from On Certainty

97. The mythology may change back into a state of flux, the river-bed of thoughts may shift. But I distinguish between the movement of the waters on the river-bed and the shift of the bed itself; though there is not a sharp division of the one from the other. [...]
99. And the bank of that river consists partly of hard rock, subject to no alteration or only to an imperceptible one, partly of sand, which now in one place now in another gets washed away, or deposited.

Damn the Caesars blog

For those who may not have noticed it yet, Rich Owens has been publishing some substantial reviews and notes at his mag's blog, Damn the Caesars, including this one on Rob Halpern's and Taylor Brady's collaboration, Snow Sensitive Skin:
http://damnthecaesars.blogspot.com/2009/01/gaza-today-again-snow-sensitive-skin.html
and this on Michael Cross' In Felt Treeling:
http://damnthecaesars.blogspot.com/2009/03/michael-cross-in-felt-treeling-working.html

On Certainty

Christopher Stackhouse has generously invited me to read work, and discuss Wittgenstein's On Certainty. I appreciate very much the opportunity to focus attention through a single text, and cross-examine problems shared by poetry and philosophy...

On Certainty - Readings at Bose Pacia

Saturday, April 4, 2pm-5pm

Thom Donovan

John Keene

Stuart Krimko

Katy Lederer

Organized by: Christopher Stackhouse

The readings will take place at:

BOSE PACIA
508 W 26th St 11C
New York NY 10001

This presentation is part of the project "On Certainty" curated by Sreshta Rit Premnath. More info here: www.oncertainty.net

“Lack of clarity in philosophy is tormenting. It is felt as shameful. We feel: we do not know our way about where we should know our way about. And nevertheless it isn’t so. We can get along very well without… knowing our way about here.”

“…In any serious question uncertainty extends to the very roots of the problem.”

-from “Remarks on Colour,” Ludwig Wittgenstein

“On Certainty” includes a group show, a new issue of the magazine Shifter (co-edited by the participating artists), and a series of public dialogues with economists, neurologists, physicists and writers. The participants contemplate the notion of certainty and its sibling, uncertainty: How and why do we constitute a unified self from which to speak and construe meaning in this world? When we say, “I know…” with certainty, what do we mean?

The title of the show, lifted from Ludwig Wittgenstein’s posthumously published book, signals our attempt not only to investigate knowledge and factuality, but furthermore, to interrogate the statement “I saw it with my own eyes.” What is the position of the witness (who represents an event) and the authentic subject (who represents a group) in knowledge production?

The interdisciplinary programming of the lecture series reflects the curatorial desire to use the gallery as an intellectual commons. As Edward Said has said, specialization sometimes “means losing sight of the raw effort of constructing either art or knowledge,” and by opening up an interdisciplinary conversation we hope to investigate the “choices and decisions” that produce these knowledges, and their certainties.

Thom Donovan

John Keene

Stuart Krimko

Katy Lederer


Organized by: Christopher Stackhouse

The readings will take place at:

BOSE PACIA
508 W 26th St 11C
New York NY 10001

This presentation is part of the project "On Certainty" curated by Sreshta Rit Premnath. More info here: www.oncertainty.net

John Keene

John Keene is the author of the award-winning novel Annotations (New Directions, 1995), and of the poetry collection Seismosis (1913 Press, 2006), with artwork by Christopher Stackhouse. He has published his fiction, poetry, essays and translations in a wide array of journals, including African-American Review, AGNI, Encyclopedia, Gay and Lesbian Review, Hambone, Indiana Review, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and Ploughshares.
Stuart Krimko

Stuart Krimko is the author of Not That Light (2005) and The Sweetness Of Herbert (forthcoming), both published by Sand Paper Press, Key West. In 2005 he received a grant from The Fund for Poetry.
Katy Lederer

Katy Lederer is the author of the poetry collection, Winter Sex (Verse Press, 2002) and the memoir Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers (Crown, 2003), which Publishers Weekly included on its list of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year and Esquire Magazine named one of its eight Best Books of the Year. Her second poetry book, The Heaven-Sent Leaf was published by BOA Editions in the fall of 2008.

Help Flux

Flux Factory, an artists collective and artist-run center, is seeking volunteers to help build its new communal home. Starting April 1st we will be renovating an 8,000 square foot building in the heart of Long Island City, Queens. The move follows our eviction from our former home this fall due to expansion of the Long Island Railroad. Our facilities will include work studios and offices for artists of all walks, a communal computer lab/office, woodshop, silk-screening facilities, two galleries, shared kitchens and bathrooms, and (for at least a little while) a three-story tall conveyor belt. We’re also hoping to set up a communal roof-top garden (even though we don’t know much about that and could use help). We are a community of artists, cultural producers, musicians, and all around awesome folks with gumption and enthusiasm. We're working under the direction of experienced Green contractors, though we'll be doing most of the work ourselves. We will be using as much salvaged and recycled material as possible. Volunteers with experience and with their own tools are especially welcome, but more important is enthusiasm and a willingness to get dirty. We’ll be offering guidance and construction workshops. We will need help with light duty demolition, sheet rocking, mudding, painting, flooring, cleaning, organizing, carrying stuff around and soon. If you don't want to get you hands dirty, we also need help trying to collect material donations from building supply companies. At first,we will need lots of administrative help (getting companies to give us free drywall, etc). There is always physical work to do, but this is important, too! We are also in need of tools, vehicles and building material donations. We will begin renovations on our new building starting April 1st 2009. We’ll be working most days throughout the spring months and would love your help at any point. You will be showered with rewards such as endless gratitude, pizza, occasionally brunch and beer (once all the power tools are put away for the day), and maybe art. If you want to get on the volunteer list, email jean [at] fluxfactory [dot] org with short answers to the questions listed below. We'll be sending out construction schedules and signing people up weekly. See you on the job. Flux Factory