ETEL ADNAN IN THE RHYTHMS OF THE WORLD
Etel Adnan: In the Rhythms of the World
A Symposium, February 27 - March 1
Organized by Omar Berrada & Simone Fattal
Hosted by The Poetry Project, with Giorno Poetry Systems and Anthology Film Archives
Etel Adnan’s oeuvre did not follow a masterplan; it expanded and shape-shifted ceaselessly. Each book invented its own genre. And yet her tone is unmistakable, combining sharp observation with the associative logic of dreams. “I followed lines I never saw, went on unchartered roads, didn’t emerge from any confusion. The present was forever blowing.” Throughout her existence, she was committed to being “in the rhythms of the world.” In the face of a life “woven with war,” she chose to look the apocalypse in the eye, always seeking appropriate forms for bearing witness.
Born in Beirut in 1925, Adnan lived on three continents and in multiple languages, working as a writer, a painter, a journalist, a professor, a filmmaker, among other pursuits. Though she taught philosophy and read voraciously, she valued nothing more than careful attention to material phenomena: “I know that seeking political and philosophical notions in the street is like trying to construct a barrier to hold back the ocean, but I won't look elsewhere.” Solidarity and radical equality were her guiding principles, as was her ever-renewed wonder at the beauty of the world and her enduring belief in the oneness of being. To her, landscapes revealed haunted histories of place. Trees were constant interlocutors. A mountain was her best friend.
Organized by Omar Berrada and Simone Fattal on the centenary of Etel Adnan's birth, this symposium gathers together old friends, confirmed specialists, and younger disciples of Adnan's. They will offer talks, poetry readings, and musical performances in response to multiple aspects of her literary and visual work.
Contributors include George Abraham, Ammiel Alcalay, Jean-Philippe Antoine, Amir ElSaffar, Huda Fakhreddine, Peter Gizzi, Maaza Mengiste, Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat, Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer, Sarah Riggs, Lisa Robertson, Jennifer Scappettone, Brandon Shimoda, Hamed Sinno, and Kamelya Omayma Youssef.
This event is free and open to the public with RSVP.
Thursday February 27
Evening: Anthology Film Archives
6:30 pm: Screening
Etel Adnan: Motion (1980/89 - 2012, '92)
Presented by Bidoun
RSVP to the film screening here
Friday February 28
Afternoon: Giorno Poetry Systems
2:00 pm:
Simone Fattal & Omar Berrada — Introduction
Ammiel Alcalay — “…tenderness for the world as it is”: Journeying into the present with Etel Adnan
Saretta Morgan & Ica Sadagat — Guerrilla Nature: Tactics of the Ethereal
4:00 pm: Coffee break
4:30 pm:
Brandon Shimoda — Burn the walls of your own apparitions: on Etel Adnan’s Hiroshimas
Huda Fakhreddine — Poetry Begins at STOP: Etel Adnan and the Arabic Poetic Tradition
RSVP to the Friday afternoon programming here
Evening: The Poetry Project
7:00 pm: Light buffet dinner
8:00 pm:
Book launch — Etel Adnan: Voyage, War, Exile (Litmus Press)
Sarah Riggs — Letters to Etel from Egypt
George Abraham — When the Arab Apocalypse Comes to America
9:00 pm:
Amir ElSaffar — Time's Other Side (music performance)
RSVP to the Friday evening programming here
Saturday March 1
Afternoon: The Poetry Project
2:00 pm:
Jennifer Scappettone — Leporello as Geopoetics: Etel's Xenoglossia
Eileen Myles & Ryan Sawyer — Perpetual Present Tempo of Etel Adnan
Jean-Philippe Antoine — Paris, when it’s naked — Winter 2025
4:00 pm: Coffee break
4:30 pm:
Maaza Mengiste — Letter from East Jerusalem: The Landscape Between
Lisa Robertson — What Light Composes: The Bioluminescence of the Poem
RSVP to the Saturday afternoon programming here
Evening: Giorno Poetry Systems
7:00 pm: Light buffet dinner
8:00 pm:
Peter Gizzi — For Etel, For Love
Kamelya Omayma Youssef — A Problem of Certainty
9:00 pm:
Hamed Sinno — Land without Organs (music performance)
RSVP to the Saturday evening programming here
Etel Adnan: In the Rhythms of the World was organized by Omar Berrada and Simone Fattal to mark the centenary of Etel Adnan’s birth. It is produced by The Poetry Project and co-hosted by Giorno Poetry Systems. The screening at Anthology Film Archives is presented by Bidoun.
This program was made possible by generous support from Galerie Lelong, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, and White Cube.
All three galleries are presenting exhibitions of Etel Adnan’s work at the time of the symposium:
Etel Adnan: This Beautiful Light, at White Cube, New York.
Etel Adnan: On Paper, 1960-2021, at Galerie Lelong, New York.
Etel Adnan: Zum Hundertsten, at Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg.
