(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), in collaboration with Basilica Hudson, will host a 24-hour marathon reading of The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers from Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 2pm through until the book is completed, until approximately Sunday, November 24, at 2. The event will be held at Basilica Hudson, a 19th century factory-turned-event space, about one mile from the future Institute.
Over the course of 24 hours, students, teachers, and other Hudson community participants will read the entirety of Walter Moers’s fantastic tale that follows Optimus Yanspinner on his quest to locate the mysterious writer of an unpublished manuscript in the literary metropolis of Bookholm. The novel promises to be accessible and captivating to children and adults alike.
MAI marathon readings provide an occasion for readers and listeners to assemble and experience spoken word as a long durational work. “In support of literature and education, we are inviting students and teachers from local Hudson schools to join us in this interdisciplinary experience,” says MAI Director Serge Le Borgne of the reading, which presents, “a unique opportunity to engage with literature, art, performance, and public speaking.”
This will be the second marathon reading held by MAI. This August, the Institute and literary magazine The Atlas Review co-hosted an eight-hour reading of Stanislaw Lem’s science fiction novel Solaris at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn, New York.
“The Basilica has a very dramatic and industrial atmosphere that calls for one-of-a-kind and extreme events like this marathon reading,” says Melissa Auf der Maur, creative director of Basilica Hudson. “Marina and her team dreamed up this event, and naturally we opened our doors to them.”
The event is made free and open to the public with the help of local sponsors Park Falafel & Pizza, ShopRite, and Hawthorne Valley.
Marina Abramovic Institute is a forum for time-based immaterial arts, with a particular devotion to long durational works. MAI is an incubator for education and critical discourse among humanities, sciences, and technology, providing a space for workshops, lectures, residencies, and research. MAI is home to the Abramovic Method, a series of exercises conceived to increase awareness of the present moment and explore the boundaries of body and mind.