Jen Hofer, Uncovering: Forages into Public Practice and Narratives of Place

A web translation of Jen Hofer’s OoRS/Pratt Institute presentation has been published as “Materiality: Mortality” at Alligator Zine, online here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 28, 2012, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Lectures for the Office Of Recuperative Strategies at Pratt
Steuben Gallery

Jen Hofer will present a slide show with conversation about the process of making hand-stitched quilted poems to uncover questions about the poetics of place, public practice, land use issues, and how material and ephemeral artifacts narrativize personal and social history. Her most recent quilted poem is currently on display at The Center for Land Use Interpretation in Utah.

Jen Hofer is a poet, translator, social justice interpreter, teacher, knitter, book-maker, public letter-writer, and urban cyclist. Her recent and forthcoming poem sequences and translations are available through various autonomous small presses including: Atelos, Counterpath Press, Dusie Books, Insert Press, Kenning Editions, Les Figues Press, Palm Press, and Subpress..” Jen writes letters for people in public spaces at her escritorio público, and makes tiny books by hand at her kitchen table in Cypress Park, Los Angeles. She is a professor of writing, translation and other arts at CalArts, Goddard College, and Otis College, and works nationally and locally as a social justice interpreter through Antena, a language justice collaborative. The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) exists to stimulate discussion, thought, and general interest in the contemporary landscape. Neither an environmental group nor an industry affiliated organization, the work of the Center integrates the many approaches to land use—the many perspectives of the landscape—into a single vision that illustrates the common ground in “land use.” debates. At the very least, the Center attempts to emphasize the multiplicity of points of view regarding the utilization of terrestrial and geographic resources.