Above, Douglas Unger (right) describes three decades of publishing
through the lense of a new special edition, Point of Contact's 30-year Anniversary Issue.
POINT OF CONTACT celebrates 30 years of publishing as it launches a bountiful anniversary edition
co-published with Syracuse University Press.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Point of Contact Gallery hosted a grand 30th Anniversary VIP bash where luminaries from the literary and academic community gathered to commemorate three decades of Point of Contact, the book series. The event was the official launch of an exceptional commemorative anthology, co-published with Syracuse University Press.
A distinguished author and Professor at Syracuse University, George Saunders, along with renowned novelist and Professor at the University of Nevada, Douglas Unger, presented this new commemorative edition, Point of Contact’s most elaborate work to date, which marks this important milestone. “Point of Contact-Punto de Contacto is still basically a story, all art in some sense becomes narrative, for what else do we do but tell each other stories about art? And Point of Contact-Punto de Contacto also remains the juxtaposition mainly of Latin American and North American cultural presences, echoing and ricocheting off one another,” expressed Unger in a heartfelt speech.
“Point of Contact remains a prime crossroads for verbal and visual arts from around the world,” said Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor. “We’re honored to celebrate its splendid history by collecting so many visions and voices in one volume.”
Syracuse University Press Director, Alice Pfeiffer, expressed that “the relationship between Point of Contact and S.U. Press perfectly exemplifies the partnership we have with the university. This anniversary anthology represents an intellectual and artistic endeavor of great significance, extending beyond the borders of Syracuse, and we're pleased to be a part of it.”
Point of Contact’s 30 YEARS: ANNIVERSARY ISSUE, Vol.8, No. 1-2 (388 pages), is an exceptional anthology of works by renowned authors, scholars and artists from all over the world; a collection of 33 essays and conversations with some of the most exciting critical thinkers of our times, all of whom contributed to Point of Contact over the last three decades. These essays and conversations have now been reprinted in English and translated into Spanish. The Spanish version will be accessible online, free of charge, through this website in January of 2007.This limited edition, irresistible to the avid collector of uncommon books, includes original works by Thomas Bishop, Trisha Brown, Alicia Borinsky, Nicolas Calas, Eldridge Cleaver, Julio Cortázar, Pedro Cuperman, Vicente Fatone, Christine Fawcett, Jean Franco, Carlos Fuentes, Gloria Gibson, Mercedes López-Baralt, Floyd Merrel, Julio Ortega, Raimon Panikkar, Elena Poniatowska, Manuel Puig, José Sanjinés, Severo Sarduy, Owen Shapiro, W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Stam, Douglas Unger, Andrew Waggoner, Peter Wollen, and Saúl Yurkievich, among others. The collection also includes in depth conversations with famed personalities like Philip Glass, Amy Tan, Mary Karr, and others. (Enclosed please find a complete list of contributors and their bios.)
An Argentinean professor of Latin American literature, semiotics and film theory at Syracuse University, Pedro Cuperman is the editor and founder of Point of Contact. On the labor of editing this anthology he said: “It was a happy event to revisit texts that we published in the course of three decades and realize that they can still be as significant today as when they were written. This is the lasting vitality of the creative text and if Point of Contact can claim any real contribution, it should be along those lines. Interestingly, the editing of these works has also given us the opportunity to do what we almost never can do in our own lives, which is to go back in time and correct our mistakes… and make new ones!”
In 1975, Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact originated a journal about the verbal and visual arts, known as Punto de Contacto first, and later as Point of Contact. In time, this journal, now a book series, has become a medium for some of the most relevant contemporary artists and writers around the globe and many of them have become long time collaborators, co-creators and designers of a project that continues to evolve and move forward in unforeseen ways.
More about Point of Contact's 30th Anniversary Issue:
Table of Contents
30-Years In Review, by Douglas Unger
Contributors' Bios
