March 15: Dada Poetry/Performance Festival @ Cornelia Street Cafe

The Sixth Annual 

NYC Dada Poetry and Performance Salon

featuring the NYC launch of 

Maintenant 7: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art

plus live reading & performances by

• Experimental poet JEROME ROTHENBERG
• Romanian Dada descendent VALERY OISTEANU
• The Duke of Dada PETER CARLAFTES
• Electronica Music/Performance by BANLIEUE QUEENS
• DADAnewyork LOIS KAGAN MINGUS & ROBERT HIEGER
• New Jersey Dada JOHN J. TRAUSE 
• Los Angeles Dada JAN MICHAEL ALEJANDRO

Friday, March 15, 6 pm

Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street (between Bleecker & W. 4th St.)

NEW YORK—Modern day Dada poets, collagists, performers and artists are creating controversial and thrilling work that continues the spirit of the avant garde art movement sprung from disgust with World War I. Their work will be featured at 6th Annual NYC Dada Poetry and Performance Salon—and launch for Maintenant 7: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art—on Friday, March 15, 6 pm at Cornelia Street Cafe. Featured performers include visual/sound poet Jerome Rothenberg, Romanian Dada madman Valery Oisteanu, the maverick Duke of Dada Peter Carlaftes, vibrant DADAnewyork performance artists Lois Kagan Mingus and Robert Hieger, and surprise guests. The event is sponsored by Three Rooms Press.

The first 10 people will receive a free copy Maintenant 7 and all will be eligible to win Dada-related prizes including books, dvds, photographs and more.

Doors open at 5:45. Admission is $12, which includes a free drink. Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, in the West Village, between W. 4th Street at Bleecker (http://corneliastreecafe.com). Reservations and additional information: info@threeroomspress.com. 

Maintenant 7: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art is the sixth edition of an annual collection of contemporary Dada work inspired by Dada instigator and Three Rooms Press spiritual advisor Arthur Cravan. Since 2008, the Three Rooms Press series has collected outsider art, poetry, mail art, collages and more from around the world. This year's issue, edited by Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges, features an essay about Marcel Duchamp's seminal work Fresh Widow by New York gallery owner Francis Naumann, poetry by American writers Gerard Malanga, Andy Clausen, Roger Conover, Charles Plymell, Mike Watt, W.K. Stratton and Jerome Rothenberg, and an expanded selection of work by leading European, Asian and Central American dadaists including Tomomi Adachi, Jaap Blonk, Lucille Calmel, Jelle Meander, Philip Meersman, Ulf Stolterfoht, J.L. Rodríguez Pittí and many more.  

The original Dada movement peaked from 1916-1922, primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be the meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being anti-war, dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature.

The Dada Salon is the latest installment of The Monthly at Cornelia Street Cafe, a unique series curated by Three Rooms Press that brings together leading poets, intellectuals, performers and budding rebels on a different topic each month. Upcoming events include: APRIL 3: ILLEGAL LEAVES OF GRASS (a tribute to Walt Whitman and an exploration of the movement to legalize marijuana); MAY 3: HAVE A NYC 2 (readings of New York-based short stories); JUNE 7: HYDROGEN JUKEBOX (modern poetry performed to live rock band).

5th Annual Dada Poetry Salon & Maintenant 6 Launch Slated for 3/16

Three Rooms Press & Son of a Pony present:

The Fifth Annual NYC Dada Poetry & Art Salon

Friday, March 16, at  Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street (between Bleecker & W. 4th St.)

Featured Dada performers include: 

--NY Dada's JOANIE FRITZ ZOSIKE & LOIS KAGAN MINGUS

--Dada Daddy PETER CARLAFTES

--Romanian Dada descendent VALERY OISTEANU

--Underground Comic Book Artist MIKE DIANA with CITY SCUM SHOT 

--LA Dada's CYNTHIA TORONTO

--NJ Dada's JOHN J. TRAUSE 

--and surprise guests

It's back! And better than ever: The fifth annual Dada Poetry & Art Salon, with Dada hostess KAT GEORGES! This year's theme: Declare Art on War!

Wear your favorite Dada fashion, thrill to the excitement of the strangest, most hard-hitting Dada performances ever, and enjoy Dada-inspired poetry read LIVE! from the latest edition of Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art* (Three Rooms Press, 130 pages, 2012).

