TRACES, a poetry event with Layers of Place: Austin

TRACES is the poetic counterpart to Layers of Place: Austin, a public art project featuring six site-specific augmented reality installations created by artists working with MIT’s Open Documentary Lab. Six Austin poets were invited to encounter these artworks and craft a response exploring the histories, memories, and presences that linger in shared places.

This gathering will bring the poets together to read their original works and share reflections on their process. We’ll also introduce the larger concept of TRACES: an invitation to notice what persists, what haunts, and what becomes possible when we encounter familiar places through art and poetry. 

This project is supported in part by an Elevate Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music, & Entertainment.

Moderators: Courtney B. Cook (Director), Akmyrat Tuyliyev (Producer), Sarah Wolozin (EP)

Courtney B. Cook, PhD, is an Austin-based producer and Professor of Public History and Documentary Film at Texas State University. They joined Layers of Place, Austin as a Producer for SXSW and directed TRACES. Their work sits at the intersection of documentary storytelling, public history, and socially engaged art. For seven years, Cook shaped education and impact strategy at PBS’s POV, supporting hundreds of independent documentary filmmakers within the public media ecosystem. They have participated as jury member, panelist, and mentor with Documentary Producer’s Alliance, Global Impact Producer’s Alliance, Big Sky Documentary Film Fest, Camden International Film Fest, Berinale’s EFM Doc Toolbox Program; and locally at Austin Film Festival, Austin Film Society, and sit on the Community Advisory Board’s of Austin PBS and Austin’s Video Consortium.

Akmyrat Tuyliyev is a producer at MIT Open Documentary Lab and a Visiting Assistant Professor at ASU’s Master’s in Narrative and Emerging Media program in Los Angeles, CA. Akmyrat served as an interactive producer at PBS’s POV Spark, where he produced award-winning, innovative nonfiction projects (Sundance, Tribeca, Webby-nominee). He taught immersive and interactive storytelling at the Interactive Media Arts program at NYU Tisch and Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Lab.

Sarah Wolozin is a research scientist and the former director of the MIT Open Documentary Lab. She is the co-founder of the Independent XR Distribution Coalition and the Co-Creation Studio. Her publications include “Creating Community in Hybrid Festivals, AI, Embodiment and the Perception of the Real,” and “Prototyping the Future: How Artists Reveal the Future of Media.” She is a co-author on the book, Collective Wisdom: Co-creating Media for Equity and Justice. Before arriving at MIT, she worked on award-winning documentaries and educational media for a wide variety of media outlets and started experimenting with the web back in its early stages of its public use. She frequently guest lectures at MIT and is a sought after public speaker. She has spoken at venues such as International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), Sundance, MOMA, SXSW, and others. In 2023, she was awarded an insignia of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government.

Readers: C. Rees, August Smith, Sara Roma, Sarah Matthes, drea brown, Prudence Arceneaux

C. Rees (they/them) is a nonbinary poet, educator, and bookseller. They were raised in Pennsylvania (Lënapehòkink) and currently live on Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Jumanos, Lipan Apache, Sana, and Tonkawa land, what is called "Austin, TX." C. holds an MFA in Poetry from the New Writers Project. They are ideologically and materially committed to a free Palestine.

August Smith is apoet, musician, and editor. He received his MFA from University of Massachusetts Boston in 2017 and is the author of Visitors from the Red Star (Apocalypse Confidential, 2024), a collection of poems about the UFO/UAP phenomenon. In addition, he's published nine chapbooks, released a book of Icelandic translations, and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Post-Pop Lit, an online avant-garde literary journal. He lives in Austin, TX, where he organizes literary events and performs music under the name Plum Wooer. His work can be found at augustsmith.net.

Sara Roma is a multi-media artist, writer, and animator who creates works of video, performance, poetry, stop-motion, printmaking and installation. Recent poems of theirs have appeared in Austin zines, Nopal Mag, and AS IT IS.

Prudence Arceneaux is the author of two chapbooks-- DIRT (2018 Jean Pedrick Prize) and LIBERTY-- and the full length PROPRIOCEPTION (2026 Texas Institute of Letters Honor Winner of the Naomi Shihab Nye Award for Best First Book of Poetry). Her work has appeared in numerous creative spaces, such as The Academy of American Poets’ Poem- A- Day, Texas Observer, and Inkwell. She is the Department Chair of Creative Writing at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.

drea brown is a poet-scholar whose writing has been published in creative and scholarly journals as well as edited collections including Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, About Place Journal, and Stand Our Ground: Poems for Trayvon Martin & Marissa Alexander. drea is the co-editor of Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature, and the author of dear girl: a reckoning, and Conjuring the Haint: The Haunting Poetics of Black Women.

Sarah Matthes is a poet and performer from central New Jersey. Her debut collection Town Crier won the Lexi Rudnitsky first book prize, and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. She lives in Austin, TX where she teaches poetry at UT and runs a storytelling showcase called The Pupa.

PARKING: Alienated Majesty is located at 613 W 29th St. We share a limited amount of parking spots in our commercial lot with three other businesses (so carpooling is recommended if you can!). You can also find free and paid street parking options in the surrounding neighborhood. There is one designated accessible parking spot on the side of the lot facing Rio Grande. 

ENTRANCE: Our main entrance is accessible via ramp and opens manually. If you need assistance with opening the door, feel free to contact us ahead of time to let us know. 

RESTROOM: Our public restroom is single-occupancy and wheelchair-accessible.

If you have any additional questions about accessing the space, feel free to call us at 512-243-6679 or email pr@alienatedmajestybooks.com.

Alienated Majesty Books wants to introduce you to the most interesting literature across the country. Committed to the DIY and international side of publishing, half their stock focuses on works in translation. Here, booksellers give thoughtful, intentional recommendations from a curated collection of leastselling books, zines, and indie comics. 

From their literary screening series with AFS Cinema to afterhours DIY punk shows, Alienated Majesty Books provides an inclusive gathering space for those who share a love of the underground and underrepresented. Check out their full events schedule here.