At the same time, in different places

Reflection, analysis and reassessment - is time now at last ripe for such things? "A cultural revolution! Now!" is at any rate what the two Norwegian authors Stian Bromark and Dag Herbjørnsrud demand in their essay covering new ideas and tendencies among young people in Europe today which starts this issue. They are searching for a new globalised view of the world, a new intellectual world order, Culture Wars in Europe. Now: "A world-view which encompasses the World Trade Center having been built as a homage to Islam. That the Iroquois founded modern American democracy. That Jewish intellectuals laid the foundations of modern Scandinavian literature. That the cowboys were black".

Such a world view can be discovered by way of literature. This issue, we present 'young poetry' which is being written in various parts of Europe today. We were curious about the power surging up from below, about what is on the rebound, about what is still moving and under development, but which has already managed to find its own, powerful voice. What themes and topics activate the poets? What do all these voices express? What do they find relevant? What kinds of attitudes do they have to life, to the present and the future? Which similarities and differences can be identified with regard to working with language and form?

"Come, all and everyone, holding small candles in your hands." This is a poem from a collection (entitled kom alle mennesker) by the Norwegian poet Markus Midré, from the year 2000. This quiet, visionary and hopeful appeal at the start of the new millennium has become the motto for both the anthology in this issue containing European poetry by young people, as well as the Stockholm International Poetry Festival on the same theme back in autumn 2003. The poem has something adjuring about it, maybe even something sacred, as John Erik Riley says in his presentation; this is characteristic of Midré's poems which  are like "small cavities in the stressful and chaotic times which surround them" in that they occur in time and space and invite reflection. They are poems which occur in the world and push time aside, or, as he puts it: "they don't so much push time aside as open it up".

This is a good description of how Midré's poetry works and is indeed pertinent to all the poetry written by young people today in many countries. There is the will to address and communicate and put values to the test.

In our poetry anthology we present the reader with 30 poets from 19 countries. A journey from Greece and Macedonia in southern Europe via, for instance, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, on to Norway and Sweden in the north, then returning to southern Europe via the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. All the translations have been made into English and Swedish directly from the original language the poet wrote in. By collecting together different voices from many places in one volume, the anthology has become charged with a collective energy which is more powerful than if they had been published separately. So many varying voices surging simultaneously towards you, has enabled the reader to obtain a picture of what young people of our era really stand for. Together they reflect the temperature of the poetic energy present in contemporary Europe, giving a feeling of what lies closest to the hearts of young people today. And the reader can thus gain an impression of just what sort of society we really are living in, and what people would have to do to change it.

We can promise an anthology full of contrasts where those working safely within an established genre rub shoulders with linguistic anarchists, where minimalists encounter prose poets, where surrealists bump into 'language-poets' in the ways of expression of the new millennium. An awareness of language, variety and an urge    to experiment are noticeable features of the most interesting young poets of today. Popular culture mixes with metaphysics, science and technology. Another striking aspect is the wide range of careers, interests, skills and experiences which are borne witness to in this artistic endeavour. A significant number of the poets here also work with other modes of expression and communication. For example, Agnieszka Wolny-Hamkalo is a journalist and performance artist, Arturas Valionis is a sociological researcher and TV director, Markus Midré is a rock musician and Johannes Heldén is an artist who also works with music, sound installations, video projections and interactivity. These four took part in the Stockholm International Poetry Festival in autumn 2003 along with several other poets presented in the anthology. The theme of  the festival was, as with this issue, 'Young Europe' and we called the event 'GREEN'. The scenography and lighting were in green and many of the poets also wore items of dress in that colour. Green alluded to the fact that the poets, dancers, musicians and artists invited to perform by OOTAL were young and innovative. The colour green re-presented the vitality and growth to be found amongst the artists and writers participating, and we had more  than 60 participants in a total of six performances (each 90 minutes long) at the Dramaten Theatre in Stockholm, with a closing concert in the Berns hall and restaurant in that same city.

This issue is a follow-up to, and development of, what occurred on stage but is also the result of events, meetings and conversations over dinner, at rehearsals, during parties, smoking breaks and periods of waiting. People often strike up new acquaintances and generate ideas between performances and rehearsals. This issue presents a number of texts which were performed, plus new poems written afterwards. Several of the poets took part in the Stockholm International Poetry Festival in previous years, while others are new to Swedish audiences. We have broadened the theme of the issue with a number of essays, interviews and items of reportage. Jessica Andersson, a member of the OOTAL team, felt inspired to take a trip to Estonia to examine the literary climate there. Another member of our team, Jonas Ask, interviewed the Danish poet Lars Skinnebach about a new angle on literature which arose out of a number of collective book projects. Dutch critic Tatjana Daan, who for many years was artistic director of the Poetry International in Rotterdam, writes an overview of new Dutch poetry.

The theme of this issue does not however stop with geographical boundaries. Tendencies in art and literature can arise in several countries at once, and we are eager to point out unexpected links. One such example is the poets Anna Jörgensdotter from Sweden and Milena Markovic from Serbia-Montenegro who met during the Stockholm Poetry Festival in 2002, and found that they had many common motives underlying their poetry.

Performance poetry is becoming an increasingly significant part of poetry by younger people. Much of this literature has changed its nature in that literature is now experienced just as much as it is read. Literature is a way of life and poetry readings occur all over the globe. Performance poetry has been at its most influential in the United Kingdom and the United States, but the effects of this genre can also be detected in many poets from most countries. Paul Beasley, himself a driving force for performance poetry in the UK, gives insights into what is happening at the present time in this poetic genre.

Art in Europe today is undergoing an exciting development. One longer essay by Maria Lind, the head of the Kunstverein in Munich, deals with notable features of the art of young people in Europe. She describes a dynamic artistic climate where artists mix several ways of expression in an attempt to bridge the gap between work of art and audience. Art is set in a societal context where the creative process, communication and interactivity with its surroundings are often of greater importance than the end result. The young artists and writers in Europe today appear to share a number of points of commitment. Lind lists focal points such as a critique of power, urban existence, personal relations and materiality. Another common feature of young artists and writers is a critical attitude to their own endeavours.

Adopting your place in the world, and opening up time to give rise to reflection and thought, are major tasks for both art and poetry in today's society. Poetry and art ought to play a significant rôle, and poets and artists ought to be able to find plenty of space in the confusing, almost tumultuous and rather thoughtless times in which we live. There is a crying need to introduce intellectual thought processes into the order of the day, as we plan for the future. In this issue, we show some of the potency and energy that we have found in the new Europe, and we can but join in with the call for 'Cultural revolution! Now!' by Stian Bromark and Dag Herbjørnsrud. Writers and artists from all countries can teach us entirely new things about the world.
 
Translation: Eric Dickens
 
 
 
 

» Read the essay Cutural revolution! Now!
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