Calendar of Events

WEDNESDAY AT 6 PM EST – 7:30 PM EST
Online

The Sundress Workshop Series is proud to present “Poetry of Technology,” led by Sundress staff director, JoAnna Brooker. The event will take place on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, 6:00-7:30PM ET via Zoom. Join us at http://tiny.utk.edu/sundress (password: safta).

In modern times, technology has woven itself so deeply into our lived experiences that more often than not, we cannot determine truth and authenticity from lies and simulations. Especially in the socially distanced world we currently inhabit, experiences and things often considered better live and in person are simulated via Zoom and other means. In this workshop, we will take the subtext of technology’s dehumanization and oversaturation of modern media and rip it apart as human beings. We will engage with these instruments and systems as representations of ourselves, and what it means to exist online, for better and for worse.

At the end of this workshop, you will be challenged to treat your text messages and DMs as intimate letters, and make meaning from that Hardee’s commercial that infuriates you. These too are stories, and the better we can understand them and the effect they have on us, the better prepared we are to engage with the increasingly digitized world we inhabit.

JoAnna Brooker is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she studied journalism and English. She is currently a staff director for Sundress Academy for the Arts. Her work has been featured in Hash Journal, Menacing Hedge, and The Knoxville Mercury. She can be found on all social media platforms @cupofjoanna. This event is free and open to the public, although we encourage donations to our workshop leader via Venmo @cupofjoanna. https://www.facebook.com/events/353438302579573/