Bio

Amir Parsa is the author of thirteen literary books, two litstills and an open epic. An uncategorizable body of work, his oeuvre – written in English, French, Persian and Spanish (and yes, francais, spanglish and enganol and fransi and variations thereon!) – constitutes a radical polyphonic enterprise that puts into question national, cultural and aesthetic attachments while fashioning new genres, forms and even species of literary artifacts.

Kobolierrot, an epic prose poem, Tractatüus Philosophiká-Poeticüus, a theory of artistic creation that also reads like a labyrinthine story, Feu L’encre – Fable, and Onomodapean, conversations with Hamid Dabashi, a book that acts as a celebration of the nomadic life, were published in 2000 in Paris by Editions Caractères, in concert with the 5oth anniversary of the revered publishing house’s founding. L’opéra minora, a 440-page book written in Persian, French, English and Photographic, and now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s special books collection and the Museum of Modern Art Library’s artists’ books collection, also appeared in limited editions in the same year.

In 2004, La revolution n’a pas encore eu lieu appeared, launching the period of the writing and publication of the ‘atomic’ books, small yet dense volumes that subtly packed literary history, theory and universal human themes within their pages. The next year, Fragmen (Studies for the Coming Epic), a single-artifacted literary overture, later dubbed ‘Litstill’, appeared, followed by, in 2006, a quartet of books published in Paris and New York, and emphasizing the drive towards a ‘new world literature’:  Dîvân and Sil & anses rounded out the atomic works, while Drive-by Cannibalism in the Baroque Tradition, an irreverent study of revolutions and life in the American suburbs and published by Non Serviam Press in New York, slowly became an underground classic (and will be re-issued by UpSet Press in New York in 2013). Erre, a six-page book length poem, rounded out the entire first period of the work – one that that was conclusively closed with the appearance in 2007 of the second and last of the Litstills, Ifs & Co., and a translation of Bruno Durocher-Kaminski’s ‘et l’homme blanc écrivait son histoire’ into … and they were writing their history on the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of the author’s death.

Since 2007, Fragments from his ongoing The Portable Open Epic, as rendered by the Elastic Circus of the Revolution have taken place at The Bowery Poetry Club and the Riverside Church among other venues, during the Uncomun Festival 08, the Engendered Festival 09 and within the Framing Aids exhibition in 2010 in New York, and at the Baroquissimo Festival in Puebla, Mexico in April 2010. An early pioneer of naratweets, parafrags (parallel fragments) and a host of other methods, strategies and techniques that allow for new literary possibilities through new technologies, Parsa launched the The Portable Open Epic in 2007 in a most discrete way, and perpetuates its unfolding in a host of platforms. More recently, in June 2010 at the Paris en Toutes Lettres festival and in conjunction with the publication of his book-length poem Fragment du cirque élastique de la révolution, Mr. Parsa put into action the first-ever “scriptage”, along with performative reading and writing actions, in an 8-hour multiplatformal writing venture through the cities of Paris (with interventions at national monuments like Notre Dame and the Arènes de Lutèce), while simultaneously projecting the goings-on at the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance during the Artstroll Festival 2010 in Manhattan.

The Portable Open Epic is comprised of cantos and fragments – cantos in fragments – that constitute an on-going multilingual scriptural epic that intertwines contemporary life, the American cultural landscape, and the writing of one year (1978-1979) of the Iranian Revolution, among other themes. These poetic fragments unfold over time on multiple platforms, in multiple arenas and spaces (private and public), and through various scriptural strategies – from the traditional (handwritten sheets and books) to the new (electronic, web). Narrative conventions are challenged, and poetic, stylistic and performative operations exploit possibilities unique to different languages and mediums. The overall experience is orchestrated through the creation of lasting artifacts as well as ephemeral events and monumental constructs. A theoretical apparatus and a critical enterprise engaged with the history and forms of literature and the reading phenomenon, the work also challenges traditional modalities of publication, exhibition, commodification, dissemination and interaction.

The literary works, along with art works and actions of various kinds, have been exhibited, read and debated in lecture halls and museums, in streets and on rooftops, in broad daylight and in hiding, and at various festivals and events. Performances of writing, readations, encantations and bassadigas, both multilingual and unilingual, have taken place at the Janos Gat Gallery, at Haven Arts Gallery, at The Rio Gallery, at the Printemps des Poètes and the Conciergerie in Paris, and at various curated literary venues. His works have aslo been exhibited internationally, along with other books and photographs, in both group and solo shows, including at the Nelson Hancock Gallery in Dumbo and the Engendered Festival in Soho. He also created the Poets in the Galleries series at the Queens Museum of Art, and the Rooftop Roars and Riverside Revolutions event in uptown Manhattan during the 07 Artstroll festival. He was included in the anthology of new French and Francophone poets (Ed. Huguet 2004) and has contributed to a number of online and print journals, including Fiction International, Textpiece, Borborygmes, Armenian Poetry Project and the recent mash-up issue of Madhatters’ Review and Bunk Magazine.

As a Lecturer and Educator at the Museum of Modern Art since 2004, Amir Parsa has created programs, curricula, events and models of educational interaction for a wide range of audiences within all the divisions of MoMA’s educational department, including the Community & Access Programs, the Adult & Academic Programs, and the School & Family Programs. He conceptualized and implemented the ongoing Double Exposures, MoMA Outdoors and Wider Angles and, under the title of “chief instigator”, the 10-hour marathon SEE (Singular Educational Experiences) held on June 21, 2008 at MoMA entitled 1913: That Year, This day. During the sold-out SEE, musicians, poets, conservators and other lecturers presented, read, played and brought to life artworks and ideas from 1913 in the galleries of MoMA. Since 2007, he has directed The MoMA Alzheimer’s Project, which has had great critical and popular success and been implemented in more than 60 museums nationwide. He is the co-author of the landmark publication “Meet Me – Making art Accessible to People with Dementia”, and the Meet Me website. The Project has garnered some of the most important prizes in the field, namely, the Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Award in the category of creative expression (The Family Caregiver Alliance and The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation) and the Community Leadership Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, New York City Chapter. Published by MoMA in 2009, the book received the Excellence in Published Resources Award from the American Association of Museums as well as First prize in Museum Publication Design Competition (Category of educational resources). The Meet Me website also won “Best of the web” in the category of Education at the “Museum and the Web” international conference.

Thinkerer, concept-pianist, actionist and designer without objects; writer, poet, educator, artist; photographist, compositor, translator and scientist; literary, art and education theorist/practitioner; a scholar, researcher and teacher — that’s right, all those things (icon in a bio!). Mostly though, a humble creator and change agent, Amir Parsa has lectured at museums, libraries, conferences, gatherings and a host of large and small multinational and community organizations around the world on a range of topics, from transformational program design to the future of museums to contemporary literature and politics. Born in Tehran, Mr. Parsa holds degrees from Princeton and Columbia universities and currently lives in New York, where he is a Lecturer and Educator at The Museum of Modern Art as well as the Director of the Alzheimer’s Project, and a Visiting Associated Professor at Pratt Institute.