LA Times Reviews OM 23 Opening Night

Mark Swed, of the Los Angeles Times, recounts his experience at the 23rd Annual Other Minds Festival Opening Gala and gives a short background on the history of sound poetry. He gives context to the night by referring back to Hugo Ball, the founder of the DaDa, movement and to Other Mind’s own Charles Amirkhanian’s 1976 sound poetry documentary. He points to the poignancy of the intersectionality of the series, stating that there is sound poetry found in many forms, poetry that strives to communicate through invented languages, music that utilizes extended vocal techniques, and even beat poetry. Swed excitedly recounts the rare collaboration between Clark Coolidge and Alvin Curran, who were once childhood friends but now live many counties apart. He calls their combined performance of the work Just About Out of Nowhere “a masterpiece” and the “ritualistic” nature of the shofar call at the end of the work. He concludes by saying, “The genius of sound poetry on this level is to make the worrisome question “What does it mean?” not just irrelevant but irreverent. All you need ask is: What does it do to you?”