&Now 2015: Blast Radius

The works of Kathy Acker and William S. Burroughs foretell--in ways that anticipate contemporary cut culture--possibilities for materiality and embodiment in the digital age. This panel-performance explores the legacy of this work, and its continuing relevance within a post-human matrix of identity that shifts both with and against the grain of the word. 

Burroughs and Kathy Acker have never been more relevant to contemporary cut-ups and collage practice. 2014 is the William S. Burroughs centennial. His work is being celebrated at major events around and the world, and his writing and art—along with that of Kathy Acker—is often cited as the origin point for contemporary remix culture. These writers pioneered appropriation techniques that pre-figure Internet culture, and they offer in their work “how-to” blueprints to produce text that might impact the world rather than reflect literary and cultural conventions