Mildred's Lane 2023:
The YEAR of TURNS
Summers at Mildred’s Lane have been slow since the plague. Opportunities for gathering fallowed everywhere over the last few years. Now, we are turning our hearts and minds to the future as we resume a modest summer program, while continuing to work on site repairs and upgrades required to fully re-open. 2023 is a year of turns.
turn | tərn | verb and noun / – go on to consider something next: we can now turn to another aspect (other aspects) of the problem.Sustainability is an urgent ideal. We are orienting ourselves around this notion completely, seeking a sustainable future in more than one sense. Summer Swarmings 2023 focus on ecology and the land—as we look ahead, we find ourselves turning to our roots, not least the ground beneath our feet.
If you have the means, please consider sponsoring a fellow or swarming.All donations are tax-deductible via our fiscal sponsor, Creative Visions, with details below. For all reservations, inquiries, and proposals, contact us at workstyles@mildredslane.com. We look forward to connecting with you.
—J. Morgan Puett, Alex A. Jones, Nick Bennett
On view through MAY 15
EXHIBITION / VIROSA PRESENTS: DEGENERATE CINEMA
VIROSA Presents: Degenerate Cinema is an exhibition of experimental film, prints, and sculpture by VIROSA. Two recent narrative short films will be on view, both with deep ties to Mildred’s Lane. In addition to the films, VIROSA will exhibit objects in materials including glass, paper, clay, and 3D-printed plastic which have emerged from their filmmaking practice. Read more here.
MAY 1 through JUNE 15
SWARMING / WORKSTYLES
OPEN | on a work-trade basis
With J. Morgan Puett / Shelley Spector / Samiha Tasnim / Mia Eccleston / Alex A. Jones / Nick Bennett / others to be announced
A small group of Mildred Fellows / resident-artists-in-complex(ity) will collaborate on Mildred’s Lane repairs and maintenance. Each year we work for six weeks or more workstyling intensely—cleaning up the landscape and garden, repairing outbuildings and artist projects, and re-configuring domestic systems. We will dig deep into the framework of WORKSTYLES (noun and verb), our site-specific system of labor focused on environmentally-sound living, social relations, and aesthetics. Workstyles embodies our rigorous conceptual engagement with the maintenance of this land-based and dwelling-based project. It is our version of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or the total work of art. Read more here.
JUNE 16 through 19
EVENT / DEEP WATER LITERARY FESTIVAL
EXHIBITION / Alastair Gordon
One Grand Books and The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance present the Deep Water Literary Festival, a magical four-day weekend in Narrowsburg, NY for people who love books and the writers that inspire them, with a series of readings and performances throughout Narrowsburg. The festival has been called “an epic literary event” by the New York Times. Read more here.
The Mildred Complex(ity) dovetails with the festival featuring the artwork, books, and writings of Alastair Gordon, author of Spaced Outand Weekend Utopia amongst others. More information on our collaboration with the festival and Gordon’s upcoming exhibition will be announced soon.
JUNE 30 through JULY 2
SWARMING / CORVUS SUMMIT 2023
FULL | please inquire
This important swarming will host our plenipotentiaries to collectively re-assemble the terms of operation for the future of our organization. Strategies for leadership, fundraising, programming, and collective ethos will be deliberated lovingly by this gathering of crows! If you feel strongly about preserving a future for Mildred’s Lane and have resources to contribute (time, skills, connections, funding) please contact us at workstyles@mildredslane.com to join.
JULY 1
EVENT / SOCIAL SATURDAY: THE RETURN
OPEN | limited capacity, please inquire
For all who have been missing Social Saturdays at Mildred’s Lane—and for those who have yet to experience the food, bonfires, and social connections—the return of Social Saturday will accompany our CORVUS SUMMIT 2023and will be invitation-only. Guest speaker, poets, digestion choreographer, performers, and disco details will be shared with confirmed guests.
JULY 6 through 12
SWARMING / QUEER ECOLOGIES I: LAND/BODY/EROS
NEARLY FULL | please inquire
With Alex A. Jones / Nick Bennett / others to be announced
For the inaugural session on art and ecology, LAND/BODY/EROS will investigate the body as a central ecological concept, re-framing “nature” as the original trans body. This session will explore transformative and de-colonial dimensions of land and body through collective and independent reading, discussion, and creation. Forming an artistic research collective, participants in the session will seek creative strategies for mutual survival, re-forming relations with the nonhuman world rooted in embodiment, plurality, metamorphosis, kinship, and play. This swarming will include a Social Saturday on July 8. Stay tuned for more details.
JULY 16 through 30
SWARMING / ARBOREAL(ITY) II
OPEN | please inquire
With J. Morgan Puett / Trevor Tochydlowski / others to be announced
This study into the possibilities of collaborating with the forest navigates numerous challenges to sustainability, not least of which is the threat facing our forest landscape as the Ash and Hemlock trees—two of the land’s principal tree populations—quickly succumb to pestilent insect species. This July and August, we will bring together foresters, conservationists, and artists to envision and reconsider the meanings of a landscape’s lifespan and legacy. Trevor Tochydlowski of the Wayne County Conservation District, PA, will join us, among others. This swarming will conclude in a Social Saturday. Stay tuned for more details.
AUGUST 7 through 13
SWARMING / MATRIARCHAL STUDIES HIVE
CLOSED | please inquire
With Jill Goldman / Mia Pokriefka / Joanna Ebenstein / others to be announced
AUGUST through SEPTEMBER (dates TBD)
SWARMING / BIBLIOPHANTICS III
OPEN | limited capacity, please inquire
Several colleagues are steadily working on the upcoming book WORKSTYLES of Mildred’s Lane. This 20+ year compendium features dozens of projects and voices. This year, the fan-favorite session BIBLIOPHANTICS will include a preview and workshop of the book’s content, with readings by contributing authors and expeditions into the archives of Mildred’s Lane. As always, however, the session will be first and foremost an intensive Reading Retreat. Silent periods of reading grow into evening socials, library games, and authors’ performances. Read more on past BIBLIOPHANTICS here.
ONGOING / accepting proposals
Mildred’s Lane is an experiment in alternative pedagogies, providing an excellent environment for class programming, individual retreats, or group visits. Consider the strategic possibilities for challenging creative minds—students, faculty, and colleagues alike. Contact us to organize your program of experience.