RE:CONVERSATIONS :: OCCUPY LOVE :: WE ARE THE HUNDRED PERCENT :: AN INTERVIEW WITH VELCROW RIPPER
ExSt: How can we as artists work with the information that we’re given? Why is non-informational media so crucial in making this movement really work? VR: Because activists so often think that, you know, the facts will be enough. And they really aren’t. Because we’re bombarded with facts. And the facts are really depressing, too, if you just look at the statistics. If you... Read More
RE:CONVERSATIONS :: TRULY FREE FILM :: CREATING VALUE IN FREE FILM
Independent film is currently redefining investment, distribution, and business models in the light of changing world economic structures. New dynamics may make film a frightening place to build a career. However, it is important to acknowledge the creative advantages of taking a film from pre-production to self-distribution. I work with ornana films, and we recently took this journey with our first feature, euphonia. Here is my contribution... Read More
MAY 3-4 :: CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL and PRINT! DOCUMENT SERIES 1 READING at MELLOW PAGES
Poetry month has come to a close, but the poetry is still flowing all around us. This weekend will be packed full of amazing events. Exit Strata will be tabling at CUNY’s 5th annual Chapbook Festival. The two day event will have readings, workshops, and a book fair representing 60 organizations and publishers. In addition, Chapfest is putting... Read More
2nd ANNUAL NAPOMO 30/30/30 :: DAY 27 :: BENJAMIN WIESSNER on HARRYETTE MULLEN
I am going to start with an admission—I have a deep and varied past with the poetry of Harryette Mullen. Her masterpiece, Sleeping with the Dictionary, opened my eyes to so many possibilities in poetry. The experience I had is described best by her line, “I’ve been licked all over by the English tongue.” Read More Read More
2nd Annual 30/30/30 Poetry Month Series :: Inspiration, Community, Tradition :: Day 1 :: Overview / Editor Lynne DeSilva-Johnson on Noah Eli Gordon and Anis Mojgani
The fisherman from Anis Mojgani on Vimeo. HOOOOOOOWOW! Poetry month is upon us once more, and do we ever have a line up for you this year! Last year we initiated a series that generated such an outpouring of goodwill and gratitude that before it was over we were already taking names to participate in the 2013 effort, which I am honored to kick off today. If you are new or newish to Exit Strata, and aren’t familiar with the series’ intentions,... Read More
COCO PROCESS COURSE :: ERIC MEYER’S FUCK THE MUSE : LESSON 6 :: EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
[This is part 6 in our ongoing Fuck the Muse mini-series, click the link for previous entries if you wish to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)] It’s always useful to remember where you are in the overall creative process. Here’s a refresher: Define the Seed: What’s the idea, question, or hypothesis? Explore: Reasearch, gather, and create the materials. Organize: Outline the structure, or impose one. Draft: Compile... Read More
FIELD NOTES:: FILM :: LINCOLN LETTERS II: PATRICK WANG
Benjamin Wiessner I met Patrick Wang this summer, as part of a weekend film oasis in Tacoma. Starting then, we have had a running conversation about building the film world that we want to live in, rather than the one that we have begun to inhabit. The blessing and the curse for independent filmmakers remains the open-ended nature of the ever present question, “how?” As the poet, Antonio Machado, wrote, “Wanderer—there is no path; the path... Read More
COCO PROCESS COURSE :: ERIC MEYER’S FUCK THE MUSE: LESSON 5 :: GET CURIOUS Pt. 1
Now that you have a seed worth exploring, you are ready for step 2 of the creative process. The goal of this phase is explosive growth, following your curiosity out from the seed in every direction. You’ve heard of the shitty first draft? It’s a nice sentiment, writing full shitty drafts without fear or judgment, but I think you can do even better: Write shitty piles of shit, and leave the drafting for later. I often refer to this as the... Read More
CALL FOR COMMUNITY POSTS: BOOKSTORES *YOU* LOVE
Hey, Exit Strata community — we believe in the currency of gratitude and appreciation, and in this vein we want to give a shout out to the small bookstores (and rogue booksellers) we know and love — that make our cities, towns, even our internet (or our sidewalks) a better place — so we’re giving you the opportunity to profile them on Exit Strata! Hopefully, we can help them get some publicity and deserved attention, and you... Read More
Independent film:: A New Year Re:solution
After an incredible 2012 it is time to look forward at the challenges and opportunities of 2013. The story of this new year is yet to be defined. I have spent the last few days thinking about what is to come. I am excited for it. I am more than a little scared by it. Most of all, I have been thinking about how to make the new year important—how to create a unique meaning for the course of this year. What directions do I most want to grow in? How... Read More
