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PROPOSTA 2004
international festival of poetries + polypoetries
centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona. november 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th 2004.

PROPOSTA is an annual festival devoted to contemporary poetic creation, mainly to most risky and the most open one. it deals with proposals that go beyond the text to seek direct contact with the public, whether by means of oral delivery or dialogue with other disciplines. PROPOSTA wants to demonstrate the vitality of poetry nowadays, a poetry that goes beyond the traditional ways and takes advantage of the expression possibilities that are on hand. For this reason, the festival includes live performances, conferences, lectures, projections and the publication of a catalogue bringing together all the information about the festival and a cd that compiles sound works by some of the authors.

after its first four outings, PROPOSTA has demonstrated, from an updated and open vision of literature, that poetry can be communicated to a wide range of audiences and is able to use several different formats and technics. the festival has become a point of reference on europe’s poetic scene and, most importantly, a showcase for new proposals for both creators and the general public in barcelona. it is a literary festival that goes beyond the narrow vision that reduces poetry to the book it is written in and that looks for new expression formats. the festival is organized by collective projectes poètics sense títol-propost.org along with the centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona.

the festival focuses on the oral formats of poetry, which go from traditional recitation to electronic work with the voice or phonetic improvisation, through experiences with dance or music. This year, as a special guest, it counts on the presence of german experimental poet franz mon, a referent of poetic german avant-garde from the 20th century and one of the creators who encouraged concrete poetry.

regarding contact with other disciplines, the poet from tortosa albert roig will present salvatge cor, along with dancers alexis eupierre and àngels margarit, musicians krishoo monthieux (music and percussion) and marc egea (hurdy gurdy) and dinonís escorsa’s videos; and ajo will present striptease cardiovascular along with music group mastretta.

international presence of the festival will consist of some of the more particular and strong voices in contemporary poetry: amanda stewart, the reference sound poet in australia; patience agbabi, brit-nigerian poet whose work is near spoken word; chritian uetz, swiss sound poet in german language; and charles pennequin, irrepressible oral poet who is shocking the french literary environment.

also, multidisciplinary artist tres has prepared, for the festival opening, a silent cocktail (còctel silenciós) that will take place right before albert roig’s performance, and ausculta continues as a section of the festival with a selection of master pieces of sound poetry done by matías rossi and passed through the video filter of daniela cugliandolo.

to complete the program, PROPOSTA 2004 presents, on one side, a very special exhibition, apocalypse, consisting of keith haring’s serigraphies and william borroughs’ texts done in 1988 about the future of our society; and on the other side, there will be a projection of selected participant pieces in the berlin zebra awards, the only festival devoted to relationship inbetween cinema and poetry.

all activities, except for the exhibition, will take place at the main hall of the centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona during nightime and have free entrance, except for the opening (tres, albert roig) and the closing (patience agbabi, ajo+mastretta) performances. the festival’s catalogue, along with a cd with sound pieces by the participants, will be on sale during the festival days. the exhibition will be open until november the 28th on the 3rd floor of the cccb.





sections:

- obertura and cloenda. opening and closing performances.
- intermèdia. live performances by international poets.
- vídeo. zebra poetry film awards berlin.
- ausculta. a place to be, listen and watch. and to talk.
- exhibition. keith haring and william borroughs apocalypse

participants:

franz mon (germany)
amanda stewart (australia)
ajo+mastretta (madrid)
albert roig with àngels margarit, marc egea, dionís escorsa, alexis eupierre and krishoo monthieux (barcelona)
patience agbabi (united kingdom)
christian uetz (switzerland)
charles pennequin (france)
tres (barcelona)
keith haring+william burroughs: apocalypse (exhibition)
matías rossi+daniela cugliandolo (barcelona)
zebra poetry film award (berlin)


 

the fifth season

the fifth season is the time. the time that follows the other four seasons: summer, autumn, winter, spring. a time to respond. and within the answer there is silence and the word arrested by the wall. since it’s now when everyone appears to be convinced of all worlds possible yet the place is at a standstill, at a quandary. the earth remains impassible. have we perhaps forgotten that the domain, which gobbles us down, comes from our own makings, it organises us. not so the other. cannot blame what’s alien to us, in turn, to be alien to it. the place remains at a standstill, expecting us to restore its voice.
to get the breath back after the deluge. that, too, is time. let’s look around: the charred bush seems a flick-knife, at once wounding and challenging: and a private engagement after so many grand hours of public engagements. the desert is making ways, but we’ve got to rebuild before ressettling, go back and build anew, as rimbaud says, perfect buildings, unexpected buildings, and wait for the new known air take over.
the call is now inwardly. perhaps that’s why we have wanted to concentrate the festival, to put forward a transit somewhat quieter, deeper, given that grand occasions and endless growing lead nowhere. this year we take real pleasure in presenting some unquestionable voices with very different nuances: from franz mon comes a chunk of history of the 20th century poetry which amanda stewart modulates from the antipodes; albert roig drops the books and takes over the readings and ajo, the one who raises everything; and charles pennequin’s verbal wealth, the architectures of christian uetz whilst patience agbabi offers endless ressonances. we shan’t forget some of the masters: william s. burroughs and keith haring, to close the programme with ausculta’s continuation and the berlin zebra awards.
a fifth edition where, doubtless, voices will be endowed with a cristal-quality sound, whether because of the lightness of the programme or of the personality of each one of the voices present. this comes at a time when we, at the steering of the event, feel happier than ever for having arrived this far, knowing that echoes and complicities do exist. in a city, there is a place for each and every thread and we have strived to find our own.
and since it all is about word and gesture rather than speeches and carrying-ons, ours from now on, will be an answer to the absence of words in the city, which will privately be tantamount with naming each and every thing. it may be done in silence, for the special opening cocktail will be offered by tres. once again the question remains what to do with a world turned into a stale chewing-gum. the answer shall always be silence without forgoing those initial questions which prompt the ongoing building, without misplacing the ressetling thread even if what’s around us is too baffling for comfort.
welcome: the door is wide open.



eduard escoffet
PROPOSTA 2004
festival internacional de poesies+polipoesies
 

PROPOSTA 2004
barcelona  november 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th 2004.

centre de cultura contemporània de barcelona
montalegre, 5
08001 barcelona
93 306 41 00
www.cccb.org

propost@propost.org
www.propost.org/proposta2004

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