Red Rover Experiments with Reading

By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 5, 2010 8:40PM

The curators of the Red Rover Reading Series are literary-minded people who don’t take themselves too seriously. So, you can expect some interesting things to happen at each segment, which are known as experiments. The Red Rover Reading Series, which has been around since 2005, is based on the spirit of play, fun and community. And it’s not strictly literary. In order to stay true to the “readings that play with reading” tagline, Red Rover readings often includes non-literary genres, audience participation, exploring a theme, and playing with seating in the space. So instead of rotating different readers through the podium, an experiment might ask the audience to wander between different readers. Or a computer might be generating poems for the audience to vote on. Or an experiment might take place in public, where passersby can pay $3 for an on-the-spot typewritten love letter.

“There's preciousness around so many readings and art events that we wanted to move away from,” said Jennifer Karmin one of the curators of the Red Rover series. So she and co-curator Laura Goldstein try to create an environment where anything can happen. And, they say something wacky usually does. “Our audience never exactly knows what they're walking into,” said Goldstein. “I really think that our series looks at all the elements of a typical series and tries to experiment with them in order to engage an audience with being as aware as possible about what they are experiencing.” They do that by twisting elements that are taken for granted at a lot of literary readings, such as how the words are presented, how the space can be incorporated into the reading and how the audience can relate and participate.

Tonight is “Experiment #41: Approaches to What?” According to Goldstein, the experiment will be using various methods to approach ideas surrounding everyday experiences. The title was suggested by Joel Lewis, who will be performing tonight, based on a Georges Perec essay on the everyday titles “Species of Space.” Adrian Moens and Marthe Reed will also be performing.

Experiment #41: Approaches to What? is tonight at Outer Space Studio, 1474 N. Milwaukee Ave, 3rd floor, 7 p.m., suggested donation $4