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Published on: 08 September, 2022
Call for Applications: antiBabylon Poetry project
antiBabylon is the first edition of the antiBabylon poetry project that will be held in five countries which used to be under the Soviet influence (Armenia, Georgia, Germany, Moldova and Ukraine) and invites poets* interested in performance poetry, spoken word poetry and developing their communication skills in an international poetry environment.
Project Mission
The name of the project refers to the story of the Tower of Babel. During its construction God mixed up the languages of people so they could not understand each other and could not build the tower to the sky. Some may interpret this story using the symbols of paternalism, oppression and aggression. But this is exactly what we stand against. Unlike the heroes of the legend, we do not want to build a tower, the symbol of a rigid vertical hierarchy; we would like to create a free and safe space of horizontal communication, assuming that the art of poetry is capable of overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers. But is it? How free is the poetry word? What are the themes that excite contemporary poets*? Do they want to appeal directly to readers/listeners/viewers, or do they rather want to stay within their professional environment? Can modern poetry be an adequate tool for a critical examination of reality? We don't have the answers, we ask the questions. In our project we invite participants to try to find a common poetic language and present the results of their creative search to the public.
Project Phases
The basic working language of the project is English.
The first phase (October 2022): five online workshops (approx. once a week), where the participants will be required to make poetic translations of each others’ texts into their native language.
Second phase (November 14-28, 2022): participants will travel through four countries with a live performance event in each capital city. During the performances, each poet* reads his/her text in his/her native language, while the translations will be shown on the screen as subtitles. The finale of the trip will be a poetry and culture festival at PANDA platforma in Berlin, with an international jury and special guests. Due to the fact that Russia is waging an aggressive war against Ukraine, the Ukrainian performance will also take place in Berlin.
The project was initiated by the Berlin-based NGO PANDA platforma with the support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
How to Apply
By the deadline, those who wish to take part should send a video of their own poetry no longer than 5 minutes (it can be one text or several, maximum 5 minutes in total), the text itself with full English translation, a short biography (max. 500 characters incl. spaces) and a brief motivation letter answering the question of why you want to take part in the project (max. 500 characters incl. spaces). The video can be horizontal or vertical and can be shot with an ordinary smartphone. There is no limitation to the subjects of the texts.
Submissions will be accepted until September 14 to: [email protected].
In order to apply, please click here!
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