“Audioliterary Poetry between Performance and Mediatization” – a retrospective view

7 June 2023

Photo: Benedikt Stamm

From May 11 to 13, 2023, our second international interdisciplinary conference “Audioliterary Poetry between Performance and Mediatization” took place in Hamburg at Warburg-Haus, conceptualized and organized by Marc Matter, Henrik Wehmeier, and Clara Cosima Wolff. All three are research associates in the eponymous sub-project.

The thirteen conference talks were given by scholars from the fields of literary, media, cultural, comparative, translation, disability, and sound studies. The speakers were (in chronological order) Julia Lajta-Novak (Vienna), Annegret Märten (London/Berlin), Johannes Ullmaier (Mainz), Katharina Mevissen (Berlin), Jessica Pressman (San Diego), Shalini Sengupta (Vienna), Magali Nachtergael (Bordeaux), Vadim Keylin (Hamburg), Nataliya Gorbina (Konstanz), Clara Cosima Wolff (Hamburg), Julia Lückl (Vienna), Martina Pfeiler (Vienna), and Rachele Gusella (Brussels).

In four multifaceted panels (link to the program), we addressed the fields of live poetry performance (spoken word and poetry slam, inter- and transmedia performances), the mediatization of performed poetry (recordings of events and online dissemination), and the latest sound poetry (between performance and audio-publication).

The first panel “Media Transgressions: Transcriptive Movements of Performed Poetry” dealt with how poet-performers present their works and themselves across media technologies and also examined the various transcriptive movements between written, visual, performative, and auditive modes. The second panel “Techno-Poetic Environments: Digital Processing and Posthuman Orality” addressed the tensions between the human and the machine, media technologies and artistic environments, orality and digitality. The third panel “Performative Embodiments: Multisensory Poetry Performances” explored poetry as a multisensory experience in media technology environments, focusing on the interrelations between the aural, visual, and embodied aspects of poetry performances. The fourth panel “Poetic Activism: New Networks and the Public” investigated the connections between social media, live streaming, and the public space in some of the most recent poetic approaches, as well as their social and political implications.

In her performance All Machine, 2013–2023, held at the Nachtasyl, Kinga Tóth combined visual poetry, text, and image elements with sound poetry. Expressive sound gestures and speech-like vocal eruptions responded in real time to the visuals, creating a dialogue between the written, visual, oral, and performative levels. The performance was an intense physical experience for both artist and audience, pushing the limits of human expression. The performance was followed by a discussion with Kinga Tóth, which was moderated by Kira Henkel and Marc Matter, and also included the audience.

You will find a recording of the performance on our website (LINK). The results of the conference will be published in 2024, supplemented by further contributions on audioliterary poetry between performance and mediatization. The book will be available both in print and open access in our new De Gruyter series (LINK).

Link to photos of the conference.