Event details here, with updates.
Crawling through a tunnel . . .
The Tunnel: A Literary and Arts Crawl is on Sunday, July 9th, 2023. It will begin at 5pm and run until roughly 8pm, with the following stops:
- Sam Smith Park
- Mt. Baker Ridge Bike Tunnel
- East Portal Viewpoint
- Mt. Baker Ridge Viewpoint
- Bradner Gardens
The following will be performing at the event:
Eric Acosta
Knoll Cannon
Bill Carty
Justine Chan
Ian Gwin and Gregg Miller / Unnamable Ensemble
Amy Hirayama
Emily Mundy
Paul Nelson
Doug Nufer
Jim O’Halloran
Jasmine Plaskon (and Crew)
Hannah Rice and Alia Swersky
Matt Trease
Bios for the artists can be found below.
This event was inspired by the work being done by the Reflexive Assembly Crew (currently Amy Hirayama, Denny Stern, and Eric Acosta). The event will be centered around the Mt. Baker Ridge neighborhood and the Mt. Baker Tunnel in Seattle.
The starting location is Sam Smith Park in Seattle, and stops will include various points around the tunnel. The total distance of the crawl is roughly 1.5 miles.
You can also find the event on EverOut.
Performer Bios
Eric M. Acosta: poetics focused performer poet musique concrète noise architect interrogating tensegritic tension of potent from in space’s space’s spacial mergent emerge.
Knoll Cannon is a composer and artist living and working in Seattle. This work often is in reference to the physical qualities of sound such as the mathematical (or theoretical) forms of pitch space in relation to the harmonic series, difference tones, and the sonority of volume or rather the sonority of space both enclosed and open (on any scale) as well as nominating the socio/environmental effects and phenomenon of sounding in space such as the purpose and politics in engaging strangers along with other unhelpful pursuits. All the while stumbling toward an expression of the sound of that which is not struck in the search of a way to reach compassion to address our collective unending suffering.
Bill Carty is the author of Huge Cloudy (Octopus Books, 2019), which was long-listed for The Believer Book Award, and We Sailed on the Lake, published by Bunny Presse/Fonograf Editions in May 2023.
Justine Chan is a writer, poet, and singer-songwriter from Chicago. Should You Lose All Reason(s) (Chin Music Press, 2023) is her first book.
Ian Gwin and Gregg Miller / Unnamable Ensemble. Ensemble Unnamable may be a musical collective of variable configurations. They may experiment with sounds and silences of various durations. Ian Gwin is a writer and translator from Seattle, Washington. He holds an MA in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at the University of Washington. Gregg Daniel Miller plays with saxophones, recorders, computer manipulation, and resonant objects.
Amy Hirayama is a mixed-race Japanese and white writer and educator from Seattle, Washington. She is a writer-in-residence with the Seattle Arts and Lectures Writers in the Schools program and is the residential workshop administrator for Clarion West. Food, family, humor and nature are her favorite things, so she writes about them a lot, sometimes all at once.
Emily J. Mundy is a Seattle-based poet who believes in writing as a force that heals, transforms, and illuminates. Her work reveres the mystical nature of language and often explores spirituality. She is proud to have made her home in the Pacific Northwest, and hints of this landscape reverberate throughout her poems. Emily is the creator of The Poetry Séance—a quarterly performance and workshop series curated to enliven poetry shows and embolden local writers, each season at a time. She shares a realm with her two cats and one beloved typewriter.
Poet & interviewer Paul E. Nelson is the son of a labor activist father and Cuban immigrant mother. Born on Chicago’s west side in 1961, he’s lived in King County since 1988. He founded the Cascadia Poetics LAB & the Cascadia Poetry Festival. Since 1993, CPL has produced hundreds of poetry events & 700 hours of interview programming with legendary poets & whole systems activists. Paul’s books include Haibun de la Serna, A Time Before Slaughter/Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia, American Prophets (interviews 1994-2012), American Sentences, A Time Before Slaughter (2009) and Organic in Cascadia: A Sequence of Energies (2013). He’s presented poetry/poetics in London, Brussels, Nanaimo, Los Angeles, Qinghai & Beijing, China, has had work translated into Spanish, Chinese & Portuguese & writes an American Sentence every day. He published a chapbook in late 2022 entitled: The Day Song of Casa del Colibrí. Engaged in a 20 year bioregional cultural investigation of Cascadia, he lives in Rainier Beach, in the Cascadia bioregion’s Cedar River watershed.
