Media Library

ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge, together with the Allianz Kulturstiftung and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in cooperation with the city of Berlin, had planned a General Assembly of artists, writers and journalists in Berlin in June 2020. Unfortunately, because of the current restrictions on freedom of assembly, this meeting will not now be taking place. The borders are still closed for everyone (as of March 2020) and freedom of travel is heavily restricted within Europe. But the poesiefestival berlin will be seeing to it that the borders of language as well as of thought are kept open regardless and is bringing together three of the participants in an online format. For it continues to be true that “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” (Wittgenstein).

Three poets who sought refuge in northern Europe confront our present-day borders and transcend them with their poetry. The format, a combination of pre-recorded reading and subsequent live chat, is being developed bilingually with participating artists: Iraqi poet Nada Al-Khawwam, an Artists-in-Berlin Program ICORN fellow in 2018–19; Syrian journalist and poet Faraj Bayrakdar, who found refuge in Stockholm; and Iraqi poet Manal Al-Sheikh, a guest in Stavanger. The pre-recorded video reading concludes with a contribution by poet and curator Max Czollek.

Project organiser: Kenan Khadaj
Hosted by Christian Filips and Kenan Khadaj. With a contribution by Max Czollek.

• 
• 
•