George Bowering delivered the Thursday night keynote address for the Concept of Vancouver conference at St Catherines's FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre:
The following morning, at the
Niagara Artists Centre,
Steve McCaffery was supposed to present a monitor piece he made in the 1980s of
Jeff Derksen begging ("the first video panhandler'), but the technology wasn't working. Technology failed McCaffery moments later when, after deciding to "read instead," he found the letters of his latest book too small, the lights above him too dim. (To the right of McCaffery is conference co-organizer
Gregory Betts. To McCaffery's left is
Karen Mac Cormack.)
Elizabeth Chitty showed some of the work she made and contributed to in Vancouver in the 1970s and 80s, and the context in which that work was made.
Dana Claxton Skyped in an introduction to her video
The Patient Storm (2006).
Irene Laughlin performed to a
Bud Osborne poem.
Lisa Robertson read a "truly unofficial" history of the Kootenay School of Writing -- a poem called "The Collective".
Kimberly Philips opened an
Access Gallery touring exhibition in the NAC's rear space.
bill bissett delivered a short set of works that included a poem he wrote over fifty years ago, called "
Strange Grey Day This" (1964).
The day ended at Greg and Lisa's spacious house, where
Derek Beaulieu,
Liz Howard, bill and I are staying.
