’s grandchild and swing era jazz violinist Michel Warlop meet? Can four languages find each other over lunch and be the talk of the town? Who is buried in what grave? Where did that wedding ring roll? Is he a real shepherd and who is riding on the one (town) horse? What is a better clue: a prehistoric cave or a Spanish border town? Jump on the train and ride that line: Things Fall Where They Lie, and not the other way around.
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.
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
A Happy New Year to Y’all! May the force of health & creativity be with you!
Given our family’s nomadic proclivities, permit us a little résumé of ‘15 & a preview of ‘16 as we are readying ourselves to drive to Boise, ID at dawn on the New Year’s first morning. (We will therefore, sadly, not be able to take part in the 2016 annual Poetry Project Marathon readin’ & eatin’ fest for the first time in many years.)
2015 started with a late January trip for readings & performances to Israel & Palestine, that took us into February, followed in March by a trip to the West Coast, then in April we were in Minneapolis and after a few weeks home in Bay Ridge we lit out for two months in Alt Europa, specifically the South of France: Nicole had a show of her artwork in the Galerie Edouard Paradis in Marseilles, then at the May/June cusp a literary festival “Les Eauditives” in Barjol to celebrate the publishing of the French edition of Bi-Valve by Plaine Page, followed in early June by a collaborative performance at the “Jardin des 5 sens et des Formes Premières” in Aix-en-Provence, followed in turn by readings in Paris around the marché de la Poésie.
On 30 June we landed back in Nueva York & five days later flew off to Durango, Mexico to the Encuentro Internacional de “Escritores José Revueltas,” to celebrate the publication of Pierre’s Mawqif: Poemas y ensayos (Selected poems & essays). We then happily spent the remainder of the summer here with moult visits to Coney Island beaches.
Above is a 4 minutes résumé of Nicole & Pierre’s summer
Pierre would fly off to Paris & Luxembourg in early September to get to work on the first of his shows as resident author of the Luxembourg National Theater— a show that premiered in early late October to excellent notices form the Luxembourg media. Meanwhile Nicole had also returned to Europe & we both did readings and talks at the University of Mulhouse, and in late October a joint reading in Toulouse under the aegis of our good friend Serge Pey. It was fun once again reading in the Cave Poésie a place we had worked in many years earlier.
Nicole had already spent a few weeks in October in Luchon in pre-production of Things Fall Where They Lie a film she then shot during the first ten days of November: an amazing, tiring, inspiring experience with Nicole as director & Pierre as gofer & an excellent team including Steve Dalachinsky & Yuko Otomo, Eric Sarner and Katalin Pataki as protagonists and crew including Asa Westcott, Zia Anger, Agnès Mathon, Jean-Louis Peyrafitte & in co production with Ecran Sud. While Nicole stayed in Luchon for an extra week to wrap things up, Pierre went off to Paris to be interviewed for a film on Osip Mandelstam & Paul Celan & was thus in that City on Friday 13. We flew back to New York on the 22nd. Also in 2015 Nicole had great the opportunity to perform with Michael Bisio, Connie Crothers, Steve Swell, Jason Hwang, Trio Erms, Denis Brun, Armoire Normande, Yoshiko Chuma. And we are now preparing our 4-months move to Boise Idaho.
2016 Preview: At BSU Nicole will be teaching two courses, on on food and culture called What Do We Eat? Why Do We Eat It? Where Does It Come From? How Do We Cook It?& another one: Poetry Perfromance Practice, while Pierre teaches a grad seminar on poetry & poetics. We have already done out best to surround us with friends: in early February Jerry & Diane Rothenberg will be coming in to go to both our seminars & for Jerry to do a talk & reading; in late March Habib Tengour will come in from Paris for a 2-day conference Pierre is organizing around Arab literature & translation (More details t..b.a.).
While Nicole will be off to the Coast at some point for performance & readings, Pierre will be doing a talk & reading at the U of Oklahoma in March or April. We will both be performing at The New Orleans Poetry Festival on April 16.
Meanwhile, son Miles, who finished his first feature film, As You Are, in November, on which his brother Joseph is producer & post-production editor, had the film accepted at the Sundance Festival in the US drama section competition. We will drive down to Park City from Boise to witness the premiere on January 25.
During the first week of May we will drive back (the Northern route through the Dakotas) to Nueva York, where after 10 days or so we’ll switch suitcases and then Pierre will be off to Luxembourg for work on the second play, a 3-act drama, that will premiere at the LNT on 14 June, while Nicole will wing it to Luchon where she has a one month one-woman show of her art plus performances June1-30. Après, on verra… Home in Bay Ridge would, we are sure, feel very, very welocme by then. dreaming of Coney Island beaches…
Don’t worry, the car has been perfectly winterized, fitted out with 4 brand-new Michelin all-weather tires. We will of course keep you updated on the various twists our paths will take in 2016. We are planning to give updates of the road trip on Facebook/Blogs/Instagram….follow us!
Bona anada, feliz anno nuevo, bonne année, e schei’nt neit Jo’er, a nappy ewe’s ear, & however else you want to say it,
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cpcj1G78OSHnfvbb2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bGESyWOB6cJvzzxm1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zPfGJdZq6zGo2U7Q2
