Schmeißt die Siebdruckmaschinen an, holt die Kopiervorlagen aus der Schublade und fangt an zu tackern! Am 24. Januar wird die Ausstellung Poetisches Chapbook im digitalen Zeitalter mit Lesung und Diskussion durch Kuratorin Nina Medved eröffnet. Die Ausstellung wirft ein Schlaglicht auf die Low- bis No-Budget-Bereiche literarischer Publikationen: Chapbooks, also DIY-Gedichtbände, Selbstkopiertes, Zusammengetackertes, aber auch digitale Formate, Instagram-Gedichte und frei zirkulierende PDFs.
Für die Ausstellung gibt es auch einen Open Call. Wenn ihr also selbst interessante Wege abseits der gängigen Publikationsrouten gefunden habt um eure Gedichte zu verbreiten, dann schickt sie uns bis zum 18. Januar. Analog oder digital – ganz egal. Hier ist der vollständige Call:
Lettrétage – das Literaturhaus in Berlin Kreuzberg invites poets to display their print and digital chapbooks! Poetic chapbooks will be presented at an exhibition held in Berlin, which will be accompanied by a public multilingual reading on January 24th 2019.
Have you come up with interesting, creative ways for sharing your poetry? Do you share your poems in the form of a leaflet, booklet, postcard, sticker or other DIY form? Are you more into the digital world and have set up an online portfolio, poetic Instagram channel or something else? These creations represent different variations of poetic chapbooks that we would love to display together with your poetry. So, how do you share your poetry? Share it with us!
What are chapbooks?
Chapbooks developed in the 16th century as an alternative means for authors to distribute their poems and stories, but really grew popular in the 17th and 18th century. Nowadays, chapbooks still represent a low-budget form of artistic publication, similar to the popular zines, but different because of their non-periodic nature. Poets use chapbooks for promotion of their work or as an artistic challenge, which helps them elude barriers to literary production such as finding a publisher, or high costs of production and distribution. This project aims to highlight different forms of chapbooks in the 21st century, where access to classical publishing opportunities is becoming more and more obsolete while a strong physical and online author’s presence is key for reaching its audience.
How to participate
Send your chapbooks in physical and/or digital form by January 18th 2019 at the latest to the following address: Lettrétage e.V., Methfesselstraße 23-25, D-10965 Berlin or to info@lettretage.dewith the subject title »Poetic chapbook«.
If you are sending us physical chapbooks, make sure you send as many as you can, so the guests of our centre can take them home with them. We won’t be returning any of the materials. If you are applying with digital chapbooks, send them in any form available or links to where you published them to the above-mentioned e-mail address.
Authors of the projects
With its curated projects since 2006, Lettrétage has been providing innovative impulses for the literary metropolis of Berlin. The testing of new forms of production and presentation of literature is the focus. For this project, Lettrétage joined forces with Slovene poet and cultural producer Nina Medved, which is devoted to writing and performing poetry, as well as researching alternative models of cultural promotion and production.