The
Red Hook StarªRevue
NOVEMBER 2014
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FREE
Intercourse is a Pioneerworks romp through current art and science by George Fiala
O
ne doesn’t generally encounter slick literary magazines in a NYC bodega, but when the bodega is a block away from the publisher, it becomes a possibility. So the other day at the Pioneer Street Supermarket I picked up a copy of Dusti Yellin’s Intercourse magazine.
My normal reading habits range from Foreign Affairs to the Daily News, so I’m the first to admit that this type of literature is not my bailiwick. First of all let me say that this is not exactly a literary magazine as I know it. It seems more a potpourri of intellectual thought. This is in keeping with Mr. Yellin’s stated goal of Pioneerworks, which he originally did call Intercourse. In addition to serving as an artist studio, a school and a place for events, Yellin intended Pioneerworks, located a bit to the west of the deli, at the cross section of Pioneer and Imlay Streets, to be a place where accomplished persons of all disciplines would be in residence and cross fertilize. The slick, square shaped magazine spans almost two hundred pages. It is organized into four sections, consisting of long articles, shorter essays, academic studies and finally, something called Portfolios, which seem to stress works of art but also include essays. Yellin, who is one of the editors, writes a forward to this third edition of what I take to be a quarterly publication. He wonders about the lifespan of dead bones, which then transforms into a discussion of life being transformed into digital information. I was reminded of a class I took in graduate school where the professor and most of the students happened to be devotees of the philosopher Michel Foucault. It took a number of classes until I started to get an idea of what everyone was talking about. My fellow students were as immersed in Foucault as I used to be with the 1969 NY Mets. I felt as if I had stumbled into some sort of private club. This magazine felt the same way to me. In the same way that eventually I kind of ‘got’ Foucault, I am slowly getting into Intercourse.
The first article is an interview with author Ben Lerner. Philistine that I am, I am not familiar with his novels or poetry, which include Leaving the Atocha Station and The Lichtenberg Figures, but they have been widely acclaimed and are prize winners. So the questions he is asked largely went over my head, until a subject came up that I am familiar with, namely, Star Trek. Here the discussion paralleled thoughts that I have had. Lerner says that while writing his latest novel, 10-4, he watched the entire Next Generation series. He calls it a “90s fantasy about multiculturalism.” Lerner continues: “every time you confront an alien civilization it’s like, ‘what’s the framework that’s going to allow us to respect difference but also get along.’” While that’s all true, I take issue with multiculturalism being a dominant theme of any of the Star Treks. Beginning with Roddenberry’s very first series, which included a black, a Russian,
“I must add here that the magazine misspells the name of Worf, which someone who
The Lerner interview goes on for seven dense pages, and for someone who has read his work, I’m sure it is fascinating and revealing, and educational.
The next article is another interview, this time with musician Adam Green. equates Gene Roddenberry While I am aware of his former band, with Foucault might take issue the Moldy Peaches, I am more a Richard Thompson man, and so again, much of this interview is lost on me. Perhaps I with, but that’s really just a should expand my horizons in his direcminor quibble.” tion, especially since he claims to be a huge fan of the late singer Harry Nilsson, who is acclaimed by people of my an Asian and a doctor from the deep generation as one of the great ones, not South, multiculturalism was a given. to mention a great pal of John Lennon. What I have taken from of all the Star Trek series’ was a positive vision of a fu- Although many of the musical referencture earth, where the fruits of technolo- es are lost on me, this seems a worthgy allows people to follow their dreams, while read for the intellectual music as cheap energy serves to provide every- lover. Adam Green is also a filmmaker, and the article is interspersed with some one’s more basic needs. I must add here that the magazine mis- great photos including one of the artist spells the name of Worf, which some- Francesco Clemente dressed as a clown, one who equates Gene Roddenberry playing the role of ‘Genie,’ as explained with Foucault might take issue with, in the photo credit. Some research inbut that’s really just a minor quibble. forms that Green is working on a film Heaven knows that this publication has version of Aladdin. been guilty of multiple misspellings in it’s publishing history.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
A further example of how un-artsy I happen to be is the story of my own
meet-up with Clemente. My daughter graduated from the St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights where one of her friends was Nina Clemente, Francesco’s daughter. One night I had to go to Greenwich Village to pick her up from a play date. I really had no idea who Francesco Clemente was. I did know that a lot of my daughter’s friends had wealthy parents. I rang the bell and a smallish man with an accent came out to see what I wanted. I assumed he was some kind of servant and asked for my daughter. It was some time later that I happened to see this “butler” type pictured on the sides of NYC buses, as Francesco Clemente was prominently featured in ads in a MOMA show of his work. Mr. Green sounds like an interesting and talented guy and I will now make an attempt to seek out his work. One aside - I have no idea what ketamine is. The next article is about Hart Island. (continued on page 6)