Poet Transmit and Blonde Art Books present an exhibition with a dynamic program consisting of theatrical trailers, self-produced commercials and live broadcast performances with a focus on art and poetry publications.

Cold Open Verse examines the construct of the ‘trailer’, reconfigured by artists, poets, and publishers interested in an expanded form of communicating their work. The exhibition presents the works of artists, Constance DeJong, Sophia Le Fraga, and Ian Hatcher within three tableau “sets” that will be activated in a real-time broadcast event. Each artist highlights a unique aspect of production within their respective sets, exploiting the structure and structural errors of broadcast with time latency (Hatcher), using an instrument for dissemination as the principal artist (DeJong), or recreating the tv sitcom set (Le Fraga). An adjacent room becomes the movie theater interior for the playback of an hour long reel of artist made trailers for forthcoming publications or book-related events.  For one weekend, the gallery transforms into a live tv studio to produce new commercials by selected participants.  These spots combined with an open call submission leading up to the exhibition culminate in a new book trailer preview reel that will be screened as a special preview event as part of the Printed Matter’s New York Book Fair at MoMA PS1.

The focus on the ‘book trailer’ initially began with the exhibition, This Summer…, curated by Blonde Art Books at Interstate Projects in 2014. This Summer… centered on a preview reel consisting of 11 videos by artists and publishers of independent art and poetry books. Poet Transmit approached Blonde Art Books with the idea to expand on this project with emphasis on exposing the processes of production. Together, Poet Transmit and Blonde Art Books create a multi variate exhibition investigating the structural and theoretical framework surrounding the artist-made advertisement, while nurturing the fantasy of televisual production.

FULL PROGRAM:

Sep  8:
Opening event with live readings by artists making commercials for upcoming reel
7pm  Exhibition Viewing
8pm Readings: William Lessard, Claire Donato, LA Warman, Emmalea Russo & Michael Newtown, Masha Tupitsyn, and Devin Morris
9pm Afterparty – DJ set by Scott Kiernan

Sep 9:
Gallery open and exhibition on view

Sep 10:
3 – 7pm TV studio activated with live performances:
Max Steele, Cathy De La Cruz, Celina Su, Ariel Goldberg

Sep 11:
4 – 7pm TV studio activated with live performances:
Jesse Harrod, Joni Murphy & Xeňa Stanislavovna Semjonová

Sep 15:
Printed Matter Book Fair Preview Night screening event
(at MoMA PS1)

Sep 16:
8pm, live broadcast event with
Constance DeJong, Sophia La Fraga, and Ian Hatcher

Sep 17:
Gallery open and exhibition on view, 3pm tour by the curators for Poetry on Art, a Brooklyn Book Fest panel

Sep 18:
8pm: Evening screening and closing reception
Fiona Banner:
‘Mistah Kurtz – He Not Dead’, 2014 and ‘Phantom’, 2015 – two films produced for the publication, “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. A work by Fiona Banner. Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin.
Moyra Davey:
‘My Saints’, 2014. “Burn the Diaries” published by Dancing Foxes.
Jibade-Khalil Huffman:
‘Working Title’ for the book “James Brown is Dead” published by Future Plan and Program, 2011
Gerardo Madera:
‘Untitled Printer for Xavier Antin (test video)’, 2014, book and video by Gerardo Madera. “Printed at Home” published by Common Satisfactory Standard.