The lyric ligature of memory and material

April 13, 2021November 29, 2022 by Parker

Wednesday, May 31 was Canal Street Research Association’s last day at 327 Canal. The imaginary association, conceived by Ming Lin and Alexandra Tatarsky, here took shape as a street-level site of hyperlocal accumulation, part curated and part community-driven. CSRA, in its exploration of fakes, bootlegs, and the lyric ligature of memory and material, is genealogically related to the duo’s investigative poetics project Shanzhai Lyric.

Novelty headwear with custom hanger (complete from a Canal Street vendor)

I was happy to catch Ming, Alex, and a bunch of other friends (including Betty Roytburd, who documented the run of the project) at the storefront space before it closed. CSRA is moving to the new(-ish) offices of Triple Canopy down the block, which are presently disused.

Visitors were invited to annotate a panorama of Canal that wrapped around the storefront space. Here, a note on program that included a screening of Nuotama Bodomo‘s short film “Everybody Dies!”

A numbered and signed Bing Lee monograph (center). Lee designed the CSRA logo.

Various objects including an issue of *0 to 9* (edited by Vito Acconci & Bernadette Mayer)

Pretzel (Yuki Matsuo of All-You-Can-Eat Press)

Oyster shells, ceramics, origami, and novelty statuettes

Around 6 p.m., Penny Arcade hosted an impromptu group reading of John Giorno’s CUM, which Girono (and friends) read at a nearby loft in 1971. So, this was a semicentennial performance. It was interesting to hear Giorno, whose reading voice was singular and is irrepressibly memorable, as a chorus of voices.

Penny Arcade reads “The Life and Death Of A Poet: Penny Arcade on John Giorno” (*Poetry Project Newsletter* #259)

Alex Tatarsky reads from *CUM* by John Giorno

Anny reads. Lower left is Day Sinclair, whose paintings were on view.

_{All images mine except where noted / CC BY-NC 3.0}