ePoetry Festival in Buffalo, NY

E-Poetry [ 2011 ] :
International Digital Language | Media | Arts Festival
Go here for more info.
TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL
May 18-21, 2011
University at Buffalo
For this very special decennial celebration, the E-Poetry Festival returns to Buffalo, where the now legendary E-Poetry first began. [ CFP ]
Presently entering its second decade, E-Poetry is a renowned biennial international artistic gathering founded on dialog over emerging issues in digital, visual, sound, and language-based arts. Its emphasis is on literary practice in an encompassing sense, i.e., the practice of thinking through engagement with the material aspects of inscribed media forms, the building of community, and the exchange of ideas across languages, borders, and ideologies. Rather than considering “new form” a qualifying criterion, it seeks to locate innovative artistic practice in its cultural, conceptual, and media milieu. Hence, if “e-poetry” is going to point to emergent artistic processes in a New Media age – inasmuch as they inform the digital – e-poetry can exist in any number of formats, including programmable, performance, visual, sound-based, conceptual, and book art … i.e., even on paper.
E-Poetry normally meets every two years, usually in May, in various locations worldwide. Recent gatherings have occurred in Buffalo, West Virginia, London, Paris, and Barcelona. A festival archive-in-progress can be found at the Electronic Poetry Center (http://epc.buffalo.edu/e-poetry/).
E-poetry is an artist-oriented gathering, in the tradition of the historic poetry festivals of the 20th century that influenced and advanced literary and arts communities in the past. Its community encompasses to countries across three continents, and it seeks to advance such a collective spirit of poetics, literary, and media arts practice into the digital present.
Such a concept suggests a supportive environment, where all participants participate in all events. In an effort to foster collegial dialog, parallel sessions and keynote speakers are not presented. Teleconferencing and other forms of virtual participation, though not prohibited, are discouraged in order to focus on the in-person social exchanges that flourish in collective artistic conversation. For the most part, installations, without the presence of the artists themselves, do not make sense in this context.
Format of events is open and is meant to creatively engage dialog. Ideally, along with more traditional papers, diverse and innovative event formats will be scheduled to offer the chance for artist talks, for longer presentations, for conversations, for debate, and for artistic performances in a variety of forms. Art itself is to be celebrated and to be advanced through the attentive participation of peer artists, scholars, performers, and commentators in divergent media.
Artist talks, performances, and active debate are valued over formal papers, though non-formulaic, writerly, and practice-oriented formal papers, of course, play an informing role. Even though, given the level of programming already planned, there will be little room in the E-Poetry 2011 program for additional works, all suggestions will be considered. Proposals for presentations that are truly exceptional in nature are highly encouraged.
There is no specific vetting process for works accepted for E-Poetry. Blind panels, peer reviews, and other forms of consensus compromise by organizational hierarchies are deemed of less value than curatorial juries, intuitive discretion and, ultimately, the informed artistic judgment of the festival organizers. (Abstracts and formal proposals will be requested in advance of festival presentation by the organizers, to help further conversation.)
E-Poetry’s activities are directed by the E-Poetry President & Artistic Director, Dr. Loss Pequeño Glazier, with the assistance of Dr. Sandy Baldwin, E-Poetry 2011 Festival Curator & Co-Director, advised by a core of leading authorities in the E-Poetry field, supporters of the E-Poetry Festivals in principle.
Funding, when available, is prioritized to assist artists from developing countries and to support emerging artists in the field, that is, younger persons who are making literary objects in various media (including programmable objects), working as artists without any specific genre attachments, exploring relevant/divergent technologies or who are poetically interesting in a number of ways.
Aside from the EPC, E-Poetry is not affiliated with any other literary organization. To foster a climate of mutual support among cultural entities, other organizations wishing to co-situate events with E-Poetry, directly or indirectly, are asked to please coordinate such activities in advance with the E-Poetry President.
Due to present realities in arts funding, fees for attendance at festival events may be charged, based on budgetary needs. At a minimum, attendees should expect to help with cost of food, coffees, and other sustenance, as necessary. Financially, E-Poetry is a collective effort, without an organizational funding structure, relying on the the donated labor of its organizers and the goodwill of its hosts. In exchange for the artistic liberties we enjoy due to our independent status, we rely on the support of E-Poetry participants.
We invite you to enjoy the unique resources of the festival, one that has defined, given shape to, nurtured, and energized the digital literatures arts community since its inception in 2001.
E-Poetry [2011] : Four days of festival performances, exhibitions, artistic presentations of poetics statements, scholarly papers, talks, and celebration of creative, visionary, and imaginative poeisis at the cutting edge of the triumphant spirit of the arts in the digital age. The festival presents world class e-poetry, digital and media arts, multilingual poetics, dance, music, and other forms of avant-garde artistic language, media and scholarly practice. Also included will be a number of special pre-conference events, to be announced.
Dr. Loss Pequeño Glazier
E-Poetry President & Artistic Director
Director, Electronic Poetry Center
Dept. of Media Study, SUNY Buffalo
Dr. Sandy Baldwin
E-Poetry 2011 Festival Curator & Co-Director
Center for Literary Computing
West Virginia University