“A New Harmony of Thoughts”: Rethinking the New York School on Kenneth Koch’s centennial

​The poet, playwright, and educator Kenneth Koch was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 27, 1925. As a founding member of the New York School of Poetry, Koch’s writings and collaborations with visual artists played a key role in the postwar cultural shift that rejected tradition and embraced experimentation. The New York School of Poetry, consisting of the poets Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Jimmy Schuyler, Barbara Guest, and Edward Field, became a powerful force in developing the United States’ post-war poetics. The New York School’s collaborations with Abstract Expressionists such as Nell Blaine, Larry Rivers, and Willem de Kooning propelled their immersion into the United States’ cultural fabric as they innovated new art forms and refuted convention. This event aims to examine the interplay between power, literature, and art within cultural movements and historical processes. We will ask why the New York School’s voices were highlighted and whose voices were silenced in the development of the United States’ twentieth-century literary canon. Further, we will interrogate how movements, such as the Black Arts movement, disrupted the literary scene and advocated for greater freedoms.

​This program encourages critical interventions surrounding the intricate power dynamics that consistently shape the development of literary canons and art movements. We will draw from historical context to explore how historical actors navigated the power dynamics that shaped the literary and art movements of the twentieth century. Using the New York School as a lens to examine how authors negotiated their identity in navigating various power structures, we will explore how broader structural mechanisms influence global canonicity through transnational analyses. We will investigate how literature and art can serve as spaces where creatives assert their voices, mobilize dissent, or dominate cultural discourse.

​Attendees will discuss and draw from Koch’s pedagogical practice as we collaborate in mixed-media activities, translation workshops, and poetry readings to enhance our understanding of how power dynamics shape historical narratives, literary canons, and art movements.