press release

Event: Disputed Territories Book Reading
Who: Anthony Barilla
When: June – August, 2015
Where: Private salons in the Houston area
Cost: $35


DISPUTED TERRITORIES is an atlas in narrative form based on seven years of travel and research in the Balkans, Caucasus, Somaliland, Texas, and elsewhere. The book is divided into thirteen sections, each examining a different aspect of historical and ongoing territorial disputes in Yugoslavia, Mexico, the horn of Africa, Texas, and elsewhere. It incorporates maps, invented histories, extensive footnotes, and personal stories.

Each copy of DISPUTED TERRITORIES is made by hand, and produced in limited editions for distribution only at private readings in peoples' homes. The first salons will be hosted by Norma and Tim Thomson and Walt Zipprian in June, and by Thomas Padgett and Catherine Del Paggio in August, with more dates to be announced.

DISPUTED TERRITORIES combines Barilla's interest in various artistic disciplines, layered (and confused) historical and personal narratives, maps, and themes of travel and place. It is the largest and most challenging written work Barilla has created to date. The reading represents his nterest in small and intimate performances. Funding has been made possible by the Puffin Foundation, with additional support from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. The reading of DISPUTED TERRITORIES is directed by Tek Wilson.

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Anthony Barilla is a musician, writer, and performance artist based in Houston, Texas. He makes interdisciplinary works, often involving his travel to and work in Kosovo, the Caucasus, Africa, and Europe. In 2012, his first monologue―a multi-disciplinary work called APOCALYPSE TOWN―premiered in Houston. The following year he created THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PEEST, a multi-disciplinary text/visual art/walking tour developed in collaboration with the residents of a Dutch village. His musical projects include a great deal of instrumental music for theater and songs, as well as compositions for national radio program "This American Life." In 2014 he co-wrote two collections of songs with Dutch singer Merel van Dijk. That same year he helped create a series of handmade books as the first project in an ongoing collaboration with artist Lindsay Kayser.

Anthony Barilla has been awarded residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Brown Foundation Fellows Program at the Dora Maar House. His work has been supported by the Swiss Cultural Programme in the Western Balkans, the MAP Fund, the Houston Arts Alliance, and others. In Houston he spent a decade working with Infernal Bridegroom Productions, a theater company widely respected for their challenging ensemble work, where he collaborated with artists like Lisa D'Amour, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Daniel Johnston, among many others. During his tenure as IBP's artistic director, the theater won substantial critical praise, including being named "Best Experimental Theater" (Houston Chronicle, 2004) and "Best Original Show, Production, and Performance Space" (Houston Press, 2005). He regularly tours Europe with a rock band that he joined in Kosovo.

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For more information about the work, or to host a salon of your own, please contact Anthony Barilla.