proteotypes
Proteotypes Launches New Book, ‘Painting at Dora’
Friday, June 27, 6-8pm
FreePlease join us as we launch the latest Libellula from Proteotypes, the publishing arm of Proteus Gowanus. Painting at Dora was written by François Le Lionnais in 1945, months after his escape from the forced labor camp at Dora-Nordlingen. The memoir movingly describes the game (or spiritual practice) he played with a comrade, in order to keep from despair in brutal circumstances. In 1960, Le Lionnais went on to found, with Raymond Queneau, the OuLiPo — the French association of writers and mathematicians dedicated to producing constraints for literary and other sorts of [continue reading…]
Launch party for Proteotypes latest Libellula: Martin Nakell’s A Subset of Chance
Friday, April 25, 6:30 – 8:30pm
Proteotypes’ Libellulæ series brings creaturely new texts to life, and we are very proud to have A Subset of Chance as our latest and fifth. A far-flung, full-frenzy poem, A Subset of Chance dips a web woven of geography and philosophy into the polychromic vat of language. In it Martin Nakell obeys two constraints you might think hard to combine. The first, derived from Chaos Theory, posits that “any arbitrarily small perturbation of the current trajectory will lead to significantly different future composition.” The second is the rigorous Kabbalistic procedure of gematria, whereby letters are given their numerical value. Martin will read, explain, and sign copies.
Please join us this Friday evening to meet Martin and send this new Libellula whirring out into the world! There will be wine and snacks.
Secret Wars: Readings
Sunday, March 24, 5pm
The battles fought at night between white and black witches. The battle fought at bedtime between a newly married royal couple. The battle fought in subway stations with poisoned chewing gum. The battle fought with children in a dream. The culture war fought as an emergent species struggles for recognition as a civilized kind. The key battles of such “secret wars” will be the matter read aloud from translations of Czech, Japanese, American, Italian, and Old Irish crypto-military histories. Organized by Wendy Walker, editor of Proteotypes, the publishing arm of Proteus Gowanus.
Learn Diplomacy the Easy Way with Tom LaFarge
Sunday, December 2, 2pm
Proteotypes editor Tom LaFarge will conduct an instructional Diplomacy workshop in the Proteus Gowanus War Games Room. Diplomacy is a board game set in Europe just before WW1 requiring both negotiation and strategy in order to win. This workshop is intended for those who would like to learn the basic rules of play. When you’ve learned the basics, you can play the game in our War Games Room, Saturdays and Sunday, 12-6pm. Class fee: $7
A Party for Cryptozoo, a new Proteotypes Book
Saturday, September 22, 7pm
Join us for wine and conversation to launch Proteotypes’ new publication, Cryptozoo. In this handsome feuilleton twelve writers have undertaken to respond to twelve images from Erik Schurink’s “Cryptozoo” portfolio. With his mind on paradise, theme of a Proteus Gowanus show he was co-curating, he started to notice animals coming out of hiding as if summoned. They emerged from sidewalks, walls, and streets, from bits of industrial scrap, from wire window-grates, from rust stains and scuffings in dust, and posed briefly for his camera. [continue reading…]
Party for New Proteotypes Book by James Walsh
Friday, April 20, 7pm
James Walsh, a longtime friend of Proteus Gowanus as well as a founder/collaborator of Observatory, has just brought out his latest book, There was Something in the Weather, in the Libellulæ series published by Proteotypes, our print arm.
There was Something in the Weather consists of extracts from the early journals of John Ruskin, the most influential art critic of 19th century Britain. These entries, however, were written when Ruskin was sixteen and making his first journey to Switzerland and Italy, shortly after having been denied the love of Adèle-Clotilde Domecq, [continue reading…]
Museum of Matches: Book Launch
Saturday, June 25, 7:30-9pm
Proteotypes, the publishing division of Proteus Gowanus, is delighted to announce the publication of a long-awaited new book, Museum of Matches, by Sasha Chavchavadze. [continue reading…]