Miss Manhattan Hangs Out with McKenzie Wark
Rave on.
The brilliant scholar and writer McKenzie Wark is a vision in purple when I meet her at Hive Mind Books. Owned by her partner Jules Wernersbach, Wark is a regular at the bookstore, which specializes in queer texts. Two of Wark’s own books, Raving and an anthology she co-edited called Writing on Raving, appear near the counter and signed editions are available.
“Two of” is the key phrase here. Wark has authored or co-edited over 25 books over the course of her career, beginning in 1994, including theory, autofiction, and memoir. She is currently a Professor of Culture and Media at The New School, and the Program Director of the Gender Studies Department. In that time, she has developed an international audience, with her books translated into eleven languages. She tours her work frequently around the world. Writing on Raving has also evolved into a live reading, with light and sound design to match the theme, dancing to follow. It’s held in a location only disclosed upon RSVP.
For McKenzie, raving became an active dedication to bodily joy and sensuality. Or, as she wrote in e-flux recently, “If there’s to be a revolution of the genders, it will make many arts of seduction into collective practices of the flesh, of which this might just be one.”
I arrived here today after I ran into McKenzie at a party and she expressed interest in Miss Manhattan Hangs Out. I was beside myself, mostly because I have long been dazzled by just how unrelentingly cool she is–she who leaves for raves at 2am and knows the best ones don’t start until at least then; who has tattoos designed by DJs I’ve never heard of; who has recently presented her work in Rome, Lisbon, Salamanca, and Paris.
And here she is, laptop full of stickers, talking to me about the process of publishing her next book, about her arrival in New York from Australia, the parties that made her love nightlife, the parties that make her love nightlife still, raising children in the city, transitioning, the state of academia, what she does if/when she sees her students at raves (she follows their lead, either saying hello or giving them space, but is always available if they need her), and more.
Outside, the sky is cloudless, the sun bright. It’s the kind of day you ache for as winter shoves itself off the face of the city for a few months. McKenzie wraps a pale lavender motorcycle jacket around her arms, adds a Hive Mind Books baseball cap, and we head to Maria Hernandez Park nearby.
McKenzie is attuned to how the neighborhood has changed these past few years, something she notices in many ways, including the kinds of dogs people walk as affable mutts give way to fluffy, more extravagant versions of woman’s best friend (she and Jules have cats). We walk around the park, past its markers indicating distance, and find ourselves on a bench. We chat, watching people go by.
