In tandem with National Poetry Month this April, ELO is promoting a month-long celebration of electronic poetry.
You are invited to join in by hosting your own ePoetry event. Please let us know at e.poetryevent@gmail.com so we can add your event to the list. You can find more details and the growing calendar of events here: www.eliterature.org/nationalpoetrymonth
ELO is pleased to announce the addition of 3 new members to its Board of Directors: Â Philippe Bootz, Leonardo Flores, and Rui Torres. Â These three scholar-artists bring a level of artistic and scholarly achievement and expertise that will help ELO grow and develop. Â In addition to their deep knowledge of the field, they bring to the board literary expertise in three language spheres (Spanish, Portuguese, and French), so ELO can help build networks of scholars and artists in those literary cultures.
Bios for these three excellent new members follow:
Kathi Inman Berens has posted a call for works for the Gallery of E-Literature First Encounters, an online gallery concurrent with the 2014 ELO Hold the Light Conference in Milwaukee.  This is a high-profile opportunity for newcomers to the world of electronic literature to have their work featured.  Deadline for submission Feb 15. The call follows the break:
You are cordially invited to a powerhouse e-lit reading at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago!
MLA14 Off-site E-Lit Reading
Flaxman Library Special Collections Reading Room
37 S. Wabash Ave., 6th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60603
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Friday, Jan. 10, 8pm
Coordinated by Mark C. Marino
Hosted by Mark C. Marino and Rob Wittig
Featuring:
Abraham Avnisan
Leo Flores
Chris Funkhouser
Dene Grigar
MD Coverley
Mark C Marino
Judd Morrissey
Scott Rettberg
Mark Sample
Stephanie Strickland
Zach Whalen
Roger Whitson
Rob Wittig
The reading room is located on the 6th floor. All attendees must present a valid ID (student, driver’s license, faculty, or other) to enter the building.
This year’s MLA conference will feature an exhibit entitled “Pathfinders: Documenting the Experience of Early Digital Literature” organized by ELO President Dene Grigar and board member Stuart Moulthrop on the past and present of electronic literature. Â Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the exhibit continues the tradition of curated works featured at MLA, one Grigar has been actively pursuing for several years. Below is the full press release.
Pathfinders:  25 years of Experimental Literary Art continues the work of Pathfinders:  Documenting the Experience of Early Digital Literature is a hands-on exhibit, curated by Dene Grigar and Stuart Moulthrop, taking place at the Modern Language Association 2014 convention in Chicago, IL, from January 9-11 in the Sheraton II, Ballroom, Level 4.
The exhibit generates from Grigar and Moulthrop’s research, “Pathfinders: Documenting the Experience of Early Digital Literature,†sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and features work of pioneering experimental literary artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as highlights innovative contemporary artists experimenting today with computing technologies for literary production.
The first section of the exhibit, “Paths to Electronic Literature,â€â€¨ presents the early works of digital literature that comprise the current preservation efforts by Grigar and Moulthrop for the Pathfinders project.  These works will be made available at the exhibit on computers on which the works were originally experienced by readers at the time of their publication––an Apple IIe, Mac Classic, Mac LC575 and Mac 580, all from Grigar’s Electronic Literature Lab, the site where the Pathfinders research is taking place.  Also highlighted at this station will be raw documentation videos of the artists’ traversals produced for the Pathfinders project.
The second section of the exhibit, “Current Directions,â€â€¨features contemporary electronic literature artists who have produced narratives, poetry, drama, and essays via physical computing technologies, augmented reality, social media, mobile media and other innovative approaches. Seven computer stations showcase the work of Samantha Gorman & Danny Cannizzo; Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher; Andreas Muller; Christine Wilks and Andy Campbell; Jay Bushman and Mike Daisey; Jacob Garbe; Josh Tanenbaum and Karen Tanenbaum; Erik Loyer; and Jason Nelson.
For more information, contact Dene Grigar, dgrigar@mac.com.
Off-site e-lit reading at MLA
Flaxman Library Special Collections Reading Room
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Friday, Jan. 10, 8pm
Coordinated by Mark C. MarinoÂ
Carrying on an MLA tradition, the Electronic Literature Organization is sponsoring an off-site reading of new works of digitally born literature. Â Priority will be given to work of high literary value and unforgettable, earth-shattering presentations. Â Artists new to electronic literature are especially encouraged to submit!
To participate, please send your proposals (200 words or less) and brief bio (150 words or less) for 10-minute presentations/performance. Â Sorry, no remote presentations via Skype or other video conferencing software.
Deadline for proposals Dec 31, 2013
Response by Jan. 3rd
email submissions to: markcmarino at g mail
Flaxman Library is located on the 6th floor, 37 S. Wabash St., Chicago, IL, 60603
Update: New Deadline for Critical and Creative Submissions December 15, 2013
Also, see this new video call for Media Arts Show, including  a solicitation for the Virtual Gallery in Festival of e-Literature 1st Encounters (Feb 1, deadline).
Following on the heels of the 2013 Paris conference, here’s the call for 2014 in Milwaukee!
ELO 2014 Conference: Hold the Light
Milwaukee, WI (June 19-21, 2014)
The 2014 Electronic Literature Organization Conference will be held June 19-21, 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with sessions on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In conjunction with the three-day conference, there will be a juried Media Arts Show, with exhibits at UWM.
