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

 

Galerie Simoncini Exhibition & Books & TFWTL

Galerie Simoncini Exhibition & Books & TFWTL

Carte_invit_Nicole&Pierre_Blog_1

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.

Carte_invit_Nicole&Pierre_web-1

 

THINGS FALL WHERE THEY LIE / LES CHOSES TOMBENT OU ELLES REPOSENT

TFWTL

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.

 

Burning Lamb & Bands : TreeFort 2016

Burning Lamb & Bands : TreeFort 2016

Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 09.48.28 copy

Dear Boise,

Are you for real? Or will I find out one day I was dreaming? Many things have charmed me about you & just to name a few: the kindness of your people, the basques, who have a special place in my heart, your dry & mild winter, your mountains, your deserts, the variety & quality of your state grown food — & I am not talking of the potatoes —,  your foodcoop, your restaurants, your cleanliness…& now your Treefort Festival!?

I love you, Boise!

NP

It’s spring break & I was looking forward to stay put here in Boise & catch up with my pile of to do’s. But the Treefort in in town! The five-day, indie rock festival started in 2012. Today the emphasis is still on the music with about 400 bands playing from Thursday through Sunday, while another full schedule of events organized in “Forts” happens simultaneously. I attended FilmFort, FoodFort & StoryFort. This is what Treefort says about itself & I witnessed it:

We see Treefort as a celebration what makes Boise great – whether it’s Boise’s local breweries, homegrown food, skatepark, lively downtown core or simply its strong spirit of collaboration and love of the outdoors. Boise has something for everyone, no matter their age, and we hope that Treefort is an example of that.
In 2015, Treefort was named the City of Boise’s Cultural Ambassador for being an event that genuinely reflects the energy across mediums that is happening in the Boise community and cultural scene, and for the vision of connecting Boise and its creatives with other communities around the region, the country and around the world. The Cultural Ambassador title runs through 2017.

Private venues take advantage of the Treefort momentum to organise events of their own. On Saturday afternoon, as I was heading to the Foodfort to taste some of the local chefs’ dishes, Basque friends tell me that whole lambs are being roasted outside The Modern Hotel. Not surprising, since the owner is Basque & her family owned a Basque boarding house accommodating shepherds in Nampa, ID. “The Modern” is one of Boise’s artsy cultural hubs where locals gather at the bar for cocktails & tasty morsels. I rushed to the Modern & there the scene was unreal. On both sides of Grove Street Band Dialogue III was rehearsing. This recurring event, led by Seth Olinsky, features a dozen bands with their respective instrumental kits lined up &  generating shifting walls of sound…& next to it a lamb was quietly being roasted, hand cranked by the helpers of the Ansotegui’s Family. Watch the video to get a sense of the scene & hear about the Ansotegui’s family history & recipes. I hope to visit them soon again at Epi’s Restaurant in Meridien.

 

& now for the sake of keeping record, this is the list of what I did:
Wednesday March 23 :
Filmfort
Idaho’s Forgotten War : great doc about the Kootenay people. In 1974, tribe leader Amy Trice declares & wins war on the United States government to save her people. Then stayed on for the screenings of Funnel, SMOKE + Q&A, Carbon + Q&A

Thursday March 24
Filmfort :
Outstanding  afternoon of screenings. Different genres but totally inspiring works & Q&A
A Band Called Death  Q&A + Skype discussion with filmmakers
Everyone in Between
Genderations
The last two docs must be shown widely to get great insights & understanding of the —hopefully soon to be dead— gender labelizations.
Music:
Wolvserpent, Mamiffer, Chelsea Wolve (the last one was my favorite)

Friday March 25
FoodFort:
Grains in the Gem State :  Panel about new grains being grown in Idaho, Teff being one of them (can’t wait to try KIBROM’S, the local Ethiopian & Eritrean restaurant.) 
Screen Shot 2016-03-27 at 16.14.05
Music:
Naked Giants: Very talented & very young boys band from Seattle that really cracked me up —felt very nostalgic for the Skinnybones years! (Jake Williams & our son Miles Joris-Peyrafitte band from a few years back)
Filmfort:
Janis: Little Girl Blue (which Pierre, the old hippie, liked more than I did.)

