Museum as Hub

Waiting for Godot in New Orleans: An Illustrated Lecture
Thursday, September 11, 7:30 p.m.

In November 2007, Paul Chan collaborated with the Classical Theatre of Harlem and Creative Time to stage five free site-specific performances of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot in two New Orleans neighborhoods that had been destroyed by the flooding caused by the levee breaks during Hurricane Katrina. The performances were part of a larger project, which also included a fund to help local rebuilding and reorganization efforts, plus a series of dinners, lectures, classes, and events that unfolded throughout the city during the fall of 2007. The project was entitled Waiting for Godot in New Orleans: a play in two acts, a project in three parts. Paul will discuss the organizing and aesthetic ideas around the project and show clips from the performance in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Click here for more information about this project.

A Poet for President: Eileen Myles and Her Run for the White House
Friday, September 12, 7:30 p.m.

In September 1991, legendary New York poet Eileen Myles launched her write-in Presidential campaign, running against George Bush Sr. She writes, “[The President] functions as a grand employer who has a complaint box. Each of us may get our two cents in. Once. After that we’re on our own because there is no special treatment for the vast majority of Americans today. There is very special treatment for white upper middle class heterosexual men and their spouses and children; there is special treatment for fundamentalist Christians; and fetuses. [I] am a 41-year old American, a female, a lesbian, from a working class background, a poet, performer and writer making my living pretty exclusively from those activities. I’ve lived the majority of my adult life under the poverty level, without health care. More Americans are like me than George Bush. Why is he ruling this country and our lives?” Eileen will read a selection of letters and poems from her campaign and talk with Chan about her bid for office and her work.

Click here for more information about Eileen Myles.

The Sade I Know: Screening and Lecture
Saturday, September 13, 3 p.m.

Pornographer, philosopher, and revolutionary, the Marquis De Sade remains an indispensable figure in the history of post-Enlightenment Western thought. His books Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and the notorious The 120 Days of Sodom (written during imprisonment) push our understanding of sex, violence, and reason to unimaginable heights. In this screening, Chan will show clips from three films based on, or inspired by, Sade. They include Salo (1975) by Pier Paolo Pasolini, who situates Sadean characters in Fascist Italy; Marquis (1989), a French live-animation film featuring a talking penis; and Marquis de Sade (1994), a hardcore adult film starring Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi. Between clips, Chan will discuss Sade’s relevance today in politics, pornography, law, and morality.

Click here for more information about the Marquis De Sade.

Night School is an artist’s project by Anton Vidokle in the form of a temporary school. A yearlong program of monthly seminars and workshops, Night School draws upon a group of local and international artists, writers, and theorists to conceptualize and conduct the program. This month’s seminar is conceived by Paul Chan.

*This event is free but tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved online or at the Museum prior to the seminar’s start. Click here to reserve tickets. All seminars are in the New Museum theater.