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Seamas Cain

    

 

Seamas Cain



Contact Information

contact name: Séamas Cain
phone: 218.879.8628
email: seamascain(at)gmail.com

location address:
323 Fourth Street
Cloquet MN 55720

open to public: no

Similar Artists:
I admire the writings of William Butler Yeats, André Breton, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Diarmaid Ó Súilleabháin, Gabriel Rosenstock, Dylan Thomas, Sheila E. Murphy, Philip Lamantia, Peter Ganick, Clark Coolidge, Thomas Kinsella, Benjamin Péret, Gustaf Sobin, John Cage, Jerome Rothenberg, John M. Bennett, Jeff Harrison, Alan Sondheim, Lanny Quarles, Jim Leftwich, Richard Kostelanetz, Charles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews.

Related Organizations:
Blackthorn Theater

Experience

B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Minnesota, 1973.

Awards

Grants received from the IMRAM Festival in Ireland, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Minnesota Theatre Federation (for the Minnesota Theatre Festival of Companies), the McKnight Foundation, the Tozer Foundation, the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, the Duluth Summer Festival of the Arts, the Tweed Museum of Art, the Chisholm Museum, the Carr Trust, the Dungiven Trust, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission.

Exhibitions/Performance History

PERFORMANCE-WORKS (selected):

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Scenes from “THE PRAIRIE GAELTACHT,” a poetic drama by Séamas Cain, were performed on Wednesday, 11 July 2012, at International House on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. This presentation was sponsored by the “IRELAND IN CRISIS” Conference, the 2012 International Conference of I.C.I.S., the International Congress of Irish Studies. (The play is based on stories and descriptions of three of Cain's grandparents, who were children in several Irish-speaking Utopian Colonies created in a desolate region of the western prairies of Minnesota in the 1870s-1880s.)

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On Tuesday, 10 July 2012, Séamas Cain presented a Green Paper to the I.C.I.S. International Conference, titled “THE NEW WAVE OF INNOVATIVE WRITERS IN IRELAND.”

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THE DISCONTINUUM OF PARADISE, a performance-script by Séamas Cain, was presented at the FLUXUS Festival of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, February 20th, 2011.

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IMRAM, a national literary festival in Ireland, in association with the Dublin City Arts Centre, presented “tríd an gcoill” by Séamas Cain and the Czech sound-artist Slávek Kwi. This Art Installation with recorded and/or live performances took place from September 23 through September 27, 2010 at the Grapevine Space of CITY ARTS, 15 Bachelor’s Walk, Dublin 1, Ireland.

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While in Dublin, Cain spoke at the Mater Dei University Institute on his memories of the poet Allen Ginsberg, with Cain's own insights on the poem HOWL. That presentation, on September 28th, 2010, as the John Devitt Poetry Seminar, was co-sponsored by the Dublin group Wurm im Apfel and the Mater Dei Institute.

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IMRAM, a national literary festival in Ireland, in association with the Dublin City Arts Centre and TíAitreo Teoranta, presented the drama “THE PRAIRIE GAELTACHT” by Séamas Cain, in performances on September 20 and 21, 2010 at CITY ARTS in Dublin.

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THE WAR REQUIEM, a performance-work of Séamas Cain, was presented on September 11, 2004 as “World Simultaneous Actions” by Mideo M. Cruz and the Ugat Lahi Artist Collective at Big Sky Mind, Cubao, Quezon City, the Philippines; the Katribu Artist Collective in Matina Park, Davao City, the Philippines; the Kedai Kebun Forum in Jogjakarta, Indonesia; Antonio Sassu and Gruppo Sinestetico in Torreglia (PG) Italy; Massimo Zanasi with Spazio Arka on Sardinia; Kanat Ibraghimov in Moscow, Russia; Carlos Pina in Barcelona, Spain; Alexander Del Re in Santiago de Chile; Leonardo Gonzalez Castillo in Valparaiso, Chile; Chaw Ei Thien in Rangoon, Burma; and Blackthorn Theater in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota in the U.S.

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“100 AÑOS DE SALVADOR DALÍ,” a performance-poem by Séamas Cain, was presented on May 11, 2004 at the Galería de Arte in the Parque Avellaneda of the city of San Miguel de Tucumán in Argentina. The performance was organized by Mónica Vallejo.

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THE HORSE NETTLE, a performance-poem of Séamas Cain, was performed by Séamas Cain on November 23, 2003 in Seneca Park at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois.

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A SCOTTISH CASTLE, a performance-poem of Séamas Cain, was performed by Séamas Cain on March 25, 2003, at The Forest Arts Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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RUINS, a performance-work of Séamas Cain, was presented in Gaelic on March 25, 2003, in the ruins of Holyrood Abbey at Edinburgh, Scotland. This language-centered multimedia event was sponsored by A' CHOMHAIRLE NA GÀIDHLIG.

