Reading of Pablo Picasso Poems at P.S.1

I abandon sculpture engraving and painting to dedicate myself
entirely to song.
pablo picasso to jaime sabartés, april 1936

Friday, June 3, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
P.S.1
Le Rosier Cafe
Free and open to the public.
This event will be broadcast live on WPS1.

The reading celebrates the publication of The Burial of the Count
of Orgaz & Other Poems (Exact Change, 2004), the most
substantial translation into English to date of Picasso’s poetry.
For a period of 25 years, beginning in 1935, Picasso engaged
in a form of radical experimental writing that is now coming to
be recognized as a major literary breakthrough–not only a
reflection of his own time but a beacon for the present. In his
characteristic and prolific way, he was, as Michel Leiris
described him, “an insatiable player with words… [who, like]

capacity to promote language as a real thing (one might say)
…and to use it with as much dazzling liberty.” Seen in this
light, the poems invite new and surprising readings of Picasso’s
visual work.
Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris, coeditors and principal
translators of The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, will be joined
in this reading by a number of the volume’s guest translators:
Carlos Blackburn (reading for Paul Blackburn), Ricardo Nirenberg,
Diane Rothenberg, Jason Weiss, and Mark Weiss.

How to get there:

by Subway

E or V to 23 St/Ely Ave. Exit onto 44th to Jackson Ave. Walk two blocks south on Jackson to 46th Ave. Please note that the V train does not run on weekends.
7 to 45 Rd/Courthouse Sq. Exit onto Jackson Ave. Walk one block south to 46th Ave.
G to 21 St/Van Alst. P.S.1 is across the street to the left.
G to Court Sq. Walk south three blocks on Jackson Ave.

by Bus

Q67 to Jackson and 46th Aves
B61 to 46th Ave