Amir Parsa Presents Performative Reading at The Jewish Museum, 1/31

Poet, artist and cultural designer Amir Parsa responds to the medieval manuscripts in the current exhibition, Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries, in a performative reading on Thursday, January 31 at 6:30pm at The Jewish Museum. This program continues Writers and Artists Respond, a series of thought provoking discussions and performances by artists, musicians and writers in The Jewish Museum's galleries.

Tickets for the January 31 conversation are FREE with Museum admission. Headsets will be provided on a first come, first-served basis to the first 45 attendees. A limited number of stools will also be available.

For further information, the public may visit the Museum's website at TheJewishMuseum.org/publicprograms.

Amir Parsa is the author of 15 literary works written in English, French, Persian and Spanish, including the books Divan, Kobolierrot, Erre and Drive-by Cannibalism in the Baroque Tradition, along with the ongoing, multilingual, multiformal The Portable Open Epic as rendered by the Elastic Circus of the Revolution. He has created new genres, forms and species of literary artifacts, and been involved in both group and solo shows of conceptual, exhibitory and performative works. Recent literary and artistic work has appeared at curated venues such as The Dumbo Arts Festival, The Persian Arts Festival, The Baroquissimo Festival in Mexico, and the Paris en toutes lettres Festival in Paris. Parsa serves as Chairperson of Art and Design Education at Pratt Institute.

England's Bodleian Library at Oxford University, established by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602 and now the largest of the University's group of 'Bodleian Libraries', is renowned for its great treasures. Among them is one of the most important collections of medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscripts in the world. The Jewish Museum is presenting Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Libraries through February 3, 2013. This exhibition features over 60 works - Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin manuscripts - the majority of which have never before been seen in the United States. Several paintings and printed books are also on view. Included is the splendid Kennicott Bible, the most lavishly illuminated Hebrew Bible to survive from medieval Spain, as well as two works in the hand of Maimonides, one of the most prominent Jewish philosophers and rabbinic authorities. This exhibition is based on Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures co-curated by Piet van Boxel and Sabine Arndt for The Bodleian Library. The New York City presentation has been organized by The Jewish Museum's Curator Claudia Nahson.

Public Programs at The Jewish Museum are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Major annual support is provided by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.