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WAR, a performance-poem of Séamas Cain, was performed by Séamas Cain on March 20, 2003, in the Courtyard of the British Library – at King's Cross, London, England.

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EL FIN DE LA GUERRA (THE END OF THE WAR), a performance-work by Séamas Cain, was performed by Josué Donoso and Jonathan Vivanco, in conjunction with Alexander Del Re, at the Festival SENSORIAL on November 23, 2002 in the barrio Miraflores, Viña del Mar, in Chile. SENSORIAL was organized by Leonardo González and Mauricio Morales at the Universidad Andrés Bello of Viña del Mar in Chile.

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CLOCKTOWER, a performance-work by Séamas Cain, was presented on November 5, 2002 on the steps in front of the Clocktower on the campus of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. After the performance, Séamas Cain spoke to an audience in Special Collections at the Main Library of Colby College on “DISRUPTION AND INNOVATION IN THE ARTS: Bern Porter, Dick Higgins and the FLUXUS Movement.”

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FREE PARKING, a performance script by Séamas Cain – sparked by a controversy in Bangkok, Thailand – was written for Varsha Nair and Savinee Buranasilapin for events at the Art Gallery of the Centre of Academic Resources at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, August 14 through August 31, 2002.

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THE DAFFODILS, a performance-poem of Séamas Cain, was performed by Séamas Cain at dawn on August 19th, 2002 in the Sculpture Garden of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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SEATURTLES, a performance script by Séamas Cain, was performed at dawn on August 10th, 2002 by Mary Roe O'Neill at the sea-level megalith of Creevykeel in County Sligo, Ireland.

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Séamas Cain's play “GEOGRAPHY!” was performed in the Ruins of Dungiven Priory, Dungiven, County Derry, Northern Ireland, on March 4, 5, 6, 1994.

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BOOM, March 5, 6, 7, 1993. Performed by Blackthorn Theater at Dungiven Priory, County Derry, Ireland.

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TOWER, March 8, 9, 10, 1990. Performed at the Whitechapel Arts Centre in London, England.

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IBIS, December 26, 1983. Solo-performance on Sanibel Island in the gulf of Mexico.

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THE FOREST (live performance with video) August 4, 1982. UCLA Video Center, Melnitz Hall, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

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QUANTA, June 17, 18, 19, 1982, at the Temple Opera House in Duluth, Minnesota. Performed by Blackthorn Theater.

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GEOGRAPHY, June 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 1981. Commissioned by the Duluth Summer Festival of the Arts.

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TRISTAN, June 26, 27, 28, 1980. Sponsored by the Duluth Summer Festival of the Arts.

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QUATERNITY, COOTS, AND MOORCOCKS, September 16, 1979. Performed at the Salmon Weir, Galway, Ireland.

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THE NATION OF ATLANTIS, July 19, 20, 21, 1979. July 3, 4, 5, 1980. Sponsored by the Duluth Art Institute.

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HELEN, May 12, 1979, at the Minnesota Theatre Festival of Companies. Sponsored by the Minnesota Theatre Federation, with performances at the Frey Theatre in St. Paul.

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“DISINTEGRATING THROAT,” June 29, 1978. Performed on the bridges over river Corrib, Galway, Ireland.

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ORPHEUS IN THE ICE, May 5, 1978, at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth. Commissioned for the Arts Leadership Conference, the state-convention of Alliance for the Arts in Education.

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“LEGS,” June 13, 1976. Performed in the Liberties in Dublin, Ireland.

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LA MORTE DI BOCCACCIO, May 19, 20, 21, 22, 1976. Performances – directed by Séamas Cain as playwright – by the Teatro GARE in Rome, Italy. Cain was subsequently a participant in the “International Congress on the Liturgical Dimensions of Medieval Drama” in Viterbo, Italy.

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MEDIEVAL IRELAND, January 14, 15, 16, 17, 1976. Sponsored by the Duluth Art Institute.

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CREEVYKEEL: (a performance-work), January 29, 30, 31, 1975. Sponsored by the Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth.

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THE COMEDY OF WILLFULNESS, November 20, 21, 22, 1972. Sponsored by the Tweed Museum of Art.

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Collections

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Books, chapbooks, DVDs and CDs by Séamas Cain are included in THE AVANT WRITING COLLECTION at Ohio State University in Columbus. Rare Books and Special Collections at OSU holds the Archives for William S. Burroughs, Sheila E. Murphy, Alan Sondheim, Richard Kostelanetz, John M. Bennett, Peter Ganick, Scott MacLeod and other avant writers.

