International Colloquium: A Centre for Poetry!

Sunday 27th June 2004
12.00 hrs
literaturWERKstatt berlin
Knaackstr. 97 (Kulturbrauerei)
10435 Berlin

Admission € 5/€ 3
Prior registration necessary

Moderation: Gert Mattenklott

Germany needs a centre for poetry – but how should such an establishment be composed, and which functions must it fulfil?
After last year’s colloquium Quo vadis Gedicht?, which directed attention to the current manifestations and the central differentiation processes of poetry, the question of institutional consequences is now the focal point. Given the independent development and increasing importance of modern poetry, we also need a centre for poetry in Germany – what is to resolve, however, is the question of what form and which functions it should take on.

In order to be able to finally address this pressing project, representatives of already existing (international) centres for poetry have been invited to a discussion, in which they will present the varied approaches and conceptions of their institutions. Lee Bricetti (Poets’ House, New York), Dmitry Bulatov (National Centre for Contemorary Arts, Kaliningrad), Ken Cockburn (Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh), Eugen Gomringer (Institut für Konkrete Kunst und Poesie, Rehau), Christian Ide Hintze (schule für dictung, Vienna), Clara Ferreira Alves (Casa Fernando Pessoa, Lisbon) and Joseph Woods (Poetry Ireland, Dublin) will discuss, together with German poets, as well as lecturers and publishers, artists, critics and editors, visions for, and expectations of, a future centre for poetry.

Project Direction: Matthias Weichelt

With the kind support of: The United States of America Embassy, the Irish Embassy, and the Embassy of the Portuguese Republic.