AWESOME CREATORS :: 100,000 POETS FOR CHANGE :: TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
“It’s a new day and a new way…people are not waiting for approval.” – Trinidad and Tobago organizer Rachel Collymore Perhaps the most exciting thing about the 100,000 Poets for Change series — and, we hope, about the work we do here at Exit Strata — is the manifestation of publication as not ends but means. As a dynamic tool for growth. When I talk to people about what makes 100TPC different from other... Read More
EDITORIAL : THINKING ABOUT ART AT A TIME LIKE THIS
You who are on the road Must have a code that you can live by And so become yourself Because the past is just a good bye Despite the fact that I cannot think of a single person whose life has remained untouched by art — who has not been comforted, lifted, inspired, or empowered by music, poetry, dance, literature, theatre, or painting — in times of crisis I find myself in conversation with those who make an about face regarding creativity’s... Read More
ART: DESERT RAVEN PHOTOGRAPHY :: “For the Love of ART”
We are excited to share the next installment of Desert Raven Photography’s project For the Love of ART. We are even more excited to announce the first show for the project, this Friday (November 2nd) at Brooklyn Fireproof’s re-opening. The event will start at 8pm and the art will be accompanied by music from Christopher Botta, one of the featured creators pictured below. Come meet these amazing women and see their photographs in all their printed... Read More
ART :: OPENINGS PRESENTS :: FRENZY INTO FOLLY VIRTUAL GALLERY VII :: CHEN, CRUZ, GRAHAM, FARRELL
This marks the second to last time the exceptional OPENINGS collective will be featured in our friday edition, and the last time that you can read up on this work and then go see it, as next Friday’s post will mark the final day of this terrific show. That being said: Frenzy into Folly closes October 26th. No more procrastinating, art lovers. Hie thyselves hence, to St. Paul the Apostle to see this forward thinking work installed! Frenzy Into... Read More
COCO ONLINE :: 3RD ANNUAL HAIKU MONTH :: HALFWAY THERE
The haiku form stands in a precarious place in the contemporary world. Our collective mindset has adapted appreciation of shorter and shorter gratification cycles, which should benefit the haiku. However, the powerful rise of short form media (yes, twitter) has changed the way we process. The haiku is not a sound bite or clip of a larger whole, nor does it represent a piece of the overall conversation. Haiku presents a self-contained image or idea—challenges... Read More
ART :: OPENINGS PRESENTS :: FRENZY INTO FOLLY VIRTUAL GALLERY VI :: SANTELLA, VELLETRI, PAVLOU, KOHN
We’ve grown accustomed to having the incredible OPENINGS collective grace our friday edition… but Frenzy into Folly will run for only two more weeks! Come to New York, and get thyself to St. Paul the Apostle to see this forward thinking work installed! Frenzy Into Folly Church of St. Paul the Apostle Corner of West 60th & Columbus Ave. (212) 265-3495 New York, New York 10019 [On View Through October 26th. Open Hours: Mon – Fri... Read More
ART :: OPENINGS PRESENTS :: FRENZY INTO FOLLY VIRTUAL GALLERY V : BERARDI, BARTELT, SANTELLA, WALKER, MERHIGE
If you’re in or near New York City, we highly recommend you take a trip to to see the work of the inspiring OPENINGS collective in a truly incredible venue, the church of St. Paul the Apostle. For the enjoyment of our community near and far, Exit Strata will continue to bring you weekly virtual galleries for the duration of the show. Andrew Berardi (Long Island, NY) The phrase Frenzy into Folly reminds me of the frenzy surrounding... Read More
CoCo ONLINE :: 3rd ANNUAL HAIKU MONTH :: 17 syllables, 30 days, and YOU
Let the syllabic somersaults commence! october returns and so too, haiku: seek out syllabic restraint In the fall of of 2010, before I had ever heard of any official NaWriMo of the No(vel) or Po(etry) variety, I found myself somewhat estranged from the muse…it happens to us all. A conversation with poet-friend Sarah Pinder led me to believe that within structure, freedom (and inspiration) would be found — and that inviting others to join... Read More
ART :: OPENINGS PRESENTS :: FRENZY INTO FOLLY VIRTUAL GALLERY III : GONZALEZ, PROKOPENKO, IVANOV, KILRAIN, BROUGHEL, MOGHADDAM
What a treat to join Awesome Creators OPENINGS Collective and meet the artists at last night’s opening reception for Frenzy into Folly! Seeing the work installed in the epic space of St. Paul the Apostle was indeed an experience that evoked the collective’s mission,... Read More
ART :: GEORGIA ELROD : HERE AND HERE :: Now at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY
The paintings and drawings of Georgia Elrod invite poetry — or perhaps they are poetry? — in so far as in transmuting experience into visual form, they perform the inverse maneuver: asking more questions even as they answer the ancient riddle, “how do I see”? In 2009, in an attempt to verbalize this alchemy, I wrote that in Elrod’s work, “a palimpsestic suggestion of knowns creates a new language of juxtaposition,... Read More