POIESIS XI, 2009
ECOPOIESIS: Imagining the Earth
This issue of the POIESIS journal brings together writers from the fields of philosophy, media studies and the expressive arts in an effort to grasp our relationship to the environment in a more imaginative way.
Paul Virilio, writing about Grey Ecology, (“…the pollution of the self-created world”) looks at our situation through the lens of speed and the acceleration of reality, while Jason Adams applies Virilio’s concept of popular defense to an aesthetics of resistance. Thomas Zummer’s eco/sophia calls for a remediation of technics and a re-membering of the world; and for Wolfgang Schirmacher, Eco-Sophia becomes an ethics for the human being as technician, the art of living humanely.
David Abram reminds us that underlying our technologized experience is a direct sensuous relationship to the world, one which we can return to through the re-awakening of our primary oral culture in story-telling. For Wes Chester, our fundmental relationship to the world is through an aesthetic encounter which can be cultivated in a disciplined way. And Thomas Trenchard and Sally Atkins make this encounter come alive by telling us of their experiences in the woods - either at night or in the mountains.
The journal is filled with art-work and poetry that embodies the call for a new aesthetics of the natural world, featuring a lengthy excerpt from the important new work by Rishma Dunlop, The New Republic: Reading Towards Ecotopia. As Dunlop says,
Everyone reaches
for nomenclature. Hoop the names of things
to your belt. When you are empty,
eat the words, drink them.
We invite our readers to join us at the feast.
Click here to order a copy from Caversham Booksellers, our preferred bookseller.
$29.95 Cdn
/ $28.95 US
ISBN 2147483647
In Praise of Poiesis: The Arts and Human Existence - A Festschrift for Stephen K. Levine
This volume is offered as a gift to the life and work of Stephen K. Levine and to the thinkers and the practitioners in the field. In the spirit of Levine’s thinking, it offers a lively array of ideas about the current state of work in the expressive arts: therapy, coaching, education, consulting, and social change.
This collection of writings, poems and visual images honours the thinking and the work of Stephen K. Levine, philosopher of the field of expressive arts therapy. Levine’s work in this field over the past 25 years has focused on the central role of art and art-making in human experience, calling attention to the uniquely human act of shaping and its embodiment in artistic activity. Levine places the concept of poiesis at the center of his thinking and, by doing so, provides an important guidepost for practitioners of therapy, education and social change work through the arts. His ideas have influenced a whole generation of teachers and practitioners of expressive arts therapy and this volume is a testament to that influence.
Levine has issued a series of challenges to the authors contained in this volume. Each writer, student or colleague, has responded from his or her own standpoint. In the longer articles, the writers were asked to address ideas at the forefront of their thinking in these times. For the medium-length pieces, they were summoned to respond to a concern: can the expressive arts move from its original focus on psychological disorder and its treatment to a broader social and political perspective? Finally, in the short responses, the writers were asked to consider what new directions are needed for the field of expressive arts.
Click here to order a copy from Caversham Booksellers, our preferred bookseller.
$24.95 Cdn
/ $23.95 US
ISBN 2147483647
Who We Are
EGS Press is an independent publishing company located in Toronto, Canada. We have been in operation since 1998, when it became clear that the European Graduate School in Switzerland would benefit from a forum in which to publish material emerging from its work in the fields of media, the arts and therapy. EGS offers masters and doctoral degrees in Media and Communications, and in Expressive Arts: Therapy, Education, and Consulting. EGS Press aims to publish works of substantial quality in these and associated areas. In addition to books, EGS Press publishes a yearly journal, POIESIS: A Journal of the Arts and Communication, containing essays, poetry and works of visual art.
Our staff is small but dedicated. Stephen K. Levine is the editor-in-chief, assisted by manager Sarah Farr, poetry editor Elizabeth McKim, editor Shara Claire, and designer and production manager Kristin Briggs. Steve K. Levine and Kristin Briggs were the original EGS Press staff members at its inception in 1998.
