In 1979, curator, art writer, and poet, Renny Pritikin was co-director (with Judy Moran) of 80 Langton Street Gallery in San Francisco, and they invited the New York poet and art critic Peter Schjeldahl to be writer-in-residence for a week. The gallery built a living room-style set for him, in which he received visitors and engaged in conversations in addition to giving several talks and readings throughout the residency.

Pritikin remembers the event as such:
"Not a lot of people came, but it was steady, a lot of poets. I remember he got into an argument with the late Leslie Scalapino about NEA funding of the arts, which he opposed. I remember her saying, 'Oh Peter, do you really think you could be corrupted by $3,000?'"

Thirty-four years later, Pritikin will reenact Schjeldahl's conceit at Southern Exposure, hosting discussions with a steady stream of art world people about their non-art interests. The gallery will be equipped with several Scrabble boards, where all comers can take on Pritikin or play one another. Complimentary copies of Pritikin’s famous poster, Prescription for a Healthy Art Scene will be available. Light refreshments will be served.

Special thanks to our neighbors at green couch for their generous loan of furniture for this project.'

SCHEDULE:
11-12 Pritikin in conversation with Courtney Fink
12-1 Joseph del Pesco and Jonn Herschend on slow, depressing Eastern European movies
1-2 Sean McFarland on the new baseball season
2-3 Dave Kasprzak and Don Ed Hardy on tattoo culture
3-4 Torreya Cummings and Amy Franceshini on growing up in rural California
4-5 Paolo Salvagione, Leslie Shows and Megan Prelinger on the future of the past
5-7 Public meeting of the San Francisco Artist Science Fiction Book Club with Joseph del Pesco, Anthony Discenza, Patricia Maloney, Gaelan McKeown, Jasmine Moorhead, Amy Spencer, Gareth Spor, Chris Taggart and Xiaoyu Weng discussing Ursula LeGuin's The Dispossessed.