Harriet

Categories

Harriet
Contributors

Archive

Blogroll

All Posts

Women of the Avant-Garde

By Kenneth Goldsmith

finley_egg
[Karen Finley by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders]

Women of the Avant Garde, Part 1 (MP3)
Women of the Avant Garde, Part 2 (MP3)

UbuWeb is pleased to present two special podcasts devoted to the fabulous works done by women on UbuWeb. Featured artists include: Alison Knowles, Louise Lawler, Shelley Hirsch, Lauren Lesko, Forough Farrokhzad, Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Kristin Oppenheim, Jane Philbrick, Marina Rosenfeld, Gertrude Stein, Karen Finley, People Like Us, Kathy Acker, Beth Anderson, Laurie Anderson, Caroline Bergvall, Meredith Monk, Lydia Lunch, Patti Smith, Helen Adam, Denise Levertov, Eileen Myles and Judy Dunaway. You can subscribe to UbuWeb’s podcast here. Produced by The Poetry Foundation.

2009-12-10

Comments (7)

  • On December 10, 2009 at 6:13 pm Kristina Feliciano wrote:

    I was really thrilled to learn about these podcasts. In fact, I posted an item on it at the blog for Stockland Martel, which represents Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, whose wonderful Finley portrait you see above. The direct link: http://wp.me/pqdVV-Ex

    —Kristina
    Report this comment

  • On December 10, 2009 at 6:58 pm Joseph Hutchison wrote:

    Haven’t I seen Karen Finley getting slimed on Nickelodeon? I never knew Nick was avant-garde….
    Report this comment

  • On December 10, 2009 at 7:09 pm Miriam Levine wrote:

    Karen Finley slimed/soaped/spermed disgusts me. Avant-garde? How so?
    Report this comment

    • On December 11, 2009 at 12:22 pm Joshua wrote:

      How so? Easy: It disgusts you.
      Report this comment

  • On December 11, 2009 at 1:03 pm Steven Fama wrote:

    I love the work of Helen Adam, but avant-garde? The Scottish ballad traditions (including oral / recitation magic) brought forward to mid-century SF and later NYC. Can’t really hear that, or her childhood verses (I love those too!) as avant-garde.

    But at least an argument can be made for Adam, given that her work has a decidedly weird essence. I can’t even muster a thing to suggest that Levertov was avant-garde.

    The text of the post — “women of Ubu-Web” is exactly right — the headline “Women of the Avant-Garde” is, in part, hype.
    Report this comment

    • On December 11, 2009 at 1:45 pm Don Share wrote:

      No doubt the term avant-garde gets tossed around a lot. But isn’t Adam associated with it because she was part of the poetry community that included Duncan and Spicer et al.; and has more been recently taken up by folks like Charles Bernstein? Maybe we need a Who’s Who in the Avant-Garde!
      Report this comment

      • On December 16, 2009 at 11:10 pm Steven Fama wrote:

        Yes, Helen Adam was a part of the Maidens, who chiefly were more associated with Duncan, and also comprised, chiefly if not entirely, Jess Collins, James Broughton and Eve Triem. Next Eve Trien will be “avant garde” too, I suppose by someone’s line of “reasoning.”

        My hype detector always goes on red alert when K. Goldsmith is doing the hyping. And why not? For example, I agree with those who find the “Publishing the Unpublishable” category at UbuWeb utterly false.

        (I love Goldsmith’s poetry.)

        ((And just so all biases are on the table, I find the digitized clips at UbuWeb a travesty, showing an utter lack of respect for film, and will continue to do so unless he posts signed agreements from each film-maker or rights holder assenting to presenting those ugly simulacra of projected masterworks.))
        Report this comment


Posted in Group Blog, Uncategorized on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 by Kenneth Goldsmith.

All Posts