The Bakersfield Fan Forum

The Poetic Research Bureau was invited by the Todd Madigan Gallery at Cal State Bakersfield to hold a workshop and residency on “fandom” and art. Guest speakers included Julian Hoeber, Kate Durbin, Ben Fama, Monica McClure, and Harmony Holiday. Students worked with the Bureau to create print-on-demand books, and displayed their work at a pop-up bookshop held within the gallery space.

Purchase or download the Bakersfield Fan Forum publications on the workshop tumblr

~

Bakersfield Fan Forum Syllabus

Kern Poetry News Article on the Bakersfield Fan Forum

~

CSUB Todd Madigan Gallery presents
The Bakersfield Fan Forum
November 7- December 3, 2017

The Poetic Research Bureau
with
Joseph Mosconi and Maryah Chester, Barry Michael, Viridiana Pena and Marco Silva

Everyone is a fan of something. The concepts of “the fan,” “the amateur” and the “self-published writer” have often been denigrated and ridiculed in popular culture and the mass media. However, over the past several centuries the cultural practice of “fandom,” of being a fan, has broadened and diversified, and become more participatory in the process. As sociologist Henry Jenkins has written, fans "redefine the politics of reading" and "view textual property not as the exclusive domain of textual producers but as open to repossession by textual consumers." This exhibition charts the research of The Bakersfield Fan Forum, under the direction of the Poetic Research Bureau. During the course of the forum, poets, artists and scholars discussed the politics of fandom, appropriation and the concepts of the amateur and the enthusiast. Members of the forum created print-on-demand books and posters, culminating in a pop-up bookshop situated in the gallery.

THE POETIC RESEARCH BUREAU attempts to cultivate composition, publication and distribution strategies that enlarge the public domain. It favors appropriations, impersonations, 'compost' poetries, belated conversations, unprintable jokes and doodles, historical thefts and pastiche. The publication emphasis is on ephemeral works, short-run magazines and folios, short-lived reprints and excerpts in print-on-demand formats. The Bureau advocates for intellectual resource sharing, material re-use and the “creative commons.” It values artistic experiment and archival research equally, as well as translation and cultural encounter, pluralism and intellectual debate. The Bureau’s activities include, but are not limited to: readings and presentations, screenings and exhibitions, courses and lectures, as well as the production and distribution of art and literature.

This event is free and open to the public
For more information contact
Jedediah Caesar at jcaesar@csub.edu
or the Poetic Research Bureau

Todd Madigan Gallery
9001 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, CA 93311
661.654.2238

Gallery hours:
Wend- Fri 1-6 pm
Saturday 12-5