The Novel in 2050 (SXSW) | Tomorrow Museum

This is an aside titled 'The Novel in 2050 (SXSW)' dated 8/19/09

My proposed SXSWi panel with Richard Nash: The Novel in 2050. Research shows reading a book for as little as six minutes may cut stress levels in half. But have Twitter-length attention spans decreased demand for novels? What is the future of the “non-networked” book? This panel will debate the relevance of novels in a networked world. (Blip.tv clip of Nash’s talk at 140 characters conference mentioning book groups — 12:25 — and — 14:00 — how painting didnt get killed by film. More here in his recent Publisher Weekly article on “the future of [some] publishing.”) Our friends at Snarkmarket want to take you to 2020, and have a cool sounding panel focusing more on the actual gadgetry of reading. Great discussion on their blog. I’m also super excited about Erin Donovan’s panel for SXSW film: “Animating Reality: The New Frontier for Documentary”. If you aren’t listening to her weekly podcast Steady Diet of Film, I don’t know what your ears are doing.

Posted by Joanne on Aug. 19, 2009

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- Living in Boston, I've seen a number of extraordinary people give talks and presentations, but last year at the Harvard Film Archive, Kathryn Bigelow struck me as particularly brilliant. Bigelow was a painter before she was a film maker. A downtown artist, a fellow at the Whitney Museum, a student of Vito Acconci and Susan Sontag. Her first film, made in grad school, featured Sylvère Lotringer and Marshall Blonsky. But her action films aren't a rejection of her background, rather, they expand on it. She has made a deliberate decision to speak to as wide an audience as possible, and in doing so never sacrificed her vision. Her favorite word to describer her work is "experiential." In an excellent post, the best thing I've read about her work yet, Steven Shaviro, further explains this quality of "sensory immersion." Of course her win is a milestone. Especially since it means the issue of women in film longer a question of capability. More women than men are in the Whitney Biennial this year, and they had the strongest work. Kathryn Bigelow won because she made the best film. Here she is with Charlie Rose. Near Dark is the perfect movie to watch at 5 am. Such an inspiration.
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- I don't know why I keep doing these. But here's another podcast in defense of anonymity.
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- Not this Justin Wolfe. What is it like to share a name with someone (possibly) wrongly accused of murder? The other Justin Wolfe is a very talented writer and creator of two delightful websites, who can do better than the suburban wasteland that is Northern Virginia.
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- I'm in New York next week starting Tuesday for the Armory Show. Please email if you'd like to meetup: joanneDOTmcneilGMAIL. I'm also moderating a panel Saturday, March 6, at the Winkleman Gallery with An Xiao, part of #class Here's more on #class on WSJ Speakeasy.
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