

Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics has sparked loose, oblique, tender conversation necessitated by Schneemann’s own experiments with writing, text, and her proximity to the ‘New York School’ of poetry.
The Uncollected is an evening of poetry that brings together nine poets and one novelist whose work embraces themes pertinent to Schneemann’s practice, from the body as medium to precarious life.
Join us for readings by: Sarona Abuaker, Kat Addis, Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Danny Hayward, Bhanu Kapil, Christopher Kirubi/Dove, Fran Lock, Karenjit Sandhu, Verity Spott, and Jessica Widner.
Collectively, these writers are thinking of ways in which these important conversations between the art object, the text, and/or the poem are so vital to cultural production in the 21st Century, whilst also paying homage to Schneemann as a historic figure and this unique Barbican exhibition which holds over 200 objects and rarely seen archival material.
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the87press
This event is curated by the87press, a South London-based, South-Asian, non-binary, and neurodivergent-led independent publisher of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction founded in 2018 by Azad Ashim Sharma and Kashif Sharma-Patel. the87press have published 28 titles, 100+ mixed-media works via the online journal of poetics the Hythe, and host creative writing workshops internationally. Their events have grown in scale from sell out pub readings at the Roebuck in Borough to the ICA, Camden Art Centre, and a new quarterly series with Café Oto. Their work focusses on late-modernist, experimental, avant-garde, and hybrid writing produced by under-represented writers from racialised, LGBTQ+, Neurodiverse, and/or working class communities.
The Poets
Sarona Abuaker
Sarona Abuaker is a poet, artist, and educational outreach worker. Her poems have been published in Berfrois, MAP Magazine, the Hythe, and elsewhere. Her mixed-media essay Suture Fragmentations – A Note on Return was published in December 2020 with KOHL: A Journal for Body and Gender Research. She is based in London. Why so few women on the street at night is her debut poetry collection (the87press, 2021).
Kat Addis
Kat Addis has published poems in magazines including The Chicago Review, Blackbox Manifold, Fatberg, and Poetry. Her first book of poems, Space Parsley, was published by the87press in 2021. She also makes things experimentally, like costumes, hats and videos, and does academic research on Renaissance literature.
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera is the author of two critically acclaimed books, What If Latin America Ruled the World? (Bloomsbury, 2010) winner of the Frantz Fanon Award, and Story of a Death Foretold (Bloomsbury, 2013) shortlisted for the 2014 Bread & Roses Award. More recently, In Defence of Armed/Art Struggle (Bogota: UTadeo, 2019), “A Future for the Philosophy of Liberation” in Decolonising Ethics (Pennsylvania University Press, 2020), and the poem/novel Night of the World (The 87 Press, 2021). Professor at the University of London. Fellow of the RSA. His “Peace & War” Reformation and the docu-video “Art & Fire: A Journey in Five Films”, with Hay Festivals, are available online.
Danny Hayward
Danny Hayward has published books of poetry with Materials, Veer, Shit Valley and others. A volume of his essays on poetry, Wound Building, was published in autumn 2021 by Punctum Press and can be downloaded for free at the Punctum website. He maintains the out-of-print poetry pdf archive Free Trials.
Bhanu Kapil
Bhanu Kapil is the author of six full length works of poetry/prose, including How to Wash a Heart (2020), Ban en Banlieue (2015) and Schizophrene (2012). She is writing towards a new British edition of Incubation: A Space for Monsters, forthcoming from Prototype in 2023. Fellow of Churchill College, she now lives in Cambridge.
Christopher Kirubi/Dove
Christopher Kirubi/Dove is a London-based artist and poet, their debut poetry collection wildplassen is forthcoming with the87press in 2023.
Fran Lock
Fran Lock is the author of numerous chapbooks and ten poetry collections. Her most recent chapbook is Forever Alive (Dare-Gale Press, 2022), and her most recent collections are Hyena! Jackal! Dog! (Pamenar Press, 2021) and White/ Other (the87press, 2022). Fran is the newly appointed Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at Cambridge University. She is an Associate Editor at Culture Matters, a member of the new Editorial Advisory Board for the Journal of British and Irish Innovative Poetry, and she edits the Soul Food column for Communist Review. Fran Lock is a some-time itinerant dog whisperer, the author of seven poetry collections and of numerous chapbooks, most recently White Other (the87press, 2022). Fran has recently completed her Ph.D. at Birkbeck College, University of London, titled, Impossible Telling and the Epistolary Form: Contemporary Poetry, Mourning and Trauma, and she currently teaches at Poetry School.
Karenjit Sandhu
Karenjit Sandhu is a poet and artist. Her second poetry collection Poetic Fragments from the Irritating Archive (Guillemot Press) is a limited-edition box set. Previous publications include young girls! (the87press) and flowers won’t grow (Sampson Low). Her work also appears in Magma, Judith: Women Making Visual Poetry and Writing Utopia. Her artists' books have been collected by the Tate, National Poetry Library and UWE. Karenjit’s performance work has led to collaborations with the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Flat Time House and Camden People’s Theatre (London), Arnolfini (Bristol) and Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris). @k_ren_sandhu
Verity Spott
Verity Spott is the author of several poetry collections, including Hopelessness (the87press, 2021), Poems of Sappho (Face Press, 2019) Click Away Closed Door Say (Contraband, 2017), We Will Bury You (Veer, 2017) and Gideon (Barque Press, 2014).
Jessica Widner
Jessica Widner is a writer and academic. Her work has appeared in Extra Teeth, Gutter Magazine, and The Cardiff Review. Interiors, published in 2022 by the87press, is her first novel.
Timings
Doors: 6:30pm
Introduction and Welcome: 6:50-7pm
Christopher Kirubi/Dove: 7:00-7:15pm
Jessica Widner: 7:15-7:30pm
Danny Hayward: 7:30-7:45pm
Interval: 7:50pm
Welcome back and Poet introductions: 8pm
Kat Addis: 8:10-8:25pm
Sarona Abuaker: 8:25-8:45pm
Karenjit Sandhu: 8:45-8:55pm
Interval: 9pm
Welcome back and poet introductions: 9:15pm
Verity Spott: 9:20-9:35pm
Bhanu Kapil: 9:35pm-9:50pm
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera: 9:50pm-10:05pm
Fran Lock: 10:05pm-10:25pm.
Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics

Carolee Schneemann: An Introduction
Trace the joyful and expressive life and work of radical artist Carolee Schneemann in our introductory film.

Carolee Schneemann public programme
Our public programme gives you the chance to learn more about Carolee Schneemann’s joyful, groundbreaking and experimental art.
Take your pick from film screenings; talks; curator tours and more.

Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics Playlist
Schneemann had an interdisciplinary and diverse practice. It is perhaps then unsurprising that she also had a wide-ranging taste in music - as happy listening to Minimalism as Marvin Gaye. Listen to a selection of the records that she loved here.
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Public Programme

Body Politics


Frobisher Auditorium 1
Location
Level 4,
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.
We’ve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus