Poetry & Performance (Sabine Hänsgen, Tomáš Glanc)

In Eastern Europe, a literary and artistic counter-public emerged beyond the reach of the state culture system and developed its own forms of aesthetic existence. Literary texts not authorized by censorship were circulated in handwritten and typewritten copies. In addition to the typescript literature of samizdat, the unofficial cultural milieu attached particular importance to the oral recitation of poems in front of a close-knit audience of friends–poets, artists, theorists and critics. The writing practices of samizdat have already received considerable attention within the framework of various projects. The presentation of the poetry by way of poets’ readings and poetic performances, however, has hitherto been neglected and will be a topic of the research area.

In recent years, the bias towards text has been called into question by a new research interest in acoustic phenomena and the voice which is motivated by a reorientation towards the performative. A shift of perspective from self-contained works and finished texts to processes of production and reception is taking place. The focus is now on the text placed in a situational context of perception by an audience.

The interrelation between poetical acts, texts and situations functioned as a precursor and a trigger for the aesthetics of performances and happenings –- a very specific and notably Eastern European characteristic of performance art.

In his apartment in Belyaevo on the outskirts of Moscow Dmitry Prigov is reading from the Militiaman cycle, probably his most famious cycle of the seventies.
From: Günter Hirt / Sascha Wonders: Moskau. Moskau. Videostücke, Wuppertal: Edition S-Press 1987.

 

Publications to date

Sabine Hänsgen: Poetic Performance: Script and Voice. In: Staging the Image: Dmitry Prigov as Artist, Writer and Performer. Edited by Gerald Janecek, with an introduction by Tomáš Glanc and Sabine Hänsgen (Slavica Publishers, Indiana University, in print)

Tomáš Glanc / Sabine Hänsgen: Introduction (Slavica Publishers, Indiana University, in print)

(unter dem Pseudonym Sascha Wonders, Hg./Üb. zusammen mit Günter Hirt):
Wsewolod Nekrassow: Ich lebe ich sehe. Gedichte (russisch/deutsch). Vorwort von Eugen Gomringer, Münster: Verlag Helmut Lang 2017.

Havel – Prigov and Czech experimental poetry. Hg. von Tomáš Glanc, Sabine Hänsgen, Petr Kotyk, Prag: Památník národního písemnictví 2016. (Ausstellungszeitung)

Review by Marion Rutz (University of Passau)
http://arthist.net/reviews/9694/mode=conferences

(unter dem Pseudonym Sascha Wonders, zusammen mit Günter Hirt, Ainsley Morse, Bela Shayevich): Entfaltung von Maßnahmen. “So ein / Gesetz / Der Erhaltung / Ein Gesetz / Der Erhaltung / Wovon?” Gedichte von Wsewolod Nekrassow In: karawa.net # 008 / Lichte Verbrechen