Doug Nufer is the author of novels and poetry collections. His most recent book is the flip-over poetry palindrome, Rotalever Revelator.
Jim O’Halloran graduated Magna Cum Laude from Eastern Washington University in 1976. He did post graduate study with Felix Skowronek and attended master classes with Julius Baker and James Galway. Jim has played internationally based out of Seattle since the late 1970’s. He was the leader and composer for afro-cuban jazz bands Chela and Freezerburn. Jim has played and with Orquestra Yerbabuena, Mambo Cadillac, Expresión Latina, Global Village, Orquesta Ilusion, Latin Dimension, Orchestra Zarabanda, the Deano’s House Band, Michael Nicolella, Bochinche, and Charanga Danzon. Jim was awarded a King County Arts Commission grant in 1998 and completed a large project involving flute, harmonica, violin, cello, trumpet, trombone, piano, organ, guitar, baby bass, electric bass, drum set, multiple Cuban and Indian percussion, berimbau, and digeridu. This project of original compositions is available on multiple platforms. Jim’s music is available on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, and other platforms.
Jasmine Plaskon (she/they) is a Black multi-disciplinary artist who does almost all her own stunts. She is an avid creator with her hands – jewelry, occult readings, writing, art, and more. She received her MFA from Spalding University and can be found in some of the following places: Fourth River Review, The Sante Fe Literary Review, Peach Velvet Mag, Sundress Publications, and Winter Tangerine. Jasmine’s first book, I Am The Final Girl, is in a furious state of being made. When Jasmine isn’t busy ticking away at the computer, she enjoys reading, swimming, tending to her spiritual studies, and the occasional bout of crying over fictional characters with her husband and dog. Current favorite: Tokyo Revengers!
Hannah Rice and Alia Swersky. Hannah Rice is a mixed media performance artist based in Seattle, WA. Her work seeks connection, continuity, incongruence, and a deeper investigation into the fluctuating states of truth. Using writing, sculpture and performance, Hannah facilitates space for authentic communion and playful discovery with a heavy emphasis on color, aesthetic and collaboration. Hannah graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 2018 and has since combined forces with choreographer and mentor Alia Swersky, producing, improvising and engaging in ritual performance. In the last year, they have created duo work under the name AH Dance. She has also worked with Coriolis Dance Collective, Greg Mares at Hand Crank Films, Base: Experimental Arts + Space and Malacarne.
Alia Swersky is a movement artist, performer and educator deeply engaged in dance improvisation, durational time based work, site-specific work, and environmental installation. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 1998 with a BFA in dance and has been teaching movement for the last two decades. She has taught at Velocity’s Strictly Seattle Festival and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI). She was a long time Co-artistic director of Dance Art Group (DAG), a non-profit organization that promotes the practice and appreciation of dance and somatic education in the Seattle area, including the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation. Influences and inspiration come from her many years being immersed in movement practices and performance. Specific forms include contact improvisation, release/somatic techniques, yoga, Authentic Movement, Tuning Scores, Buddhist meditations, and many pivotal dance partners and teachers. Alia danced and toured nationally and internationally as a member of the LeGendre Performance Group. She has also collaborated and performed in the works of many Seattle artists some of which include The Maureen Whiting Company, Khambatta Dance Company, Jurg Koch, KT Niehoff, and Salt Horse. Alia has been actively teaching, performing, and creating improvisational and choreographic works in Seattle since 1998.
Matt Trease is a poet, artist and astrologer living on the Duwamish ancestral homeland in south Seattle, WA, where he serves on the board of the Cascadia Poetics Lab, co-curates the Margin Shift reading series, and teaches at Hugo House.
