2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange
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Collaboration Compounded: William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, "The Third Mind," and The Nova Convention of 1978
Denis Sivack
Friday, March 07 - 3:00PM to 3:45PM
Holiday 1
William Burroughs and Brion Gysin celebrated the publication of their eclectic and pastework book, The Third Mind, with three days of performance festivities at the Entermedia Theater in New York's East Village. Performers included Merce Cunningham, Ed Sanders, Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Frank Zappa, Timothy Leary, Anne Waldman, Terry Southern, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, and cultural theorists, often with some riff on the Burroughs-Gysin-beat context. Sivack's presentation comments on the concept and cultural context behind "The Third Mind" and presents images of the Nova Convention with its generation-spanning iconic figures from the critical and performing arts.
speaker
Denis Sivack
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