Tomorrow I will present my research on literary readings and their documentation at the Western Front. Below is the Media Arts Program press release:

Western Front Media Arts is pleased to welcome Michael Turner as inaugural Western Front Media Archive researcher-in- residence, as part of Past is Prologue, an ongoing research project considering the Western Front Media Archive. Past is Prologue is a new initiative that will invite artists, writers, archivists and historians to conduct research related to the Western Front Media Archive, an onsite repository of over 1300 tapes, including performance documents, video art and audio recordings.

Building an interest in expanded literary practices in Vancouver, Vancouver based author Michael Turner conducted research around the Western Front Media Archive’s collection of largely unseen video documentation of literary readings that took place at Western Front in the 1970s and 1980s. This research has culminated in a screening titled Three Readings: Camera, Tape and Sound (Kathy Acker, bpNichol/Steve McCaffery, and Kevin Davies, as introduced by George Bowering), and an accompanying essay, which will be available in a limited print run, and online as a print-on-demand downloadable PDF at www.front.bc.ca.

This screening will focus on how each reading is mediated specifically through the camera, audio recording and the qualities of archival video tape. The screening will feature Kathy Acker’s 1977 reading from The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec, bpNichol and Steve McCaffery’s 1977 performance of "Aupe Relationships", and Kevin Davies, as introduced by George Bowering, reading from "Exhibit A" in 1983.

Three Readings: Camera, Tape and Sound (Kathy Acker, bpNichol/Steve McCaffery and Kevin Davies as introduced by George Bowering)

Wednesday January 12, 2011 at 6 PM.
Western Front Grande Luxe Hall, 303 East 8th, Vancouver.

Admission is free.

For more information please contact Sarah Todd at sarahtodd@front.bc.ca