the opening of the mouth
2020 Video collection
60 videos | over 111 hours
RILKING - March 2020
READING RILKE’S DUINO ELEGIES ONE AT A TIME, IN STEPHEN SPENDER’S TRANSLATION. THE TITLE COMES FROM A SOMEWHAT MEANSPIRITED LINE FROM A POEM BY KENNETH KOCH, AND NAMES MY PLAYFUL APPROACH TO READING ONE OF THE MOST SENSITIVE, AND MOST PROFOUND, OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S POETS. THE DUINO ELEGIES HAVE BEEN A CORNERSTONE OF MY PEDAGOGY SINCE 2012: TO READ THEM CLOSELY IS AN INITIATORY AND FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMATIVE PROCESS. THESE ARE POEMS THAT CAUSE LIFE AND DEATH TO FACE ONE ANOTHER—THEY SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE START OF THE COVID ERA. RILKING IS WHERE INVISIBLE COLLEGE BEGAN.
INANNA: 12 DAYS OF SUMER - APRIL 2020
A STUDY IN ECSTATIC RECEIVERSHIP, ANAPHORA, UNDERWORLD JOURNEYING, ANCIENT ROBOTICS, THE ETHICS OF BLISS, & FEMININE STATECRAFT THROUGH DIANE WOLKSTEIN & SAMUEL NOAH KRAMER’S INANNA: QUEEN OF HEAVEN & EARTH.
THE JOE BRAINARD BRAIN TRUST - MAY 2020
READING I REMEMBER ON THE DAILY, ALOUD & SILENTLY, QUEERLY, THROUGH ITS EXPLICIT & SUBMERGED BEAUTIES, & THE STRANGE RAYS OF VICIOUSNESS & SHAME IT LIGHTS UP INSIDE THE AMERICA THAT YET REMAINS INSIDE OF US.
GNOSTIC SUMMER - SUMMER 2020
CLOSE READING & DISCUSSION OF MUCH-MALIGNED, MISUNDERSTOOD, & SELDOM-STUDIED TEXTS INCLUDING THE SONG OF SONGS (KJV), THE THUNDER PERFECT MIND, THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, & MORE, WITH APPOSITE DIGRESSIONS ON UTOPIC & MALIGN FORMS OF AMERICAN GNOSTICISM.
OPENING OF THE MOUTH - fall 2020
A FULL SEMESTER OF PROGRAMMING FOR FULL AND NEW MOON DAYS, FEATURING EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATIONS WITH OTTESSA MOSHFEGH, MICHEL ANDRE, OSCAR TUAZON & CEDAR SIGO, KATHLEEN HARRISON & BETT WILLIAMS, CACONRAD, MONDONGO, & EDGAR GARCIA, PLUS SATURDAY MORNING DEMONOLOGY, OUR SIGNATURE WORKSHOPS ON SATURNINE THEMES OF DISCIPLINE, STUDY, & THE CULTIVATION OF SKILLFUL RELATIONSHIP TO THE VARIOUS FORMS OF NEGATIVITY WITH WHICH ALL HUMAN BEINGS MUST CONTEND :)