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John Matthias: Automystifistical Plaice

John Matthias
September 16, 2015
All Day
Film/Video Theater, Wexner Center for the Arts

Poet, critic, and novelist John Matthias (B.A., English, The Ohio State University) presents a lecture, a reading, and a screening, all in about equal thirds, to explain how the strange collaboration between screen siren Hedy Lemarr and avant-garde composer George Antheil resulted in what became known as spread-spectrum technology and changed all of our lives. Matthias first wrote a long poem, “Automystifistical Plaice,” which was widely read and discussed. Working from his original text, he then modified the poem into a presentation piece for three player-readers backed by a barrage of audio-visual effects ranging from Antheil’s music to the robotic speech of an Avatar. The aesthetic of the presentation version is part Brecht, part Beckett. Matthias will screen and discuss clips from a filmed performance of this piece, while reading from the poem. Learn more.

Cosponsored by Ohio State's Department of English and the Film Studies Program.