Saturday, June 13, 2009

Interstitial Arts Foundation: First Salon

The Interstitial Arts Foundation held its first salon on Thursday evening (see my May 16th post)--what a great idea, perfectly executed. Deborah and I were very glad we participated, and look forward to the salon becoming a regular happening.

K. Tempest Bradford organized the event, held on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, with Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman co-hosting. The space was completely packed with interstitial creatives of all stripes, conversation was suitably imbricated with admiring reviews of artist portfolios, good live music, and references to all sorts of liminal and slipstream works.

Authors from the IAF's first anthology, Interfictions I, did short readings and then we got the "world debut" of Interfictions II, with readings from several of the contributors. Interfictions II comes out in November-- buy it.

The IAF is emerging as an important nexus of imaginative, inter- and trans-disciplinary thinking. Plus, the members are warm-spirited, the discussions jargon-free, and a current of humor and whimsy runs through the proceedings. Serious play. Reminds me of the cat in Gaiman's Coraline, slipping effortlessly from one world to another, native to both, archly observing the goings-on around it.

Huge props to Tempest for making this happen, hats off to Ellen and Delia as well. Too many fine folk in attendance to mention them all, but I do want to single out Matt Kressel and the many colleagues from his Sybil's Garage/Senses Five Press universe.

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