Featured guest poets include Dada superstar boxer/poet Arthur Cravan, brought back to life for this special event. Plus Live Dada Twitter, and performances by underground comic book artist Mike Diana with Steven Retchard, NY Dada's Joanie Hieger Zosike & Lois Kagan Mingus, NJ Dada's John J. Trause, Romanian Dada descendent Valery Oisteanu, LA Dada's Cynthia Toronto, Dada Daddy Peter Carlaftes, and surprise guests!

Plus: new videos, book giveaways and more. The first 20 people will receive a free copy of the hot-off-the-press Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Literature & Art (inspired by Arthur Cravan‘s early 20th Century Maintenant ’zine--the first ’zine EVER!).

Doors open at 5:45. Admission is $7 which includes (naturally) a free drink! Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, in the West Village, between W. 4th Street at Bleecker (http://corneliastreecafe.com).

Reservations and additional information: threeroomspress@mac.com

Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art is the fifth edition of an annual collection of contemporary Dada work inspired by Dada instigator and Three Rooms Press spiritual advisor Arthur Cravan. This issue, edited by Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges, includes bold poetry, cutting-edge visual art, essays and word art from Neo-Dadaists worldwide, including: Roger Conover, Mina Loy, Jerome Rothenberg, Giovanni Fontana, Fork Burke, Paolo Pelosini, Constantin Xenakis, Vittore Baroni, George Wallace, Scott Wannberg, Duska Vrhovac, Bart Verburg, Mike Mollett and more than 100 other artists. Color cover, with interior black and white text and images. It is now archived in the MOMA library.

The original Dada movement peaked from 1916-1922, primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be the meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being anti-war, dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature.

3rd Annual Dada Poetry Salon Friday, March 19, Cornelia St. Cafe

What: Dada Poetry Salon
When: March 19, 2009, 6-8 pm
Where: Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014
Cost: $7 (includes free house drink)
Costumes encouraged!

It's back! And better than ever. The third annual edition of the very special one-night-only DaDa Poetry Salon, with DaDa hostess Kat Georges!

Featured guest poets will include DaDa superstars including boxer/poet Arthur Cravan and dada manifesto creator Tristan Tzara, brought back to life for this special event. Plus: new videos, book giveaways and more. The first 50 people will receive a free copy of the inaugural and only issue of Maintenant 4 (inspired by Arthur Cravan's 1915 Maintenant magazine, the first 'zine ever produced!). Included in the FREE zine is a special limited edition CD of contemporary Dada music and Wordscapes.

Wear your favorite Dada fashion, bring your Dada-inspired poetry for the open reading (sign up at 5:45, limited spaces available!).

Dada Poetry Salon coming at ya Friday, March 21st

It's almost here! A very special one-night-only Dada Poetry Salon, hosted by Kathi Georges at the venerable Cornelia Street Cafe in the lovely hamlet of Manhattan on Friday, March 21 from 6-8pm. $7 gets you in (with a free drink!!!).

In the original years (1914-1920) Dadaism sprung from the belief that the 'reason' and 'logic' of bourgeois capitalist society repeatedly led to war. Dadaists expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality (Marcel Duchamp's "L.H.O.O.Q." (Mona Lisa with a moustache and goatee), or his provocative "Fountain" (a urinal). George Grosz later recalled that his Dadaist art was intended as a protest "against this world of mutual destruction."

What has changed?

Dada--especially Dada poetry--has never made more sense than it does today. War continues, as does the bourgeois capitalist society. However, nowadays, Dada-esque visual art has been embraced by bourgeois capitalist society. The poets remain pure.

Poets are invited to read during a limited open session (signups are at 5:45). Plus featured guest poets will include Dada superstars such as poet/lampmaker Mina Loy, Hugo Ball, and boxer/poet Arthur Cravan, brought back to life for this special event.

Also featured, to help celebrate Good Friday: Peter Carlaftes, as Christ on a Crossword Puzzle. Plus: slide shows, videos and more.

The first 50 people will receive a free copy of the inaugural and only issue of Maintenant 2 (inspired by Arthur Cravan's 1915 Maintenant magazine), which will include modern-day dada poetry, art critiques, and an offline blog. Contributions (in any language, including your own!) must be short and received by Saturday, March 15.

For more information, including photos, please email or call Kathi Georges at threeroomspress@mac.com.