IMG_3348
Saturday Mach 26
StoryFort:
Eileen Myles:  loved the activating & sharp reading & Q&A.
MixedFort: (I made that one up!)
Basque Lamb & Bands: see Burning Lamb & Bands
Music
Would have liked to hear CocoRosie but was sold out.
So back to more of the Naked Giants, followed by Dude York featuring — what I liked best about the band, bassist/vocalist Claire England.
Sunday March 27
StoryFort:
As soon as I post this I will be heading to Paige Ackerson-Keely, Kerri Webster & Janet Holmes readings & then back on track to teach tomorrow!

Merci Les Bois!

Boisen Euskal Bizitza or Basque Life Style in Boise

Boisen Euskal Bizitza or Basque Life Style in Boise

March 19th, 2016: St. Joseph’s day. I am not christian, but still a special day for me since it is was my beloved grand-father’s name after whom I named my older son.  On that day Pierre & I were very honored to be invited by Argia Beristain & Chef Jesus Alcelay to the monthly Basque dinner at the Boise Basque Center. Three hundred diners are scheduled to attend. We arrive a little early & wait at the bar before filing into the banquet room.  I look around &, without the sound track surrounding me I could be anywhere in the Pyrenees, with the sound track anywhere in the Basque country. The conversations are mostly in Basque & there is almost nothing to remind me that I am in Boise, Idaho. Not only are the conversations in Basque, but most of the faces look familiar. It is clear that Pyrenean people share the same ancestry. Native Pyreneans are Vascons, a people of ancient Iberia & undoubtedly facial as well as cultural features remain & I definitely belong to this tribe.  A few years back I had my DNA tested & besides having a high percentile of Neanderthal variants — I am not kidding: I am more Neanderthal than 89% of 23andMe customers, & have 307 variants when 400 is the max!  I am also 70% Southern European, with 60% Iberian…. Thus not so French, & it delights me to feel the cave ladies of the Pyrenees in me!

Even the aromas escaping from the downstairs kitchen are familiar. Argia invites me to sneak down to say hello to Chef Jesus Alcelay. We are just in time to capture Jesus in full action before the dishes are hoisted up to the dinning hall. We catch him putting the finishing touches to the Oriotorra, a technique I must say I have never done in this order, but will try soon. See Jesus demonstrating:

Here is the delicious, copious & generous menu, served buffet style:
Oriotarra — Cod the way they make it in the town of Orio — see video
Tripacallos — Honeycomb beef tripe in tomato sauce
Arroza Txirlekin — Clams & Rice (same as the one Jesus made for our class on Monday)
Txingarretan Saiheskiak — Slowly roasted garlicky ribs
Green Salad & Cake

So, yes! being in Boise is great on many accounts, but the history, gastronomy & solidarity of the Basque that impregnate the town helped me feel at home right away.
Both my Food & Culture classes celebrated Basque culture in Boise. Chef Jesus Alcelay hosted the Monday night class & on Friday basque scholar Argia Beristain shared her family recipe—see details here.

We sat we Argia & her husband Keenan. To my right, two families of first generation immigrants who both came as shepherds, & one told me that he was the last shepherd to have come from the Basque country. It was moving to hear their stories. As I said on this blog, I read John Bieter’s (B.S.U History Professor) & Mark Bieter’s excellent book :  An Enduring Legacy : The History of basque in Idaho, but hearing stories first hand is very special. I wish I had written down their names to thank them for their hospitality & sharing. Please contact to me if you read this blog so I can add your names.  (Addendum: Thank you Argia! to my right Miguel Angel Azpitarte)

. Voilà! meanwhile here is video to give you a taste & a sound bite of the evening. A happy Saint Joseph’s day & a heart felt eskerrik asko!

 

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