What we heard: them – A hybrid screening / talk / reading by Steph Gray

What we heard: them is a mix of talk, screening (super 8 film and experimental video) and prose poetry by Steph Gray that explores and ruptures the concepts of sound, listening, and hearing through poetics(tix) of how we get words to say what we mean and mean what we say. **What do you hear when you hear them [taking ‘bout us]? Well, maybe it’s not a surprise. Maybe u see right thru them, but for this hybrid presentation, our lips are not sealed.* This evening will attempt to explore—what do we really hear when we hear? What do we really mean when we speak?—filtered through prosey-poetry poetics, glitched video and scratched film. *Indirect credit to Ms. Belinda Carlisle

Poet-filmmaker Steph Gray is the author of seven poetry collections, including Shorthand and Electric Language Stars (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2015), and the chapbooks Words Are What You Get/You Do It For Real (above/ground press, 2019) and A Country Road Going Back in Your Direction (Argos Books, 2015). Gray’s experimental super 8 films and videos have screened internationally, including retrospectives at San Francisco Cinematheque, Anthology Film Archives, Microscope Gallery and Mono No Aware in NYC.

A live stream of this event can be accessed here. Edited recordings will be shared after the event. Tickets will be available on 6/2. 

This is tentatively planned as a live indoor event at St. Mark's Church. We are following guidelines laid out by the CDC and the State of New York. These include: limiting the number of attendees to 50% capacity; requiring proof of vaccination be shown at the door upon arrival; and requiring and providing face masks, as well as hand sanitizer stations. Before each event, we will also be conducting rapid tests for all performers and event staff. Attendees are required to register in advance, and contact information is collected at the point of registration in the event that we need to support any public health efforts around contact tracing. We are committed to the safety of our performers, audience, and event staff, and will be fully prepared to update any of these plans and protocols as circumstances continue to evolve. We are grateful to attendees for helping us maintain safety within our present public health context, and look forward to holding meaningful shared listening space together.

Please arrive prepared to show proof of vaccination and a photo ID at the door. Proof of vaccination may be in the form of your vaccination card (or a picture of your card), the NYC Covid Safe app, or the Excelsior app. If, for medical reasons, you have not been vaccinated, you may instead bring documentation of a negative PCR test taken within the last 72 hours.