Proteoscope » tom lafarge http://proteusgowanus.org/blog The Blog of Proteus Gowanus Thu, 12 Nov 2015 16:51:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.1 Reading Report http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2013/01/10/reading-report/ http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2013/01/10/reading-report/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:11:45 +0000 http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/?p=630

Sasha Chavchavadze reading from “The Poets Duel”  as Wendy Walker, one of the event organizers, looks on.

It might be considered a tradition at this point. It being an evening of readings related to the Proteus Gowanus year-long theme organized by Proteotypes’ publishers/editors (and authors) Tom LaFarge and Wendy Walker.

I asked if they would do such an event during War of Words portion of the Battle year (knowing they couldn’t resist with a title like that). They came up with a great list of texts (see below) and found some wonderful readers very close to home (many who are members of the Writhing Society, the ad hoc literary group that meets most Wednesdays in the gallery to practice various forms of constrained writing).

And so, on very cold and dark December 15th a small group gathered to hear…

William Burroughs, “Word Authority More Habit Forming Than Heroin,” The Burroughs File (read by Angelo Pastormerlo)

Kurban Said (aka Lev Nussinbaum), Chapter 5, “The Poets’ Duel,” Ali and Nino (read by Gallery Founding Director, Sasha Chavchavadze)

Jane Collier, “To Parents,” An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting (read by Carrie Cooperider)

Paul Metcalf, “Bash Bish”, Apalache (read by Tom LaFarge)

Ben Marcus, The Flame Alphabet (read by Wendy Walker)

Anonymous, “The wicked who would do me harm,” The Rattle Bag, ed. Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes (read by Michael Flory)

Thank you Tom, Wendy and readers/performers for an inspiring evening of War of Words word-slinging. Bang!

 

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditmail]]> http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2013/01/10/reading-report/feed/ 0 The War Games Room is Open http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2012/11/30/the-war-games-room-is-open/ http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2012/11/30/the-war-games-room-is-open/#comments Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:51:04 +0000 http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/?p=552 As part of our War of Words exhibition, Proteus Gowanus has opened the War Games Room. Every Saturday or Sunday from 12-6, you can play war games with your friends and enemies in the back room at Proteus. You can play on a handmade Risk game, designed and painted by Ryan Jones with New York City boroughs, not nations, vying for the upper hand. Also featured will be a magnetized Diplomacy board assembled by Tom LaFarge, a beautiful hand-tooled game of Connect Four by Nick DeFriez, Scrabble, Battleship, cards and other games. $5/player.

Can you tell us who this man is?

The War Games Room is presided over by the portrait of an unknown military leader.
He looks quizzical, bemused, perhaps not so easy to outsmart in the game of war.
Can you help us identify this fancy fellow?

Last week, Jon Freeman, founder of the game room, The Brooklyn Strategist, gave a very interesting talk on Game Theory, war and the board games Risk and Diplomacy. This Saturday evening, David Bukszpan, author of Is That a Word?  will talk about Scrabble, presenting scores of surprising words, offer tips and tricks, and share other highlights from his book to help word warriors from all skill levels. And on Sunday afternoon, Tom LaFarge will conduct a class on the World War I board game, Diplomacy, known to promote deception and tear apart families and friends, just like the real thing!

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditmail]]> http://proteusgowanus.org/blog/2012/11/30/the-war-games-room-is-open/feed/ 0