The Library of Babel screening and discussion

Monday 11 November, 6pm

Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory
Urbana

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https://cas.illinois.edu/node/2915

Introduction by special guest Hearty White

Inspired by a 1941 Jorge Luis Borges short story, The Library of Babel (2024) explores themes related to the complex interplay of infinity, knowledge, and the cosmic fabric, presented through the metaphor of a vast, seemingly infinite library. In the story, the librarians are isolated, focused on an almost religious or existential quest, struggling to find meaningful texts amidst an overwhelming number of nonsensical or irrelevant books. The library itself has no goals or intentions; a canvas onto which searchers project their quests for meaning. The narrative delves into the angst and crises of those that explore its depths, raising questions about our ability to manage, navigate, and find meaning from vast amounts of information. In her film inspired by the story, artist Vicki Bennett relies on an amalgamation of audio-visual collage and intricate editing techniques to reconfigure, decompose, redirect, and recombine images with sounds that are often already ingrained in audience’s collective consciousness. Rather than adhering to a linear progression of events, her thematic narrative unfolds in layered complexities, offering a fragmented but coherent tale achieved through a blend of various sources and an ‘exquisite corpse’ approach.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Bennett and White on their independent and collaborative creative journeys in seeking meaning, social connection, and joy through the mediums of radio, video, and performance.

Hosted by: College of Fine & Applied Arts

In conjunction with: Department of Media & Cinema Studies, Department of Musicology, Department of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, Illinois Public Media, School of Art + Design, Spurlock Museum, University Library

People Like Us Residency at Cafe OTO

PEOPLE LIKE US Cafe OTO ARTIST RESIDENCY 
27 / 28 / 29 OCTOBER 2023

PEOPLE LIKE US | MAGGIE NICOLS | ERGO PHIZMIZ | GWILLY EDMONDEZ | POREST | IRENE MOON | ERIK BUNGER | HEARTY WHITE

Vicki edit of our residency!

Cafe OTO is proud to announce a new artist residency, featuring multimedia artist Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. Vicki has collaborated with a wide range of artists and musicians; some are joining us for this 3-Day residency, both solo and in collaboration. The residency includes a preview of the new People Like Us audiovisual performance The Library of Babel.

People Like Us returns to the WFMU airwaves

Happy to announce that we will return to our weekly radio show DO or DIY with People Like Us on WFMU for the Summer Schedule 2023 :). Mark your calendar for weekly shows through the season starting Wednesday 7 June, 7-8pm NY Time (that’s midnight-1am Wednesday night in the UK). Shows are, and have been archived in perpetuity for over 20 years now, which is exactly how long DO or DIY has been on WFMU, and is returning to its original slot after Seven Second Delay.

Follow the Listen link at the time: wfmu.org and then listen to the archive(s) here.

DO or DIY with People Like Us

Changing Your Mind

Changing Your Mind is a new 50-minute crowd-sourced radio collage work by Vicki Bennett. It will be broadcast on Deutschlandfunk on 14 April 2023 at 0:05 (German time).

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind and has been practised for thousands of years. It encourages concentration, and clarity, and can have a transformative effect that can lead to a new understanding of life, and be used as a creative tool. This is a crowd-sourced audio collage by Vicki Bennett, where 48 participants respond to questions about the subject of meditation and consciousness and their experiences and relationship to this.

LISTEN:

List of participants:
Abhayadevi, Akashamitra, Rahne Alexander, Tim Atkins, Vicki Bennett, Marcus Boon, William Boon, Liz Bot, Leanne Bryan, Falco Carey, Jeff Carey, Leon Clowes, Stephen Coates, Will Edmondes, Diane Farris, Jem Finer, Louise Gray, Maya Gürbüz, Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, Phil Hallett, Kevin Hamilton, Dan Hayhurst, Mark Heath, Pea Hicks, Seth Horvitz, Peter Jaeger, Felix Kubin, Henry Lowengard, Tim Maloney, Lasse Marhaug, David McConville, Alex McKechnie, Irene Moon, Karen Oates, Kira O’Reilly, Ratnadeva, Sanghasiha, Saraka, Vic Scarborough, Nikolas Schreck, Adrian Shephard, Vanessa Sinclair, Sue Slagle, Suddhaka, David Toop, Vidyadasi, Pete Wallace, Richard Whitelaw

How Do Ideas Grow: Listening session and artist talk with People Like Us

Wednesday 12 April | 5:30PM – 8:00PM 
TURNER CONTEMPORARY – Foyle Rooms, Rendezvous, Margate CT9 1HG

Join OSE Associate Leon Clowes and internationally renowned audio-visual collage artist Vicki Bennett (People Like Us) for a listening session of ‘No One Is An Island’, Vicki’s WDR-commissioned radio piece that asks where ideas come from. The listening session will be followed by an artist ‘In-conversation’ and Q&A in which Leon and Vicki will discuss the provocations raised by the commission alongside Vicki’s creative processes and artistic concerns.

Booking is required – book a free ticket here

OSE Public Programme 2022-23

This event is held as part of Open School East’s 2022-23 Public Programme. This year’s Associate-led Public Programme responds to themes of social & ecological hybridity, as set out in the Associate’s first term curriculum entitled When The World Looks Back At Youabout storytelling, ecology and the weird led by artist Saelia Aparicio. Through explorations of the voice, the body and sensitive connections with natural and man-made networks that unite the world around us, the Associate-led Public Programme looks to and explores creativity and collectivity in green spaces.

You can find more Public Programme events at: openschooleast.org/events