Middle Ground: PREE. Caribbean Writing offers the possibility to deepen one’s own writing practice and to be in exchange with other authors about issues around writing. In the two-hour-long sessions, each teacher focuses on a specific, self-selected theme and, in addition to discussions, participants are invited to engage with their own writing. The workshops are aimed at different age groups and we invite everyone, from amateurs to scholars and professionals.

Vladimir Lucien: Bosomtwa: The 1s & 2s & the &

This seminar looks at what are called ‘open’ and ‘closed’ elements in poetry, their effect on the composition of a poem, and what their usage reflects about the tendencies, propensities, and temperatures of our worlds. Using principles drawn from Black divinatory practice, participants investigate the nature and orientation of our energies in art and in our world. The seminar considers how what we call our ‘art’ and what we call our ‘life’ or ‘living’ intersect and how they can mutually inform each other to promote conscious action in both.

On this experimental journey, participants are given space to discuss and flesh out their own ideas and proposals, linking shared knowledge and experiences in the group to their own life and practice. Through such exchange, poetry is shown to not be a luxury, but a powerful tool for conscious living, and conscious living to be a powerful poem in and of itself. The seminar entails an examination of works of art chosen by a facilitator and how what we call ‘open’ and ‘closed’ spaces operate in the selected works. This happens alongside an interactive discussion of the notion of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ spaces, in life and art among the participants and the facilitator.  As part of this participants may be invited to share their work or experiences with the group.

The seminar is open to all, but especially invites Black and brown people living in Germany to take part. Participants should ideally be eighteen or older.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please answer one of the following questions with a short text (no longer than 500 characters): How is poetry connected to what is happening in your world—your inner and outer world? To what extent do you think poetry itself contains structures that can tell us about how our worlds and the universe work, beyond mere ‘social spheres’? How can a deeper understanding of the workings of poetry impact one’s own life beyond superficial ‘moral prescriptions’ and feed into a practice of conscious living?

Please submit your text, indicating the workshop title in the subject line to: middleground@hkw.de. The deadline for submissions is 18 August 2023. Selected participants be contacted no later than 23 August.