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Books, chapbooks, DVDs and CDs by Séamas Cain are included in THE BERN PORTER COLLECTION in Special Collections at the Libraries of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Bern Porter, of Bern Porter Books, the first person to publish book-length work by Henry Miller, Philip Lamantia, Gregory Corso and other "beat" poets, collected these chapbooks himself. Porter, after a life-time of involvement in the visual and literary arts, placed his collection at Colby College. It includes first-edition works by James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, the "beats," and others.

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Books and chapbooks by Séamas Cain are included in the archive collection of THE BANCROFT LIBRARY on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. The Cain chapbooks were acquired by The Bancroft in a purchase "from the personal library of Philip Lamantia." The Bancroft also purchased "The Papers of Philip Lamantia," which contain correspondence from Séamas Cain.

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Books, chapbooks, DVDs and CDs by Séamas Cain are included in THE POETRY COLLECTION at the University of Buffalo, SUNY at Buffalo, in the state of New York (it is the largest collection of modernist and post-modernist poetry in the world).

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Books, chapbooks, DVDs and CDs by Séamas Cain are included in the avantgarde JESSE GLASS COLLECTION of the Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland; THE CELTIC COLLECTION of the Niedersächsische Staats und Universitätsbibliothek at Göttingen, Germany; THE CELTIC COLLECTION of the O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota; and THE IRISH COLLECTION of the Walsh Library at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

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Books, chapbooks, DVDs and CDs by Séamas Cain are included in THE CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE COLLECTION at Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, British Columbia in Canada.

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Five chapbooks of poems by Séamas Cain are also included in THE AVANTGARDE POETRY COLLECTION at the University of California, Davis. Special Collections at Davis holds the Archives for the Living Theater and the Firehouse Theater (Séamas Cain was active with the members of both of these theater companies, and an influence on some of their earliest work).

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Publications

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THE DANGEROUS ISLANDS, a 240-page novel by Séamas Cain, was published in October of 2011 by The Red Jasper in Dublin, Ireland.

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TRÍD AN gCOILL, a DVD in Irish Gaelic of a recitation by Séamas Cain of a long postmodern forest poem, surrounded by Slávek Kwi with a stereo-mix of the sounds of nature from Dromore Woods in County Clare, was published in May of 2011 by the IMRAM Festival in Dublin, Ireland.

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THE PRAIRIE GAELTACHT, a DVD in Irish Gaelic and English of a drama by Séamas Cain, was published in May of 2011 by the IMRAM Festival in Dublin, Ireland.

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TRÍD AN gCOILL, a CD in Irish Gaelic of a recitation by Séamas Cain of a long postmodern forest poem, surrounded by Slávek Kwi with a stereo-mix of the sounds of nature from Dromore Woods in County Clare, was published in September of 2010 by the IMRAM Festival in Dublin, Ireland.

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CASTLE BROUGHTY, in English and Scottish Gaelic, a sequence of 100 minimal poems with counter-texts, was published in 2008 by The Gillyflower in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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TRÍD AN gCOILL, in Irish Gaelic, a long postmodern forest poem, was published in 2008 by The Red Jasper in Dublin, Ireland.

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SPARULUS, in Old Celtic or Gaulish, a poem of birds, was published in 2008 for the Miche-Art-Universalis in Merksplas, Belgium.

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INCONGRUITIES was published in 2005 by the Otter Press, College Farm House, Mill Lane, Wellington, Shropshire, England, TF1 1PR. INCONGRUITIES is an eccentric collection of short stories, poems, essays, and performance-texts.

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MARANNAN, in Scottish Gaelic, a long postmodern sea poem, was published in 2005 by The Forest Arts Centre, 3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1EY.

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ORESTES : (a performance-work). MEDIEVAL IRELAND : (a performance-work). Two performance-art scripts published in 2004 by the Otter Press in Shropshire, England.

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THE PERISHERS OF PEARLS. INDEX OF REFRACTION. Two chapbooks of poetry published in 1986 and 1987 by the Silver Birch Press, 16 Ravensdene Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT6 0DA.

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THE MAGIC OPAL. THE EXHUMATION OF MOZART. BIRD'S FOOT. Three chapbooks of poetry published in 1980 and 1981 by the Duluth Art Institute, 506 West Michigan Street, Duluth, Minnesota, 55802.

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NAOSCA, in Irish Gaelic, a poem of birds, was published in 1974 by the Silva Gadelica Press in Ardagh, County Longford, Ireland.

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Biographical Information

Country of Citizenship:
Ireland

Birth Date:
January 4, 1944

Gender:
Male

Active Place:
Minnesota, Ireland, Scotland

Minnesota County:
Carlton

 

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