Poesiefrühling 2012 | Pulling poetry out of its niche

Poetry isn't for everyone. Too complicated, a niche for nerds and dreamers – at least that's what the broad population seems to think sometimes. In order to shake idiotic biases, project initiators Nicola Caroli and Catherine Launay teamed up with Mehtap Akdemir for "Poesiefrühling" (Poetry Spring). The mini-festival will host events that go beyond literature readings and allow input from the audience.

"We want to carry poetry into the public and private realms" says Nicola Caroli. Speaking to her about the project, you feel like you're being bombarded with information. But in the end, Caroli's excitement catches on, especially when she speaks about the interactive events and workshops, like the “Flugblätta” project: Ms. Akdemir will attach paper planes to trees, scrubs and scaffolding constructions in Wedding, all of them will feature a “flying” theme. Everyone is free to take down the planes, to destroy or let them fly. Or – as Ms. Akdemir recommends – to participate in “rearranging rhymes“ – by erasing letters, syllables, words, verses or stanzas, everyone creates new poetry without ever putting ink to paper themselves.  The newly created poems are then read aloud to other newfound poets. Workshop coordinator and auther Lars-Arvid Brischke has offered to submit his work for creative manipulation: Each of his poems portray one weekday and one of the seven deadly sins. Participants should feel free to approach the author. “Everyone is free to join and there is no formal etiquette” says Ms. Caroli. Besides interactive activities, “Poesiefrühling” will also include theatre and dance performances centering on poetry or famous poets. (mapu)