Exploring the multiple intersections between medicine and creativity, the current issue of Esopus features contributions from more than 60 artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, designers, curators, and medical professionals. Actor/director/screenwriter Hampton Fancher (Blade Runner) will open the evening by reading a 1942 letter, reproduced in the issue, written by the late Pulitzer Prize–winning poet William Carlos Williams to a medical student explaining his decision to become both a doctor and a poet. Artist Nina Katchadourian will offer an audio-visual presentation related to her ongoing Sorted Books series, in which she culls through a public or private book collection, pulling particular titles and then grouping them into clusters so that their titles can be read in sequence. Katchadourian will focus on the latest iteration of the series that is featured in Esopus 22: Medicine, in which she incorporated a range of medical thrillers from the library of the late author William S. Burroughs. The evening will close with a performance by musician, actor, filmmaker, and author Will Sheff, the front man of acclaimed alternative band Okkervil River, who will perform a series of songs including “Famous Tracheotomies,” the track he created for the Esopus 22: Organs themed CD. The performances will be interspersed with audiovisual elements related to the issue—including the debut of a music video for another track for the issue’s CD—Boister’s “Mr. Spleen.”

May 26, 7pm