For the Conference, proposals should address critical, reflective, or theoretical questions. Formats may include elements of demonstration or (brief) performance, in context of inquiry or analysis that goes beyond the work itself. Proposers are welcome to discuss their own work, under this requirement.
The Media Arts Show provides an occasion for extended display, performance, and presentation of original works. Please identify submissions for the Show as such.
We invite proposals of no more than 500 words, including a brief description of the content and format of the presentation, and contact information for the presenter(s). Describe any technical needs beyond standard screen projection and audio. Send proposals to eliterature2014 [at] gmail.com, using plain text format in the email, or attached as Word or PDF.
Proposals for the Conference will be reviewed by a Program Committee convened by the Conference Co-Chairs. Proposals for the Media Art Show will be reviewed by a jury chosen by the Media Arts Curator.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Proposals are requested by Friday, December 6, 2013
Program Committee Chairs
ELO is proud to announce the launch of the 2013 conference “Chercher le texte” in Paris, 24-27 September, 2013.  This marks the first international conference ELO has held, but the 5th conference since State of the Arts in 2002. The Paris conference features works from over 100 artists from 14 countries as well as a complete scholarly program of academic presentations.  Events begin Sept 23 with a meeting of the CELL (Consortium on Electronic Literature) group, a debate and performances at Centre Pompidou.
With Paris as its backdrop, the wide variety of events will be held at historic cites in the coeur of Western Europe’s artistic body, including BPI – Centre Pompidou, Labo BnF | François-Mitterrand, École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (EnsAD), and Le Cube – Centre de création numérique.
Conference partners include ELO, Le MIM, La Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), La Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (BPI), Le Cube – Centre de création, L’Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, DDDL (réseau européen de littérature – Digital Digital Digital Littérature), Le Laboratoire d’excellence des arts et médiations humaines (Labex Arts-H2H), Coalition Cyborg with thanks to MOTS-VOIR and the Swedish Arts Council.
The conference will also mark the change in leadership from outgoing President Nick Montfort to newly elected Dene Grigar, who will preside over the ELO Board of Directors meeting on Saturday.
Performances begin Monday September 23, 2013 at the Centre Pompidou at 7pm. You can find the entire program here. You can see descriptions of works that will be presented in the Performance Gallery.
In addition to the Performance Gallery, there are three primary exhibitions of works:
3 Exhibitions
Not in Paris?  Follow the happenings on the Chercher le texte Website site, ELO Conference Website, the Facebook Page,  and on Twitter @chercherletexte
Also, see Judy Malloy’s detailed and thoughtful overview of the conference on Narrabase.
Contact:
Nolwenn Tréhondart
presse@chercherletexte.org
As we move along the road to ELO Paris 2013 “Chercher Le Texte,” the organizers are tantalizing us with some of the scenes to come.
Recently, the working version of the conference program has appeared online. Running Monday, September 23 till Friday, September 27, the conference will feature an international gathering of artists and critics.
Also, you can see the gallery of the works that will be presented during the conference (not to be confused with the various other online galleries and exhibitions to come). Venues include the Pompidou Centre, The Cube, and The Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Certainly, there will be more news on this conference to come. Keep an eye on the conference website, @chercherletexte on Twitter, or the Facebook page.
Following up on their NEH Digital Humanities Start-up Grant, ELO President-elect Dene Grigar sends word of the Pathfinders project with first guest ELO board member Stuart Moulthrop:
“Pathfinders: Documenting the Experience of Early Digital Literature†is making its debut at Washington State University Vancouver July 8 – 9 in the Electronic Literature Lab in the Classroom building, room 210. Stuart Moulthrop, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and an innovator of electronic literature and hypertext fiction as both a theoretician and writer, will be the first guest. He will also lecture at 7 p.m. July 9 at Nouspace Gallery, 1005 Main St, Vancouver, Wash. The lecture, “Failure to Contain: Electronic Literature and the State of (Machine) Reading,†is free and open to the public.
The project explores the idea of digital preservation and asks the questions: What happens to literary works meant to be experienced on a computing device when the software and computer systems with and for which they were created update, change or become obsolete? Do we allow these works also to become obsolete too, or do we find ways to preserve them?
“Pathfinders,†led by Dene Grigar, associate professor and director of the creative media and digital culture program at WSU Vancouver, and Moulthrop, are developing methods for digital preservation with the goal of capturing not only the digital work but also the human experience of interacting with early digital art . It is supported by a “Digital Humanities Start Up Grant†from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Moulthrop has produced many critically significant works of digital writing and art over the past 25 years. One of his best-known, “Victory Garden,†(1991) was produced for computers that are not compatible with current standards, making the work unavailable for web-based archives without changes to its original form.
To preserve the beauty of the original work, Grigar will videotape Moulthrop in the Electronic Literature Lab as he talks through “Victory Garden†using a vintage Mac Classic. Following Moulthrop’s reading, two readers unfamiliar with “Victory Garden†will be videotaped to produce a record of multiple readers’ experience with the work. This is a process Grigar and Moulthrop call “traversal.”
Three more “Pathfinders†traversals are scheduled through the fall. To learn more, visit http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/pathfinders or contact Grigar at dgrigar@vancouver.wsu.edu
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Dene Grigar, dgrigar@vancouver.wsu.edu
Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@vancouver.wsu.edu
OTHER RESOURCES
Pathfinders website:Â http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/pathfinders
Electronic Literature Lab website:Â http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/ell
Nouspace Gallery website:Â http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/nouspace
