Authors:

Eugen Gomringer, born in 1925 in Cachuela Esperanza in Bolivia, wrote his first concrete poems in the 1950s and soon became the ‘poetic chief-designer’ (Harold Hartung) of this new movement. The emeritus professor of aesthetic theory publishes alongside his diverse volumes of poetry, journals, book series and anthologies, and today directs the Institute for Concrete Art and Poetry, Rehau.

Hartmut Andryczuk, born in 1957, lives in Berlin. The artist and organiser founded the Hybriden Publishing House at the beginning of the 1990s. In addition, he is a collector of collections: among others, computer virus libraries, artists’ books and mp3 archives.

Valeri Scherstjanoi, born in 1950 in Sagis, Kazakhstan, has lived in Germany since 1979. The sound-poet, illustrator and performer organised, among others, the ‘Bobeobi Festival of Sound-Poetry’ in Berlin, and has published alongside his numerous poems the anthology of Russian futurism ‘Tango with Cows’.

Sergej Birjukov, born in 1950 in the Tambov Region, is a poet and literary scientist. Between 1991 and 1998 he worked in the University of Tambov, and since then has taught in the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg. Since 1990 he has run the ‘Akademie der sa-umnischen Sprache’. His poetry volume ‘Jaja, Dada Oder die Abschaffung des Artikels’ (‘Jaja, Dada Or the Abolition of the Article’) has appeared recently.

Dmitry Bulatov, who was born in 1968, is a word-artist who organises many international exhibitions and projects, and works at the overlap of art and literature. His anthology of sound-poetry Homo Sonorus (2001) is viewed as a standard work. Together with the soundartist Danil Akimov he developped a special performance for the poesiefestival berlin 2004.