NYAB Event - “Writing On It All” Exhibition

“Writing On It All” Exhibition

Governors Island

This event has ended.

Writing On It All is a series of interactive events designed to engage this unique and historic city location. Over four weekends in June, invited artists and writers facilitate sessions in which interested members of the public are encouraged to write all over the interior of an out-of-use house on Governors Island. Under the direction of Alexandra Chasin, New School faculty member, the project takes place in #8A Nolan Park, an early 20th Century house that served as senior officer housing when Governors Island was a military base. In a materialist twist on contemporary conceptual practice, Writing On It All enacts the physical as well as social nature of writing.

Invited facilitators include: writers Youmna Chlala (Pratt Institute faculty member) and Ken Chen (Executive Director of the Asian American writers Workshop); Antena, a Houston-based language justice and literary experimentation collaborative; poet Mark Nowak and filmmakers Claiming Our Voice; and movement teacher, theorist, and performer K.J. Holmes.

In the session facilitated by Youmna Chlala and Ken Chen, participants will be lead on a tour of the house and then offer writing prompts to participants, while a session facilitated by Antena will invite participants to reflect on how writing is a tool for opening up new and revolutionary approaches to language. Prompts like these will inspire writing directly on all available interior surfaces, responding to the location of the house on Governors Island, which shares the harbor with global figures of immigration, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Other sessions invite - various forms of participation from listening to dancing.

Writing On It All Sessions:
June 1 – Impenetrable Star: A Tour with Youmna Chlala and Ken Chen
June 7 – How to Listen with Our Tongues with Antena
June 15 – Housing Authorities with Mark Nowak & Claiming Our Voice
June 22 – Erasure with K.J. Holmes

All open sessions run from 12-3 PM and require registration. However the house will remain open to the public and those who didn’t register from 3-4 PM each day.

Writing On It All is process-oriented rather than product-oriented – action-based rather than intended for display – and resultant texts will be ephemeral; they will be painted over, rinsed or sanded off, and the house restored to its original condition at the beginning of July.

The public is encouraged to sign up for a session; volunteer; and to document the project through social media, capturing pieces of process and product. Please see our website, www.writingonitall.com, to register and for more session details. (Jennifer Pritheeva Samuel, Chitra Aiyar)