The Point of Contact Gallery recently hosted a 30th-anniversary bash in which luminaries from the literary and academic communities gathered to commemorate three decades of Point of Contact's book series. The event was the official launch of Point of Contact's anniversary anthology, "Point of Contact: 30 Years: Anniversary Issue, Vol.8, No. 1-2." The volume includes works by renowned authors, scholars and artists around the world and was co-published with Syracuse University Press.
The 388-page anthology includes 33 essays and conversations with some of the most exciting critical thinkers of our times, all of whom contributed to the Point of Contact series over the last three decades. Their essays and conversations are reprinted in English and also translated into Spanish. The Spanish version will be accessible online, free of charge, through the Point of Contact
website, http://www.pointcontact.org.
SU professor Pedro Cuperman is editor and founder of Point of Contact. On the labor of editing this anthology, he says: "It was a happy event to revisit texts that we published in the course of three decades and realize that they can still be as significant today as when they were written. This is the lasting vitality of the creative text and if Point of Contact can claim any real contribution, it should be along those lines. Interestingly, the editing of these works has also given us the opportunity to do what we almost never can do in our own lives, which is to go back in time and correct our mistakes -- and make new ones!"
In 1975, Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact originated a journal on the verbal and visual arts, known first as Punto de Contacto and later as Point of Contact. With time, the journal, now a book series, has become a medium for some of the world's most relevant contemporary artists and writers -- many of whom have become longtime collaborators, co-creators and designers of a project that continues to evolve and move forward.
Distinguished author and SU professor George Saunders and renowned novelist and University of Nevada professor Douglas Unger presented the commemorative edition at the anniversary event.
"Point of Contact remains a prime crossroads for verbal and visual arts from around the world," says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. "We're honored to celebrate its splendid history by collecting so many visions and voices in one volume."
"This anniversary anthology represents an intellectual and artistic endeavor of great significance, extending beyond the borders of Syracuse, and we're pleased to be a part of it," says Alice Pfeiffer, director of SU Press.
The anthology is a limited edition, irresistible to the avid collector of uncommon books, and includes original works by Thomas Bishop, Trisha Brown, Alicia Borinsky, Nicolas Calas, Eldridge Cleaver, Julio Cortazar, Pedro Cuperman, Vicente Fatone, Christine Fawcett, Jean Franco, Carlos Fuentes, Gloria Gibson, Mercedes Lopez-Baralt, Floyd Merrel, Julio Ortega, Raimon Panikkar, Elena Poniatowska, Manuel Puig, Jose Sanjines, Severo Sarduy, Owen Shapiro, W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Stam, Douglas Unger, Andrew Waggoner, Peter Wollen and Saul Yurkievich, among others. The collection also includes in-depth conversations with such famed personalities as Philip Glass, Amy Tan and Mary Karr.
Point of Contact is a nonprofit organization housed on the SU campus and dedicated to the exploration of verbal and visual arts, and cross-cultural exchange. Today, Point of Contact is the generator of various literary publications, including the poetry series Corresponding Voices. Point of Contact also produces artistic events of international scope, including the Syracuse International Film and Video Festival and major contemporary art exhibitions at the Point of Contact Gallery.
For more information on Point of Contact's anniversary anthology,
visit http://www.pointcontact.org or
contact Tere Paniagua at 443-2169 or tpaniagu@syr.edu.
